Official Site Timeline
This page's sole purpose is to provide information and establish the site's "canon" somewhere it can be quoted and referenced, as well as providing new or less informed people something to read. All of this is written and maintained by me (Alysstrasza) entirely by myself, so I apologize if anything is incorrect, outdated, or otherwise needs to be fixed. Please just let me know and it will be done as soon as possible. Everything on this page should be treated as fact unless otherwise corrected, and information that conflicts with canon should be considered just as accurate as everything else; remember that we're an Alternate Universe (AU) within the confines of Bleach. This means we can change whatever we need to in order to make the story work. Without further ado...
In the beginning, there was the Soul King. Eventually, the Soul King decided that there should be life other than him, and thusly did life start right then and there. Before too long, the world had grown crowded and didn't have enough space or resources, so the Soul King split the world into five realms, each with its own specialty and resources to help maintain the balance.
The Realm of the Living, also known as Earth, where the Humans, plants, and animals would live. In a manner of speaking, it was constructed as a giant paddock, to allow the Shinigami and Hollow to keep the balance, using them as the counters. Humans were never look at very fondly by the Soul King, as they were greedy and noisy, always wanting more and speaking over each other. Therefore their domain was intentionally made smaller, with our forum focusing exclusively on Japan. The rest of Earth is still out there, existing, it is just largely irrelevant to our story.
The Realm of the Dead, also known as Soul Society, was decreed to above all else maintain the balance. They were instructed the most carefully, taught the secrets of Kidou and Zanpakutou, both of which they were armed with at all times and all ventures they made to complete their quest. Always the favored race of the Soul King, Shinigami were his chosen creation, the ones who if anything happened to him should by all accounts take over the book balancing. The Soul King found a way to set up Soul Society's society in a way that allowed him to not have to interfere with them, choosing Feudal Japan as the basis even if Feudal Japan didn't exist yet when Soul Society was crafted.
The Realm of the Ghosts, also known as Hueco Mundo, was largely forgotten about, and instead of being carefully sculpted like the previous two realms was instead just a large hole in space that the Soul King threw all the Hollows into. He didn't pay much attention to it, and was unaware that no color or daylight even occured, figuring that he would get back to it later to improve conditions. Hollows did nothing wrong, and were a necessary evil to allow the books to balance themselves.
The Realm of the Nothing, also known as The Void, which was used every time a Senkaimon or Garganta was opened up, existing as the space between the three major realms above. The Void was constantly interfering with the other realms due to the sheer number of times the realms were crossed, and fully aware that it would come up, the Soul King created a large blanket over all three realms which allowed travel between them to exist so long as nothing within them tried to go elsewhere.
And finally, the Realm of the In Between, also known as Everything Else. Anything he couldn't find a place for was thrown here and largely forgotten about, as the Soul King never bothered to even check what he'd chucked in here. It didn't even properly fit into the above metaphor, and was more accurately the garbage bin twenty feet away. Everything Else represents all concepts that aren't on our forum, such as Vizards, Bounts, etc.
The rules were in place. The scene had been set. The background had been painstakingly handcrafted to create a fluid system that wouldn't require his direct involvement beyond an initial supply of Souls, similar to a terrarium where all he had to do was fill it and it would be completely self-sufficient.
When a body/person dies, there are a few things that happen. First, the soul immediately makes an unconscious decision about earthly tethers and whether or not it is bound to this plane of reality. If is is not, it is released into the Soul Cycle as normal. If it is, it remains chained to it's original body or the location of it's death, where it will eventually go on to become a Hollow as per the normal rules if left unchecked, unless it was eaten by a Hollow.
A Hollow is both a singular term and a collective term. A Hollow is both a single corrupted and negative soul, and the term used for the collective corruption and negative souls of higher level Hollow and especially Arrancar, who are almost always Ajuchas at minimum. The more souls they eat, the stronger they get. Simple, right?
When a Shinigami kills a Hollow, whether by Zanpakutou, Hakuda technique, or Kidou Technique, so long as the Shinigami uses their reiatsu, the Hollow is purified and all inner souls are sent back to the Soul Cycle as normal, individually of each other.
When a Quincy kills any soul, that soul is instead completely and utterly destroyed, with no traces of it remaining. Blood and tattered clothing may remain, but the creature itself and all souls that may have made up its body are now erased from the Soul Cycle forever.
When a Human kills any soul, that soul is instead corrupted, and is amplified in negative energy as the body dissipates similar to if a Shinigami had killed it, but feels "wrong" and "gross" to Shinigami, as it is immediately and slowly (over the course of "about" an hour) transferred to Hueco Mundo as fertilizer for the Forest of Menos, as an explanation of the abundance of ambient reishi in Hueco Mundo.
When Soul Runner Technology is used, much like a Quincy, the Hollow is erased completely, but the more souls an Individual Hollow had before being "blended" the stronger the resulting "juice".
When a Shinigami is killed by a Hollow, it is typically then eaten by the Hollow as a result, which would go on to follow the normal soul cycle. However, if a Shinigami is killed in the world of the living, they are subject to the 'fertilzer' system regardless of what they originally were. It is only upon 'dying' in Soul Society that a Shinigami can re-enter the Soul Cycle.
If a Hollow eats your soul, you become part of that Hollow. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. This is nigh-infallible, and is the one rule of Hueco Mundo. The strong get stronger because they eat everyone else, regardless of what everyone else was or is.
With his masterpiece crafted, the Soul King unleashed the souls unto it once more, and then sat on his throne and decided to watch for a very, very long time. He was fully aware of having set a hard limit on the number of souls he had created, and how disruption of the cycle could lead to the complete destabilization of the entire subsystem. Humans would go on to question the meaning of their life, and unfortunately for them it was quite simply entertainment. Fully cognizant of the suffering and joy of every individual soul that existed or ever would, the Soul King wanted to learn what drove people to be who they are. The Hollows must, by proxy, exist as a matter of free will; if there wasn't a choice, why did anything matter? Thusly did the Soul King take a step back, and cease his direct involvement in the story.
