Honkai: Nexus Anima World Guide: Planes and Factions
The world of Honkai: Nexus Anima explained: the Material Lip's nine continents, the other named Planes, and the factions that run Iia's Nexus Battles.
The world of Honkai: Nexus Anima is 81 Planes left behind by the Sundering. You start on the Plane of Reality, the Material Lip, which has nine continents. In the town of Iia, three powers decide who reaches the Grand Championship: the Committee for a Joyful Iia, the Nexus Association and the True Nexus Syndicate.
This guide covers the parts of the setting that the lore primer only touches on. It explains:
- what Anima are inside the fiction
- the identity of each continent
- the other Planes the game describes
- the institutions you deal with in Iia
- the dated history from the Old Era to today
The primer covers the cosmic layer: the Sundering, Sovereigns versus Novarchs, and the World-Ender. Read it first if those words are new to you.
Everything here comes from the closed-beta build. Names, spellings and details can change before release, and anything we infer rather than read directly is labelled as an inference. Heavy story spoilers are deliberately left out.
Key takeaways
- Anima are energy lifeforms born from the broken Nexus. Each one’s form is shaped by the Aspects tied to its origin. The first Animasters were the people who teamed up with them after the Sundering.
- Mages exist, and they are hated. Ordinary people can use Aspect magic only by sacrificing Anima, which the Nexus Association considers cruel and evil.
- The Material Lip has nine continents. Each has a nickname and a ruling idea, from Karkacia’s “Wriggling Bread” collectivism to Urlan’s cult of muscle.
- Iia runs on three powers and one rulebook. The Committee, the Nexus Association and the True Nexus Syndicate each hold recommendation quotas for the Qualifiers. The Competition Council sets the rules for every Plane.
- The Grand Championship runs every four years. Romanesque Hall’s Arena Master portraits date entries from 82 NE to 206 NE. All of them fall on that cycle.
- The game does not tie this setting to Star Rail or Impact. The overlap is in names only.
What Anima are, inside the story
The game’s own glossary describes Anima as “Energy lifeforms born from the broken Nexus.” Their forms and natures vary, shaped by the Aspects tied to their origin. That is why a Hate Anima and a Light Anima look and fight so differently. The Aspect is not a type label bolted on. It is what the creature is made of.
An in-world history book written by a self-described Puddlipup fanatic gives the human side. When the Sundering hit, humans and Anima found themselves “suddenly thrust into the Reality Plane”. The cities seemed copied and pasted from elsewhere. People learned to work with the Anima they met, and “those pioneers later came to be known as the first generation of Animasters.” The author also credits Anima with letting humans cross between Planes. That is part of why travel between Planes, and the title Planestrider, matters so much in the story.
Animasters versus mages
Aspect magic has three kinds of user:
- Sovereigns and Novarchs, the rulers who govern Aspects.
- Anima, who are connected to the Aspects.
- Mages, ordinary people outside those two groups.
The catch is how mages do it. In the game’s words, they “use magic by sacrificing Anima”. The Nexus Association “largely considers mages’ behavior cruel and evil.” In some Planes aligned with Anima, mages are particularly loathed.
That gives the setting a clear moral line. An Animaster partners with Anima. A mage spends them. The bond guide covers the partnership side mechanically.
Anima as workers and patients
Daily life leans hard on Anima. A shopkeeper in Iia admits that many Old World technologies “are on the verge of being lost”, so “we mostly rely on Anima to get things done.” The game treats that work as labour. One line cites the “Donia Anima Labor Rights Protection Act”: Anima involved in major accidents must get at least a month’s leave.
There is medicine too. A clinical psychologist at Nexus Hall writes that Animatherapy, therapy through Nexus Anima, “rapidly gained acceptance across the Material Lip” after the Sundering. It rests on the emotional bond between Anima and people. If you want the creatures themselves, the Anima dex lists every catchable one with its Aspect and where to find it.
The Material Lip and its nine continents
The Plane of Reality is called the Material Lip, after a bottomless canyon in Karkacia’s northern mountains. It is one Plane among 81. The same history book calls it unremarkable among them, though the primer notes it is also the least damaged.
