Chapter 1: Introduction to an Unknown World
When a soul had departed from the world it must reach judgment. A soul who has lived a fulfilled life passes over into a new life among others in the Rukongai. A soul who has lived a monstrous life is thrown into the gates of hell. Upon passing over, all memories of the past life are forgotten. Though, souls who fail to be judged and stay in the world of the living too long, due to attachments or failure to come to peace, are at risk of becoming a monster like creature, called a hollow. A hollow loses all senses and is instantly raged, seeking to feed off souls who are waiting to be judged. This is where a shinigami's role comes in. A shinigami's job is to judge a soul and pass them over, while protecting them from the hollows. Shinigami's live in a large kingdom in the middle of the Rukongai, known as the Soul Society. For hundreds of thousands of years shinigami's and hollows have fought to maintain peace, a never ending battle.
A shinigami is a passed over soul who has a large amount of spirit energy, compared to normal humans or normal souls. Fate may be the reason these souls were chosen, perhaps destiny, but these shinigami are set to obey the balance of the world, along with the strict laws of the Soul Society. The jobs of the shinigami's are to maintain balance, by judging souls and exterminating hollows. To keep their jobs easier the Soul Society split themselves into three divisions; the Gotei 13, the Kido Corps, and the Special Forces. The Gotei 13 is the main branch of the Soul Society. The Gotei consists of 13 squads. The first squad controls the rest of the Gotei. Each squad has a captain ranked officer; a lieutenant ranked officer, and seated officers. Captains are well known to have amazingly high spiritual pressure and quantity. The Special Forces are a division of mainly stealth members who are broken into 5 squads. Each squad assigned special tasks that involve assassination, gaining information, or protecting the Soul Society. The Special Force is led by a commander, who is also a captain, specifically the captain of the second squad. While the Gotei resides in the heart of the Soul Society, the Special Forces is located further off in the forest. The Kido Corps is a division based off the advanced uses of kido. Kido are spells caste by a shinigami. Kido is split into two types of spells: Hado and Bakudo. Hado spells are offensive spells, while Bakudo are defensive spells. Spells are put in order from one to one hundred in both categories based on strength. Kido spells have incantations that can strengthen the spell. The Kido Corps also has a commander, who is in charge of all kido members and is said to know every possible spell.
A shinigami's main weapon is their zanpaktou, a katana. A zanpaktou feeds off the user's spirit energy and resembles the personality of the user. A zanpaktou has two forms, shikai and bankai. Each zanpaktou has a name, its name allows the user to use the blades shikai form. The shikai form is the first stage of a zanpaktou. The form of the user's zanpaktou can change is appearance and gain special abilities. The bankai stage is a very advanced and the strongest form of the user's zanpaktou. The bankai has a vast difference in power than its first stage.
However, don't be led astray, you have learned of two races among the dead. There are actually more than just shinigamis and hollows. Advanced forms of hollows have involved into a race known as Arrancar, who resemble a human form more than a monstrous form. Another race, which was thought to be extinct many years ago, is called Quincy. This race was thought to be exterminated by shinigamis, but have resurfaced over time. The Quincy race converts spiritual energy into arrows, mainly because their weapon of choice is a bow and arrow. A cross race between shinigami's and hollows live in small numbers, due to their race being created by experiments by an outlawed shinigami. This race is known as Vizards, half hollow half shinigami. Another race we know of is known as Fullbringers, humans with high spiritual pressure and powers. The final race or at least those we know of, is a group called Bounts. Bounts are immortal humans who don't age. They use dolls that hold spiritual energy and fight alongside with them. Though this race is now extinct, and has been killed off many years ago. Unlike the Shinigami's, Vizards, Hollows, and Arrancars the Quincys, Bounts, and Fullbringers are humans alive in the human world, in the sense of being in contact with their physical body.