With the backstory completed, our story more accurately begins about a thousand years ago, and will largely be focusing on Soul Society for obvious reasons, with Earth and Hueco Mundo being mentioned as necessary. Though there is clearly documented history from the dawn of time to what we consider the 'current era', most of it is irrelevant to our actual story. Therefore, our story begins roughly a thousand years ago.
At the time, the Gotei Eight were considered full. The Captain Commander, Captain of the First Division, was Doku Mazi. He was a firm but just ruler, and had served as Captain Commander for longer than anyone before him, nearly six hundred years already. Other Division Captains of this era were █████ (Second), Mizuki de Grey (Third), █████ (Fourth), Yamamoto Kishibe (Fifth), Aya Kinoshita (Sixth), █████ (Seventh), █████ (Eighth), and █████ (Kidou Corps).
Doku had been considered famous ever since his own adolescence. In the Mazi Clan, progeny are almost always born into pairs, and so far throughout history, one of the progeny has always had to kill the other. At no point have the two Mazis ever worked together. Doku had resolved his own progeny situation so long ago that only rumors even remain. However, Doku had two children of his own: Ika Mazi and Sano Mazi. Between the two of them, Ika acted with more respect to the systems while Sano acted with more rebellion and power. Though the two would fight a nearly innumerable amount of times, neither had ever proved supremacy over the other and the fights always continued the next time with a roughly even total score.
Mizuki de Grey was the newest Captain at the time, and was still getting used to her station which she had decided was Research & Development to further Soul Society's goals. She had ideas and aspirations but so far was too new to even try to take what she wanted, and simply spent a long time observing others. With an explanation of the circumstances and permission from Doku, Mizuki set up a situation where all Shinigami in the Gotei would, at some point, and especially as an academical lesson, be subject to blood tests from Mizuki. What she kept secret from them was the sheer amount of information she permanently learned about a person simply by gaining a small amount of their blood.
Aya Kinoshita was loyal to the Gotei to a fault, and was known for being a stick in the mud. She had an absolute no nonsense policy, but was simultaneously still celebrating the birth of her little girl, Bashira, even though it had been nearly 25 years. Aya would continue to treat Bashira like she was never fully grown up throughout her life, like Bashira always had something she needed to prove and should just obey her superiors simultaneously.
Yamamoto Kishibe, the man who had created the Kenpachi title, one day found himself training his Lieutenant, Reno Kitsugi, when he was interrupted by heckling and harassment from Sano Mazi. Reno, who at this point was quoted as saying he was older than 1,000 years already, simply shrugged it off, whereas Yamamoto initially attempted to catch the boy, but Sano proved nimble enough to get away from the Kenpachi. This continued for approximately a week before Yamamoto finally cornered Sano and demanded that he pay his dues. Both of the men walked away from that fight injured, which both impressed and irritated Yamamoto, as Sano had no right being strong enough to do that at his young age.
At some point, Bashira had grown rebellious, and attempted a shenanigan. This was summarily put to a stop by Yamamoto, with him leaving her with words of wisdom which would go on to shape the rest of her life, and the choices she would eventually make. Though their meeting was brief, it left a profound impact on Bashira, and is a core memory for her.
Central 46 at some point apparently got scared of what Yamamoto Kishibe had turned into, and were afraid of how he'd never seemed to slow down or get older like Doku and most other Shinigami had. Therefore, they decreed that Yamamoto be sent into Hueco Mundo with the mission of take out as many Hollow as he can. They explicitly and intentionally left out any possibility of return, and Doku understood it to mean they were trying very hard to get rid of him. Apparently he'd been a thorn in their sides one too many times, and he walked into Hueco Mundo through a Senkaimon. He was never heard from again. His Lieutenant also disappeared at some point, no one was really sure why or how, just that one day he was gone and Fifth Division had no authority over itself.
Ika and Sano both had proven their capabilities time and time again, and despite their young ages both were made Lieutenant on the same day. Ika of Second Division and Sano of Eighth Division. Okami Shiba, heir to the Shiba Clan and new graduate of the Academy, was also elected Lieutenant of the Seventh Division. Things seemed to be going great for the Mazis, and they were even fighting less and less with each other, until Day of The Red Dawn.
The Red Dawn refers to an incident where one morning, when a man decided to take action. This man, █████, was a Quincy and had decided that the Shinigami, despite all their bravado and power, had done nothing to stop the Hollows one too many times, and therefore brought together an army which decimated a random Shinigami who had been in the area. Central 46 immediately forbade any counterattack, but the Captains of the Second, Fourth, and Eighth Divisions had decided to ignore their orders and take matters into their own hands.
After great consideration, Doku decided to let them go, choosing to have no knowledge of what they were planning to do and let them take the full fall for it if anything went poorly. Unfortunately for all people involved, those three Captains were never heard from again. The very next day, Mizuki had reported them all as dead, and Doku knew better than to doubt her when she said that. Ika and Sano took great offence to this, as both of them had lost their Captain and been told they couldn't assist or try to save them or anything.
Sano, however, did not agree with the outcome. While Ika seemed to resent it but otherwise accept it, Sano was enraged in a way that words could never express. He needed something to be done, revenge to be taken, and justice to be served on those Quincy. Who did they even think they were? The Shinigami existed to maintain balance; Quincy existed as a fluke, an accident in comparison... well, Sano certainly seemed to believe as such anyway, and he managed to convince the Captains of Divisions Six (Aya Kinoshita) and Seven, as well as the leader of the Kidou Corps, and even a bunch of Lieutenants, Seated and Unseated members of various divisions to join with him on a midnight revenge attack. Sano was very, very patient and careful, and pulled this off in a manner that prevented Ika or Doku from learning anything about the circumstances.
Due to Mizuki not having reported Yamamoto's death like she had the previous Captains, Sano pestered her for more information, but was met with a brick wall that knew nothing about where he currently was or whether or not he was even alive. She refused to even explain how she knew other people were, which just made Sano not trust her. Compared to the initial attack force of three people, Sano's army of five hundred was nothing to laugh at. Regardless, he gathered his own army, and was about to leave Soul Society to deal with the Quincy situation when he found Ika standing at the gate.