When you study a map of it in the story, the game numbers its nine continents in order and gives each a nickname and a ruling idea. This is the clearest picture of the world beyond Iia so far:
| # | Continent | Nickname | What defines it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Karkacia | “Solid Worm” | Collective belief that material abundance is the bedrock of life; “Wriggling Bread” ideology |
| 2 | Lusciell | “Tactile Land” | Home of Iia; described as “teetering between reality and fiction” |
| 3 | Adoras | “Feverish Passion” | Only the faction that reaches the supreme “Ninth Fever” may lead |
| 4 | Crankwirshaft | (named for its ruler) | “Where machines roar and capital surges”; the “Imperial Marquis” renamed it after himself |
| 5 | Noggintop | None given | Brilliant minds, zero interest in collectivism, led by “General Stumpy” Scratch du Win |
| 6 | Sambadia | “Alchemical Sugarland” | Syrup and sweets; a radical “Cosmic Cultivation” ideology under the “Insane Mistress” Xianglun |
| 7 | Helania-Cassipu | None given | A paradise ruled by “Passerby Ideology”, mocked as a “Co-Living Hub” |
| 8 | Fuyu | None given | A “Meditation Creed” that outsiders mock as a robe named “Peace” |
| 9 | Urlan | “Limb Realm” | “Muscle builds strength, and strength fuels progress”; ruled by Lee Buster |
The continents also define each other. Sambadia’s sweets and imports turn up in Iia’s shops. One merchant ships stock on to “Fuyu and Sambadia”. The story’s own comparisons cast Sambadians as the most feared ideologues. Karkacia, Adoras and Sambadia read as three rival answers to how a society should be run.
Lusciell and Iia
Lusciell is the only continent you can walk around in the beta. Its town of Iia “was once voted the happiest town in Lusciell, though times have changed since then.” The Committee for a Joyful Iia was set up to win that title back.
Street by street, Iia belongs to the exploration guide, which maps every district. What matters here is that Iia is a qualifying town for a tournament that spans Planes, and that is why every faction in town cares about it.
Bai Mei, the 8th Novarch and ruler of the Plane of Reality, on her Eidos banner.
Who rules the Plane of Reality
The Material Lip has its own Novarch, and the post rotates. The game calls Bai Mei “the 8th Novarch”, and “due to the unique rotation system of the Plane of Reality, only one year remains in her term.” She is the only ruler in the cast whose power comes with a fixed term. Her Eidos page covers her kit.
The other Planes the game names
The primer already lists the Planes that Zero describes: the Lotus Realm, Pontus, the Changelands, Sahaloka and others. Characters, letters and museum labels add these. The names come straight from the game. Where it gives the Aspect, we list it.
| Plane | Aspect | How the game describes it |
|---|---|---|
| The Amphitheater | Competition | The Plane of Competition, ruled by Sir Champion, the 34th Novarch; home of the Grand Championship |
| Court of Dragons | Order | The seat of Victus, the Novarch of Order |
| Amber Rapids | Stasis | “A valley of eternal stillness, where time has no meaning, as if preserved in amber” |
| Eternal Carnival | Joy | “A giant disco ball in the sky”, and parties that never stop |
| Mirage | Nihility | Where “everything lacks substance, and even love and hate end in silence” |
| Aurumidas | Prosperity | Source of an enchanted museum piece that sometimes cries at night |
| Veluriyam Sanctum | Not stated | Millions of temples, each lit by a single oil lamp; “shadows find no refuge” |
| Plane of Silence | Silence | Home of the Silent Library, named as one family’s ancestral origin |
| Plane of Closedness | Closedness | No communication has been established with it yet |
| Plane of Misfortune | Misfortune | Its hats are said to pass on inescapable bad luck |
| Plane of Insatiability | Insatiability | A visitor comes back craving a dozen berry tarts |
Two patterns stand out. First, a Plane’s name and its Aspect usually match its feel: Stasis is frozen time, and Joy is an endless party. That is the same logic the primer describes, a concept made into a place.
Second, the Planes are not equally reachable. Reality has postal links to other Planes. One Plane is still out of contact. And reaching the Plane of Competition is the goal the main story sets you. Sir Champion has an Eidos page for his kit.
