[BitPR²] OOCVI: We have a space base now!

[Draken]

For the record, Kuroi. By this point, Azuma would have petitioned to Central 46 that the prisoners (Gwynned and her crew) be delivered to his custody, as their crimes are in Ring 26, not Seireitei, and Kotetsu is the governor of the area.

Setsurou will probably have received zero reasoning for this course of action because as far as Azuma is concerned it is simply not his business.

[Kuroimaken]

And here I thought they were finally starting to get along.

If Central actually decides to grant Azuma's motion, of course, there would be nothing Setsurou could do, besides making a formal request that said motion be delayed until proper reasoning is established, or at least until the investigation is concluded and whatnot.

Of course, once again, that brings up the question of who will play Central 46 for this purpose.

[Frozen_Feet]

I can play the Central 46, as I was going to anyway for other reasons and I can take care of this in the same run.

As for the petition, provided Azuma actually has a prison facility there, the Central 46 would have no reason to deny that petition. They care about the criminals being locked up but not particularly where they're locked up.

I'm more interested about how much complaining about Setsurou said petition included, and whether Setsurou's relationship with Momoka would've come up.

[AnimeKid]

You know it's going to be real interesting/funny when the Akiyama twins, Miya, And the group that fight Alpha-1 all finally run into each other inside the Kuzohana compound.

[Draken]

I can play the Central 46, as I was going to anyway for other reasons and I can take care of this in the same run.

As for the petition, provided Azuma actually has a prison facility there, the Central 46 would have no reason to deny that petition. They care about the criminals being locked up but not particularly where they're locked up.

I'm more interested about how much complaining about Setsurou said petition included, and whether Setsurou's relationship with Momoka would've come up.

They do have prisons, it wouldn't actually mention Setsurou or Momoka.

[Frozen_Feet]

Someone should poke horngeek to check he hasn't performed a vanishing trick again. It'd be about damn time for all the people itching for Moto blood to butt their heads together.

@Draken: All right then. Just a note in case you missed it, one of the Awakened Sin Rostro is prodding Argos to ask what's up.

[KnightDisciple]

I will prod HG on one of the other forums we're both members on.

Not sure why Lily wants to give Masaru a sword that's not his. He doesn't want it, and will just give it back.

[Kuroimaken]

I say we ALL poke horngeek.

[TherianTheorist]

^Best plan.

Also a reminder that the check first unread buttpn skips you to the newest page no matter how many posts there have been since you last checked.

[KnightDisciple]

Horngeek says he'll try to get something up in the next couple of days.

[Kuroimaken]

MY PLAN WORKED!*




























*only not.

[ThisIsZen]

Tentatively stating an interest in possibly joining this game, and let's tack on some more ly words to make this seem even more nervous and uncertain.

Bleach is fantastic and it's been way too long since I've done anything with it or interacted with the universe in any way, be it the canon one or a divergent interpretation. This take on the universe looks really neat. I'm not entirely sure RL will cooperate, but... well, I could always play something minor.

So, question! Any places a new character would fit in particularly well? I've read the gist of what's happened in the game so far, but that doesn't mean I have a super solid grasp on things, so if there's a place a new guy is needed I'd be happy to fill a hole.

[KnightDisciple]

Tentatively stating an interest in possibly joining this game, and let's tack on some more ly words to make this seem even more nervous and uncertain.

Bleach is fantastic and it's been way too long since I've done anything with it or interacted with the universe in any way, be it the canon one or a divergent interpretation. This take on the universe looks really neat. I'm not entirely sure RL will cooperate, but... well, I could always play something minor.

So, question! Any places a new character would fit in particularly well? I've read the gist of what's happened in the game so far, but that doesn't mean I have a super solid grasp on things, so if there's a place a new guy is needed I'd be happy to fill a hole.

Hm. "Need" is relative. If you want to "get your feet wet" without becoming a Captain or the like, here are a few suggestions:

-A Shinigami soldier, possibly a Ranked Officer. Most of our Divisions are only 1, maybe 2 people active, so there's plenty of room here.
-An Arrancar soldier, or even a Fraccion, to an Espada. Again, plenty of room.
-A Quincy, aligned either with the hostile Zerreißen Himmel faction (seeking radical changes to the word), the Andersons (friendly Australians who have recently transitioned to using Purification Arrows instead of Destruction Arrows), or one of the other families (allied with one camp or the other).
-A member of the Cult of the Hollow King, a mix of Arrancar, Fullbringers, and basically anything you feel like, all working for Von Geister, The King Of Hollows.
-An Empowered Mortal of one stripe or another, of one faction or another. Maybe part of the Kuzonoha family (created by Kuroimaken), for Caster shenanigans. Maybe some sort of Fullbringer. That sort of thing.

Any of those strike your fancy?

[strawberryman]

Las Noches is the most in need of activity, but I personally am looking to change that in my own small way. The Quincy plotline on the villain's side could also use some new blood.

Kuroimaken gave a somewhat more concise rundown of things KD mentioned above. Things, in a nutshell, are a lot more political than the canon setting.

Personally, I have an espada who is looking for fraccion.

