Sōzōshin

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Sōzōshin (創作の神様, "God of Creation") are spiritual beings that are considered to be the predecessors of the Shinigami. Their name referred to their ability to provide shape and form to the energy that composed their souls, such as the creation of a Zanpakutō. It has been suggested that they carry the blood of Izanami.

Overview
Sōzōshin are not beings like Shinigami or Vizard, in the fact that one cannot become a Sōzōshin. This means that no human can become one after death, unless they either were born as Half-Sōzōshin, or have some sort of Sōzōshin ancestry in their bloodline. Only full-blooded Sōzōshin are said to be capable of becoming Transcendent Sōzōshin, and are the only ones capable of obtaining the Sinsaeng Jeongsu. Sōzōshin are normally born within one of the three families of Asadal: the Kawahiru, the Kurokami, or the Asakura. They remain one of the few races that other beings are incapable of becoming, unlike that of Arrancar or Vizard.

Sōzōshin are capable of mating with other spiritual beings, such as Shinigami, and the offspring that results in this are considered half-blood, an example of this being Suzaku Kawahiru. There isn't much of a difference in half-blooded and full-blooded, besides the fact that half-blooded possess less innate powers that come with being a Sōzōshin.

Regarding appearance, Shinigami and Sōzōshin are extremely similar, right down to physiology. However, Sōzōshin usually have long hair by their teenage and adult years. The most common hair color among Sōzōshin is black for males while blonde for females. It is rare for a male Sōzōshin to have blonde hair or for a female Sōzōshin to have black hair. The rarest hair colors appear to be silvery white and purple, corresponding to Seireitou Kawahiru and Kamui respectively. For a Sōzōshin to have another hair color, such as pink or brown, would suggest a form of deterioration in their blood through cross-race mating.

Still rather obscure, in the battle between Datara Kawahiru and Seireitou Kawahiru, Datara had called Seireitou a "Transcendent Sōzōshin". This could possibly infer that a Sōzōshin becomes a Transcendent Sōzōshin when they have communicated with their Zanpakutō to the point of obtaining the power of Sinsaeng Jeongsu, but this is mere speculation.

History
"And as the legendary Sōzōshin once spoke, "I am here to provide peace and order." He must have believed that there would come a time when the people will come to understand each other and hatred will no longer exist."

- Shōyō Shakyamuni speaking of Seosan.



Standard Abilities
"Now do you see the difference in our power? Even if your powers may resemble a Sōzōshin's, they are still worlds apart. Granted, when living beings begin to grow stronger, they will attempt to gain the strength of a god. That would be an accurate summation of you beings, the "Jinki Fragments". But this is nothing but folly. They are as different as night and day, and that line will never change. A Shinigami could never stand as a Sōzōshin's equal."

- Kamui speaking to Raian about the difference between the Jinki Fragments and the Sōzōshin.

Massive Reserves of Spiritual Power: Sōzōshin, pure-blooded ones especially, are born with immense reserves of spiritual energy within them, easily rivaling that of an unseated officer's power at birth. Kamui, particularly, was said to have been born with power rivaling that of a Captain at birth. Subsequently, Sōzōshin typically age at much slower rates than Shinigami, as Kamui was notably still with an appearance like that of a small child when he was actually over a thousand years old already.

Accelerated Rates of Healing: Unlike Shinigami, Sōzōshin are capable of healing from life-threatening injuries at far faster rates without the help of Kidō. While this is a far cry below that of regeneration, Sōzōshin generally do not need third-party assistance in dealing with their injuries to survive from them, such as when Seireitou Kawahiru was delivered a massive gash through the chest by Datara Kawahiru, and healed completely after just a half-hour of bed rest, save for the scar formed from the aftermath of the injury. By increasing the output of their reiatsu, Sōzōshin can voluntarily accelerate their healing rates mid-battle. According to Kamui, Sōzōshin are capable of becoming significantly stronger after healing themselves from life-threatening injuries due to the body's internal reiryoku forcing itself to grow in power as an involuntary response, similar to the cells of a body adapting to a poison or virus after repeated exposure, which is far more active in Sōzōshin than any other spiritual being.

