Post by Mike on Apr 9, 2009 9:08:39 GMT -5
Hollow & Arrancar
What is a Hollow?
A hollow is the result of a deceased soul is not picked up by a shinigami escort and taken to the soul society; they are either free floating spirits or poor souls bound to a certain place or object fated rot and decay. The process of turning into a hollow does not happen over night but usually takes months if not longer, the desiding factor being the rate of the soul's Chain of Fate's corrosion. Over time the Chain of Destiny will slowly corrodes until there is nothing left, it acts as a sort of count down to the point where they will become a hollow. The process can be accelerated under certain conditions, such as being attacked by another Hollow or through the use of certain spiritual powers. also if the Chain of Fate is forcibly removed. When the chain completely decays, the soul is warped into a unique and monstrous form with a vaguely skeletal mask and a large hole where their chain was once connected.
The most distinctive feature of a hollow, their mask, is formed to protect the naked instinct that is left in a being after the loss of its heart, and in some ways is the tangible form of the Hollow's madness. The masks of different hollows can differ greatly in shape and form, but they are always white and skull-like. The masks also obscure the original identity of the hollows. The mask can be shattered, temporarily allowing the Hollow to regain its original identity, but it will regenerate after a short period once the Hollow takes over again. Once a soul becomes a hollow, it is driven by an eternal and insatiable hunger to devour other souls, living or dead, to fill the void caused by its descent. While their former obsession often becomes their first target, most Hollows will eventually become mindless creatures concerned only with finding the most potent souls to devour. Stronger and more evil hollows are often able to retain some of their intelligence in Hollow form, making them more dangerous than the average hollow. While most hollows are evil, or at the very least mindless.
Hollows have widely varying physical characteristics and powers, and few of them ever appear the same (the few that do are often clones). In terms of appearance, hollows can range in appearance from furry (like mammals) through lizard-like to outright demonic. A Hollow's abilities are often determined by its power. Weaker (and by definition, less intelligent) hollows usually only attack in melee style, whereas stronger ones have a wide array of abilities with which to kill their quarry. Hollows also vary in size, though it tends to be fairly consistent amongst the various classifications of menos. Most common hollows are about twice the size of an adult human, though it can vary to a degree. Huge Hollows, aptly named for their size, are as large as two-story buildings. Finally, Gillian-class Menos are even more enormous than the largest of common hollows, standing as tall as a smaller skyscraper.
Hollows are usually killed by splitting their mask and head in two, but most wounds that would be fatal for a human will effectively dispatch them. When this is done by a Shinigami's Zanpakutou, the hollow is not truly killed; its spirit is purified of the sins it committed as a Hollow. This allows the spirit within to enter the Soul Society as a Plus. In cases where a hollow committed great sins as a mortal, its purification will summon the gates of Hell, through which the soul is dragged to its punishment. When a hollow is killed by a Quincy, however, it is destroyed, soul and all (presumably, its body becomes spirit particles which disperse afterwards), which has potentially disastrous effects on the spiritual balance of the worlds
Types of Hollow
Though most Hollows are simply transformed human souls, a sub-group of Hollows known as Menos ("minus"), exist. Menos are conglomerations of hundreds of normal Hollows, resulting in a single composite entity of far greater strength than any normal Hollow. 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.
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.
Gillian ("countless creatures"), also called Menos Grande ("big minus" in Spanish) -- are the weakest class of Menos and the first stage of menos evolution. They are giant in comparison to other Hollows, dwarfing even the largest standard Hollows by at least the size of a two-story building, but lack agility and intelligence. While a Gillian-class Menos is quite powerful, they are still much weaker than a Shinigami lieutenant. Though Gillians usually have no personality to speak of which makes dangerous since they have no mind of their own, one of the many Hollows that comprise it might gain control over the new entity, reflected in the unique mask it wears in comparison to a normal Gillian. Only these Gillian variants have the potential to evolve into a Adjuchas-class Menos. The evolution is facilitated by the continued cannibalization of fellow Hollows, even other Gillians.
Adjuchas ("stone demon") -- are the middle class of Menos in terms of power, and the second stage in the Menos evolution. Adjuchas can vary radically in appearance, anywhere from bulky humanoids to more animalistic forms. the Gillians, they are roughly human-sized though a few could be much bigger. They are also much smarter than the Gillian class, and have the power to match and/or even exceed. It is likely they could fight evenly with at least a Shinigami lieutenant.
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 Lorde ("enormous king") -- are the very most powerful class of Menos, and the final stage in the Menos evolutionary line. They appear almost completely humanoid, and each and every one can easily defeat a Captain-Class Shinigami. Vasto Lorde are the least common form of Menos, but the exact population is unknown. Apart from the need to cannibalize even more Hollows, any special requirements for the creation of a Vasto Lorde are unknown.
Arrancar; Maskless Soldiers
In the most basic sense an Arrancar is a hollow of any rank post-Menos that manages either by itself or with aid of another in removing its mask in a process known as shinigamification. Around a thousand years ago before the Soul King managed to seal the Pulse in the space between the worlds there was a sudden boom in Arrancars. Being an alagram of shinigami and hollows respectively, infecting another spiritual being with its reiatsu caused them to undergo the process in which they'd gain the abilities of its opposite thus giving hollows shinigami powers.