[Razade]

Tentatively stating an interest in possibly joining this game, and let's tack on some more ly words to make this seem even more nervous and uncertain.

Bleach is fantastic and it's been way too long since I've done anything with it or interacted with the universe in any way, be it the canon one or a divergent interpretation. This take on the universe looks really neat. I'm not entirely sure RL will cooperate, but... well, I could always play something minor.

So, question! Any places a new character would fit in particularly well? I've read the gist of what's happened in the game so far, but that doesn't mean I have a super solid grasp on things, so if there's a place a new guy is needed I'd be happy to fill a hole.

I'm pretty new to the game and I've got a Shinigami Yakuza group formed, it could use some new blood!

[Draken]

By the way. I am sending cult agents towards your crashed castle.

[Razade]

By the way. I am sending cult agents towards your crashed castle.

Oh? Sure, I'm not exactly sure what I'm allowed to have there. Other Renegade Shinigami alright? Or can those only be people who are active in the game?

[Draken]

Nah, you can put whatever you want, they are just, you know, mooks. Technically I am also just sending mooks.

Just remember that the place crashed from orbit a mere few weeks before.

[Kuroimaken]

Which reminds me, someone ought to inform Koutarou that there's some really bad ice writer in Eastern Russia...

This should've happened BEFORE the timeskip, actually, but let's call it a jumble on the chain of command and move on to the part where he DOES get informed.

[ThisIsZen]

Yin Cao, Guardcaptain of the Yi Family

Spoiler

Show

Age: 124
Gender: Female
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 157 lbs
Race: Shinigami
Reiatsu: A ghostly, lucent white, cold as a night wind.
Station: Yi Family Palace Guard

Spoiler: Appearance

Show

Yin is comparatively fairly tall, with an athletic build and a posture that almost always manages to look pensive or thoughtful, regardless of her actions or other qualities. Her hair is jet black, cut to exactly the length of her shoulders and bound tightly back into a small bun that rests at the nape of her neck, tied with a short white ribbon. Her eyes are striking - they are a gray that matches the color of her reiatsu, giving her a piercing stare and making even her neutral or pleasant expressions somewhat unnerving. She moves with a sort of fluid grace that suggests experience in combat, but doesn't actually make her seem particularly imposing, particularly for someone who holds the chief security office of a criminal organisation's HQ, where one might expect a strong, weathered individual.

A tattoo in the form of a solid black line runs from her lower lip down the full length of her neck before disappearing under the collar of whatever clothing she happens to be wearing - other than this, she wears no ostentatious or apparent makeup, and whatever the extent of the tattoo might be, it does not emerge anywhere else she shows skin... which would, under most circumstances, consist solely of her wrists and palms. She no longer wears the uniform of a shinigami, favoring form-fitting white clothes in a variety of styles most often custom-made for her, all of which feature geometric patterns in black cloth prominently. Notably, Yin does not wear sandals - she favors a pair of black leather boots acquired from the human world, though these have gone a very long time without replacing and are very clearly worn and well broken in.

Spoiler: Personality

Show

Yin is cool, and would almost seem aloof if it weren't for the absolute professionalism with which she carried out her duties. Those under her authority maintain discipline and perform well or they do not hold their positions for long - she demands perfection from her subordinates and punishes failure immediately. In this regard she seems fairly similar to the Shinigami she is now hiding from, not the crimelord's lieutenant that she has become. Her loyalty is unflinching and her dedication to the protection of the Yi family holdings is absolute.

Personally, however, the story is somewhat different. Yin is aloof when not involved with her duties or some other immediate task - she is absolutely unsuited to life when she doesn't have some sort of immediate direction. She says little and polite conversation always seems somewhat awkward - long periods of silence can go by when it is her turn to speak. Some think this is some sort of mystique or indication of a deeply-thoughtful individual, but the truth is that Yin often takes forever to speak simply because she is floundering for words. This disarray extends into the majority of her life - her office is pristine and perfectly kept, but her quarters are an absolute trainwreck. Half-read books on a dozen subjects lie scattered haphazardly throughout, insufficient to hold her attention through to the end. She employs a servant specifically to make up for her own shortcomings in this area, but the room still feels chaotic and messy despite the hired help's best efforts to the contrary. Her dedication to her family is at least partially because she needs that sort of purpose in order to function - if she was forced to live on her own in the Rukon, she'd quite possibly either starve or go stir-crazy.

Among those who can get more than a few soft words out of the guardcaptain, she distinguishes herself as a bit of a self-taught intellectual, but her knowledge is spotty and subject to her own inability to focus on personal matters. She is also characterized by a very uncharacteristic abject terror of Shinigami - while she's capable of interacting with them, it's always extremely stressful and even her normally impeccable work life tends to suffer for a few days after if a situation necessitates it.