Forms of Combat: Sōzōshin also fight with the Shinigami combat style. Zanjutsu is the art of fighting techniques with a sword for the Zanpakutō. Second is Hakuda, which is the blanket term for techniques that make use of one's own body in a fight (essentially martial arts). Third is Hohō which is the name for all high-speed fighting movements based on the Shunpō. And fourth is Kidō are advanced spells that require strong spiritual power, Hadō and Bakudō.

Zanpakutō
Shintō Ikkihaku (神刀一気迫, literally "Heart and Sword, a Single Soul")

<!--Like Shinigami, Sōzōshin also possess a Zanpakutō which also possess the standard forms of Shikai and Bankai.

Besides Shikai and Bankai, Sōzōshin have access to the Sinsaeng Jeongsu (신생정수, "Rebirth of Pureness"), the secrets to which were kept for several millennia by the pure blooded Sozoshin within the Kawahiru Family. It is said to be the original form of Jinzen and was created by Seosan Kawahiru and Ninigi Kurokami, the founders of the Kawahiru Family and the Kurokami Family respectively. Subsequently, the Shinigami attempted to replicate this and that attempt resulted with Jinzen. While it is a state of one's Zanpakutō, it is not considered to possess any correlation with Shikai or Bankai, instead being its own state, but can only be brought forth when a Sōzōshin's Bankai has been perfected.

According to Klaus, a Shinigami's, as well as a Sōzōshin's, Zanpakutō behaves with a particular wavelength in accordance with its master. When the two work together, their wavelengths constructively harmonize, which results in the release of Shikai and the knowledge of the Zanpakutō's name. However, when they work against eachother, such as the case of Kenpachi Zaraki and his Zanpakutō, the wavelengths destructively interact and make one another weaker. In Bankai, this harmony is further improved, as the two waves begin to mimic eachother and eventually adopt the same wavelength, resulting in the five to ten factor of strength increase in both the wielder and the Zanpakutō's abilities. However, by using Sinsaeng Jeongsu, the Sōzōshin and the Zanpakutō merge into one being (similar in principle to Ichigo's inner Hollow and his Bankai form Zanpakutō merging as one), in which that both of their individual abilities are discarded and a new power entirely is born in the process. According to Kamui, the Sinsaeng Jeongsu, similar to that of Bankai, also increases the strength of the Sōzōshin by a factor of fifteen to twenty from the Bankai form, meaning that it increases a Sōzōshin by a factor of at least a hundred from their base state. Also like that of Bankai, it addresses a new name of one's Zanpakutō, and grants them respective abilities that come with it. Sinsaeng Jeongsu appears to have a direct correlation with Bankai in terms of strength. In this regard, when the Bankai of the Sōzōshin is improved and the power is enhanced, the power and strength of the Sinsaeng Jeongsu is also increased by similar factors.

Despite having merged into a new being, the Sōzōshin is still capable of deactivating the Sinsaeng Jeongsu, thus splitting the new fusion into the Sōzōshin and Zanpakutō components. Because the force that this form exerts on both beings is tremendous, it is typically impossible to remain in the Sinsaeng Jeongsu form for too long, and eventually the form may end up defusing involuntarily. With sufficient training, however, this handicap can be overcome, such as the story of the Kawahiru founder, Seosan, whom was said to be in a constant state of Sinsaeng Jeongsu at all times. According to Kurama Kawahiru, the form can only be obtained when the two souls have some level of understanding between each other. Even if the Zanpakutō should appear unwilling to truly work beside the Sōzōshin, such as in the case between Seireitou and Hanullim, it appears that even if they should share a form of understanding between one another in the deepest parts of their soul, they may still be capable of using the form. However, total lack of such understanding makes the Sinsaeng Jeongsu impossible. It is because of that reason that Kurama is incapable of such a transformation.

In reference to its name, it acts like an Arrancar's release, being a transformation that draws out the original power of its wielder. However, the details that describe the process are unknown, but said to be written in the Hoesu Cheonha. When its power is heightened to its fullest potentials, it can ideally rival the Shukai release of the Getsueikirite Family.-->

Behind the Scenes
The author admits that the Sōzōshin did start out with a heavy influence from the Saiyan race from Akira Toriyama's manga, Dragon Ball Z. However, as the idea progressed and it was designed to be more original, a small hint of inspiration had also been utilized from the Uchiha clan present in Naruto and the Yato tribe from Gintama.