Science is rarely the first thing people think about in a fantasy setting, but Avowed tackles the idea of fantasy science head-on. In the world of Eora, the setting of the Pillars of Eternity series, the science of studying the soul is called animancy. In Avowed, the player Envoy will be joined by a dedicated animancer.
Avowed narrative designer Paul Kirsch was the writer chiefly responsible for creating the companion Giatta, the party animancer. He chatted with Game Rant recently about Giatta and the role of science in the Living Lands of Eora.
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The Science of Avowed’s Magic
Giatta’s version of science is closer to the classical notion of natural philosophy. Animancers live in a world that doesn’t follow the modern notions of scientific rigor but instead chase down ideas about the world, specifically the soul, to test them and see what proves itself to be true.
Animancy seeks to answer questions like if animals have souls or how the physical brain interacts with the metaphysical soul. Animancers are capable of capturing souls, putting them into the dead, and creating constructs. Because of the kinds of things animancy is capable of and the general unease about meddling with souls, places like Aedyr have banned animancy.
“I like to think of animancy as science in a world that hasn’t quite figured out the scientific method yet and hasn’t detached the physical world from the spiritual. Since animancy is the study of souls, it’s less about balancing equations and more about the highly theoretical collision of worldly research, otherworldly mysticism, and philosophy. Animancers throw ideas at the wall and see what sticks, often to their peril.”
Because her story is so driven by her personal experiences and her family’s history with the sciences, Giatta’s driven by her personal goals as well as her community goals. Giatta’s parents died in a lab accident, which contributes to her personal motivations and investment in Avowed’s more scientific notions, and why she struggles to follow established limitations in the field. When she enters the game as part of the Emerald Stair quest, Giatta is working to keep her fellow animancers focused and on task. But bureaucracy and conflicting personalities make that a challenge.
The ban of animancy in Aedyr makes the Envoy’s relationship with Giatta interesting; as a major figure in Aedyr’s court, the Envoy is from a society that banned Giatta’s science long ago. That could present players with some dramatic dialogue choices. Animancy is something feared and hated by plenty of societies in the Pillars of Eternity setting.
That, Kirsch said, was a narrative challenge writing Giatta.
“One of my creative challenges was dealing with the multitude of characters who are justifiably distrustful–or outright antagonistic–toward animancy. There’s an expectation that if someone starts badmouthing Giatta’s work then she’ll be there to breathlessly defend it and try, perhaps in vain, to earn the player’s sympathy, confidence, and trust.”
How Giatta plays into the larger, tense relationship between science and society in the world of Pillars of Eternity can be explored more deeply in Avowed.
- Released
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February 18, 2025
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Violence
- Publisher(s)
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Xbox Game Studios