Animus

"You're inside the Animus. It's a projector which renders genetic memories in three dimensions."

―Warren Vidic to Desmond Miles.

The Animus 1.28.

The Animus (plural: Animi) was a virtual reality machine, rediscovered and developed by Abstergo Industries. It was able to read a subject's genetic memory, and project it onto an external screen in three dimensions.

The machine was notably used in Abstergo's Animus Project and the Animi Training Program. The former analyzed the genetic memories of several select subjects, usually to gain information on the Assassin Order or on Pieces of Eden, while the latter was used for the training of Abstergo employees.

History

Animus 1.0

The Animus' 2000 model.

The Animus was created by Abstergo Industries in the later half of the 20th century, basing it on previously discovered First Civilization technology. Dr. Warren Vidic's leading authorities on genetic memory guided the machine's development and became the overseer of the Animus Project.

The earliest known of an Animus was in 1985, when Dr. Vidic used it to manipulate the genetic memory of Subject 4 of the Animus Project; Daniel Cross. Since the Animus' conception, the machine has went through several major cosmetic and technical alterations, but even by 2012 Abstergo had not yet managed to perfect it.

By 2000, the appearance of the Animus bore a resemblance to a chair, and required a lot of external wiring to properly function. This version of the Animus was used by Daniel Cross upon his return to Abstergo's Philadelphia facility in November 2000.

The Animus model in 2002.

In the two subsequent years, the machine again underwent major technological and visual changes. As noted by Vidic's assistant Dr. Sung, subjects who were used to the model commissioned in 2000 would have difficulty interfacing with the newer model. The newer model bore a closer resemblance to a bed and had a chrome-colored appearance, though a cushion was nonetheless used for the subject's comfort.

By 2002, Abstergo had also begun to produce Animi in greater numbers. A large Animi room had been created in their Philadelphia facility, and another one later in their Rome facility. The Animi room in the Philadelphia was utilized to relive the memories of Assassins captured during the Great Purge, including Paul Bellamy.

Desmond Miles using the Animus 1.28.

Over the course of the next ten years, the appearance of the Animus only received minor updates. In 2012, the Animus had been update to version 1.28, and was created to be more comfortable than previous models. This model was notably used for the Animus Project inside the Rome facility's laboratory, and later in the Animi Training Program in the Rome facility's Animi room.

When in use, the Animus extended a glass panel over and around the head of the user, on which the genetic memories being accessed were projected. The Animus 1.28 was not very energy-efficient, however, and was prone to overheating after extended use. Upon overheating, the blue lighting flashed orange instead.

Animus 2.0

"Baby's twice as awesome as anything you'll find at Abstergo!"

―Rebecca Crane, speaking of her Animus.

Rebecca introducing Desmond to her Animus.

The Animus 2.0 was an upgraded model of the Animus that had been developed by the Assassins in 2012. According to the Animus developer and maintainer, Rebecca Crane, her "Baby" was much better than the ones at Abstergo. She had started developing it with partial schematics sent by Lucy Stillman, the Assassins' spy at Abstergo, and had improvised on the rest.

The Animus 2.0 was different in many ways to the Animus 1.0, both physically and within the three-dimension reality it projected. For example, the background color of the loading sequence changed from an icy blue to white, with the entire region of a memory slowly loading up each time one was accessed.

The external properties of the Animus also changed greatly, with the 2.0 returning to being an actual chair, and offering increased comfort to the user. However, due to this, a catheter in the user's arm was required, in order to access genetic memories and link the user into the Animus itself. Despite these improvements, the Animus still suffered from lagged translation software, and was unable to prevent the bleeding effect over prolonged use.

Desmond in the Animus 2.02 inside the van.

The new Animus model allowed for remote interaction from an outside source, which included uploading database-like information packets for the user to view. During Desmond's time with the Assassins in 2012, Shaun Hastings, a historian and tactician for the Assassins, made great use of this utility, providing countless files on historical figures and locations.

The Animus 2.03 was also used as a life support system for Desmond after he had fallen into a coma; his consciousness threatened by the Bleeding effect. At this time, Clay Kaczmarek's virtual intelligence took over the role of writing the Animus database articles.