Spoiler: History

Show

Yin Cao was, at one point, 5th Seat of 3rd Squad. Her training prior to that point, and her service in the time immediately after her joining the Gotei 13 were nothing of particular note - she was competent, skilled enough, carried out her duties to the letter and was, essentially, an ideal subordinate, but did not actually distinguish herself significantly. Her promotion to ranking member of a squad came about as a result of consistent, competent service and demonstrable skill, rather than battlefield heroics or being particularly noteworthy. This actually left her at odds with some of her compatriots - this was, after all, the time when the Gotei still stood on a warfront. Her lack of distinguishing characteristics in favor of pure dependability made her seem too normal for a ranking seat. She had to deal with some degree of workplace politics nearly from the moment she took her position, and in truth, Yin was horrible at politics.

However, though she never did manage to shake off the stigma that followed her, her career did begin to become noteworthy after her promotion. For one, any unit placed under her command enjoyed noticeably improved performance, discipline and coherence - her aptitudes as a military commander became immediately evident and she enjoyed the rewards of skilled leadership. Furthermore, now that she was participating in more notable battles, the strange qualities of her shikai began to get some display. She became known for her rapid resolution of conflicts she was needed personally for, but it was an open secret that she would not progress any further in rank simply because of the nature of her zanpakuto. She was not particularly bothered by this, as she was not particularly ambitious, and the responsibilities and purpose afforded her by her current position was more than satisfactory to her.

How does a rock-solid 5th Seat become a criminal hiding on the edge of the Rukon, then? Quite simple, really. Politics, misunderstandings, and poor intel. On a routine field mission with her unit, Yin Cao was attacked by a quite overpowering enemy - an Adjuchas-class Menos with a bizarre power set. Beset by sudden paranoia and violent fear, her unit essentially cannibalized itself - and given that she was the only seated Shinigami there, with a particularly powerful Shikai at that, Yin Cao killed most of her own soldiers herself in berserk terror. They managed to send out an SoS shortly before being completely overtaken, so a rescue effort was mounted, but they found a listless, unresponsive Yin standing amidst the bodies of her soldiers, nearly about to be executed by the foe. Timely intervention saved her, but ambitious colleagues damned her anew.

The story was spread that Yin Cao had intentionally murdered her unit, rather than being affected by any outside force. The case raised was rather compelling - there was absolutely 0 intel on any Adjuchas in the area, the appearance of the Hollow was unexpected, and turncoats in the ranks were not wholly unheard of. Unfortunately for Yin, while it was likely that the case would be dismissed, the paranoia and suspicion of other Shinigami imposed on her by the Adjuchas did not dissipate with its death, so when an attempt was made to bring her in for new questioning on the matter, she killed those sent to collect her and fled before anyone realized what had happened. This legitimized the claims against her, and she is well aware that if she's ever captured again that execution is likely all that faces her.
Fleeing to the Rukon, she wandered aimlessly and it was only by running into the Yi family and Shen Yi that she was able to again bring some semblance of order to her life. Her tasks were different but her dedication to them was no less intense, and eventually she found herself the head of security and captain of the guard for the Yi family's castle, which in technical equivalence was the highest rank she had ever held (though in practice probably not).

More recently, her life has gone topsy-turvy again because her home and charge fell out of the sky and landed in Russia, and she's relatively stranded there all of a sudden without any idea what to do or how to proceed, so she's going somewhat nuts. And also freezing.

Spoiler: Abilities

Show

Zanjutsu: Yin is a skilled combatant with her sword. As she does not like to release her shikai unless it is needed, simple swordfighting forms the cornerstone of her fighting style. Her style is fluid and committed more to constant motion than to direct attack - she disables an opponent by attacking weaknesses in their form, rather than powering through or going for immediate, risky finishing blows. This has required her to develop substantial endurance, as otherwise simple attrition would end fights in her opponent's favor.

Hakuda: Yin's second specialty, and an intrinsic part of her combat style as sometimes an opening would not be available to a blade but is for a foot or fist. Yin trained herself to be ambidextrous and can fight shifting her sword from hand to hand, and weaves unarmed attacks in and out of a combat generally. Her shikai requires her to fight like this, so she's as good here as with her swordfighting.

Hoho: Rather strangely, Yin is only of average skill in Hoho, despite being a skilled Hakuda practitioner. The reasons become clear when she fights in Shikai - her combat is very technique-focused and very grounded, not given to extraneous movements (though it is mobile) and punishing them in others. Yin is actually more capable of combating opponents who use Hoho than she is using it herself - the only non-utility use of shunpo she makes use of, for instance, is closing against opponents who fight at range.

Kido: Another case of 'average and unremarkable', Yin's skill with Kido is passable and not much else, with a focus on Bakudo rather than Hado. The only notable thing about her Kido use is that she has overcome her middling aptitude with a very small number of Bakudo arts through sheer determination and practice, and is able to use them without incantations. The two spells she is able to use this way at the moment are Hainawa and Seki, and she uses them much as she uses her sword and hakuda - to punish gaps in an opponent's form and disable them piecemeal.

