Race Descriptions

SHINIGAMI

The Shinigami Race is the oldest, and perhaps most powerful, race among the three worlds. Comprised of powerful souls who have gained dominance over their spiritual energy, the shinigami have likely existed since the first human souls made their way to Soul Society. Using sword shaped manifestation of their power, their zanpakuto, the shinigami are the primary peacekeepers among the worlds, focusing on the peaceful transfer of souls from the human world to the spiritual world. However, in this duty they are also forced to deal with the monstrous hollow race that seeks to undo the balance the shinigami have built. To combat this threat, the shinigami created the Gotei 13, an advanced military organization that trains and deploys shinigami for their duties. Split into thirteen companies led by the powerful captains, the Gotei 13 has been set up to deal with any and all threats with full force.

For 3000 years, this has been all that was necessary. After the end of the Great Spiritual War, the shinigami managed to establish hegemony over all three worlds. With the hollows forced into the darkest corners of the menos forest and the decrease in the spiritual awareness humans were showing, it seemed like nothing could ever shake the power of the shinigamis.

However, peace has had the bad habit of bringing about a stagnation in the powers of the shinigami. Without any true threat, the power of the Gotei 13 has steadily decreased over the centuries. While the powers of the shinigami have once again been increasing since 500 years ago, the damage had already been done. With the millions of deaths brought about by the world wars, the shinigami were not able to respond properly to the vast influx of souls. This led to a spike in hollow numbers and strength. With their newfound power, the hollows were able to force the shinigami out of Hueco Mundo and lost some control in the human world. As other powerful races are arising, the shinigami will have to once again prove that they have the strength to lead the worlds.

HIDDEN SECRETS WITHIN THE GOTEI?

Just like all great orgainzations though, the shinigami are not without their own secrets. Deep within the Archives and hidden in the knowledge of the Council of 46 lie many pieces of information that are hoped to never see the light of day. Even the Sotaicho himself is often wrapped in mystery with knowledge of events or beings that must be kept from the other shinigami. While this has caused some distrust among the captains, especially with the revelation that the potential existence of the vizards had been hidden from them, it has yet to cause serious damage to the Gotei. Whether it will remain this way is unknown.

ARRANCAR

The newest evolution of the hollow race, the arrancars have quickly risen as the greatest enemy to peace in the spiritual worlds. Born through a process that breaks the barrier between hollow and shinigami powers, the arrancars have the abilitiy to use their own form of zanpakuto, a weapon that seals their true form and power to allow them to reach new levels of strength when released. While powerful, crafting an arrancar is no easy task as only Menos Grandes, an advanced form of hollow, can be changed into Arrancar. And even then, the transformation of menos to Arrancar is a process only known by the Primera Espada - Pereza.

The birth of a Menos first requires large numbers of hollows, souls that were not guided safely to the soul society and instead lost their chain of fate becoming akin to a raging starving beast. While some have more reason than others, the fact that they are a monster remains unchanged. When hollows grow too large and strong, they begin to hunger for more power, eventually eating their own kin. As the hollow feeds on other hollows and other hollows feed on it, the end result of this cannibalistic orgy is a towering behemoth which is a menos grande.

There are three forms of menos grande and while all menos start as Gillians, they can evolve farther by consuming other Menos. The 3 forms are:

Gillian- The tall lumbering giants that form from all of the hollows consuming each other. While most have little intelligence due to the mixing of so many minds, sometimes a single personality rises out of the mix to take control. It is only when this happens that a menos can evolve farther.

Adjuchas- The second form of menos is far more powerful then Gillians and begin to look similar to regular hollows, being usually very bestial in appearance.

Vasto Lordes - The most powerful form of menos, the Vasto Lordes are exceedingly rare with only a few appearing in centuries. Unlike their large brethren, Vasto Lordes are usually humanoid in shape and size.

While eating hollows can increase the power of a menos and facilitate an evolution, not eating hollows can allow a hollow to devolve to lower evolutions. The only way to prevent this is to have part of your body eaten by another hollow. However this is a double edged sword as it also prevents the menos from gaining stronger if they have not reached their personal peak power. At that point the only way to become more powerful is to accept the transformation into an arrancar which allows the arrancar to gain new power simply by training, and not by eating their fellow hollows.

Since the initial power of an arrancar is based on their power level pre-evolution, the Primera Pereza has searched for the most powerful menos to transform using his methods into arrancar. The ten most powerful Arrancar have banded together under the power of the Primera to create the organization known as the Espada. With a goal to make a new world order led by the hollow race, the Espada will stop at nothing to make their dreams a reality.