Animus 3.0

Upon waking from his comatose state, Desmond entered the Animus 3.0 (or, more precisely, 3.01) to relive the memories of yet another of his ancestors. As he did with the Animus 2.0, Shaun continued to write database entries for the Animus 3.0 system.

By then, the Animus' software had been upgraded to utilize a new visual style.

Usability

"When we switched the Animus control scheme to use standard videogame controls, I guessed that the subject's learning curve would improve; but the increased acclimatization rate we're seeing with these slacker types is astounding."

―Warren Vidic.

At first, Abstergo found their test subjects having difficulty adapting to the Animus control scheme, so they changed the controls to match that of gaming consoles, projecting the controls into the users' mind and significantly improving their response rate, allowing for quicker adoption.

Despite the core of the technology merely allowing the user to view genetic memories encoded into their DNA, the Animus also allowed the user a degree of interaction with the environment they were viewing. Although this was limited in the Abstergo model, the level of interaction increased greatly in the Animus 2.0, allowing the user to choose the pace at which they progressed through the memories.

Synchronization

Main article: Synchronization

The Animus 2.0's meter depicting its user's synchronization with an ancestor.

As the user of the Animus was able to interact with the environment in which they were viewing, the concept of synchronization was brought into play. Failure to follow the memories of an ancestor exactly often resulted in a temporary decrease in synchronization with said ancestor, and continuing such actions would lead to complete desynchronization. This in turn forced the user to reload the memory from an earlier point.

The Animus was designed to put up barriers when the user attempted to interact with an environment the ancestor had not entered at that particular moment in their life, and was also capable of ejecting the user in extreme cases of desynchronization.

Side effects

Main article: Bleeding effect

Use of any variation of the Animus technology was prone to cause mental instability within its users. Prolonged use caused a condition known as the "Bleeding effect", which blended the real-time and genetic memories of the user, transferring thoughts, skills and experiences from the ancestor to the descendant.

Continued and uninterrupted use of the Animus often resulted in mental degradation of the subject, and in extreme cases, total psychological instability.

Trivia

• "Animus" is a Latin term referring to "the mind" in a variety of senses; ranging from the intellect, the will, or the soul.
• In Assassin's Creed, the Animus acted only as a machine and plot element, allowing Desmond to play through Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad's memories the same way the player controls Desmond himself. In Assassin's Creed II, its use was expanded. The Animus became an interface to a new world, including information about the historical locations, people, and time periods. It was developed as a modular tool, allowing the game's developers to explore any aspect, be it additional memories, multiplayer or other content.

Jonathan Hawk inside the Animus.

• A different design of the Animus was used by Jonathan Hawk in the third issue of the French comic series. Because the modern day storyline of this comic series heavily contradicts that of the main canon it is not known if this Animus exists in the main canon.
• In the Animus 1.28, sprinting long enough during the interactive loading sequence would rid the Animus of the random pieces of data flickering around, showing only a blue, foggy expanse. Additionally, Altaïr could hit an invisible barrier.
• While replaying memory blocks in Assassin's Creed, an unusual red-beige tinted abnormality showed itself for one frame as the memory was initiated. This was the inside of Desmond's face, as the camera for the initiation sequence was shown in 3 ways: starting back and moving forward, starting front and moving backwards, and upside-down. When the camera moved slightly backwards, it glitched into Desmond's face. His eyebrows, nose, and lips were easily seen if the screen was frozen.
• Once Ezio's story was completed in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, the option to leave the Animus was removed from its main menu due to Desmond's comatose state.
• The Animus 1.28 made an appearance in every main game so far; used by Desmond in Assassin's Creed and Assassin's Creed II, and by Abstergo employees in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Assassin's Creed: Revelations.

Gallery

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  Animus 2.0 and 1.0 concept art.
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  Alternate Animi concepts as seen in the Assassin's Creed Encyclopedia.
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  Alternate Animus designs as seen in the Assassin's Creed: Encyclopedia.
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  Animus 1.28 as seen in the Assassin's Creed: Encyclopedia.
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  Desmond using the Animus 1.28.
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  Animus 1.28 interface matching two users' genetic memories.
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  The Animi Room in Rome facility.
• Rebecca talking about her Animus 2.0.
  Rebecca talking about her Animus 2.0.
• Warren Vidic explaining how the Animus works.
  Warren Vidic explaining how the Animus works.