Arrancar and ordinary hollows differ in two ways: the location of their holes and the near-total disappearance of their masks. When hollows become arrancar, the chances of them retaining a humanoid form increase with their intelligence; only Vasto Lorde-class arrancar will definitely assume a humanoid form. If powerful enough, an arrancar can seal his or her excess power into the form of a Zanpakutou. Unlike with Shinigami, this Zanpakutou is simply the hollow's true form sealed into a sword. Therefore, an arrancar's release of their Zanpakutou is merely a temporary restoration of their former selves. This act of release is called Resurrección (Spanish for "resurrection"). Arrancar do not have a known second release.
The Cuerpo de Guerra are an organized force of Arrancar within Hueco Mundo, where they dwell in the fortress of Las Nochas. Their main objective lies in the extermination of the Shinigami so as to use the human world as a source of food. After discovering the potential uses of the Pulse they intend to use it as a weapon to turn the tide of war in their favor. The seven greatest arrancar within Las Nochas are the leaders of the Cuerpo de Guerra, Each one is given a title corresponding to the body starting with Alma (Soul). Guerra Alma is the first and foremost of the leading body and it is this Arrancar that leads the Cuerpo de Guerra. These positions are based on strength having Alma as the strongest and Izquierda as the weakest.
- Alma (Soul)
- Cerebro (Mind)
- Corazon (Heart)
- Ojos (Eyes)
- Vos (Voice)
- Derecha (Right Hand)
- Izquierda (Left Hand)
Resurrección
An Arrancar's Resurrección is the equilivant of a shikai or bankai from a Shinigami's zanpakutou; though the key difference between them is that in the arrancar is releasing both the form and power of their previous life as a hollow. Ranging from humanoid to mimicing the form of an animal a resurrección usually returns an arrancar to its "true" form or rather returns them into a form simular to their hollow-self What thier resurrección looks like depends on the arrancar's former ranking either it be a Gillian, Adjuchas, or Vasto Lorde; typically it is the Vasto Lorde that change the least after releasing while regaining all previous powers they stick to a humanoid form vaguely resembling their past-self. As in their natural hollow formers pre-shinigamification, Gillian, and Adjuchas arrancar normally have an animal theme resurrección either transforming fully into said animal or gaining armor designed as such.
A common theme among most arrancar is that the sudden return to their 'natural' form heals all wounds they had received prior to releasing their zanpakutou though unfortunately this "high-speed regeneration" only occurs during the resurrección process. An arrancar only return to their human form when they reseal their Hollow powers; doing so without resealing, though possible, is a permanent change comparable to amputating a limb. There are two reasons Arrancar go through such trouble to seal their power: it allows them to maintain human form and to conserve their power in times of inactivity As rare as the Vasto Lorde race themselves there is a second form of resurrección dubbed Resurrección: Segunda Etapa (Spanish for "resurrection second stage"), this increases the strength of the arrancar while taking them into an 'improved' beastial form of their resurrecion, this is considered to be the equlivent of a shinigami's bankai. This is a feat so rare that only five in the history of Hueco Mundo have ever acheived it; it is believed that only the Alma (Soul) and Cerebro (Mind) of Cuerpo de Guerra can preform it.
Hollow/Arrancar Abilities
Bala ("bullet") -- is an Arrancar alternative to Cero. The technique hardens the user's Spiritual Pressure and fires it like a bullet from their fist. It is seriously 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.
Cero ("flash") -- are high-powered energy blasts that can be fired from various body parts, such as mouth, tongue, hand or fingers. Only Menos, arrancar, and the Vizards have so far been shown to use Cero attacks, and it appears that stronger entities can use it more efficiently.
Gran Rey Cero ("grand king flash") - is a much higher-level Cero used by the Cuerpo de Guerra . It is performed by mixing an Arrancar's own blood with the Cero. The result is a cero with a much greater attack power, size, speed, and force, as well as a change of color unique to the Cuerpo de Guerra. It is also manytimes more powerful than a normal Cero, capable of disturbing the fabric of space.
Garganta ("throat") is how Arrancar and Menos-class Hollows move to and from Hueco Mundo. Kaname Tousen and Kisuke Urahara have 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.
Hierro ("iron") 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 Zanpakutou bare-handed, it is by no means impenetrable. Stronger Arrancar have proportionally stronger skin.
Negación ("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.
Caja Negación ("negation box") -- the Espada have a special cube-shaped device called meant to simulate Negación fields, which are used to punish their subordinates if necessary. The cube, when used on a subject, traps them in an alternate dimension from which there is no escape; however, this assumes it is being used as intended. More powerful Arrancar, namely the Espada themselves, can escape given enough time.
Pesquisa ("inquiry") -- is the Arrancar equivalent of the Shinigami ability to sense Spiritual Pressure. It functions similar to a sonar.
Sonído ("sound") -- 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.
Info taken from wikipedia and modified by BPM Staff.