Encyclopedia of Soul Society (outdated)

BLEACH

An Anime and Manga, Bleach is a supposed version of the afterlife.

Arrancar: (see Hollow)

Bankai: (see Soul Slayer)

Bount: A race of people genetically created by the shinigami. Rejected as a failed experiment, the Bounts were driven into hiding. A bount can potentially live forever, if it absorbs only dead souls (also sending them to Soul Society). This excess energy is stored in the form of dolls. Bount can also opt to absorb the soul of a living being. However, this ages the bount slightly (thus erasing the whole point of eating souls) and permanently destroying the soul.

-Dolls: A doll is the physical manifestation of the soul power of a bount. A doll is fully sentient and can rebel. However, both the bount and the doll cannot survive without each other, and either will die when the other perishes. A doll ahs many ranges of abilites.

Heroic Souls from this category:
Jin Kariya
Koga kou

Deathstone (see Soul Society)

Gargantua (see hollow)

Gigai (see Shinigami tools)

Ginto (see Quincy)

Healing (shinigami) see healing--disambiguation

Hollow: a type of demon, considered the first of tehm. Hollows are the result of a soul whose hate nad sorrow amnifest themselves as a demon, hidesouly transforming the body. These Hollows are very different, vary8ing in size nad shape adn sharing only a mask, usually procelain-looking and a hole in its chest. Hollows, make of extoplasma, can only be seen by toehr dead spirits, but cna affect their environment.

-Types of Hollow


Regular hollow: read the above

-Arrancar

A hollow who has removed his mask and regained his common sense and shinigami powers. A arrancar has power usually mroe powerful than the hollows they were, given new Shinigami powers. they have, like Shinigami, a Zanpakutou. these are, unlike their shinigami coutnerparts, not sentient, and merely hold the hollow's former self. while it cna only be activated for a short time (called ressurecion), this regains their former abilites and also keeps them in control. Their mask usaully returns. Arrancar still retain their holes, and their intellegence determines how human they look

Abilities:

Like shinigami, hollows have a multitude of combat skills and abilities, most of which are usually unique to specific hollows. The more powerful hollows, however, have access to a range similar techniques of greater power or use than their own unique skills. Hollows usually acquire energy to power their abilities by devouring souls, but can also ingest energy from the air when in spiritual realms such as Hueco Mundo

Cero (虚閃, lit. "hollow flash;" the pronunciation is Spanish for zero) are high-powered energy blasts that can be fired from the mouth or hand. Only menos, arrancar, and vizard have so far been shown to use cero attacks, and it appears that higher classes of hollow can use it more efficiently. It is unknown whether sufficiently strong regular hollows are capable of it, but Ichigo Kurosaki's inner hollow was able to use the attack when it fully took control of him during his training with the vizard. Arrancar can utilize a stronger version known as Gran Ray Cero.
Negación (反膜, lit. "counter membrane;" the pronunciation is Spanish for negation) fields are used to rescue fellow hollows. Only the gillian-class menos have shown the ability to use it. Negación fields surround a target in a square beam of light that isolates the target from the dimension they are currently in, making it impossible to harm them. The field then pulls the target towards the menos that created the field.
Gonzui (魂吸, lit. "soul suck") is a technique used by Yammy to absorb the souls from a large number of living people. It is only effective on people with low spiritual power
Pesquisa (探査回路, lit. "inquiry circuit;" the pronunciation is Spanish for inquiry) is the arrancar equivalent of the shinigami ability to sense spiritual pressure. It functions similar to sonar.
Hierro (鋼皮, lit. "steel skin;" the pronunciation is Spanish for iron) refers to the ultratough skin of the arrancar, which is a result of their compressed spiritual power. While their skin is strong enough to block even released zanpakutō bare-handed, it is by no means impenetrable. Stronger arrancar have proportionally stronger skin.
Sonido (響転, lit. "resounding revolution;" the pronunciation is Spanish for sound) is the arrancar equivalent of the shinigami flash steps; it allows the user to travel at incredibly high speeds for short distances. Use of sonido is punctuated by a brief static sound, in contrast to the "swish" sound used for flash steps.
Bala (虚弾, lit. "hollow bullet;" the pronunciation is Spanish for bullet) is a weaker but quicker alternative to the regular cero attack. The technique hardens the user's spiritual pressure and fires it at around twenty times the speed of a cero blast.
Garganta (黒腔, lit. "black cavity;" the pronunciation is Spanish for throat) is how arrancar move to and from Hueco Mundo. Kaname Tōsen has also demonstrated the ability to use the technique. It literally tears open the dimensional fabric separating the worlds, revealing a tunnel of whirling, torrential energy that must be focused and solidified to create a discernible pathway. When used, the technique opens the dimensional fabric like a door.