Factions and institutions in Iia
In the story, Juelle sums up the politics in one quest line. Iia’s major powers, “the Committee, the True Nexus Syndicate, and the Nexus Association, all have quotas to recommend participants for the Qualifiers.” Every early quest chain is one of these groups testing you before it spends its quota.
| Body | Who leads it in Iia | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Committee for a Joyful Iia | Juelle, Chair | Runs the town, registers newcomers, co-hosts Qualifier events |
| Nexus Association | Herocrates, the “Professor” | Anima rights, Nexus Hall, rescues of corrupted Anima |
| True Nexus Syndicate | Olympia, acting Director | The town’s muscle and wildcard Qualifier entries |
| Competition Council | Supervisors on site | Competition rules, Arenas and Arena Masters across all Planes |
| Fleming Collective | Fleming, Novarch of Prosperity | Pushing into Iia’s high street |
Committee for a Joyful Iia
The Committee is the town government you meet first. Arriving as an “unannounced Planestrider”, you must register your identity at its hall before anything else. Its Chair is Juelle. Alongside the Competition Council, it co-hosts the Qualifiers’ award ceremony. It also has a habit of issuing earnest official statements, such as tracking an Arena’s “Happiness Index”.
Nexus Association
The Association was founded by Archetippos, author of the Archetippic Oath. “The original purpose of the Nexus Association was to fight for the rights of Anima as living beings.” In Iia it runs Nexus Hall, “a public service organization funded and founded by the Nexus Association”, where people get their Anima treated and learn how to care for them for free.
It is not uniform across the Planes. A character notes that in Pontus, the Plane of Life, the local Association is “every bit as brazen as the True Nexus mafia.” In Iia its face is Herocrates. He sends you with Association volunteers to rescue Anima corrupted by the Illusion Aspect in Old Town.
True Nexus Syndicate
The Syndicate is Iia’s rougher power. “Among the public, the True Nexus Syndicate is often derisively referred to as a mafia or gang.” Members are called goons. Its local operation is run by Olympia, acting Director of the Iia branch office. Her subordinate Carole shows you what a day of Syndicate work looks like.
It keeps a headquarters building and a “mysterious warehouse near the Old Town Garden”. It also offers a wildcard entry to the Qualifiers, a backup route if the Association’s recommendation falls through.
Olympia, who runs the True Nexus Syndicate’s Iia branch, with her companion Anima Noctumbra.
Competition Council and the Arena Masters
The “Comprehensive Council of Competition”, or Competition Council, sits above the town. It is “responsible for the overall competition rules across all the Planes, approving Arena locations, Arena Master candidates, partner organizations, and so on.” Each approved Arena has numbered Arena Masters. Romanesque Hall’s portrait gallery runs at least to the 31st. The PvP or PvE guide covers what this means for battles.
Fleming Collective
Fleming, the Novarch of Prosperity, has a foothold in Iia: Fleming Tower, and the Fleming Collective, which is pushing into the town’s shops. Locals use him as the benchmark for a bad boss: “no bonuses, denying leave, bleeding employees dry”. The Committee hires you to keep the Collective out of Iia’s high street. That is the setup of the Business Revitalization Plan.
The Esotericists, an Old World order
One group predates the Sundering. The Esotericists were an occult order of the Old World, devoted to Four Kings of the cardinal directions with a “Xanthous Emperor” at their centre. One scholar in the game claims Romanesque Hall’s location matches their geomancy records. Modern fortune-tellers, according to an in-world essay, trace their techniques back to the Esotericists’ doctrines.
Money, mail and rumours: daily life after the Sundering
The small details make the setting feel lived in, and several double as game systems.
- Sciellings are the currency of Lusciell, and the gold you spend on levelling. A letter mentions “Sciellings” and “currencies from other Planes” side by side, so each Plane appears to have its own money.
- Tactile Post carries mail between Planes. A newspaper story describes a “cursed letter from another Plane” shutting the post office down. Characters explain that cursed letters are “interplanar letters with an Aspect”.
- Obliviosis is a memory-loss disease that has spread since the Sundering, and most of Iia knows someone with it. The primer covers its suspected cause.
- Tabloid myths fill the gaps. One local paper runs “The Squazard Enigma”. It claims that alien Squazards took over the old aristocracy’s palace after the Sundering and now plot underground, reached through an Arena that supposedly leads to the Murkmarches. Officials call it rumour.
- Kampete, a “legendary Planestrider” ranger, is Iia’s folk hero. The Gallery of Kampete’s Wanderings in Aniwon Plaza shows his collection from distant Planes.
