Quincy Information

Overview

Quincy are spiritually aware humans able to absorb and manipulate Reishi into spiritual weapons.

Reishi Absorption: Although Shingiami and Quincy both use Reiryoku when fighting, they both have a completely opposite fighting style. Shinigami use the spiritual power created from their soul in conjunction with a Zanpakutō to fight against the Hollows. It can be said they fight using a power from within. On the contrary, a Quincy uses the Reishi in the atmosphere, and combines it with his/her Reiryoku to create weapons. They fight using a power from outside. They have an easier time collecting this energy in environments with higher concentrations of spiritual particles such as in Soul Society or Hueco Mundo. To a sufficiently powerful Quincy, there is no difference between spiritual particles and spiritual energy as a source of power.

• Spirit Weapon: The weapon that Quincies create by gathering the reishi in the air. The only limit to a Quincy's ability to create and fire arrows is their own stamina and ability to absorb ambient spirit particles.

• Spiritual Awareness: As a spiritual being, the Quincy can sense Hollows and other spiritual beings at a significant distance or tell in what direction they are in. Quincy have an acute perception of reiatsu.

Appearance

The final point of contrast between the Quincy and Shinigami is their respective choice of uniform. While the Shinigami wear traditional, black, flowing hakama, the Quincy wear white, form-fitting, high-collared tunics. These bear some resemblance both to Mandarin Chinese dress and to cassocks of Catholic priests. This gives the Quincy a distinctly "foreign" or "Western" style compared to the Shinigami. One peculiar recurring motif of Quincy is that of a cross, which appears frequently on their uniforms and artifacts. The cross is not the same shape among all Quincy. The differences between Quincy and Shinigami in costume and iconography are minor compared to the differences in weaponry and ideology.

History

The Quincy were scattered all over the world at one time. They were relatives of magic hunters who specialized in the war against Hollows.

Since the origin of the Quincy, many years passed within Soul Society trying to appeal to the Quincy that the handling of Hollows should be left to the Shinigami. The Quincy refused to accept the situation. As time went on, the number of Quincy increased and the cycle of souls became more unstable, forcing the Shinigami to reluctantly wipe out the Quincy in order to maintain the balance of the world.

The Quincy line was closely monitored over the decades, as their numbers continued to dwindle. Later the Quincy advanced the idea that since they were already among the living and still more numerous at the time, they could act as "first responders" to Hollow attacks: protecting Humans until the less-numerous Shinigami could send a representative to finish the Hollow off. Embittered by the recent war, the Shinigami refused to participate, opting instead to allocate their limited resources to reacting to the most dangerous Hollows and current Hollow attacks.

Danger to the Balance

Shinigami govern the souls between the Human World and Soul Society, which maintains a balance that if not kept would result in the mutual destruction of both worlds. All souls, including Hollows, are subject to the Shinigami governance of maintaining the balance. Quincy completely extinguish Hollows. Thus the souls that come to the Human World do not return to Soul Society and therefore the souls would increase only on the side of the Human World. Meaning, the Human World becomes heavy in souls causing Soul Society to spill over into it; mixing life and death. The ultimate result would be the end of the world.

Philosophy

While they are trained to confront Hollows in order to defeat them just as Shinigami do, the biggest difference between the Quincy and Shinigami, since ancient times, is whether to kill or not to kill Hollows. The Shinigami purify Hollows with their Zanpakutō and send them to Soul Society, while the Quincy killed the Hollows. The idea can be seen as comparing justice and vengeance: "Hollows devour souls of Humans, so why must it be that those who harm and kill friends and relatives get sent peacefully to Soul Society?"

Quincy Combat

• Archery: It is the most used form of combat among the Quincy. Since they're still human, maintaining a distance from highly dangerous Hollows as well as launching numerous attacks on multiple opponents gives them a great advantage offensively and defensively.

• Gintō: A capsule-shaped tool used by Quincies to store their spiritual energy. It is an antiquated tool, but the use of it allows Quincies to perform certain techniques.

• Hirenkyaku: An advanced Quincy moving technique. It allows for high- speed movements by riding on the flow of reishi created below the user's feet.

• Blut: A Quincy ability that gives one inhuman defensive and offensive capability. By making reishi flow into their blood vessels they increase their attack and defense power drastically. Blut is significantly dangerous but it has one big flaw, the two forms of Blut for attack and defense work using two different reishi systems, so they cannot be used at the same time.

Rare Quincy Techniques

To go with their bow, the Quincy have a number of rare special techniques to give them an edge in combat:

• Ransōtengai: This is a high-level technique that allows the user to control their body parts using strings of spirit energy controlled by their brain, forming lines or strings out of countless reishi. By using this technique, the user can control their body as one would a puppet, allowing them to move freely despite paralysis, broken limbs, or any other force that would impede normal movement. It was originally created to allow elderly Quincy to fight effectively.

• Quincy: Letzt Stil: The last resort for a Quincy reached after removing the Sanrei Glove. It gives the user a tremendous amount of power, but at the price of loss of their powers upon its completion.

• Quincy: Vollständig: The Quincy: Vollständig is a part of Quincy evolution and is the answer to the drawbacks of the outdated Quincy: Letzt Stil. It is the easiest ability to understand, because their appearance and power changes evidently.

• Kirchenlied: Sankt Zwinger: A powerful Quincy spell that creates an area of reishi shaped with countless Quincy cross protruding from the ground, though with unseen effects, it was described as "the spell of maximum protection among the Quincy techniques of offense and defense" and stating that the "light of the lord" will hit, or "strike dead" anything that comes within its limits. Sankt Zwinger is a palace located in Dresden, Germany.

Quincy Items

The Quincy possess numerous artifacts and equipment which help them in different ways.

• Quincy Cross: A cross in the shape of a Quincy Zeichen that only those who have inherited Quincy abilities and techniques are allowed to possess. Only those that have achieved the powers of a Quincy may possess it. Standard equipment for any Quincy, the Quincy Cross acts as the focus for a Quincy bow. The cross need not necessarily be in a cross shape.

• Sanrei Glove: This is a powerful Quincy artifact that can increase a Quincy's power exponentially, but requires a dangerous and exhausting type of resistance training by wearing it for a week while constantly firing spiritual arrows to master. The glove works by scattering the spirit particles in the surrounding area, making it much harder to form a working bow.

• Gintō: Gintō are small liquid-filled capsules that store spiritual energy, and are used by the Quincy for spell casting in the same way that Shinigami use Kidō. Like Kidō, they are activated by calling out various commands.

• Seele Schneider: The Seele Schneider is a thin sword that can be fired similarly to an arrow. It's much longer than a standard arrow and functions something like a chainsaw: the spirit particles of its blade vibrate at ultra-high frequencies, loosening the molecular bonds between any spirit matter it cuts so that the Quincy user may easily absorb the freed spirit particles.

• Quincy Bangle: The Quincy Bangle is an artifact designed to mimic a Quincy's natural powers. It works by drawing in spirit particles from the environment, much like a Quincy does regularly. It can only be used properly by those who are already adept at forming and directing spirit particles.

• Hollow Bait: This item is a small, coin-shaped disk that attracts Hollows when crushed.