The two fought, but ultimately Ika was overpowered yet again. Sano and his crew left Soul Society, found the location of the Quincy base of operations, and then proceeded to bomb the hell out of it at night. The Quincy attempted to counter attack, killing most of Sano's Crew, but were absolutely at a loss for firepowered. When they ran out of reishi to fire their arrows with, and Sano had barely even been using his energy yet, he grinned.
When all the dust was settled, Sano returned to Soul Society. Out of the Five Hundred people who had gone with him, maybe twelve of them total returned, counting Sano himself. The Quincy, however, were apparently eradicated as a species. Doku took matters into his own hand, having just now found out what happened, and threw Sano into the Maggot's Nest.
It has now been about 500 years since our story started. This comment exists as an explanation of the timeline.
The "new" roster of the Gotei Eight essentially looked like this: Doku Mazi (First), K.I.A. (Second), Mizuki de Grey (Third), K.I.A. (Fourth), M.I.A. (Fifth), K.I.A. (Sixth), K.I.A. (Seventh), and K.I.A. (Eighth). The once noble and proud Gotei "Eight" were now the weak and pitiful Gotei "Two". Doku was not going to stand for this, and took measures to elect a few changes. Due in large part to Doku's efforts, new Captains were elected left and right. Ika Mazi was chosen as Captain for the Second Division, and Bashira Kinoshita was chosen as Captain for the Sixth Division.
Bashira was mournful of her own mother's death, but understood the responsibilities she had been given, and shouldered them quite nicely. Days later, Bashira was honored as Doku inducted the Kinoshita family into the Noble Clans of Gotei, out of respect for Aya and what the Kinoshita family had always seemed to sacrifice. For centuries, they alone had been in charge of the Sixth Division, and seemingly took that job very seriously.
Ika had been chosen as a reward for being a good boy. Bashira however had been chosen as a result of her continued patience with the Gotei, her understanding of her predecessor's death, and her willingness to move on and change things in the future. Around this same time, Chihiro Senba had joined the Second Division and was placed in charge of the Maggot's Nest by Doku just so Ika didn't have an excuse to go visit Sano anymore.
Mizuki had begun researching the development of a revolutionary new technology, one which would completely change the way the Soul Cycle worked. Central 46 was immediately apprehensive about it, but allowed her to continue her research so long as it was thoroughly documented. She did so. Doku wanted to elect more Captains to fill the roster, but knew that frankly there was no one he could trust enough enough to act with such absolute authority currently. On top of that, he was starting to show signs of Spirit Cancer, which Mizuki had already been doing research on, so she began to experiment on Doku at his request, attempting to slow down or altogether stop the Spirit Cancer from progressing further within Doku. Unfortunately, she was unable to succeed, and Doku decided that while the time was coming, he wasn't going to act on it just yet.
Doku decreed that Bashira Kinoshita be his replacement, but in the same breath stated that he would serve faithfully as Captain Commander until his last breath and had no intentions of stepping down for his own health. Ika protested initially, but seemed to chill out soon afterward, though no one was really sure why at the time. He would later go on to say that he understood, he wasn't offended, he just wished the "old man" had chosen better.
Central 46 declared that the Beast Realm be sealed off, which seemed to come out of left field. Apparently, they had been receiving transmissions from the beast realm that were vague and mysterious and it was new and scary and they didn't trust it, so they completely shut the gate forever. One of the last creatures to pass through the gate was Hyoroshi Iwamura, who had managed to sneak his way into Soul Society before being abruptly founded by Bashira Kinoshita. She demanded that he enroll in the academy and join her division, at which point she would simply sweep his infiltration under the rug.
The Academy had seen many new Shinigami prop up throughout this era of several hundred years, with some notable members being, Shuya Kitakaze who would go on to join Second Division, and be made Lieutenant that same day by Ika Mazi; Astrid Brynhildr, who would go on to claim the title of "Strongest Unseated Shinigami", a title which only she cared about; Wukong who was apparently a Monkey Man from the outskirts of Rukongai, and would go on to join the Fifth Division; and others.
Eventually, as expected, Doku finally passed away. Bashira immediately attempted to report to Central 46 about the events that had transpired, but walked into the room to find Ika Mazi doing exactly that, ending his speech with how he had been selected at the last minute as a better Leader than Bashira could ever be. Central 46 apparently agreed, stating that Ika "definitely" had more power than Bashira, and thusly was Ika Mazi made Captain Commander.
He promoted Shuya Kitakaze in his place as Captain of the Second Division, who then promoted Chihiro to the spot of his Lieutenant simply out of lack of options. Ika, drunk on power, proceeded to establish Izanagi Shihoin as Captain of the Fourth Division, as well as several other sweeping changes across the whole of Gotei. However, Bashira took offence to the whole situation, so she attempted to confront Ika. She was overpowered in the scuffle, but Ika had lost face due to the mutiny, and decided he didn't need all of this, so he went to Mizuki and stated that he wanted out. She pulled some strings and got Ika Mazi declared an Exile and summarily ejected from Soul Society instead of being thrown into the Maggot's Nest where he knew he should be.
Bashira was elected as Captain Commander when there was no one left to choose from. This obviously upset her, but she decided to play it cool and just accept the position so she could start making REAL changes. She started by reversing most of Ika's shenanigans, but immediately received flak for it from veterans who were grateful the rules had finally loosened up. She tried to establish new Captains, just like every Captain Commander before her, but was again on the receiving end of flak for her decisions.
Despite Tina Almenor being made Captain of Division Seven. Despite Takao Kamakura being made Captain of Division Six in her absence. Even granting Sano Mazi a pardon and giving him control over Division Eight... nothing Bashira did seemed to matter. Despite trying to remove power from the Nobles, despite trying to improve the Rukongai Situation, despite this and despite that she was always the enemy.
Tina had taken it upon herself, as Captain of the Seventh Division, to watch over the Fifth Division in lieu of them having an actual Captain. She was eventually joined on her watch by Iwamura, who had by now been promoted to Lieutenant of the Sixth Division and had been serving Bashira faithfully. Tina and Iwamura never communicated directly very much, but they seemed to have a mutual understanding of helping with the paperwork and making sure Fifth Division didn't get too rowdy.
