Player
I have nothing to say.
Cole
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Post by Cole on Nov 6, 2022 22:18:19 GMT -5
”No worries about the questions; but I think the best way to explain it just a general rundown of the land of the dead." Cole slid the entire floating image to the right, wrote “SK” in big letters at the top, under it he wrote “4NH” and “C46,” "So, there’s the Soul King, but he-or they, not really sure-isn’t involved with the general governance of the afterlife. In theory he’s responsible for the balance of souls in the cycle, but there aren’t any more specifics than that. As I understand it, a few of the top ranking Shinigami have actually met him, but he’s not exactly granting audiences for folks like me to ask questions.”
The man tapped his chin, gesturing to the second row with his other hand, ”The Central 46 is a…well, they’re fundamentally the criminal system, I guess? I’ll be honest, I’m not entirely clear on how they interact with the Four Noble Houses, but there’s a bit of overlap. The noble houses tend to have a higher proportion of potential Shinigami than the general populous of the afterlife, but they can also just adopt powerful souls into their ranks. It’s very much like most political systems in the mortal plane, you gotta know the right people to get anything done.”
He wrote down the numbers one through thirteen, and quickly continued his rundown of the afterlife, ”Shinigami generally see the day to day operation of things going on. More terms for you really quick. Seireitei and Rukongai. Soul Society is the general term for the afterlife plane. Seireitei is basically a walled city in the middle of Soul Society. It is where Shinigami reside as well as the C46. Rukongai is pretty much the rest, a sprawling city that resembles feudal Japan that stretches beyond the horizon.”
Cole began making quick notes next to the numbers as he moved down the list, ”First division runs the Academy, coordination between squads, and security within Seireitei itself. Second division is basically special ops. Fourth division is the medical experts. Fifth is basically your magic specialists, like myself. Eleventh is the…well, they’re crayon eaters that you throw at a situation that doesn't require any strategy other than overwhelming force. Twelfth is the R&D division. Three, Seven, Ten, and Thirteen watch over Rukongai, think kinda like a police force. Six, Eight, Nine, divvy up the world of the living into sectors and hunt hollows and help souls move on.”
”Right, probably more than you wanted to know about Shinigami. But to more directly answer your question, yeah; I’ve basically been developing new methods of magic using earthly traditions. The Captain Commander is somewhere north of 2000 years old, and a lot of the old guard think some stuff that has been around for a dozen centuries as ‘newfangled.’ Tradition is a hell of a drug.”
He gave a small shrug, ”Like I said, spiritually aware people are uncommon; so it’s not something that comes up very often. And, if they were spiritually aware, they were likely seeing things that already conflicted with their beliefs, which might make them not as closely held in the first place. Maybe they mildly shift their beliefs to adjust to what they learn to be true. The Soul King becomes the Almighty, or the Amatsukami are another interpretation of old squad captains. Though, if you ask my opinion, Shintoists are probably going to have the least adjustments to make to their worldview.”
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Post by Itsuki Hasegawa on Nov 7, 2022 22:44:33 GMT -5
At the conclusion of the downpour of information, Itsuki's expression soured somewhat. "You know, some part of me had been hoping the world of spirits--... erm, Soul Society wasn't quite run like the business it was depicted to be. Thank you for being so forthcoming with this all, it's some comfort to know that my own beliefs won't have to change too much."
Scribbling little bits extra onto the notes taken during the talking here and there, another observation spilled out. "Monotheism wins the day, I see." A few moments of silence hung as catch-up was finished being played, trailing out separate squad definitions. "Studying magic must be similar to the rituals and mysticism I stumbled into using earlier." A mischievous grin flashed atop his notes. For the first time in a page and a half Itsuki's eyes lifted from the table. "Is there such a thing as pre-studying for these squads while alive or am I getting too far ahead of myself? That said, healing people does sound like a quite nice change of pace."
"If I can somehow drain you of just a little more, Professor, aside from Hollows is there anyone, anything I should be careful of on the more mortal side of matters?"
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Player
I have nothing to say.
Cole
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Post by Cole on Nov 8, 2022 17:56:52 GMT -5
Cole laughed slightly, ”Yeah, a bit more of the stereotypical celestial bureaucracy than I would have preferred; but it is what it is, I suppose. That being said, I don’t think it’s truly monotheistic, there are stories of beings out there that rival the Soul King. Don’t know much about them or if they’re just mythology. Spiritual ghost stories.”
