Aniimo characters: who's who in the story

Your companion

Helion (page): the embodiment of Sol, courage and light. In the chapter 1 cavern, he offers you his blessing.
Lunara (page): the embodiment of Lun, harmony and wisdom, and the other option.

You only keep one: the one you choose Twines with you and follows you everywhere. The other goes back to sleep in the ruins’ mural, and what happens to it afterwards is one of the main story’s running threads.

The Polaris Institute and the expedition team

Nicole: an expedition member and your guide when you arrive. She only Twines with Stella, her Celestis, and travels with you from chapter 1 to chapter 5.
BINI #9: your terminal and assistant. It translates Idyllian, scans, takes calls and records your research data.
Dr. Lewis: a Pathfinding Department instructor who leads the expedition. He hands you your missions and follows your Elite Training (chapter 2, then the assessments).
Icho: Dr. Lewis’s Prismana Form Scorchhowl, who can speak thanks to the Twining data submitted to the Institute’s AI. His past is at the heart of the legend of Thousand-Fang Ridge.
Instructor Lita: Battle Art Department. She steps in during the chapter 1 cavern, then runs her own assessments with her partner Lumin.
Principal Oswen: head of the Institute and a former explorer of Idyll. He invites you to enroll and gives you his Starbound Journey Badge.
Bohr: head of the Aniimology Department, who warns you about incidents and explains the Prismana Aniimo on display at the Institute. He returns in Mysterious Presence.
Nai-li: a student working the front desk, who handles your enrollment.
Ling: the Institute’s Director of Administration, the person to ask when something goes wrong.
Lana, nicknamed Sheepy: an Aniimology Department student specializing in Nimbi, who runs your orientation lesson in chapter 2.
Sayn: an Institute Aniimo researcher based at the Outpost. His research notes, scattered all over the continent, form a series of rumors.
Dr. Glass: an enthusiastic researcher who sets up observation trials all across Idyll, built around Twining and timers.

The seniors who run your assessments

They all appear in Veinwalker Assessment, one region at a time.

Wally and his Irisal Twirly, in the Sea of Flowers: hopelessly absent-minded once research is involved.
Jilly, at Beast Fang Ridge: a seasoned researcher and a formidable Pathfinder.
Loulla, in Berylline Vale: she turns her assessment into a midnight concert.
Aster, in Rosetower Woods: a perfectionist, more researcher than fighter.
Wendell, at Zephyrus Landbridge: he studies Cozites… but his assessment does not go to plan.
Cecelia, on the Tideblossom Coast: she studies water quality, while surfing.

Bloomville

Sunia: a prodigy perfumer, blessed at the Bloom Festival ten years ago. She travels with you from chapter 3 to chapter 5.
Snowy: Sunia’s white Iris.
Elder Jaeger: the village Elder, an old friend of Principal Oswen.
Selene, Arlo, Jessica, Estee: they teach you how to gather aromathysts, how they are refined, the story of the statue, and village life.
Dia: the Bloomville Envoy, who invites you to the festival at the end of chapter 2.

After the festival, tradition has perfumers set out to collect ingredients, which is why you run into them all across the Journey chapters.

Elvira, at Echoback Landing: she is trying to recreate her mother’s perfume.
Dael, in the Forest of Falling Stars: deeply attached to the Celestises.
Ranka, at Beast Fang Ridge: he gave up on his legendary perfume after a hundred attempts.
Avetine and her apprentice Baboni, in Blitzwood: a teacher who cannot bring herself to leave and a student who thinks she is being cold.
Grace and Cress, in the Russet Highlands: two sisters who agree on nothing, heirs to the same legendary perfume.
Awen and her sister, the writer Aria, in Rosetower Woods: one is looking for her origins, the other sells her stories.
Marlowe, in Berylline Vale: he blends “strange” ingredients and is desperate for a customer.
Fantine, in Driftwise Meadow: cheerful by nature, and misunderstood for it.
Zephyro, at Argent Strait: he sings in front of the Bell of Freedom.
Clovis, who stayed in the village: a young flower grower inseparable from his Budclaw, Floret (Bloomville Notes).

Your Homeland

Fannie: a GoGoHomes engineer who gives you the RV and teaches you to upgrade it (The World Inside the RV).
Jojo, Yama, Yu and Ben: the GoGoHomes crew — construction, furniture, park management — who show up across the acts and during the harvest gathering.

In Astra

Nova: a Holo-Lab engineer, on the front line when holographic equipment goes wrong (Mysterious Presence).
Jiff: he runs Astra’s Super Claw shop, where one machine starts acting up.
Lucas the photographer, Shulala the painter obsessed with circles, and Oscar the contest host: they carry the Astra stories.

The Aniimo who speak

Irelia, the Irisalis: the Aniimo everyone waits for at Bloomville’s Bloom Festival.
Velouria, the Somniwing: queen of the Flutternyms, who tastes dreams from Lumenfly Valley.
Aeolus: the Aeon who ruled the Zephyr Coast, gone for a century.
Tucking and the strange Hummin of the Mistwoods: a hundred-year-old promise.
The Omega Sherro of Echoback Landing, Princess Melloblum of Rosetower Woods, the Infergon of the Russet Highlands: every region has its legendary Aniimo.

The black-robed figures

A hooded group turns up as early as chapter 3: they carry copies of the ancient cube and target the most powerful Aniimo. One of them shows up during an assessment and names their organization; the rest is in Veinwalker Assessment. The game says no more than that in version 1.0.

Going further

The Aniimo story summary, for the full plot.
Story and quests, for the list of chapters.
Rumors and clues, for the side quests and the characters you only meet once.

Frequently asked questions

Should you pick Helion or Lunara as your companion?

The game has you choose one of their blessings in the chapter 1 cavern. Helion embodies Sol, courage and light; Lunara embodies Lun, harmony and wisdom. The story is the same either way: only your companion's lines change, and the other one has a part to play in the plot.

Which character travels with you the most?

Nicole, a member of the expedition team. She is your guide in chapter 1 and stays with you through nearly all of the main story.

Do Aniimo talk in Aniimo?

Ordinary Aniimo only make sounds, but you understand them when you Twine with a member of their family. A few exceptional Aniimo — Helion, Lunara, Velouria, Irelia, Aeolus or Dr. Lewis's Icho — speak to humans directly.