THE POWERFUL PRIMERA

At the top of this hierarchy of power lies the Primera Espada, Pereza. While for years he had been basically a fixture of Hueco Mundo, affecting very little and keeping to himself, this changed one day. One day he appeared from the Abyssal Plains crushing every hollow in his way until reaching Las Noches. In a few minutes he conquered it and in front of the watching survivors, demonstrated his ability to create arrancars from the other hollows. When he called for a new hollow order under his leadership, the fear of him and the lust for power brought many under his command. How he gained the abilitiy to create arrancars remains a mystery, but he still remains one of the few with the ability to do so. While he taught his closest followers how to perform the procedure as well, he remains the most important figure in the lives of the hollows.

VIZARD

The Vizards are one of the more unusal groups of the five main races. Originally shinigami who served the Gotei 13, they secretely left after gaining new hollow powers allowing them to summon a hollow mask to temporarily increase their powers. What remains unique about them is that the Vizards did not develop as an actual race, but as a grouping of individuals that each gained power for their own reasons and needs.

The race is split into two parts. One is the actual Vizard organization. Led by the High Elite and Low Elite Councils, the organization primarily works in recrutiting more vizards and keeping the defenses of their secret hideaway strong. While many of them participated in the war against the arrancars in the human world, many others decided to stay behind not wishing to deal with the conflict.

The other half is the so-called Rogue Vizards. Not all of the Vizards actually joined the main organization. For some this was because of ideological reasons, while others could not control their power well enough to be granted the knowledge of the base's location. While a few individuals have banded together to protect each other, most of the rogues are loners trying to just get along with their lives without having to deal with the racial conflicts. Still others have more sinister intentions in avoiding working with others.

Despite their difference, both groups shared two things in common, their origin and the fact that the shinigami did not know of their existence. Given power by the Vizard Maker, the Vizards were able to escape the watchful eye of the gotei and stay hidden from the world. However, this did not last as the interference of a rogue vizard during a hollow attack led the humans, hollows, and shinigami to all learn of the unusual shinigami that had been hiding all this time. With these stunning revelations, it is unknown what the future holds for this strange group.

VIZARD MAKER

The enigmatic creator and "leader" of the Vizards, the Vizard Maker is one of the most powerful beings in all of the worlds. While he is the sole person with the power and knowledge to create vizards, he has kept a nonchalant role in guiding the Vizard race. Instead of asserting his authority, he instead let the Elite Councils be formed allowing him the time to work on his hidden agenda. Due to his past and intentions being unknown to all, many vizards, especially among the elites, hold a level of mistrust for him. However, until he actually shows darker wishes, they have agreed to allow him some level of leadership if the Elites allow it.

The war among the shinigami and the arrancars did lead to a minor change in the Vizard Maker. Normally calm and aloof, the war brought about a more panicked side of him. While still witholding a lot of information from the other Vizards, he has expressed a fear of an ancient race that has the possibility of bringing about anarchy within the worlds. Whether the war ended up unsealing these creatures like he feared has yet to be seen.

Quincy

The primary protectors of living humans and human counterpart of the shinigami, the Quincy are one of the older races in the world, but also one of the smallest. The Quincy are a group of humans who have gained access to spiritual powers and the ability to manipulate them for use in creating reishi bows. Unlike the superhumans usually have a trigger for discovering their abilities, it is usually a slower process for the Quincy. Usually a child manages to show some ability to use spiritual particles at an early age. If discovered by a Quincy, they will then be schooled in the use of the abilities. Instruction usually lasts about ten years before they are considered to be fully versed in their powers.

The Quincies are considered to be fundamentally different with the way they use their abilities compared to the other races. While shinigami and hollows use the spiritual power from within, Quincies instead take control of the reishi in the atmosphere around them to create arrows for their bows. This means that location tends to be extremely important for the Quincies, while still powerful in the human world, they can reach greater heights in the reishi-lush worlds of the Seiretei and Hueco Mundo.

The Quincies are known for having one of the more organized races. Modeling themselves partially after the Gotei, they are run by a Council of ten of the most powerful and knowledgeable Quincy. The Council is the primary ruling body of the Quincies and issues orders for the rest of the race. Their headquarters is located in an underground area beneath a large office building in Karakura. Second in power to the Council are the Quincy Knights. They are the main offensive force of the race and are usually the teachers and leaders of the young quincies. While the Quincy race has its main activities in Japan, it still has various groups all around the world.

For years the Quincy have been able to act without too many issues. The shinigami usually tolerate the Quincy as long as their hollow killing doesn't interfere too much with the Gotei, while the Quincy feel their ability to respond quickly to issues in the human world gives them an advantage. They also have a tenuous alliance with the Superhumans due to both being human, but it hasn't progressed very far.