Heroic SOuls:
Ulquoirra Schiffer

Hueco Mundo

The home to the hollows, Hueco Mundo takes the form of a desert of white sand in everlasting darkness. HOwever, there is a single, massive castel there, where the former Shingami Sosuke Aizen once dwelled, as well as the cliff dwellings of Las NOches. Hollows who are defeated but no purified return here.

Kido (see SHInigami skills nad items)

Quincy


A race of human, teh QUincy were formed from the survivors of Hollow attacks who evolved a bloodline enablign them to fight, and defeat quite easily hollows. A quincy generally is dressed in teh white garb of a European Priest or a white Chinese Tunic.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1e/Ishida_bow.JPG/180px-Ishida_bow.JPG THey fight with a QUincy cross. the QUincy uses his bloodline to focus Nearby Soul and Chakra particles into the cross, forming a bow, which can vary in size and type (which varies with the user). thsi can fire a bolt of energy. however, the downside was that this permantently kileld teh soul of a hollow (and its former human self), upsetting the balance of life in stead of purifying it. this caused the Shinigami to fight a war with the Quincy, who had been weakened from a war with the bounts. Teh Quincy were driven down to only two remaining, but it regrew, evolving yet again to finally be able to control whehter to Completely destroy or to purify, therefore making an uneasy peace with the Shinigami. The Quincy operate on the Moral Ethic known as the “Pride of the Quincy”. This gives them a strong sense of Justice and an aversion to fighting women, making them more simlar to Priests and knights and the templars of the Crusades.

Quincy Items

Quincy items
The Quincy possess numerous artifacts and equipment which help them in different ways. Below are the ones that have been shown:

Hollow bait — a scattering coin that lures hollows.

Quincy bangle (装身具) — Introduced in the anime's Bount arc, the Quincy Bangle is an artifact designed to mimic a Quincy's natural powers. It works by drawing in spirit particles from the environment, much like a Quincy does regularly. It can only be used properly by those who are already adept at forming and directing spirit particles. When activated, it forms a metal bow on the user's hand and gives them an appropriate Quincy outfit to match. The bangle is an unstable and delicate device, which eventually falls apart with extended use. The bow it creates has a huge drawback in that spirit particles must be gathered and charged to be of any use; doing otherwise greatly weakens the power of the resultant projectiles. The arrows also seem to fire erratically, sometimes curving away from their intended target. Furthermore, if shot at the time when the device is at its maximum power, it could explode, killing the user and destroying anything else nearby. Uryū was able to bypass most of these problems by using the bow to focus his own suppressed powers, rather than relying on it to draw in spirit particles for him.

Quincy cross (滅却十字?)— Standard equipment for any Quincy, the Quincy Cross acts as the focus for a Quincy bow. The cross need not necessarily be in a cross shape, as Ryūken's cross is a pentacle.

Sanrei glove (散霊手套 sanrei shutō?) — The sanrei glove is a powerful Quincy artifact that can increase a Quincy's power exponentially, but requires difficult and dangerous training (wearing it for a week while constantly firing spiritual arrows) to master. The glove works by scattering the spirit particles in the surrounding area. If a Quincy can summon a bow and hold it for the required amount of time, they will experience a massive increase in power.