He smirked a little at his own pun, then continued to address his next question regarding extra credit work, ”The Academy takes most people six years to finish before they become full Shinigami. I did it in two, but there was some weirdness around my zanpakuto, so I got a pass on a lot of the martial arts stuff. Made up for it with enough mysticism experience that mastering the required magical aspects was pretty easy. If you already have powers as a fullbringer, I don’t really know how that translates, but I’ve also heard rumors that the newest Captain was a fullbringer when he was alive and made it through the Academy in record time.” The Shinigami shrugged, ”So yeah; I’m giving you the best prep you can really get. Maybe learn to swing a sword around? Again, not sure how it works for fullbringers.”
”On the mortal side? Not particularly; On the spiritual side, Two-E are the Arrancar, which are basically more humanoid-slash-intelligent hollows. They don't have the same mindless hunger as their unevolved counterparts, and some can be downright pleasant. They’re theoretically organized under a Queen. Don’t know much about her either, I’m afraid.”
He sighed heavily before continuing, ”But, to be frank, I know even less about Two-F; which are the denizens of Hell. Sinners, demons, and various other beasts.”
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Post by Itsuki Hasegawa on Nov 9, 2022 17:03:30 GMT -5
Pale fingers fished in the chestnut hide of the leather satchel on the table. Thin papers rustled, plastic folders clattered and a faint mumble of discontent against the disorganised, neglected state inside the bag escaped. A dark blue All Japan Kendo Federation pocketbook emerged, pinched betwixt thumb and forefinger. Itsuki shot up a smile away from his notes, a delicate flick of dextrous digits displaying a page scrawled with exam results in his mother tongue. Unsurprisingly his theory scores were higher than the physical. Still, the monk had managed to achieve 2nd dan. Eager to return to fervent scholarly renderings hewn from the sacred teasure ferried by the super-ghost-plod, Itsuki set the pocketbook down on the corner of the table closest to Cole. An expression very unbecoming of a pious man had come over the monkish bartender. Neither understanding nor sympathy held sway, nary a wrinkle of compassion marred the composed, crushing cold of indifference expressed.
"Are these 'Arrancar' born that way or is it the result of their foul cannibalism somehow?" Ascerbic distaste coated every word, the new term practically spat upon the table. The soon-to-expire student sieved out that frozen flame of a feeling with a clearing of his throat. His polite smile returned with another question pushed across the table in a more cordial tone as an addendum. "Hell existing makes enough sense. I'd have thought encounters with them would be more common than cleansing Hollows." |
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Player
I have nothing to say.
Cole
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Post by Cole on Nov 9, 2022 22:30:24 GMT -5
It took Cole a second to recognize the handbook he held up, but when he did he gave the man a nod, ”Nice, I didn’t really do any martial arts while I was alive, so it was quite an adjustment. Definitely was not used to swinging around a sword.”
Cole thought back to the Arrancar he met, he didn’t really have any indication of how they were made; but he didn’t get the impression they were born. ”Possibly, they’re still a major subject of research. Unlike normal hollows, they don’t have full masks, usually some remnant of the mask they had as their old form. They look mortal, and, similar to Shinigami, most wield a katana, though it’s not a zanpakuto. It’s weird.”
The man shook his head, ”Well, it makes sense if you think about it in the views of most faiths. It’s a prison. When a particularly evil soul dies, they go to hell rather than ending up back in the cycle; they’re not supposed to get out. Right, one additional addendum, when a Shinigami defeats a hollow, it’s often referred to as purifying it. Hollows are purified of any evil the soul has done when overtaken by their instincts as a beast. But if they were a right bastard in real life, the gates of hell will appear and drag them through.”
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Post by Itsuki Hasegawa on Nov 10, 2022 23:52:58 GMT -5
Pages upon pages had now been assembled. It probably read like a litany of raving lunacy to anyone uninformed about the world beyond this one. Itsuki leafed back and forth through the now half a dozen pages of sheer revolutionary facts with a careful reverence while he checked little symbols here and there marking and co=ordinating information to be later collated as this or that.
"...Yes, that does make sense. I can't thank you enough for this, Professor." He said, sincerity and focus clear in the seriousness filtering his every word.
Hurried fingers flipped through to the last line of notes scored with a depiction of a charicature of a silhouetted figure with devil horns in a cage with a padlock upon it. It would have been generous to call it comical or of any artistic merit.
Click-click, went the pen in anxious hands.
"This is already quite a lot of food for thought. I'm happy to continue the lectures in exchange for what time I can offer but I feel like I should probably ask since spirits probably don't carry phones ... How can I contact you to discuss this in future?" He pried. Itsuki's own phone had at some point slipped up to be at the ready in his free hand, both notes app and contacts open in preparation for an answer.
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Player
I have nothing to say.