Spoiler: Zanpakuto

Show

Name: Gekkou (Moonbow, Moonlight Rainbow)
Appearance: A normal katana in form, though cosmetically it's rather different. The blade appears to be made out of platinum, rather than the typical steel, and the crossguard is made of polished white wood. The hilt is wrapped in silver cloth, rather than black.
Spirit: An impossibly tall woman with long black hair and a mirror-silver mask covering her face. Gekkou speaks in a whisper that can be heard anywhere within Yin's inner world, and moves like the wind.
Inner World: An enormous, white sand beach in a state of permanent deepest night, staring up at an impossibly-large full moon. A forest stretches out behind but there's a sense that nothing can be gained there. The sea is actually liquid glass and reflects the night sky almost perfectly, and laps at the coast with jagged tongues. Gekkou most often is found sitting on a rocky outcrop made of unrefined silver.

"Be and fade, Gekkou."

Spoiler: Shikai

Show

Appearance: The sword vanishes, becoming a set of geometric silver psueo-tattoos that glow faintly against Yin's skin - a pattern which is visible even through clothing. While Gekkou is active, every motion she make is characterized by a silver-white afterimage that seems to flow fluidly behind her, which makes her motions beautiful but somewhat difficult to actually trace.

Power: While active, Gekkou actively misdirects and masks Yin's actual motions through a combination of light tricks and illusions. Combined with her near-perfect technique, this leaves opponents reacting to feints she doesn't even make, and can give the sense that her actions are disconnected from their effects. On its own, that would make Gekkou a powerful shikai, but its other powers make it both more and less powerful simultaneously, because they heavily constrain the way that Yin must act and the timeframe that she has to act in.

• Glimmer: Immediately after releasing her Shikai, Gekkou's radiance is soft and uncertain. At this point its misdirective powers are at their greatest, and Yin's body is semi-translucent, now even harder to track than it normally would be. Like each of the three stages, Glimmer's duration is short, and extending it requires a substantial expenditure of reiatsu as it is literally holding a natural progression of events back from occurring. Because of how difficult she is to see, Yin while in Glimmer seems to be literally insubstantial - blades and other attacks pass through her form harmlessly. In actuality, she's simply not where the attacks are landing.
• Glow: The tattoos flare, becoming burning brands of white light and the most significant visual aspect of Yin's appearance for the duration. While in Glow, her fists strike with white fire, and contact with her in any way is harmful unless she actively chooses for it not to be. Glow is the portion of Gekkou's activation where Yin's strength is at its greatest, but there is no misdirection here - every action she takes is starkly visible. However, the light shed by Gekkou's markings is almost blinding and presents its own difficulties to overcome. She also has the ability at this point to fire off bolts of moonfire, but doing so rapidly expends the energy and the radiance of her markings decreases notably each time she does so. Yin is most likely to extend this phase of Gekkou, as cycling through the entire series is inconvenient and she's most likely to need power immediately.
• Reflection: The weakest and at the same time arguably most dangerous of the three phases, Reflection is characterized by the complete death of any luminosity from Gekkou's markings. The power comes from the fact that at this point, it gains one power that seems to be at odds with the others, which Yin has taken to calling being able to touch the moon through a pool's surface. Namely, though it lasts minutes at the longest, while the Shikai is 'dying,' Yin is capable of striking at opponents through reflected images. This is incredibly disconcerting and probably the hardest to combat, but while she can disable opponents in this form actually killing them presents a challenge as all of her physical capabilities are wholly unaugmented by her shikai in any way. This is also obviously highly situational - on an open dirt plain, it's nearly impossible for her to utilize and the shikai essentially ends at Glow, but in a hall of mirrors she'd be nearly undefeatable. Yin despises Reflection, though, as it requires the sort of abstract tactics that are essentially incompatible with her fighting style.

In order to continue use of her Shikai, she must reactivate it again. This style of combat is both extremely energy-inefficient and tactically undesirable, as Yin cannot necessarily control her own transition from state to state and 'running out of time' could leave her vulnerable at the worst possible time. For this reason she was never going to be promoted, but the intense power of Glow and her own unrelated proficiencies mean that unless she's severely outmatched, her fights are ended quickly. She has never been forced to cycle Gekkou more than once, and the only time she did cycle Gekkou, she was busy killing comrades irrationally.

"All of eternity means less than a moment. One second outweighs years, one breath, one heartbeat, one motion. Shine brightly, then die, Iroazayaka na Gekkou!" (Brilliant Moonbow)

Spoiler: Bankai (Not yet achieved)

Show

Nothing to put here yet. Most likely enormous power packaged into an enormously short active time, since that's kind of the sword's schtick.

Spoiler

Show

Tentative
Appearance: Iroazayaka na Gekkou becomes a brilliant corona of white light that seems to fragment apart into a prismatic chaos anywhere it ends, centered like a halo behind Yin's head. The tattoos of the shikai form remain but are in permanent Glow state, and her presence is radiant like a small imitation sun. Notably, while the moonfire of Gekkou's Glow was actually hot to the touch, Iroazayaka na Gekkou is actually completely without temperature of any sort. It goes without saying that the normal misdirection of the Shikai form is abandoned completely. However, compensating for this is the fact that the weapon again takes a physical form - six mercurial, metallic ribbons, three of which are wrapped about and commanded by each of Yin's arms. Iroazayaka na Gekkou is a supremely abstract combat form and will take a great deal of both personal growth and training on Yin's part to become useable by her, even ignoring the gulf of power between her present state and that required. However, she will be terrifying for it.