It was around now-ish that Mizuki had finally finished her research. She had created an object which could literally bend reality around it and make whatever the user wants to come true; it had a few flaws, sure, but the technology was there. Central 46 immediately declared it Classified with a Tier 7 label, which means that the only people who have access to the information are Central 46 themselves and the person who authored the information. It was already in her head anyway, as she'd explained, so denying her access was really just being rude.
Bashira, as Captain Commander, was made aware of this information. She requested Mizuki show her the object, as she wanted to know if the rumors were true; when she was shown a single glowing marble that seemed to hover in her hand, she understood what Mizuki had meant. Even now, just holding it, she could feel the negative emotions and evil aura surrounding the object, and handed it back with a simple comment of Central 46 having been right for once.
Mizuki had thought the story would end there, and moved on with her life. She put in a leave of absence request to go visit Hueco Mundo for three months, where she was going to be apparently researching how Hollows reproduce and live in Hueco Mundo. This was authorized, and she disappeared into a Senkaimon. The very next day, knowing that Mizuki was no longer around to stop her, Bashira took the object for herself.
Immediately she gave in to it's carnal urges, and attempted to perform a coup de grace on Central 46, ambushing one of their meetings with the full intent of killing all of them. This was stopped by Shuya Kitakaze and Tina Almenor, Tina going on to defeat Bashira in one on one combat. Bashira held up the object as proof that their mistakes would eventually come back to haunt them and disappered in a flash of light.
As there must always be a Lich King, Tina was promoted to Captain Commander. She'd proven her strength already by defeating Bashira, and her resolve by standing up for Central 46. Therefore she was the obvious answer, and she didn't seem to mind. She tried to pad out the roster a bit more, establishing Hyoroshi Iwamura as Captain of the Seventh Division in her absence, chose Ayaka Kamisato as her own Lieutenant, and began to look at prospective Captains for the Fifth Division and Kidou Corps, as they were the only remaining divisions unsupervised.
Bashira, meanwhile, had fled to Hueco Mundo. She had at some point realized what the object could do, or maybe experimented with it until she found the answers she needed, but eventually she began to form an army of her own. An army of Hollows, most of which had been forcibly evolved by the object into Arrancars for vast amounts of power. There was M'runa yae Galvus, and Lazarus Renault, who had undergone the process together, Loki, who had achieved Arrancarfication naturally, Suko Shinto, Selica Aciles, even some true Hollows like Ahri, who had outright refused the power, even Komodo G, and many more who followed Bashira for one reason or another.
Her plan was simple: Gather an army and march into the Gotei in order to destroy them and everything they stand for. The status quo was deeply, deeply wrong, and needed to be purified in apparently the only means Bashira knew; by fire.
In the world of the living, Ika had somehow against all odds managed to find Reno Kitsugi, who agreed to join him and train the humans up. It was time for them to get their own say in the story, even if they were ultimately pawns in a game they couldn't understand. Tokyo was attacked by Loki and Suko, and though they initially seemed to be winning, eventually Ika Mazi showed up and beat them back, proving to the Humans, including Substitute Soulreaper Rinoa Heartily, that they couldn't achieve their goals without his help.
Ika had formed a base in the Aokigahara (Suicide Forest), largely with the help of a supposed anonymous benefactor. The structure was mostly underground, and was built to last at least three hundred years, let alone anything from the inside. The Suicide Forest, however, was in and of itself slightly Haunted; it was massive, far more than anyone seemed to realize, and the trees moved when you weren't looking. A specific Hollow, The Nuckelavee had taken up residence in the forest, and was the source of the entire "aura" the forest had.
Back in Soul Society, Chihiro would commit to a search and rescue for a guy apparently named Stan the Man, who disappered in the Rukongai Northern District 80, commonly called Zaraki District. There, she met Hayate Yoshida, who beat Chihiro in the resulting fight, but was ultimately detained by Iwamura, and brought to Soul Society.
In response to the Fifth Division situation, wherein they still had no Captain to answer to after over three quarters of a millenia, Tina took it upon herself to swap Wukong and Okami as Lieutenant of the (now) Eighth and Fifth divisions respectively. She had only been in the job for a week, but could already tell that Wukong being the only authority figure for a Division was a bad idea, and implemented Okami in his place due to Okami's age and commanded respect. Sano would get to deal with Wukong, now, too, which was a bonus.
Tina would eventually, after a tiny amount of pestering from Sano, agree that the Fifth Division situation needed to be taken care of, and finally chose a replacement by the name of Akane Makishima. Despite Akane's relatively young age, Tina herself had been elected at a similarly young age, and so entrusted Akane with the job completely. She had been granted a week's reprieve to get used to the situation before Tina called Akane to her office to give the new Kenpachi her very own Haori.
Mizuki would return from Hueco Mundo earlier than anticipated, and was lucky enough to run into Tina shortly afterward. Having been brought up to date with what she missed, Mizuki immediately began to suspect shenanigans were afoot, and brought Tina to her office to show her the files on the object.
Armed with new information, Tina stormed over to Sano's office, and informed him of his brand new mission. He was to enter Hueco Mundo and locate Bashira Kinoshita, who Tina now believed with fervor was hiding there and doing something with the Arrancars and Hollows. Sano went, mostly excited at a chance to really stretch his legs after that stint in the Maggot's Nest.
Sano entered Hueco Mundo and was almost immediately greeted by Lazarus and M'runa, the two self-proclaimed strongest Arrancar to date. He wanted to meet with Bashira; they did not. Originally the two Arrancar made an attempt to stop Sano, but after a brief interaction they decided to let him pass and opened the gates to Las Noches, allowing Sano to enter and speak with Bashira Kinoshita.
While awaiting Sano's return, Tina began to train Ayaka herself, following Ayaka's recent excursion into the living world. There, she had met Kiyoko 'Tempest' Arai and Avon de Grey as well as his Soulrunner Secretary, Maiden. As Ayaka was still young and new, she didn't put two and two together, and didn't make the connection of Avon's name.