Cole
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Post by Cole on Nov 11, 2022 8:50:01 GMT -5
Cole shook his head, gesturing to the strange contraption around his neck, ”Not sure how feasible that’ll be, I’m afraid. I’m not a member of the mortal realm patrol groups; I got special dispensation to come here to try and recover my research. The collar prevents me from manifesting or interacting with the physical world in any meaningful way. But like I said, spiritually aware folks like you are rare enough they don’t really enter into the risk calculus for our commanders.”
He gave a small shrug, twirling the strange USB-looking device in his fingers, ”This thing lets me make spiritual copies of inanimate objects to bring back.” The shinigami demonstrated by poking the man’s notes and another copy of them appeared in his hands, ”Not much more than a glorified photocopier, I’m afraid.”
Tapping his chin, he considered Itsuki, ”As far as I know, there’s no router that lets the spiritual phone network contact the mortal ones; I imagine that’d be considered a security risk. I can probably whip up a spell that would let me find you again, but like I said, I’m not in this plane all that much.”
”If you’ve got any more questions, ask them now; I may not have another opportunity to come to the living world on my own for several months.”
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Post by Itsuki Hasegawa on Nov 12, 2022 22:58:23 GMT -5
Itsuki's brow furrowed down into his notes against such a difficult answer. Pinching his lower lip between his teeth, he sucked upon the trapped flesh as he pulled it free, a sigh strained through a sieve of consternation into a taut sound of difficulty. Pages fluttered this way and that as he lifted them, eyeing this part and that for any holes to fill with juicy new details.
Spreading them out as if an oversized, vandalised hand of cards, the troubled student quickly appended the corners with haphazard page numbers hastily scrawled. It seemed, as was one of his oddities, he preferrer roman numerals.
Nonsense aside, another clattering ruffle and shuffles of pages set them right, tucking them back from whence they had been torn free. The page turned to an almost clean spread, over-excitement expressed in the disparate snow of stray ink blots upon the otherwise unblemished sheets from their siblings.
"Right!" Itsuki breathed out, clearing mind and lungs both.
"On the nature of hell, a realm set aside for the punishment of souls, is there also a given analogue of heaven such as, say, Takamagahara? On that note are the kami themselves noted to roam and dwell about Soul Society? I would love to finally meet some of the divine ones whose shrines I've been tending for all this time." A hand slipped out, snatching up the kendo handbook and ferreting it away back amongst the clutter of his carry-on.
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Player
I have nothing to say.
Cole
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Post by Cole on Nov 13, 2022 9:23:35 GMT -5
”So, there’s the Soul King’s palace, I think it’s technically a separate plane, but if that is a heaven equivalent that’s not good news. The entry floats in the sky above Seireitei, but as I understand it there are less than a dozen residents of that plane.” He gave a small shrug, ”Practically every soul ends up in Rukongai, but that was more vague than I intended it to be. The 320 districts of that sprawling city are not equal. Some are paradise-adjacent, where the residents live like modern-day royalty and all their needs are taken care of. Some districts are slums and squalor that never seem to get better.”
Cole thought for a moment, then continued, ”I’ve got nothing to support this, but perhaps where in Rukongai a soul ends up is based on their disposition in life. The worst districts are barely better than hell, with rampant crime and murder, and most souls don’t last in those areas very long before moving on in the cycle. It’d be a minor form of cosmic justice, I suppose.”
One of his vague aspects of research in the afterlife was trying to determine where some of the aspects of various faiths had come from. Hollows, shinigami, and a lot of other things could be reasonably slotted into most religions. Any number of spiritually aware beings, particularly with powers, could form cults that may have become full-on religions over the centuries. Hell, a lot of the magical traditions he’d researched seem like they may have been pioneered by some random mortal that figured out a way to manifest their latent spiritual power. But as for something specific? ”As for the kami, I haven’t seen Ameratsu running around or anything, but there are some beings in Soul Society that are distinctly not human. The Captain of Ninth Division (they patrol the Americas) is a literal lizardman. And while I haven’t encountered others, I’ve heard that there are more like him, beings that resemble the deities of the ancient Egyptian pantheon. Foxes, birds, that sort of thing.”
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Post by Itsuki Hasegawa on Nov 15, 2022 20:12:38 GMT -5
"Heaven with less than a dozen people?" Itsuki's eyes and voice were a-gleam with the lilting ditty of amusement. The corners of his mouth curled into temporary glee. "The Abrahamics must be upset. It sounds like the revered ones there are the amatsukami after all."