There are two specific qualities that Iroazayaka na Gekkou takes on.

• The Lake Becomes the Moon: When released, Iroazayaka na Gekkou makes all physical objects within a considerable radius reflective, resembling the surface of a pool of mercury more than any conventional mirror or glass. Furthermore, the entire duration of Iroazayaka na Gekkou's release is subject to a Reflection effect, as her Shikai, but amped up and basically on steroids. She can make attacks with each of her bankai's six ribbons (which are deadly-edged and burn to the touch with heatless moonfire) through any available reflection, including those of other ribbons - meaning an opponent will have to fend off attacks coming from surfaces that carry their image, possibly in an array beyond their ability to even perceive. If she were to ever achieve bankai, Yin would be able to end fights in a matter of moments, but that is important because of the next point...
• Total Collapse (Wind Disperses Mist): Iroazayaka na Gekkou slows down Yin's perception of time and speeds up her cognitive speed, allowing her to act much more rapidly than she would otherwise. She perceives herself as spending a full, undisturbed equivalent minute within the state, and can push herself to up to double that time period, but doing so directly threatens her life due to the reiatsu costs. However, Iroazayaka na Gekkou lasts for an exact total of ten seconds, twenty if she extends it. The only way to circumvent this limitation is to actually disable all of the special powers of Iroazayaka na Gekkou and use it purely as a martial weapon - while this certainly leaves Yin more powerful than she would normally, it is akin to hobbling her Bankai down to Shikai levels. The moment she engages its reflective powers, Total Collapse takes place. This is even more restrictive than her Shikai, because there is no cycling or second chance. If she does not end the fight she is involved in within ten seconds, the bankai ends, and it takes with it a majority of her power as well. After ten seconds she is exhausted, unable to manage shikai and fighting at the lowest end of her mundane combat ability. After twenty seconds, she passes out and requires immediate kidou medical attention.

[Razade]

Yin Cao, Guardcaptain of the Yi Family

Spoiler

Show

Age: 124
Gender: Female
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 157 lbs
Race: Shinigami
Reiatsu: A ghostly, lucent white, cold as a night wind.
Station: Yi Family Palace Guard

Spoiler: Appearance

Show

Yin is comparatively fairly tall, with an athletic build and a posture that almost always manages to look pensive or thoughtful, regardless of her actions or other qualities. Her hair is jet black, cut to exactly the length of her shoulders and bound tightly back into a small bun that rests at the nape of her neck, tied with a short white ribbon. Her eyes are striking - they are a gray that matches the color of her reiatsu, giving her a piercing stare and making even her neutral or pleasant expressions somewhat unnerving. She moves with a sort of fluid grace that suggests experience in combat, but doesn't actually make her seem particularly imposing, particularly for someone who holds the chief security office of a criminal organisation's HQ, where one might expect a strong, weathered individual.
A tattoo in the form of a solid black line runs from her lower lip down the full length of her neck before disappearing under the collar of whatever clothing she happens to be wearing - other than this, she wears no ostentatious or apparent makeup, and whatever the extent of the tattoo might be, it does not emerge anywhere else she shows skin... which would, under most circumstances, consist solely of her wrists and palms. She no longer wears the uniform of a shinigami, favoring form-fitting white clothes in a variety of styles most often custom-made for her, all of which feature geometric patterns in black cloth prominently. Notably, Yin does not wear sandals - she favors a pair of black leather boots acquired from the human world, though these have gone a very long time without replacing and are very clearly worn and well broken in.

Spoiler: Personality

Show

Yin is cool, and would almost seem aloof if it weren't for the absolute professionalism with which she carried out her duties. Those under her authority maintain discipline and perform well or they do not hold their positions for long - she demands perfection from her subordinates and punishes failure immediately. In this regard she seems fairly similar to the Shinigami she is now hiding from, not the crimelord's lieutenant that she has become. Her loyalty is unflinching and her dedication to the protection of the Yi family holdings is absolute.
Personally, however, the story is somewhat different. Yin is aloof when not involved with her duties or some other immediate task - she is absolutely unsuited to life when she doesn't have some sort of immediate direction. She says little and polite conversation always seems somewhat awkward - long periods of silence can go by when it is her turn to speak. Some think this is some sort of mystique or indication of a deeply-thoughtful individual, but the truth is that Yin often takes forever to speak simply because she is floundering for words. This disarray extends into the majority of her life - her office is pristine and perfectly kept, but her quarters are an absolute trainwreck. Half-read books on a dozen subjects lie scattered haphazardly throughout, insufficient to hold her attention through to the end. She employs a servant specifically to make up for her own shortcomings in this area, but the room still feels chaotic and messy despite the hired help's best efforts to the contrary. Her dedication to her family is at least partially because she needs that sort of purpose in order to function - if she was forced to live on her own in the Rukon, she'd quite possibly either starve or go stir-crazy.
Among those who can get more than a few soft words out of the guardcaptain, she distinguishes herself as a bit of a self-taught intellectual, but her knowledge is spotty and subject to her own inability to focus on personal matters. She is also characterized by a very uncharacteristic abject terror of Shinigami - while she's capable of interacting with them, it's always extremely stressful and even her normally impeccable work life tends to suffer for a few days after if a situation necessitates it.