Takao Kamakura's body was "discovered" by Sano Mazi, and Izanagi Shihoin was unable to find any evidence of foul play. In his absence of the Sixth Division, Tina had an idea. She reassigned Hyoroshi Iwamura to the Sixth Division, where she felt he should be by all accounts anyway, and reassigned new recruit Kaen Honoka as new Captain of the Seventh Division, who went on to choose Akihiko Kinasimoto as her Lieutenant.
There is far, far more to come, and this story is absolutely nowhere near "over" yet.
In the beginning, there was the Soul King. Eventually, the Soul King decided that there should be life other than him, and thusly did life start right then and there. Before too long, the world had grown crowded and didn't have enough space or resources, so the Soul King split the world into five realms, each with its own specialty and resources to help maintain the balance.
The Realm of the Living, also known as Earth, where the Humans, plants, and animals would live. In a manner of speaking, it was constructed as a giant paddock, to allow the Shinigami and Hollow to keep the balance, using them as the counters. Humans were never look at very fondly by the Soul King, as they were greedy and noisy, always wanting more and speaking over each other. Therefore their domain was intentionally made smaller, with our forum focusing exclusively on Japan. The rest of Earth is still out there, existing, it is just largely irrelevant to our story.
The Realm of the Dead, also known as Soul Society, was decreed to above all else maintain the balance. They were instructed the most carefully, taught the secrets of Kidou and Zanpakutou, both of which they were armed with at all times and all ventures they made to complete their quest. Always the favored race of the Soul King, Shinigami were his chosen creation, the ones who if anything happened to him should by all accounts take over the book balancing. The Soul King found a way to set up Soul Society's society in a way that allowed him to not have to interfere with them, choosing Feudal Japan as the basis even if Feudal Japan didn't exist yet when Soul Society was crafted.
The Realm of the Ghosts, also known as Hueco Mundo, was largely forgotten about, and instead of being carefully sculpted like the previous two realms was instead just a large hole in space that the Soul King threw all the Hollows into. He didn't pay much attention to it, and was unaware that no color or daylight even occured, figuring that he would get back to it later to improve conditions. Hollows did nothing wrong, and were a necessary evil to allow the books to balance themselves.
The Realm of the Nothing, also known as The Void, which was used every time a Senkaimon or Garganta was opened up, existing as the space between the three major realms above. The Void was constantly interfering with the other realms due to the sheer number of times the realms were crossed, and fully aware that it would come up, the Soul King created a large blanket over all three realms which allowed travel between them to exist so long as nothing within them tried to go elsewhere.
And finally, the Realm of the In Between, also known as Everything Else. Anything he couldn't find a place for was thrown here and largely forgotten about, as the Soul King never bothered to even check what he'd chucked in here. It didn't even properly fit into the above metaphor, and was more accurately the garbage bin twenty feet away. Everything Else represents all concepts that aren't on our forum, such as Vizards, Bounts, etc.
The rules were in place. The scene had been set. The background had been painstakingly handcrafted to create a fluid system that wouldn't require his direct involvement beyond an initial supply of Souls, similar to a terrarium where all he had to do was fill it and it would be completely self-sufficient.
When a body/person dies, there are a few things that happen. First, the soul immediately makes an unconscious decision about earthly tethers and whether or not it is bound to this plane of reality. If is is not, it is released into the Soul Cycle as normal. If it is, it remains chained to it's original body or the location of it's death, where it will eventually go on to become a Hollow as per the normal rules if left unchecked, unless it was eaten by a Hollow.
A Hollow is both a singular term and a collective term. A Hollow is both a single corrupted and negative soul, and the term used for the collective corruption and negative souls of higher level Hollow and especially Arrancar, who are almost always Ajuchas at minimum. The more souls they eat, the stronger they get. Simple, right?
When a Shinigami kills a Hollow, whether by Zanpakutou, Hakuda technique, or Kidou Technique, so long as the Shinigami uses their reiatsu, the Hollow is purified and all inner souls are sent back to the Soul Cycle as normal, individually of each other.
When a Quincy kills any soul, that soul is instead completely and utterly destroyed, with no traces of it remaining. Blood and tattered clothing may remain, but the creature itself and all souls that may have made up its body are now erased from the Soul Cycle forever.
When a Human kills any soul, that soul is instead corrupted, and is amplified in negative energy as the body dissipates similar to if a Shinigami had killed it, but feels "wrong" and "gross" to Shinigami, as it is immediately and slowly (over the course of "about" an hour) transferred to Hueco Mundo as fertilizer for the Forest of Menos, as an explanation of the abundance of ambient reishi in Hueco Mundo.
When Soul Runner Technology is used, much like a Quincy, the Hollow is erased completely, but the more souls an Individual Hollow had before being "blended" the stronger the resulting "juice".
When a Shinigami is killed by a Hollow, it is typically then eaten by the Hollow as a result, which would go on to follow the normal soul cycle. However, if a Shinigami is killed in the world of the living, they are subject to the 'fertilzer' system regardless of what they originally were. It is only upon 'dying' in Soul Society that a Shinigami can re-enter the Soul Cycle.
If a Hollow eats your soul, you become part of that Hollow. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. This is nigh-infallible, and is the one rule of Hueco Mundo. The strong get stronger because they eat everyone else, regardless of what everyone else was or is.
With his masterpiece crafted, the Soul King unleashed the souls unto it once more, and then sat on his throne and decided to watch for a very, very long time. He was fully aware of having set a hard limit on the number of souls he had created, and how disruption of the cycle could lead to the complete destabilization of the entire subsystem. Humans would go on to question the meaning of their life, and unfortunately for them it was quite simply entertainment. Fully cognizant of the suffering and joy of every individual soul that existed or ever would, the Soul King wanted to learn what drove people to be who they are. The Hollows must, by proxy, exist as a matter of free will; if there wasn't a choice, why did anything matter? Thusly did the Soul King take a step back, and cease his direct involvement in the story.
With the backstory completed, our story more accurately begins about a thousand years ago, and will largely be focusing on Soul Society for obvious reasons, with Earth and Hueco Mundo being mentioned as necessary. Though there is clearly documented history from the dawn of time to what we consider the 'current era', most of it is irrelevant to our actual story. Therefore, our story begins roughly a thousand years ago.