A tensioned marred his brow still, slight squint in his gaze opposing the joviality of his smile and tone. Away then scribbled, scurrying back to circle something else and connect it by a clumsy line to the present notation.
"320?! That's 13 times more than Tokyo! The logistics really must be a nightmare." Wound a spiralling tone of emotionally charged shock and awe into a near drone of struggling to fathom the horrors of keeping a feudal metropolis working on that scale. "I have to admit I'd love to see a map of something like that."
"That hypothesis is interesting, the acts in life still effecting time in death does follow how a lot of religions view things but somehow I didn't see Soul Society being that kind of place. It feels like a more westernised thing to be given an afterlife based on your death instead of simply transitioning to another world or reincarnating. I would wager a more likely reasoning is people there are simply acting as they would have in life." His facial features smoothed, easing as his heart exhaled.
"It's a relief to know the form of the kami have their place in what comes after. I'll wager perhaps the amatsukami are those in residence closer to this soul king okami. I do wonder how spiritually aware humans managed to gleam all of this information, perhaps simply the retained memories carried through rebirth. To ascend to such glorious heights only to return to humanity, I wonder if it rings as something of a disappointment for them?"
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Player
I have nothing to say.
Cole
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Post by Cole on Nov 15, 2022 21:11:33 GMT -5
”Not quite revered; no more than the Captains are. As I understand it, most of the people that live in the Soul King’s palace are basically particularly strong retired Shinigami. The royal guard, if you will. But it’s not like Amaratsu, Michael, Shiva, Mixcoatl, and Ares are hanging out there. They’re just people. Particularly strong and dangerous people, but still people.”
Cole’s mouth quirked into a small smile, ”Of course, the more I speak on this the more I am convinced that Shinigami are the inspiration for various deities. The Captain Commander is said to have the power to control lightning with his Zanpakuto. Zeus, Thor, Tlaloc, Indra…all either leaders of their pantheons or adjacent to the chief deity; all gods of thunder and lightning. Hell, I think the man’s Zanpakuto might even be called Raijin. Most gods are associated with a particular weapon, and Zanpakuto often don’t look like anything like swords when they are released.”
”You’re underselling the size of Soul Society in your head. Assuming I’ve got the population estimates right, it’s more like 320 Tokyos. The population of the living realm and soul society stay in relatively close balance. Now, if that’s based purely on reiatsu, then maybe it’s not exactly person to person, as Shinigami have relative density ranging from a couple hundred to a couple million souls. There are a few folks like you on earth, but proportionally, there are a lot more Shinigami than Fullbringers. I think it’s because strong souls age way slower; some powerful Shinigami are several thousand years old.” It probably wasn’t worth mentioning that he was one of the youngest Shinigami that he was aware of. There were theoretically a few that might have been born after him, but as far as time spent dead, he might have had the shortest tenure.
”As to answers before death, I think you’ve got a simple explanation. I’m sure that some conversations have happened in the far past between friendly Shinigami and curious people that were able to talk to them. Much like we’re having right now. Talk to a particularly charismatic man, they share their understanding with others, you get a cult and eventually a full-blown religion.”
He shook his head; the man clearly didn’t really want to hear this, but he was asking questions, and Professor Alexander wasn’t the type to let people walk away with the wrong lesson, ”But let me be clear, it is not as though Shinto gets it right either, Itsuki; it's just closer than most. While I have more experience with various faiths than most, the afterlife doesn’t match any of them perfectly. The Amatsukami are just as real as the archangels, or the Ennead, or Aesir. That is to say, they’re an interpretation.”
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Post by Itsuki Hasegawa on Nov 16, 2022 22:59:04 GMT -5
Dilligently, the student nodded along, scribbling notes about how the gods are based on living people as suspected by historians but unlike their perceptions, the powers were in fact real give or take some exaggeration. The vein running through this entire conversation pulsed. The Professor had taken to indicating it directly, the jittery sway of the pen slowing. Itsuki's teeth found his lip in nervous chewing.
The idea of the gods he worships being potentially long since faded, simply replaced in the great celestial government somehow tasted bitter. The affairs of the divine weren't exactly something many humans had recorded meddling in these days. Old kami and yokai relating to natural disasters here or there, yes, this was different. It eased him a little when his frantic gaze over the page landed on Hollows.
Glorious battle against the monsters of the world didn't seem like such a bad way to lose a kami.
No, this was already a compromise.
The cold war of the theological mock arms race pursued by the naïve and the scholars to one up one religion over another is even more fruitless than anticipated. The gods all share far more common roots than the primal, ancient beliefs of twins, mothers and fathers. Too many cogs of this grand puzzle spun as one in his mind. Things fit too well for his fragile heart to bear at a table on the other side of the world.
