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Post by Soren on Aug 17, 2010 2:07:10 GMT -5
HOLLOW / ARRANCAR
ホロウ
Hollow (虚 (ホロウ), horō) are a race of creatures which are born from Human souls who, for various reasons, do not cross over to Soul Society after their death and stay in the Human World for too long. They are corrupt spirits with supernatural powers that devour the souls of both living and deceased Humans. Hollows are the principal source of evil in the world, doing all manner of ‘evil’ deeds to attain what they desire. They are beasts of sin. Hollows settle in Hueco Mundo, but can cross over to the Human World and Soul Society. Hollows are former Pluses (deceased human souls) that lose their hearts to despair or remain in the real world for too long. In the anime, non-human spirits can also transform into Hollows. Any spirit that is not guided to the Soul Society by a Shinigami via Soul Burial may eventually descend into a Hollow.
Any hollows main goal is to simply feed on the soul of humans. A hollow who has taken off his mask however, gaining new power in the process, is referred to as an Arrancar. An Arrancar can only be created once a Hollow obtains personality, in doing so it can eventually lead to said Hollow being able to put it’s hands on it’s own mask and rip it off. Sealing that segment of the mask often in a sword, or another item. These Arrancar are more intelligent than an average Hollow and as such often rule over them, the leader of the Arrancar is the leader of the entire Hollow existence. His is only called, Soren.
Hollow abilities and traits:
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 smaller ones can also ingest energy from the atmosphere when in realms with high concentration of spiritual energy, such as Hueco Mundo.
- Soul-Body Separation: In some middle class Hollow this technique is found. This ability allows a Hollow to forcibly extract a living spirit from his/her body. It is usually not used because Hollows tend to go after Pluses, who have no physical or living body to speak of. The soul is still attached by the Chain of Fate and can be saved, but if it is broken then the soul can prevent the Encroachment so long as he/she is placed inside a soulless body or animal. It seems as though Shinigami have reverse engineered this ability, as shown with the Skull Symbol. It may or may not be possible that this ability could also extract a Shinigami from their Gigai, but this would obviously prove harmful to a Hollow.
- Acidic Touch: Many Hollows, if not all of them possess this ability. When a Hollow grabs a Human with their hands, the spot where the person was grabbed is shown to get burned as if acid were poured onto it. These wounds seem to allow the Hollow's reiatsu to seep into the person, causing great pain to the victim. The wounds can heal if given enough time though, and this ability is greatly diminished if used on Shinigami or other spiritually powerful beings.
- Cero (虚閃 (セロ), sero; Spanish for "Zero", Japanese for "Hollow Flash", 'Doom Blast' in the Viz translation) is a highly powerful and relatively swift energy blast that can be fired from various body parts, such as mouth, tongue, hand or fingers. Only Menos, Arrancar, and Vizard have so far been shown to use Cero attacks, and it appears that stronger entities can use it more efficiently and forcefully. Cero also requires some time to be used effectively, so the enemy must be either not moving or busy with something else, or too badly wounded to even simply dodge it, with the exception of a few Cero techniques and users. Additionally, there exists quite a number of variations of Cero, which are usually unique to the Arrancar using it.
- Garganta (黒腔 (ガルガンタ), garuganta; Spanish for "Throat", Japanese for "Black Cavity") is how Hollows and Arrancar move to and from Hueco Mundo. 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.
- Negación fields are used to rescue fellow Hollows. Only the Gillian-class Menos have shown the ability to use it. Lanza have a special cube-shaped device called Caja Negación meant to simulate Negación fields, which are used to trap and punish their subordinates if necessary.
- High-Speed Regeneration is the ability that allows a Hollow to heal most injuries very quickly, with the exception of the destruction of the head or vital organs. Only Menos-class Hollows have demonstrated this ability. Most Arrancar however give up this ability for far greater strength.
- Hollow Shot is a blast that some Hollows have been seen using, it appears to be comprised of spirit particles.
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Post by Soren on Aug 17, 2010 2:07:51 GMT -5
Hollow / Arrancar Ranking System [/font][/center] Though most Hollows are simply transformed Human souls, a sub-group of Hollows known as Menos , exist. Menos are conglomerations of hundreds of normal Hollows, resulting in a single composite entity of far greater strength than any normal Hollow. Menos are created when the void within an ordinary Hollow's heart becomes so substantial that Human souls are incapable of sustaining it, at which point it begins devouring fellow Hollows. These cannibal Hollows are attracted to one another, and a mass inter-devouring follows, resulting in a Gillian. Following this transformation, the Gillian can evolve twice more, first into an Adjuchas and finally into a Vasto Lorde, provided certain conditions are met. Menos evolution is not only contingent upon the Menos eating other Hollows, but also upon the Menos' ability to avoid being eaten. If another Hollow succeeds in devouring even a part of their body, evolution becomes impossible for the one which was wounded this way. Menos-class Hollows are considered so dangerous that Soul Society sends only highly trained Shinigami teams to handle them. These incursions seem to be rare, however, as Menos rarely leave Hueco Mundo unless attracted by large sources of spiritual power or encouraged to by other forces. There are three categories of Menos, the first is Gillian, the second Adjuchas, and Vasto Lorde.