At the time, the Gotei Eight were considered full. The Captain Commander, Captain of the First Division, was Doku Mazi. He was a firm but just ruler, and had served as Captain Commander for longer than anyone before him, nearly six hundred years already. Other Division Captains of this era were █████ (Second), Mizuki de Grey (Third), █████ (Fourth), Yamamoto Kishibe (Fifth), Aya Kinoshita (Sixth), █████ (Seventh), █████ (Eighth), and █████ (Kidou Corps).
Doku had been considered famous ever since his own adolescence. In the Mazi Clan, progeny are almost always born into pairs, and so far throughout history, one of the progeny has always had to kill the other. At no point have the two Mazis ever worked together. Doku had resolved his own progeny situation so long ago that only rumors even remain. However, Doku had two children of his own: Ika Mazi and Sano Mazi. Between the two of them, Ika acted with more respect to the systems while Sano acted with more rebellion and power. Though the two would fight a nearly innumerable amount of times, neither had ever proved supremacy over the other and the fights always continued the next time with a roughly even total score.
Mizuki de Grey was the newest Captain at the time, and was still getting used to her station which she had decided was Research & Development to further Soul Society's goals. She had ideas and aspirations but so far was too new to even try to take what she wanted, and simply spent a long time observing others. With an explanation of the circumstances and permission from Doku, Mizuki set up a situation where all Shinigami in the Gotei would, at some point, and especially as an academical lesson, be subject to blood tests from Mizuki. What she kept secret from them was the sheer amount of information she permanently learned about a person simply by gaining a small amount of their blood.
Aya Kinoshita was loyal to the Gotei to a fault, and was known for being a stick in the mud. She had an absolute no nonsense policy, but was simultaneously still celebrating the birth of her little girl, Bashira, even though it had been nearly 25 years. Aya would continue to treat Bashira like she was never fully grown up throughout her life, like Bashira always had something she needed to prove and should just obey her superiors simultaneously.
Yamamoto Kishibe, the man who had created the Kenpachi title, one day found himself training his Lieutenant, Reno Kitsugi, when he was interrupted by heckling and harassment from Sano Mazi. Reno, who at this point was quoted as saying he was older than 1,000 years already, simply shrugged it off, whereas Yamamoto initially attempted to catch the boy, but Sano proved nimble enough to get away from the Kenpachi. This continued for approximately a week before Yamamoto finally cornered Sano and demanded that he pay his dues. Both of the men walked away from that fight injured, which both impressed and irritated Yamamoto, as Sano had no right being strong enough to do that at his young age.
At some point, Bashira had grown rebellious, and attempted a shenanigan. This was summarily put to a stop by Yamamoto, with him leaving her with words of wisdom which would go on to shape the rest of her life, and the choices she would eventually make. Though their meeting was brief, it left a profound impact on Bashira, and is a core memory for her.
Central 46 at some point apparently got scared of what Yamamoto Kishibe had turned into, and were afraid of how he'd never seemed to slow down or get older like Doku and most other Shinigami had. Therefore, they decreed that Yamamoto be sent into Hueco Mundo with the mission of take out as many Hollow as he can. They explicitly and intentionally left out any possibility of return, and Doku understood it to mean they were trying very hard to get rid of him. Apparently he'd been a thorn in their sides one too many times, and he walked into Hueco Mundo through a Senkaimon. He was never heard from again. His Lieutenant also disappeared at some point, no one was really sure why or how, just that one day he was gone and Fifth Division had no authority over itself.
Ika and Sano both had proven their capabilities time and time again, and despite their young ages both were made Lieutenant on the same day. Ika of Second Division and Sano of Eighth Division. Okami Shiba, heir to the Shiba Clan and new graduate of the Academy, was also elected Lieutenant of the Seventh Division. Things seemed to be going great for the Mazis, and they were even fighting less and less with each other, until Day of The Red Dawn.
The Red Dawn refers to an incident where one morning, when a man decided to take action. This man, █████, was a Quincy and had decided that the Shinigami, despite all their bravado and power, had done nothing to stop the Hollows one too many times, and therefore brought together an army which decimated a random Shinigami who had been in the area. Central 46 immediately forbade any counterattack, but the Captains of the Second, Fourth, and Eighth Divisions had decided to ignore their orders and take matters into their own hands.
After great consideration, Doku decided to let them go, choosing to have no knowledge of what they were planning to do and let them take the full fall for it if anything went poorly. Unfortunately for all people involved, those three Captains were never heard from again. The very next day, Mizuki had reported them all as dead, and Doku knew better than to doubt her when she said that. Ika and Sano took great offence to this, as both of them had lost their Captain and been told they couldn't assist or try to save them or anything.
Sano, however, did not agree with the outcome. While Ika seemed to resent it but otherwise accept it, Sano was enraged in a way that words could never express. He needed something to be done, revenge to be taken, and justice to be served on those Quincy. Who did they even think they were? The Shinigami existed to maintain balance; Quincy existed as a fluke, an accident in comparison... well, Sano certainly seemed to believe as such anyway, and he managed to convince the Captains of Divisions Six (Aya Kinoshita) and Seven, as well as the leader of the Kidou Corps, and even a bunch of Lieutenants, Seated and Unseated members of various divisions to join with him on a midnight revenge attack. Sano was very, very patient and careful, and pulled this off in a manner that prevented Ika or Doku from learning anything about the circumstances.
Due to Mizuki not having reported Yamamoto's death like she had the previous Captains, Sano pestered her for more information, but was met with a brick wall that knew nothing about where he currently was or whether or not he was even alive. She refused to even explain how she knew other people were, which just made Sano not trust her. Compared to the initial attack force of three people, Sano's army of five hundred was nothing to laugh at. Regardless, he gathered his own army, and was about to leave Soul Society to deal with the Quincy situation when he found Ika standing at the gate.
The two fought, but ultimately Ika was overpowered yet again. Sano and his crew left Soul Society, found the location of the Quincy base of operations, and then proceeded to bomb the hell out of it at night. The Quincy attempted to counter attack, killing most of Sano's Crew, but were absolutely at a loss for firepowered. When they ran out of reishi to fire their arrows with, and Sano had barely even been using his energy yet, he grinned.