Spoiler: History

Show

Yin Cao was, at one point, 5th Seat of Squad 3. Her training prior to that point, and her service in the time immediately after her joining the Gotei 13 were nothing of particular note - she was competent, skilled enough, carried out her duties to the letter and was, essentially, an ideal subordinate, but did not actually distinguish herself significantly. Her promotion to ranking member of a squad came about as a result of consistent, competent service and demonstrable skill, rather than battlefield heroics or being particularly noteworthy. This actually left her at odds with some of her compatriots - this was, after all, the time before the Gotei were pared down when they still stood on a warfront. Her lack of distinguishing characteristics in favor of pure dependability made her seem too normal for a ranking seat. She had to deal with some degree of workplace politics nearly from the moment she took her position, and in truth, Yin was horrible at politics.
However, though she never did manage to shake off the stigma that followed her, her career did begin to become noteworthy after her promotion. For one, any unit placed under her command enjoyed noticeably improved performance, discipline and coherence - her aptitudes as a military commander became immediately evident and she enjoyed the rewards of skilled leadership. Furthermore, now that she was participating in more notable battles, the strange qualities of her shikai began to get some display. She became known for her rapid resolution of conflicts she was needed personally for, but it was an open secret that she would not progress any further in rank simply because of the nature of her zanpakuto. She was not particularly bothered by this, as she was not particularly ambitious, and the responsibilities and purpose afforded her by her current position was more than satisfactory to her.
How does a rock-solid 5th Seat become a criminal hiding on the edge of the Rukon, then? Quite simple, really. Politics, misunderstandings, and poor intel. On a routine field mission with her unit, Yin Cao was attacked by a quite overpowering enemy - an Adjuchas-class Menos with a bizarre power set. Beset by sudden paranoia and violent fear, her unit essentially cannibalized itself - and given that she was the only seated Shinigami there, with a particularly powerful Shikai at that, Yin Cao killed most of her own soldiers herself in berserk terror. They managed to send out an SoS shortly before being completely overtaken, so a rescue effort was mounted, but they found a listless, unresponsive Yin standing amidst the bodies of her soldiers, nearly about to be executed by the foe. Timely intervention saved her, but ambitious colleagues damned her anew.
The story was spread that Yin Cao had intentionally murdered her unit, rather than being affected by any outside force. The case raised was rather compelling - there was absolutely 0 intel on any Adjuchas in the area, the appearance of the Hollow was unexpected, and turncoats in the ranks were not wholly unheard of. Unfortunately for Yin, while it was likely that the case would be dismissed, the paranoia and suspicion of other Shinigami imposed on her by the Adjuchas did not dissipate with its death, so when an attempt was made to bring her in for new questioning on the matter, she killed those sent to collect her and fled before anyone realized what had happened. This legitimized the claims against her, and she is well aware that if she's ever captured again that execution is likely all that faces her.
Fleeing to the Rukon, she wandered aimlessly and it was only by running into the Yi family and Shen Yi that she was able to again bring some semblance of order to her life. Her tasks were different but her dedication to them was no less intense, and eventually she found herself the head of security and captain of the guard for the Yi family's castle, which in technical equivalence was the highest rank she had ever held (though in practice probably not).
More recently, her life has gone topsy-turvy again because her home and charge fell out of the sky and landed in Russia, and she's relatively stranded there all of a sudden without any idea what to do or how to proceed, so she's going somewhat nuts. And also freezing.

Spoiler: Abilities

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Zanjutsu: Yin is a skilled combatant with her sword. As she does not like to release her shikai unless it is needed, simple swordfighting forms the cornerstone of her fighting style. Her style is fluid and committed more to constant motion than to direct attack - she disables an opponent by attacking weaknesses in their form, rather than powering through or going for immediate, risky finishing blows. This has required her to develop substantial endurance, as otherwise simple attrition would end fights in her opponent's favor.

Hakuda: Yin's second specialty, and an intrinsic part of her combat style as sometimes an opening would not be available to a blade but is for a foot or fist. Yin trained herself to be ambidextrous and can fight shifting her sword from hand to hand, and weaves unarmed attacks in and out of a combat generally. Her shikai requires her to fight like this, so she's as good here as with her swordfighting.

Hoho: Rather strangely, Yin is only of average skill in Hoho, despite being a skilled Hakuda practitioner. The reasons become clear when she fights in Shikai - her combat is very technique-focused and very grounded, not given to extraneous movements (though it is mobile) and punishing them in others. Yin is actually more capable of combating opponents who use Hoho than she is using it herself - the only non-utility use of shunpo she makes use of, for instance, is closing against opponents who fight at range.

Kido: Another case of 'average and unremarkable', Yin's skill with Kido is passable and not much else, with a focus on Bakudo rather than Kido. The only notable thing about her Kido use is that she has overcome her middling aptitude with a very small number of Bakudo arts through sheer determination and practice, and is able to use them without incantations. The two spells she is able to use this way at the moment are Hainawa and Seki, and she uses them much as she uses her sword and hakuda - to punish gaps in an opponent's form and disable them piecemeal.

