Glacies Fidus

"A monarch upon the crumbling throne in the seas..."

—Somnium Fluxus

Glacies Fidus (グレィシスフィデス, Fuīdesu Gureishisu), is the Lieutenant of the Thirteenth Division of the Gotei 13, serving under Seia Tulia Honoria; he is most notably the only Venator Scientiae affiliated with the organization. Despite not having acquired Bankai, Glacies was the original nominee for the position of Tenth Division Captain, but was rejected in favor of Ginkōgō Kusahara VII following her return to Soul Society as Glacies himself was considered an "uncertain element." A one-of-a-kind being amongst his race, Glacies' soul was synthesized from an Anima Casus of an ancient Nefas of the same name, believed to have been one of Diluculum Sanctus' forgotten founders and the half-brother of Axenus Divus Crux, and a Nefas-turned street dog named Fidus, whom Randa Primarosa adopted for a short time; hence his current name. To his chagrin, he is nicknamed by some of the more flippant officers within the Gotei 13 as Shippo no Efude (尻尾の絵筆, "Paintbrush Tail").

While Glacies has little memory of his life as a Diluculum Sanctus founder relative to that as a street dog, he is highly intelligent and fully aware of his true nature, a secret which he has shared with only a handful of individuals. His primary ambition is to one day complete his Bibliotheca and regain his human form along with all of his memories while defying every Venator Scientiae's eventual fate of losing their supernatural abilities. Glacies joined the Gotei 13 in search of a new purpose—unlike most Venatores Scientiarum, he is not obsessed with hoarding knowledge.

Personality
"Use whom you can; trust no one."

- Glacies speaking to Seia.

Life as Glacies
According to what little has been discovered of his life as a human Nefas, Glacies was a confidante of Axenus and one of his most trusted companions. Unbeknownst to himself at the time, he was Axenus' half-brother, cast aside as a servant in his own family due to his impure blood. It is said that Glacies originally opposed the idea of awakening an abstract deity and thwarted Axenus' earlier attempts to contact Agostinha, but later relented to a degree and chose to watch over Axenus during the process. Upon inheriting a superior fragment of Agostinha's power along with Sibilus Vertex, one of the five legendary Nefas weapons personally created by Her, Glacies became the youngest and most respected founder of Diluculum Sanctus; with a sagely wisdom unfit for his age, Glacies often served as an adviser for Axenus and the unknown third founder, compensating for his lack of power strictly relative to that of the aforementioned individuals. Glacies was responsible for inventing a number of supernatural tools utilized by Nefas (and sometimes other races) even in the present day, such as magic-warding cloaks and even the Sacrificium Cultri.

The circumstances behind his death and transformation into an Anima Casus are unconfirmed; however, according to his own recollection, he was betrayed by an underground faction within the collective and killed long before the disappearance of the other two founders, supposedly for having knowledge of the faction's malicious agenda and plans to expose them to the other founders. In an effort to eliminate any evidence of their treachery, the conspirators entirely obliterated Glacies' body and seized his sword for themselves, greatly delaying the confirmation of his death by his loyal followers. Both Randa and Eriphyla supposedly had some sort of involvement in this event, but it is unknown if they were allied with the conspirators or made an effort to protect Glacies to no avail.

Life as Fidus
The albino dog that would later be named Fidus was born into a small family of stray dogs in Nimes on May 7, 1505. Fidus and his relatives primarily sought refuge around the Porta Augesta under the care of locals. With his unique appearance, Fidus caught the particular eye of an unknown noble family and was adopted, gaining his name and separating him from his real family. Fidus lived harmoniously in his new home for four years until, on January 2, 1509, his household was raided by an experienced party of human thieves wielding Nefas weaponry, including the Sacrificium Cultri. Despite his best efforts to defend his new family, he was stabbed with the aforementioned weapon and left for dead, along with the rest of the tenants who were slain shortly thereafter.