When all the dust was settled, Sano returned to Soul Society. Out of the Five Hundred people who had gone with him, maybe twelve of them total returned, counting Sano himself. The Quincy, however, were apparently eradicated as a species. Doku took matters into his own hand, having just now found out what happened, and threw Sano into the Maggot's Nest.
It has now been about 500 years since our story started. This comment exists as an explanation of the timeline.
The "new" roster of the Gotei Eight essentially looked like this: Doku Mazi (First), K.I.A. (Second), Mizuki de Grey (Third), K.I.A. (Fourth), M.I.A. (Fifth), K.I.A. (Sixth), K.I.A. (Seventh), and K.I.A. (Eighth). The once noble and proud Gotei "Eight" were now the weak and pitiful Gotei "Two". Doku was not going to stand for this, and took measures to elect a few changes. Due in large part to Doku's efforts, new Captains were elected left and right. Ika Mazi was chosen as Captain for the Second Division, and Bashira Kinoshita was chosen as Captain for the Sixth Division.
Bashira was mournful of her own mother's death, but understood the responsibilities she had been given, and shouldered them quite nicely. Days later, Bashira was honored as Doku inducted the Kinoshita family into the Noble Clans of Gotei, out of respect for Aya and what the Kinoshita family had always seemed to sacrifice. For centuries, they alone had been in charge of the Sixth Division, and seemingly took that job very seriously.
Ika had been chosen as a reward for being a good boy. Bashira however had been chosen as a result of her continued patience with the Gotei, her understanding of her predecessor's death, and her willingness to move on and change things in the future. Around this same time, Chihiro Senba had joined the Second Division and was placed in charge of the Maggot's Nest by Doku just so Ika didn't have an excuse to go visit Sano anymore.
Mizuki had begun researching the development of a revolutionary new technology, one which would completely change the way the Soul Cycle worked. Central 46 was immediately apprehensive about it, but allowed her to continue her research so long as it was thoroughly documented. She did so. Doku wanted to elect more Captains to fill the roster, but knew that frankly there was no one he could trust enough enough to act with such absolute authority currently. On top of that, he was starting to show signs of Spirit Cancer, which Mizuki had already been doing research on, so she began to experiment on Doku at his request, attempting to slow down or altogether stop the Spirit Cancer from progressing further within Doku. Unfortunately, she was unable to succeed, and Doku decided that while the time was coming, he wasn't going to act on it just yet.
Doku decreed that Bashira Kinoshita be his replacement, but in the same breath stated that he would serve faithfully as Captain Commander until his last breath and had no intentions of stepping down for his own health. Ika protested initially, but seemed to chill out soon afterward, though no one was really sure why at the time. He would later go on to say that he understood, he wasn't offended, he just wished the "old man" had chosen better.
Central 46 declared that the Beast Realm be sealed off, which seemed to come out of left field. Apparently, they had been receiving transmissions from the beast realm that were vague and mysterious and it was new and scary and they didn't trust it, so they completely shut the gate forever. One of the last creatures to pass through the gate was Hyoroshi Iwamura, who had managed to sneak his way into Soul Society before being abruptly founded by Bashira Kinoshita. She demanded that he enroll in the academy and join her division, at which point she would simply sweep his infiltration under the rug.
The Academy had seen many new Shinigami prop up throughout this era of several hundred years, with some notable members being, Shuya Kitakaze who would go on to join Second Division, and be made Lieutenant that same day by Ika Mazi; Astrid Brynhildr, who would go on to claim the title of "Strongest Unseated Shinigami", a title which only she cared about; Wukong who was apparently a Monkey Man from the outskirts of Rukongai, and would go on to join the Fifth Division; and others.
Eventually, as expected, Doku finally passed away. Bashira immediately attempted to report to Central 46 about the events that had transpired, but walked into the room to find Ika Mazi doing exactly that, ending his speech with how he had been selected at the last minute as a better Leader than Bashira could ever be. Central 46 apparently agreed, stating that Ika "definitely" had more power than Bashira, and thusly was Ika Mazi made Captain Commander.
He promoted Shuya Kitakaze in his place as Captain of the Second Division, who then promoted Chihiro to the spot of his Lieutenant simply out of lack of options. Ika, drunk on power, proceeded to establish Izanagi Shihoin as Captain of the Fourth Division, as well as several other sweeping changes across the whole of Gotei. However, Bashira took offence to the whole situation, so she attempted to confront Ika. She was overpowered in the scuffle, but Ika had lost face due to the mutiny, and decided he didn't need all of this, so he went to Mizuki and stated that he wanted out. She pulled some strings and got Ika Mazi declared an Exile and summarily ejected from Soul Society instead of being thrown into the Maggot's Nest where he knew he should be.
Bashira was elected as Captain Commander when there was no one left to choose from. This obviously upset her, but she decided to play it cool and just accept the position so she could start making REAL changes. She started by reversing most of Ika's shenanigans, but immediately received flak for it from veterans who were grateful the rules had finally loosened up. She tried to establish new Captains, just like every Captain Commander before her, but was again on the receiving end of flak for her decisions.
Despite Tina Almenor being made Captain of Division Seven. Despite Takao Kamakura being made Captain of Division Six in her absence. Even granting Sano Mazi a pardon and giving him control over Division Eight... nothing Bashira did seemed to matter. Despite trying to remove power from the Nobles, despite trying to improve the Rukongai Situation, despite this and despite that she was always the enemy.
Tina had taken it upon herself, as Captain of the Seventh Division, to watch over the Fifth Division in lieu of them having an actual Captain. She was eventually joined on her watch by Iwamura, who had by now been promoted to Lieutenant of the Sixth Division and had been serving Bashira faithfully. Tina and Iwamura never communicated directly very much, but they seemed to have a mutual understanding of helping with the paperwork and making sure Fifth Division didn't get too rowdy.
It was around now-ish that Mizuki had finally finished her research. She had created an object which could literally bend reality around it and make whatever the user wants to come true; it had a few flaws, sure, but the technology was there. Central 46 immediately declared it Classified with a Tier 7 label, which means that the only people who have access to the information are Central 46 themselves and the person who authored the information. It was already in her head anyway, as she'd explained, so denying her access was really just being rude.
