Baseline Information
The shinigami are a race of individuals whom possess the power to purify the souls of the deceased and send them back to soul society. Possessing the innate ability to heighten their power through various stages, the shinigami can attain stages known as Shikai and Bankai, which only further their prowess. A shinigami's soul is split into two beings. The first is their own consciousness and intelligence, given no special name. The split comes in the form of a secondary personality, separate visage, and abilities. This secondary spirit is known as the Zanpakuto spirit, and is where the abilities of the shinigami's zanpakuto come from. This spirit resides within a mental world created by the shinigami's subconscious. The first step to obtaining greater power is to find a way into this world. After one is capable of finding this inner world and their zanpakuto spirit, they are capable of fighting said spirit and obtaining a higher level or power. This world is, like nearly every aspect of a zanpakuto, completely unique to the shinigami in question.
The sole (lol soul) enemies of those known as Hollow and their evolution, the arrancar, the shinigami have mobilised as an organization known as the Gotei 13, they are split into various squads specifically for a specialty within the squads. These squads are further split into rankings that show each shinigami's current power level. The strongest of the shinigami is known as the Captain Commander. The captain commander is also the captain of squad one. Each squad has such a captain, and the captain are normally referred to as the strongest of the shinigami. Beneath each captain is hopefully a lieutenent, and under them are squad members.
All shinigami reside in Soul Society, a dimension that exists outside of hueco mundo, the hollow dimension, which exists just outside the human dimension relatively. In order to cross between the two, there are several options. The first is to use a senkaimon, which is a personal gateway that can only truly be accessed with the use of a Hell Butterfly. This gateway, with the butterfly, will allow for the user to bypass the Precipice world (more information in another post) without harm. Alternatively, a shinigami could potentially use a garganta, which is a hollow technique adapted by Kido. If one's zanpakuto gives them the ability to open portals and doorways, that is another possible way to cross the dimensions.
Zanpakuto
A zanpakuto (soul cutter) is a weapon that has a maximum of three forms or shapes which is used to help slay hollow. These forms are standardly known as Unsealed, Shikai, and Bankai. In its unsealed state, a zanpakuto resembles a very basic katana or wakizashi. While this appears to be the standard in the anime, we are going to allow shikai to be any form of sword. This does not include broardsword, or anything massive (such as Cloud Strife). Please keep this in moderation. Shikai is where the true abilities of the zanpakuto are revealed. Every zanpakuto has a unique name and callphrase. Once these are uttered, the zanpakuto will unleash it's shikai state and provide the owner with an abundance of power.
Shikai: Once shikai state (which means first release) has been unleashed, which must be first obtained by fighting or coming to agreement with your zanpakuto spirit while inside the inner world, the sword undergoes a transformation that can range from superficial to on a much higher, molecular level. This change does not affect the user as much as the weapon, so be very careful when creating it.
Bankai: The final stage of the zanpakuto is known as Bankai, or full release. Bankai unleashes the full potential and power of a shinigami, and can include changes to the weapon, body of the user, and possibly even the abilities. Bankai is a true testiment to the shinigami's power, as they must have vast levels of control over their zapakuto in order to obtain it, let alone utilizie it properly. Despite the norm for obtaining bankai be while your character is in conjunction with the gotei, most notably as a captain, it is possible to obtain it through other means, although this is very difficult.
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True Bankai: This is not exactly a new form, but it is the stage someone reaches when their bankai has reached such states of power and strength that wielding bankai has become as easy as wielding shikai.
A zanpakuto's blade is where the name comes from. If a zanpakuto blade slices the mask of a hollow (hence soul cutter) an interesting reaction will occur. The hollow will lose all of it's hollow-like traits and become a pure soul once more. After this, soul burial can commence. Alternatively, the hollow will be dragged into hell. More information on this will be revealed in the hollow racial information page.
Other Abilities
Aside from a Zanpakuto, a shinigami has various other abilities they are capable of using, most notably in the manifestation of Kido. Kido, also known as the Demon Arts, is the manifestation of magical spells utilized by Shinigami through the use of a special incantation. Two types of kido exist, known as Hado and Bakudo. Hado is the collective term for offensive spells, while Bakudo is for sealing and entrapment spells. Kido must be used with the incantation in order for the full power to be realized, although enough training can ensure that kido may be used without it, at the cost of lowering it's power level. For example, Bakudo #9, "Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat! Bakudo #9, Geki!" Would be a lot more powerful then just "Bakudo #9, Geki!"
Shunpo is another ability available to shinigami en masse. Also known as Flash Step, Shunpo is a high-speed movement that gives a temporary burst of speed to a shinigami to allow for them to traverse a greater distance then a normal step would allow at speeds that render the vision of such movement almost impossible. While using this technique, the shinigami will release a swishing sound.