Effectively resurrected as a Nefas Falsus of uncanny power, Fidus traced the assailants and soundly killed them one at a time, leaving their fates unknown to the general populace. Fidus' exploits quickly attracted the attention of Randa, who had recently returned to Europe on a vacation. Upon locating the stray dog on August 19, 1510, Randa, unwilling to harm an animal unreasonably, adopted him as her own and decided to reside in Nimes for a longer period of time to carefully observe his development for her own enlightenment. Fidus was quickly allured by the woman's similar powers and became closely attached to her. Whenever Randa temporarily left Nimes to pursue other interests, Fidus would lie in wait around the Porta Augesta for his master to return, which normally did not take longer than several days.

Following her meeting with Silvio da Parma and learning of Rex Nothus' whereabouts in October 2, 1511, Randa became increasingly restless, departing for much longer periods of time and shortening her time spent recuperating in Nimes alongside Fidus. Following her second encounter with Eriphyla and Ichchha-un-Idika Edha Guha Thakurta during the creation of Diluculum Aeternus in 1563, Randa once again left Europe; Fidus, alive at this point only due to his Nefas powers, waited for his master to return around the Porta Augesta on the same day. As he had always done in the past when his master failed to return, Fidus wandered off into the city during the night and returned to the Porta Augesta the following morning to wait once again. He continued to make consistent returns to the Porta Augesta throughout his final years unaware that his master would not return until fifteen years later, on June 9, 1578, directly after his death of natural causes and transformation into an Anima Casus. Because of Fidus' powerful attachment to her, Randa easily located and identified his Anima Casus. As a final act of compassion, Randa selected a random Anima Casus to merge with Fidus' own Anima Casus in an effort to reconstruct his soul, unaware that the Anima Casus she selected belonged to the late founder Glacies. Because of the simplicity of Fidus' Anima Casus, merging it with the Anima Casus of Glacies was more than enough to form a completed soul and thus give birth to Glacies Fidus. With her task completed, Randa departed from Nimes, leaving the unconscious reborn dog on his own before he could catch a glimpse of his former master.

Rebirth as Glacies Fidus and Early Exploits
Glacies Fidus awoke in his new spiritual body fully aware of his past as a dog, but with little recollection as to how he was created. For his own pleasure and to make sense of his newly-gained memories pertinent to the late founder, Glacies, like most Venatores Scientiarum, began an obsessive journey to acquire as much knowledge for his Bibliotheca as possible, provoking Nefas and Shinigami into battling him solely for the purpose of recording their techniques rather than winning against them or outright killing them. In the case of encountering weaker Venatores Scientiarum by chance, Glacies murdered them, pillaging the amassed knowledge from their Bibliothecae and adding it to his own. When encountering more powerful Venatores Scientiarum, Glacies simply settled for bartering knowledge. Despite having accumulated considerable fame for his puzzling nature, Glacies acknowledged that he had learned little of his human life and began to tire of his existence within the Human World, eventually crossing over to Soul Society on his own during the 1590s.

Upon reaching Soul Society, Glacies resumed his ambition in a less ostentatious manner, acquainting himself with and befriending as many souls as possible to glean their knowledge; once he was satisfied with what he had learned from them, he simply abandoned them indefinitely. For more hot-headed individuals, he enacted his usual method of provoking them into a fight, recording all of their techniques before vanishing abruptly. By masquerading as a regular dog, he convinced surrounding individuals to behave normally in his presence, further easing his pursuit to acquire their secrets. He even became affiliated with certain members of Central 46 at some point. Following hundreds of years of exploitation, upon realizing he had procured virtually all of Soul Society's secrets for his Bibliotheca and still learned little of his past, he once again began to grow displeased with his seemingly meaningless life.