Spoiler: Zanpakuto

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Name: Gekkou (Moonbow, Moonlight Rainbow)
Appearance: A normal katana in form, though cosmetically it's rather different. The blade appears to be made out of platinum, rather than the typical steel, and the crossguard is made of polished white wood. The hilt is wrapped in silver cloth, rather than black.
Spirit: An impossibly tall woman with long black hair and a mirror-silver mask covering her face. Gekkou speaks in a whisper that can be heard anywhere within Yin's inner world, and moves like the wind.
Inner World: An enormous, white sand beach in a state of permanent deepest night, staring up at an impossibly-large full moon. A forest stretches out behind but there's a sense that nothing can be gained there. The sea is actually liquid glass and reflects the night sky almost perfectly, and laps at the coast with jagged tongues. Gekkou most often is found sitting on a rocky outcrop made of unrefined silver.

"Be and fade, Gekkou."

Spoiler: Shikai

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Appearance: The sword vanishes, becoming a set of geometric silver psueo-tattoos that glow faintly against Yin's skin - a pattern which is visible even through clothing. While Gekkou is active, every motion she make is characterized by a silver-white afterimage that seems to flow fluidly behind her, which makes her motions beautiful but somewhat difficult to actually trace.

Power: While active, Gekkou actively misdirects and masks Yin's actual motions through a combination of light tricks and illusions. Combined with her near-perfect technique, this leaves opponents reacting to feints she doesn't even make, and can give the sense that her actions are disconnected from their effects. On its own, that would make Gekkou a powerful shikai, but its other powers make it both more and less powerful simultaneously, because they heavily constrain the way that Yin must act and the timeframe that she has to act in.

• Glimmer: Immediately after releasing her Shikai, Gekkou's radiance is soft and uncertain. At this point its misdirective powers are at their greatest, and Yin's body is semi-translucent, now even harder to track than it normally would be. Like each of the three stages, Glimmer's duration is short, and extending it requires a substantial expenditure of reiatsu as it is literally holding a natural progression of events back from occurring. Because of how difficult she is to see, Yin while in Glimmer seems to be literally insubstantial - blades and other attacks pass through her form harmlessly. In actuality, she's simply not where the attacks are landing.
• Glow: The tattoos flare, becoming burning brands of white light and the most significant visual aspect of Yin's appearance for the duration. While in Glow, her fists strike with white fire, and contact with her in any way is harmful unless she actively chooses for it not to be. Glow is the portion of Gekkou's activation where Yin's strength is at its greatest, but there is no misdirection here - every action she takes is starkly visible. However, the light shed by Gekkou's markings is almost blinding and presents its own difficulties to overcome. She also has the ability at this point to fire off bolts of moonfire, but doing so rapidly expends the energy and the radiance of her markings decreases notably each time she does so. Yin is most likely to extend this phase of Gekkou, as cycling through the entire series is inconvenient and she's most likely to need power immediately.
• Reflection: The weakest and at the same time arguably most dangerous of the three phases, Reflection is characterized by the complete death of any luminosity from Gekkou's markings. The power comes from the fact that at this point, it gains one power that seems to be at odds with the others, which Yin has taken to calling being able to touch the moon through a pool's surface. Namely, though it lasts minutes at the longest, while the Shikai is 'dying,' Yin is capable of striking at opponents through reflected images. This is incredibly disconcerting and probably the hardest to combat, but while she can disable opponents in this form actually killing them presents a challenge as all of her physical capabilities are wholly unaugmented by her shikai in any way. This is also obviously highly situational - on an open dirt plain, it's nearly impossible for her to utilize and the shikai essentially ends at Glow, but in a hall of mirrors she'd be nearly undefeatable. Yin despises Reflection, though, as it requires the sort of abstract tactics that are essentially incompatible with her fighting style.

In order to continue use of her Shikai, she must reactivate it again. This style of combat is both extremely energy-inefficient and tactically undesirable, as Yin cannot necessarily control her own transition from state to state and 'running out of time' could leave her vulnerable at the worst possible time. For this reason she was never going to be promoted, but the intense power of Glow and her own unrelated proficiencies mean that unless she's severely outmatched, her fights are ended quickly. She has never been forced to cycle Gekkou more than once, and the only time she did cycle Gekkou, she was busy killing comrades irrationally.

"All of eternity means less than a moment. One second outweighs years, one breath, one heartbeat, one motion. Shine brightly, then die, Iroazayaka na Gekkou!" (Brilliant Moonbow)

Spoiler: Bankai (Not yet achieved)

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Nothing to put here yet. Most likely enormous power packaged into an enormously short active time, since that's kind of the sword's schtick.

Well I think it looks good

[Frozen_Feet]

Which reminds me, someone ought to inform Koutarou that there's some really bad ice writer in Eastern Russia...

This should've happened BEFORE the timeskip, actually, but let's call it a jumble on the chain of command and move on to the part where he DOES get informed.