Timeline: from the Old Era to 214 NE
The game dates events from the Sundering. The present is 214 NE (New Era). Before that, the Old World kept a different calendar, “OE”. Putting every dated line together gives this timeline:
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 893 OE | An Old World letter, dated “Brumaire”, describes Esotericist rituals |
| Before the Sundering | Romanesque Palace serves as the royal summer retreat |
| 0 NE | The Sundering splits the world into 81 Planes, 214 years before the story |
| 28 NE | A plebiscite opens Romanesque Hall to the public |
| 50s NE | Visitors dwindle and the Hall falls into disrepair |
| 61 NE | A second plebiscite nearly demolishes it; a lady from the Plane of Competition saves it |
| 70 NE | The Hall is renovated and the Iia Qualifiers begin |
| 74 NE | Gimli Festo, the 1st Arena Master, wins the Qualifiers |
| 82 to 90 NE | Lestra, 4th Arena Master, reaches the quarterfinals three times in a row |
| 98 and 102 NE | Dr. White, 8th Arena Master, competes |
| 114 and 118 NE | AJ, 12th Arena Master, competes |
| 146 NE | Lohart Lohart reaches the semifinals |
| 157 NE | The Gallery of Kampete’s Wanderings opens in Aniwon Plaza |
| 166 and 170 NE | Shi Tingwan competes; her best result is second place |
| 178 NE | Jacquelede Faye Skylight, 27th Arena Master, reaches the semifinals |
| 194 to 206 NE | Ollie Greene, 31st Arena Master, competes three times |
| 214 NE | The present: you arrive in Iia during Qualifier season |
The Grand Championship “is only held once every four years”. Every Championship year on the portraits (82, 86, 90, 98, 102, 114, 118, 146, 166, 170, 178, 194, 202, 206) sits on the same four-year cycle as 70 NE and 74 NE. Our inference: the cycle lands on 214 NE too, which fits the story putting you in Iia as the Qualifiers open. The game does not print the year next to the current tournament, so treat that as arithmetic, not a quote.
Is Nexus Anima connected to Honkai Impact or Star Rail?
Players search this constantly, so here is what the beta text shows. The connection is in names, not in shared history.
Several familiar names appear:
- Kiana is a Planestrider who handles contaminated Anima.
- Otto lives in Iia and researches a cure for obliviosis, the disease that took his father.
- Blade is a Novarch.
- Kafka is named as a vanished Sovereign of Strength and Weakness.
- The Plane of Nihility echoes a Star Rail term.
None of it comes with backstory from the other games. Herrscher, Honkai energy, Aeon and Stellaron appear nowhere in the beta’s English script, and “Honkai” turns up only in the game’s own title.
So the safe reading is that HoYoverse reused names and motifs, and this setting is its own world of Planes and Aspects. If that changes at launch, we will update this section. Meanwhile the characters guide covers who each familiar name actually is here.
Bottom line
The setting has more structure than the cosmic story suggests. There are nine continents with competing ideologies, a dozen Planes with distinct personalities, and three local powers with a shared rulebook above them. The fiction also explains its own mechanics:
- why Anima carry Aspects
- why every quest asks which faction you are helping
- why the Grand Championship runs on a four-year clock
For the cosmic layer, read the lore primer. For the town itself, see the exploration guide. To meet the faction leaders as playable units, browse the Eidos database, and check the tier list before you spend on any of them.
Frequently asked questions
- How many continents are there in Honkai: Nexus Anima?
- Nine. They all sit on the Material Lip, the Plane of Reality: Karkacia, Lusciell, Adoras, Crankwirshaft, Noggintop, Sambadia, Helania-Cassipu, Fuyu and Urlan. The game starts you in Iia, a town on Lusciell, the second continent.
- What is the Nexus Association?
- An organization founded by Archetippos, author of the Archetippic Oath, whose original purpose was to fight for the rights of Anima as living beings. In Iia it funds Nexus Hall, the public clinic and events venue for Anima, and it can recommend you for the Championship Qualifiers.
- Who are the True Nexus Syndicate?
- One of Iia's three major powers, alongside the Committee for a Joyful Iia and the Nexus Association. The public derisively calls it a mafia. Olympia is the acting Director of its Iia branch, and it can offer you a wildcard entry to the Championship Qualifiers.
- What year is it in Honkai: Nexus Anima?
- The present is 214 NE, the New Era, counted from the Sundering 214 years ago. The world before it used a different calendar: an Old World letter in the game is dated "Brumaire, 893 OE".
- Is Honkai: Nexus Anima connected to Honkai Impact 3rd or Honkai: Star Rail?
- Not in any way the game states. Names such as Kiana, Otto, Blade and Kafka recur, but the in-game text never mentions Herrscher, Honkai energy, Aeons or the Stellaron, and Kiana and Otto have new roles here. Treat the shared names as nods, not a shared timeline.