Bashira, as Captain Commander, was made aware of this information. She requested Mizuki show her the object, as she wanted to know if the rumors were true; when she was shown a single glowing marble that seemed to hover in her hand, she understood what Mizuki had meant. Even now, just holding it, she could feel the negative emotions and evil aura surrounding the object, and handed it back with a simple comment of Central 46 having been right for once.
Mizuki had thought the story would end there, and moved on with her life. She put in a leave of absence request to go visit Hueco Mundo for three months, where she was going to be apparently researching how Hollows reproduce and live in Hueco Mundo. This was authorized, and she disappeared into a Senkaimon. The very next day, knowing that Mizuki was no longer around to stop her, Bashira took the object for herself.
Immediately she gave in to it's carnal urges, and attempted to perform a coup de grace on Central 46, ambushing one of their meetings with the full intent of killing all of them. This was stopped by Shuya Kitakaze and Tina Almenor, Tina going on to defeat Bashira in one on one combat. Bashira held up the object as proof that their mistakes would eventually come back to haunt them and disappered in a flash of light.
As there must always be a Lich King, Tina was promoted to Captain Commander. She'd proven her strength already by defeating Bashira, and her resolve by standing up for Central 46. Therefore she was the obvious answer, and she didn't seem to mind. She tried to pad out the roster a bit more, establishing Hyoroshi Iwamura as Captain of the Seventh Division in her absence, chose Ayaka Kamisato as her own Lieutenant, and began to look at prospective Captains for the Fifth Division and Kidou Corps, as they were the only remaining divisions unsupervised.
Bashira, meanwhile, had fled to Hueco Mundo. She had at some point realized what the object could do, or maybe experimented with it until she found the answers she needed, but eventually she began to form an army of her own. An army of Hollows, most of which had been forcibly evolved by the object into Arrancars for vast amounts of power. There was M'runa yae Galvus, and Lazarus Renault, who had undergone the process together, Loki, who had achieved Arrancarfication naturally, Suko Shinto, Selica Aciles, even some true Hollows like Ahri, who had outright refused the power, even Komodo G, and many more who followed Bashira for one reason or another.
Her plan was simple: Gather an army and march into the Gotei in order to destroy them and everything they stand for. The status quo was deeply, deeply wrong, and needed to be purified in apparently the only means Bashira knew; by fire.
In the world of the living, Ika had somehow against all odds managed to find Reno Kitsugi, who agreed to join him and train the humans up. It was time for them to get their own say in the story, even if they were ultimately pawns in a game they couldn't understand. Tokyo was attacked by Loki and Suko, and though they initially seemed to be winning, eventually Ika Mazi showed up and beat them back, proving to the Humans, including Substitute Soulreaper Rinoa Heartily, that they couldn't achieve their goals without his help.
Ika had formed a base in the Aokigahara (Suicide Forest), largely with the help of a supposed anonymous benefactor. The structure was mostly underground, and was built to last at least three hundred years, let alone anything from the inside. The Suicide Forest, however, was in and of itself slightly Haunted; it was massive, far more than anyone seemed to realize, and the trees moved when you weren't looking. A specific Hollow, The Nuckelavee had taken up residence in the forest, and was the source of the entire "aura" the forest had.
Back in Soul Society, Chihiro would commit to a search and rescue for a guy apparently named Stan the Man, who disappered in the Rukongai Northern District 80, commonly called Zaraki District. There, she met Hayate Yoshida, who beat Chihiro in the resulting fight, but was ultimately detained by Iwamura, and brought to Soul Society.
In response to the Fifth Division situation, wherein they still had no Captain to answer to after over three quarters of a millenia, Tina took it upon herself to swap Wukong and Okami as Lieutenant of the (now) Eighth and Fifth divisions respectively. She had only been in the job for a week, but could already tell that Wukong being the only authority figure for a Division was a bad idea, and implemented Okami in his place due to Okami's age and commanded respect. Sano would get to deal with Wukong, now, too, which was a bonus.
Tina would eventually, after a tiny amount of pestering from Sano, agree that the Fifth Division situation needed to be taken care of, and finally chose a replacement by the name of Akane Makishima. Despite Akane's relatively young age, Tina herself had been elected at a similarly young age, and so entrusted Akane with the job completely. She had been granted a week's reprieve to get used to the situation before Tina called Akane to her office to give the new Kenpachi her very own Haori.
Mizuki would return from Hueco Mundo earlier than anticipated, and was lucky enough to run into Tina shortly afterward. Having been brought up to date with what she missed, Mizuki immediately began to suspect shenanigans were afoot, and brought Tina to her office to show her the files on the object.
Armed with new information, Tina stormed over to Sano's office, and informed him of his brand new mission. He was to enter Hueco Mundo and locate Bashira Kinoshita, who Tina now believed with fervor was hiding there and doing something with the Arrancars and Hollows. Sano went, mostly excited at a chance to really stretch his legs after that stint in the Maggot's Nest.
Sano entered Hueco Mundo and was almost immediately greeted by Lazarus and M'runa, the two self-proclaimed strongest Arrancar to date. He wanted to meet with Bashira; they did not. Originally the two Arrancar made an attempt to stop Sano, but after a brief interaction they decided to let him pass and opened the gates to Las Noches, allowing Sano to enter and speak with Bashira Kinoshita.
While awaiting Sano's return, Tina began to train Ayaka herself, following Ayaka's recent excursion into the living world. There, she had met Kiyoko 'Tempest' Arai and Avon de Grey as well as his Soulrunner Secretary, Maiden. As Ayaka was still young and new, she didn't put two and two together, and didn't make the connection of Avon's name.
Takao Kamakura's body was "discovered" by Sano Mazi, and Izanagi Shihoin was unable to find any evidence of foul play. In his absence of the Sixth Division, Tina had an idea. She reassigned Hyoroshi Iwamura to the Sixth Division, where she felt he should be by all accounts anyway, and reassigned new recruit Kaen Honoka as new Captain of the Seventh Division, who went on to choose Akihiko Kinasimoto as her Lieutenant.
There is far, far more to come, and this story is absolutely nowhere near "over" yet.