GillianGeneral Information: Gillian are the first and weakest of all Menos. In human terms they would be foot soldiers. There are many of them and they all look alike. In Soul Society, they are the "Menos" that are generally referred to in textbooks. Gillians are huge, but they are slow and have beast-like intellect. Any Captain would be able to destroy them with ease. Gillains commonly attack in a group and one is powerful enough to be a challenge for a Lieutenant of the Gotei 13. - Appearence: Gillians are huge monster Hollows towering at least 2-6 stories tall, easily dwarfing even the largest standard Hollow. They all have a white mask with an elongated nose. Their bodies are covered from theirs head to their feet with a black covering reminiscent of a cloak. Around their neck is a row of thin white spikes. They have large, pointed feet wrapped in white bandages. They have large white hands with long, sharp, white nails, but they are commonly hidden within their cloak, rarely revealed even in combat. They also have long tongues capable of breaking a fellow Hollow's mask.
- Signature Skills: Cero, Garganta, Negación.
- Evolution: Though Gillians usually have no personality to speak of, which makes them dangerous since they have no mind of their own, one of the many Hollows that comprise it might gain control over the newly formed entity, reflected in the unique mask it wears in comparison to a normal Gillian. Only these Gillian variants have the potential to evolve into Adjuchas-class Menos. The evolution is facilitated by the continued cannibalization of fellow Hollows, even other Gillians.
AdjuchasGeneral Information: Gillian are the second classification of Menos. They are smaller than Gillians and far fewer in number. However, they're much smarter and stronger than Gillians. They're often the ones who lead Gillians into battle. Adjuchas are commonly solitary creatures rarely joining into groups. They are powerful enough to challenge a captain of the Gotei 13. - Appearence: Adjuchas can vary radically in appearance; anywhere from bulky humanoids to the animal-like forms dictated by the Hollows own personal will. They are only limited by their own imagination, however, they often look very different from Gillian and are almost always smaller in size.
- Signature Skills: Cero, Garganta, Unique Individual Powers & Abilities
- Evolution: Adjuchas-class Menos are much smaller in population compared to the Gillian class, due to the rarity of any one Hollow being capable of overwhelming the many other Hollows that comprise the body of a Gillian. Furthermore, the Adjuchas must continue to devour Hollows, or its mind will be absorbed by the other Hollows comprising its form and it will revert back into a Gillian. The subsequent lack of an individual will also preclude the reverted Gillian from becoming an Adjuchas again.
Vasto LordeGeneral Information: Vasto Lorde’s are the third classification of Menos and the highest level of evolution. They are extremely small Hollows, roughly the same size as humans and are extremely rare in number. It is said that you could count their entire number within Hueco Mundo with only the fingers of your hand. The Vasto Lordes' combat capabilities are above that of the captains of the Gotei 13. - Appearence: Vasto Lorde’s often take on a humanoid form, for the few Hollows that ever reach this state of evolution it is surely a form of power and worth note. The scarcity of Vasto Lorde’s within the confines of Hueco Mundo led most to believe this level of power was a myth, that is however until the one they call Soren slaughtered the rest of them after becoming an Arrancar. Putting their heads on pikes as a showing of his dominance. There is no set detailing for a Vasto Lorde in terms of looks, however.
- Signature Skills: Mastery of all other Hollow abilities, as well as unique and powerful ones of their own.
- Evolution: The only way to become a Vasto Lorde is to continue to cannibalize on stronger and stronger hollow. The amount one has to consume is nigh limitless. The echelon of this power was often thought unobtainable for this very reason, it was thought impossible for any one Hollow to consume others in order to obtain the final stage of evolution. Combined with the fact that the need to feed is a constant thing, while coming close to a Vasto Lorde’s power a Hollow much continually feed or they will slowly revert back to that of a Gillian, wasting any amount of power they had prior.
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Post by Soren on Aug 17, 2010 2:08:23 GMT -5
[/font][/center][/b] What seperates us from them...?- Humanoid Form: A Menos usually takes on a human shape when it becomes an Arrancar. The only ones that will definitely get a 100% humanoid form are Vasto Lorde-class Menos. For the remaining two levels, there are many who don't get a completely humanoid form, despite becoming Arrancar. Therefore, the closer one looks to a Hollow, the lower its power of reasoning. Though Arrancar can give up their human forms in order to obtain enormous power. This new form will retain remnants of their past selves, like fragments of their removed masks and a Hollow hole. While some Arrancar prefer to conceal these remnants, others choose to hide their faces completely to escape unwanted attention. Most also have a colored marking of some sort on their face, though some only gain these markings upon the release of their Zanpakutō.