Seele Schneider (魂を切り裂くもの? lit. that which slits the soul; German for "soul cutter") — The Seele Schneider is a portable arrow that doubles as a sword in melee combat. It's much longer than a standard arrow and functions something like a chainsaw: the spirit particles of its blade vibrate at ultra-high frequencies, loosening the molecular bonds between any spirit matter it cuts so that the Quincy user may easily absorb the freed spirit particles. The Seele Schneiders Uryū uses are stolen from a secret storage room under Karakura hospital.

Silver tubes (銀筒 gintō?) — Silver tubes are portable tubes that store spiritual energy. They are basically tangible versions of shinigami kidō spells, as they are activated by calling out various commands.

Soul-synthesized silver (霊化銀 reika gin?) — Soul-synthesized silver was used by Ryūken Ishida to construct the hidden chamber in which Uryū trains.
Soul-synthesized glass (霊化硝子 reika gurasu) — Like soul-synthesized silver, soul-synthesized glass was used to construct the hidden chamber in the Karakura Hospital.

Heroic Souls:
Ishida Uryuu
Ryuken Uryuu
Soken Uryuu
Jan Hakura (uryuu)

Reiatsu: see Soul Society

Seireitei: see soul Society

Shinigami: A race of the dead, given supernatural powers.


Shinigami are generally dressed in a black Hakama. These are responsible for defending Soul Society, purifying hollows and resting regular souls in peace. Shinigami are known for their Zanpakutou, or Soul Slayer. it’s government consists of 2 branches—Gotei 13 and Central 46. Central 46 serves as the senate, controlling Gotei 13, the 13 protection squads of Shinigami. Each is led by a captain and a vice captain and officers raking 3-20th. (the captain is 1 and lieutenant 2). All officers have attained Shikai, and all captains bankai (apart from Kenpachi Zaraki).

Vizard:The vizard are the antithesis to the arrancar; they are shinigami who have obtained hollow powers and whose shinigami powers remain dominant (although they do have to undergo a process and maintain their dominance over their hollow), while the arrancar are hollows that have obtained shinigami powers and whose hollow powers remain dominant. Having begun as shinigami, the vizard appear entirely human. Unlike the arrancar, they do not have holes or partial masks (common traits of transformed hollows) anywhere on their body, though they can produce masks on demand, and they carry zanpakutō like normal shinigami. When using their hollow powers, a vizard's appearance does not change except for the mask on their face and the color of their eyes, with the whites of their eyes turning black and the irises gold. This process of donning one's hollow mask is referred to as "Hollowification" (虚化, horō-ka?).

Zanpakutou/Soul Slayer Each Zanpakutou is a manifestation fo the owner’s soul, usually in the shape of a sword. It has three forms, sealed, initial release (shikai) and Final release, (bankai). The initial release requires a phrase (usually hinting at the nature fo the weapon), and may change the shape of the Soul Slayer, releasing much of the energy of a shinigami. The final release, bankai, is the result of years of training and releases all the power in one hit, usually creating a massive effect. Some Soul Slayer are always released, such as Ichigo Kurosaki and Kenpachi Zaraki.

Kido: the “jutsu” of shinigami, this consists of a spellphrase (usually too long for the breath of most shinigami). They are ranked #1-#99, 1 being the easiest and #99 the most difficult. It is separated into 3 branches—Healing, Binding and destruction. Healing requires no phrase (see healing—disambiguation). Destruction deals solely with inflicting damage, and binding is anything else. The incantitation usually consists of the type, number and name (for example “way of binding #31: shot of red fire). Saying the name actually does increase the power.


Soul Society:
home of the dead souls. Governed by central 46 (6 judges and 40 wise men), Soul Society is the most powerful force in the mortal world. With the power of Gotei 13, it ahs never fallen. It is led by a Royal Family (which does nto play a part in world affaris and lives in a separate dimension). Soul Society is separated into 2 secitson: Seireitei, the central section and home to nobility and shinigami, and Rukongai, the home to commoners. Rukongai ranges from district 1, extremely safe and beautiful, and 80, a ghetto where people fight to survive. The only way to eneter Seireitei is to become a shinigami through the exams. This requires them to demonstrate the rudimental knowledge in spirit control (similar to the Academy Student exams).