Superhumans

The unusual cousins of the Quincy, the Superhumans are actually the youngest race to grace the face of the human world. Superhumans start out as regular humans who have been raised in areas of strong spiritual energy. As time passes the spiritual energy begins to affect humans that are the most susceptible to it. This beings a process where the human begins to start generating low levels of their own spiritual energy.

For some people this affects them little and they can go their whole lives without it mattering or even being aware of the fact. However it is possible for a surge in this power to be triggered by contact by another being of high levels of spiritual power. While Superhuman powers can be triggered by any race, they are usually activated after or during a hollow attack. At first activation they tend to be rather weak and chaotic. It is only with practice and experience that more energy can be channeled and controlled.

Unlike the non-hollow races that have their power in some type of weapon, the Superhumans usually have their body itself become their weapon. When their powers are activated Superhumans are able to convert parts of their body from physical matter to spiritual matter. From there they can then manipulate the spiritual matter to either form weapons connected to their body or increase their physical or mental abilities. While it is possible to also use this ability to change other matter based objects into spiritual weapons, this is usually more difficult to control and has a much shorter duration that it can be used before the object begins to weaken.

THE CHAOTIC ORGANIZATION

Being the youngest race, the Superhumans are also the least organized. Constantly fearing that their race will be exposed to the general public, the most influential and powerful Superhumans created a group known as the Superhuman Overseers. While some of the Overseers are extremely powerful, others gained their position do to monetary or political might. Their main duty is to make sure that they remain a secret organization and to silence any that might try to expose them in any way necessary. Due to the varied backgrounds and powers of the Overseers they are often a divided council with many different wishes and intentions. To make sure that Superhumans from all over the world are represented there are 3 Overseers each for North America, Asia, and Europe. The sole Overseer from Japan brings the council to 10.

Directly subordinate to the Overseers are the Superhuman Generals. While they are often tasked with any jobs the Overseers can't or don't want to complete on their own, the General's main job is to scout out other Superhumans to be added to the organization. This often involves triggering the powers of a Superhuman if they had not yet been released or covering up the damages done by Superhumans who have not yet gained control of their powers.

Otaku

While considered a separate race all on its own, the Otaku are actually just a specific category within the larger Superhuman race. Like regular Superhumans they are originally changed due to the large volume of spiritual energy in the area they live. Even to the point of their powers being triggered there is little difference spiritually that distinguishes the Otaku from the rest of the race. It is actually the regular life of the Otaku that separates them..

Otaku tend to be extremely interested in Japanese culture, primarily the games, anime, and manga that are created there. For some it is just a big interest but they still have a regular life and it doesn't effect them too much. For others it can become a complete obsession that dominates most of their life and time. Some are fascinated by all kinds of shows and games, while others only focus their time and energy on one or two series.

As Superhuman abilities usually develop to complement the interests or skills of the user, this leads to an interesting change for Otaku Superhumans. Due to their heightened interest in a specific fandom their abilities will actually develop to emulate this. This leads to the unusual situation where abilities that are supposed to be in works of fiction actually manage to appear in the real world due to the spiritual constructs of Otaku.

OTAKU RITUALS

At first this was greeted with little fanfare or interest. It was only when a few of the most powerful Otaku Superhumans started to band together creating their own group within the organization. Deciding that unity would be necessary if they wanted a larger voice in the organization, they ended up creating certain rituals that would separate them from their peers. The main one is to have an actual physical object that would serve as their medium similar to the zanpakutos of the shinigami. While it is usually in the form of a fanmade graphic novel known as a dojinshi, it is possible to replace it with something more appropriate if requested.

The other aspect of their ritual for releasing their powers is their release phrase and pose. Since they did not initially need a release phrase to release their powers they decided that there should be one that all Otaku used. After much debate and far too much sake they decided on the internet meme "So I heard you liek mudkips!" In retrospect some of the Otaku wish they hadn't been so silly with their decision but made an agreement not to change it until at least a year of use has passed. To add to the power of their release each Otaku has a specific pose they take when activating their medium. While they are still testing to see if it actually does increase their power or not, most are too amused by it to care one way or another.

REBELLION IN THE ORGANIZATION

While the Otaku loyally served the Superhuman Org even after establishing their own group eventually unexpected trouble arose. When certain government officials in Japan tried to outlaw anime and manga the Otaku Superhumans and regular humans were furious about the decision. When their pleas to the Overseers to try to force the officials to step down from the proposal failed, the Otaku Superhumans decided to take matters into their own hands. In a surprising series of events the Otaku established their own base and actually managed to raise a small army of their fellows and began a takeover of Japan. Since then they have begun to turn their attention on the rest of the world with mixed results.