> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.animarising.gg/docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.animarising.gg/docs/anima-rising/world-and-lore/storyline.md).

# Storyline

ANiMA offers a four-book dark fantasy saga released in weekly increments.

From the beginning, you're brought into a closed storyline and guided through the game's menu as new skills and characters are gradually introduced. 

As your high-fantasy adventure unravels, you’ll continuously *discover* more about *Zienna* and your purpose through *questing*, optional reading, and, eventually, via cinematics.

## **Vade Mecum**

You awaken as an orphaned teen in the slums of *Pyr*, a seemingly syndicate-operated state located at the South Western end of *Zienna*.

Daily life here is that of any low-born: toiling the fields and *thieving* to survive. Yet, your perseverance leads to craftsmanship. Streets once grimy and familiar transform into a web of new places, new faces, and new adventures. 

Then, as fate's design unfurls, you cross paths with a figure draped in shadows. Under his guidance, the way of survival becomes the art of combat. And then he teaches you to decipher the written word... and with this gift, a realm beyond the tangible opens to you as mysticism becomes your new reality.

As ancient truths and modern challenges collide, you navigate a path from poverty to *enlightenment*, from darkness to *ascension*. With millennia of *lore* to be *discovered*, new *knowledge* is gained every day, which then appears in your journal of *discovery*—a skill in its own right.