Down went the pen, the monk's hand reaching to itch at his collarbone.
"I'm not sure what to think! Or do. How to feel. University has always been an eye opening, brain boggling experience with the implications of new knowledge but this truly is something else. This is such a large part of my life it will take some time to come to terms with." Said the living of the pair, voice fraught with conflict. His gaze rested quietly for a few moments on the page, elbows meeting the table's edge with a slouch in his shoulders. "I'm sorry, Professor. That was personal, I didn't mean to interrupt the lesson."
Eyelids fluttered, focus reasserting. Snatching up the pen again with a slow, steady exhalation the student experimentally clicked and clacked it a handful of times before arriving with tap atop one of his notes. "Ah... Quincies. They don't re-enter the cycle, they obliterate souls and are obliterated themselves. Does this mean their souls come from somewhere outside of samsara, are they perhaps in some way soul-deficient?"
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Player
I have nothing to say.
Cole
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Post by Cole on Nov 17, 2022 22:50:17 GMT -5
”No offense taken; like I said, some people take a lot of time to adjust when they die. I’m probably being a little irresponsible dropping this on you while you’re still alive; you’re hearing it secondhand rather than seeing it yourself and making conclusions. Honestly, try to live life as you would; like I said in class, the fundamental message of most religions is simple.”
Cole raised a finger, as if he was about to lay down a deep truth, ”Don’t be a dick.” He smiled softly, ”Which, given that evil individuals end up in hell and don’t get another go-round, seems pretty sound advice.”
He shook his head, trying to clarify Itsuki’s misunderstanding, ”Nah, that’s not quite how Quincy work. Caveat, there’s not much data available to rookies on Quincy; so some of this is conjecture. But my understanding is they destroy hollows and, as a result, all the souls that the Hollow has eaten. That can cause a problem in the cycle of souls. But if a Quincy dies they function like any other spiritually empowered mortal. They don’t obliterate themselves, or even any souls other than Hollows. But they definitely have souls; I’ve heard their power to destroy hollows is based on their bloodline. So, developing a fullbring is somewhat random across the globe, but according to what I know, a Quincy doesn’t ‘randomly’ appear. There's a dark history between them and the Shinigami that I can’t get into.”
Cole shrugged helplessly, ”Not that I know all that much about it to get into.”
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Post by Itsuki Hasegawa on Nov 18, 2022 3:18:20 GMT -5
A vague grumble of agreement and yet another nod came out of Itsuki. He was beginning to feel a bit like a bobblehead with all the nodding. The Professor's sentiment rang familiar and deep, something he'd found time and again in moral and theological debates.
"I suppose I had best hope that in life I haven't done anything deserving of hellish punishment unknowingly in a whole new but altogether same way now. At least as a temple lurker I can say I've tried hard." A thin comedy's pale veneer coated a statement that was more of a surrender to an unpredictable circumstance. The flat low tone it dissolved into betrayed the muddy complexion of a statement rolled through the mulling dirt of the mind until it had lost all flavour. Itsuki's pen nib found a home on the latest empty line on the page, scribbling away as his next statement came.
"It's interesting that they do have souls but they don't seem to disrupt the cycle down to the level of their existence. Moving parts and function aside, since you brought it up, what can you tell me about the history of the spirit world in a general sense? Or anything more specific. Like I said, it has been some time since a living person widely spread any news and it seemed to be correctly based or at least from a close to valid perspective."
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Player
I have nothing to say.
Cole
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Post by Cole on Nov 19, 2022 0:48:42 GMT -5
Cole shook his head, ”There’s not a whole lot of written history before about two thousand years or so ago. Before they were organized into the thirteen squads, Shinigami was more of a ronin-style role called Balancers. The story is that the current Captain Commander (two thousand years ago) basically organized the loosely connected Balancers into the Gotei Thirteen.”
Honestly, while the attempted genocide of the Quincy was one of the more notable events in the history of the Gotei 13, there wasn’t all that much to the history of the afterlife. ”It’s basically a two thousand year old government institution, there’s nothing super interesting that I can tell you. I don’t think any of the leadership was around for the advent of computers; some were in their positions before the fall of Rome.”
The Shinigami let out a small chuckle, pulling out what looked like an old flip phone that was well over a decade out of date, "I understand that it was a decade-long fight before they allowed official implementation of cell phones that are barely more than pagers. Think of a government run by immortals that have enough power to wipe out pretty much anyone objects to how they do things. It's stable, not the best system, but stable. The amount of organizational inertia behind the setup makes me surprised we even got these old things."
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