- Zanpakutō: The Arrancar seal the nuclei of their abilities within the form of a sword. It is entirely different from what Shinigami use. When they release their Zanpakutōs' seals they unleash their true power and their true form. The combat efficiency of an Arrancar with a released Zanpakutō is increased several times over. Therefore, an Arrancar's release of their Zanpakutō is merely a temporary restoration to their former selves, granting them any powers their Hollow form possesses. The act of release is called Resurrección (Spanish for "Resurrection"), which is activated with a command phrase followed by the name of the sword. A Lanza's Resurrección is nothing like that of a normal Arrancar.
Arrancar RanksLanza (Spear)The Lanza are the most powerful of the Arrancar, they are the best of the best in Soren’s army. Their abilities are far above that of a normal Arrancar, as well they are created only from the most powerful of Hollow. Their ranking system is a cruel one, in order to go up in rank you must challenge the person of the rank you wish you receive. This battle is a fight to the death, to the victor go the spoils... of life. As such the ranks of the Lanza are always changing. Soren, however, has intervened on the deaths of particular Arrancar for either their knowledge or loyalty to him. Saving them for another purpose elsewhere in his army. There are ten total Lanza, each one having a number from one to ten. One being the most powerful, ten being the weakest. It is forbidden in the ranks of the Lanza for a higher ranking member to challenge a lower ranking member to a death match, if this occurs Soren himself will personally step in and end the life of the higher ranking member. Each member of the Lanza has their number somewhere on their persons. Whether it be a ring, necklace, tattoo, scar, it is on their body at all times. In battle, Lanza members act as the general of the battlefield, only answering to Soren himself.
Lanza Apagado (Dull Spear)
The lanza apagado are made up of the former Lanza members that Soren had saved, or simply were pushed out of the ranks. The brutal nature of the Lanza itself prevents this group from being very large, however, it’s numbers are still larger than the Lanza. About thirty members make up this group. There is no official ranking system in lanza apagado, the users merely cross out the insignia of their former rank and wear it as a badge. Often these members are the commanders of the battlefield, taking direct control over all lower members and answering to the Lanza members themselves.
Flecha (Arrow)The Flecha are the specialists in combat in the ranks of the Arrancar. Their abilities in a fight are second only to the Lanza and Lanza Apagado members. Each of these Arrancar usually has one specific field of expertise where they attain genius like levels of it. Whether it be swordsmanship, intelligence, stealth, each of these Arrancar has devoted their lives to honing their skills in order to better serve Soren. They are also very numerous, about one-hundred Flecha members exist. Their method of hierarchy relies on numbers tattooed on their right cheek. This number reflects the strength of the Flecha member, the lowest level being one and the highest possible level being one-hundred. The difference in power between ranks is only a slight increase, but with a greater gap comes greater power between them.
Arrancar Exclusive Abilities- Bala:Bala is an Arrancar alternative to Cero. The technique hardens the user's Spiritual Pressure and fires it like a bullet. Although it is weaker than a normal Cero, it moves about twenty times faster and can be fired at a much higher rate, but the damage is much the same. Stronger Arrancar can also fire a more powerful Bala, while retaining its twenty-fold speed.
- Gran Rey Cero: A more powerful, Lanza exclusive Cero that only higher end members of the Lanza group know how to prefer efficently. Essentially this is a more powerful, much more concentrated version of the average cero used by many Arrancar. It’s destructive power is nigh absolute, however it comes with a longer charging time. Higher ranked Arrancar can, however, negate this charging with special training.
- Hierro: Hierro refers to the hardened 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 generally have proportionally stronger skin than usual.
- Pesquisa: Pesquisa is the Arrancar equivalent of the Shinigami ability to sense Spiritual Pressure. It functions very similarly to sonar.
- Resurrección: Most Arrancar have the ability to seal their power within a Zanpakutō. Upon releasing their Zanpakutō, they gain all of their former unique Hollow abilities back, essentially 'resurrecting' their old selves. When using this ability, they essentially combine their human form and their Hollow form, incidentally increasing their power considerably. As another note, when an Arrancar uses his or her Resurrección, it heals all minor wounds.
- Sonído: Sonido is the Arrancar equivalent of the Shinigami Flash Steps and the Quincy Hirenkyaku; it allows the user to travel at incredibly high speeds for short distances. Use of Sonído is punctuated by a brief static sound, in contrast to the "swish" sound caused by Flash Steps.
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