The "queue" Lily mentioned would actually be an ordered list of everything that has happened and everyone who's looking for him, and Koutarou would get his paws on it the moment he either gives Lily what it wants or kicks it out of his office. Whether their chat takes place before, after or during the timeskip is your choice.

[ThisIsZen]

Edited Yin's profile a bit - fixed up a lot of the hard to read textwall paragraphs, and added in a tentative Bankai idea, mostly 'cause I like spitballing. Nothing there is final since Yin is a mile and a half away from ever attaining it, but I wanted to think about it anyway.

[Kuroimaken]

Oh, good.

Then we can say that instead of taking a week to notice, he actually spent a week preparing a recon/combat party for it.

[Draken]

My only issue with that character is that I hope you don't plan to write his text in that color.

[ThisIsZen]

I had been wondering how that shade of gray looked to other eyes, so I guess that's a resounding 'way too faint.' Will adjust to a darker, more readable gray, because readability > adherence to concept. Gimme a sec.

Should be possible to read now.

[KnightDisciple]

A couple of minor quibbles:
-If she's only a 124, then by that point, there weren't 13 Divisions. So was she in Recon, Combat, IntSec...?
-The term for destructive Kido is "Hado", not "Kido". Under your abilities section.
-Also keep in mind the Menos incident had to be more than 50 years ago, as at that point, basically all the Menos disappeared from Hueco Mundo.

As far as her Shikai goes, I'm of a mixed mind. It's very thematic and flavorful, and it does have some pretty specific hard limits...but it's still really flexible, with what amounts to 3 separate Shikais. They're linked to a degree by theme, but still. I guess I'm just inherently wary of a powerset whose limit is "it's not super convenient for her I promise!". Not saying you're going to metagame it, mind. Just expressing the reason for my concern.

Is there any reason you didn't focus on just one of these power-sets, especially since the Bankai seems to drop one powerset entirely.

Further, I would suggest pondering ways to make the Bankai a bit less "all or nothing". This is just my perspective, but it's more fun to have your character able to engage in multiple fights for a longer period, or one long dramatic fight, than have 2, maybe 3 posts before they collapse, and your opponent is forced to, basically, either no-sell the horrific barrage of power, or is utterly defeated. Better to structure things so there's a range of options, I think. Again, primarily just my opinion/perspective, and I do think overall it's a very thematically interesting powerset.

[TherianTheorist]

Knight hits all tge points I would have, plus more.

(Also, I can't believe my prediction was wrong.)

[ThisIsZen]

The bankai is just spitballing. I'm playing a 5th seat - admittedly, one with powers a little bit above her pay grade, but still considerably lower than even Lieutenant-class, let alone Captain. I wrote it up mostly to sort of get a feel for what an upgrade on Gekkou might feel like, hence why that subsection has THIS IS NOT FINAL all but written in bold print implication. I imagine after I actually write for her a bit, I'll get a better feel for where the ideal point between 'narrative concept' and 'interesting roleplay element' rests.

Regarding the other things, I'll take it in order:

1. I hadn't realized that the paring-down of the Gotei 13 occurred before the disappearance of the Menos - I thought it happened in the interceding 50 years before the Scarlet Garden. I might just be completely wrong about the entire timeline, tho. In that case, she'd probably be a ranking officer in Combat - were there still only ten seats to a division, or were there more ranks opened up as the squads were disbanded?
2. Will fix.
3. The idea is that she's been MIA for a good bit longer than 50 years, so that fits. The 124-year-age is from-point-of-death - I didn't even think about what Yin's life was like prior because I think that's wholly irrelevant to a Shinigami. As I understand it, Shen Yi has been MIA for 250 years, so there's plenty of time for her to have joined up before the Menos incident.

With regard to the Shikai powers: I'll admit I designed them more to fill a narrative purpose than anything. (Namely, why would an extremely diligent and competent individual find themselves literally gated from advancement within the Soul Society? Answer: A powerset that is literally unsustainable at higher levels of combat.) The break point on her power transitions is measured in minutes, even if she's actively pumping power to sustain a form, and falling out of Glow should actually be a fight-ender because she cannot aptly use Reflection even if the environment is set up for it as she is right now.

My thought process was that her sword should actually be adversarial - Yin cannot function in an abstract world and her entire fighting style was designed around slow, careful maneuvering, but her sword is both at its strongest in the abstract and hard-limited to force her to end fights quickly. It's less of a 'power set' and more of a problem she has to overcome, the reward of which is that she becomes a much more dangerous combatant.

HOWEVER I'd be open to suggestions to maintaining the theme and limitations imposed by Gekkou while making it perhaps more focused and less versatile, up to and including a complete rework of its actual effects, minus the tattoo motif.

EDIT: History updated, she is no longer more skilled at binding magic than magic, shikai left alone for now 'cause I haven't slept all night and am not certain where I would even take it at this point if I want to change it at all.

[Frozen_Feet]

You are actually correct in that the paring down of Gotei happened during the last 50 years when Menos were gone. We tried to get back to full 13 during the game but fell short of captains. So if your character was active more than 50 years ago, there would've still been 13 divisions then.