A New Purpose
Realizing that he had little else to gain by exploiting the denizens of Soul Society for knowledge, Glacies gave up his efforts to restore the memories of his human life and pondered a new purpose in his new life. Upon noticing that his former exploits had garnered him considerable popularity throughout all of Rukongai, he continued to challenge individuals of high spiritual pressure for a different reason—to boast his own strength and become renowned throughout all of Soul Society as an undefeated fighter to be feared. Starting off in the more docile regions of Rukongai, Glacies soundly defeated all of his challengers and eventually journeyed to more lawless districts in an effort to locate more worthy challengers, eventually besting several Captain-level opponents. Over the span of nearly a century, Glacies went from district to district confronting those of exceptional power who either challenged him or threatened others around him, with his reputation largely differing throughout the districts due to his uncertain intentions. Those who had been indirectly saved by Glacies regarded him as a wandering hero, whereas his defeated challengers and criminals viewed him as an unstable nuisance and a possible threat to Soul Society in the future. The latter opinion was not entirely unfounded, for Glacies would indeed begin to consider a more debaucherous lifestyle upon realizing that only few individuals would be capable of toppling his power and astronomical amount of knowledge.

As he began to once again tire of his lifestyle, Glacies' focus shifted to finding someone capable of defeating him, having adequately proven his own strength in his eyes. To this end, Glacies returned to Nimes with the intention of battling the Venatores Scientiarum located there who had previously proven to possess superior Bibliothecae. To Glacies' dismay, even the Venatores Scientiarum he had once feared stood little chance against his vastly improved Bibliotheca. Not entirely at a loss, Glacies murdered and pillaged every Venator Scientiae he could locate in Nimes before returning to Soul Society.

Resuming his search for a worthy opponent, Glacies eventually found himself in Rōjinki, the 67th district of South Rukongai, where he first encountered Seia Tulia Honoria. Sensing an extraordinary power from the woman, Glacies challenged her to a formal duel, which eventually ended in his first ever defeat. Despite having encountered a more powerful individual as he had desired, the realization that he could be single-handedly defeated greatly perturbed him, triggering a one-sided rivalry between the two. Over the span of nearly a year, Glacies remained in Rōjinki to closely observe Seia and challenge her whenever he believed he had made significant improvements, but he was ultimately never successful in defeating her. Upon realizing that his desire to be acknowledged resulted from a belief that someone of his nature would have no place in the world any other way, Glacies set aside his resentment and retired to a quieter life alongside Seia.

Becoming a Shinigami
While initially distraught by the idea of living alongside Seia, Glacies slowly began to develop a bond with his former adversary and grew content with his peaceful existence. It was during this time that Glacies would slowly begin to recall more details of his human life, largely due to seeing subtle similarities between Seia and Randa. As a result, Glacies' personality began to more closely resemble that of the late founder rather than an abandoned dog, which also began to dilute his Venator Scientiae instincts. Glacies began to view expanding his Bibliotheca as little more than a means to preserve his power rather than to compile all knowledge in existence, and consequently ceased hoarding knowledge altogether in favor of simply consulting Seia whenever he required new knowledge to sustain his Bibliotheca.

Over a decade later, as the persona of the late founder within him developed, Glacies desired to more formally protect his homeland by becoming a Shinigami. Parting ways with Seia but promising to return, Glacies left for the Seireitei and was admitted into the Shinō Academy. Despite the challenges presented by his peculiar nature in socializing with his fellow students, Glacies became the fastest student to ever graduate from the academy at just over a month, largely due to his intellect and already expansive understanding of Shinigami concepts. Following his graduation, he was transferred to the Tenth Division and quickly ascended to Eighth Seat. It was during this time that Glacies awakened his Zanpakutō, Sibilus Vertex, a near-perfect replica of the legendary sword of the same name. By reacquiring his sword, Glacies finally restored more of his memories as a founder.

Despite having found a new purpose as a guardian of souls, Glacies considered returning to the Human World in an effort to learn more about his mysterious death, but lacked an opportunity to do so with his new responsibilities. One night, he was visited by Diluculum Aeternus co-founder Eriphyla, who was already aware of Glacies' identity and had infiltrated the Seireitei solely to visit him and hear of his opinion regarding Nefas history. It was from Eriphyla that Glacies learned of Agostinha's betrayal and the consequent destruction of Diluculum Sanctus, as well as the existence of Diluculum Aeternus and Randa's whereabouts. Glacies, considering Eriphyla deceitful due to her apparent involvement in the events leading to his death as a founder, which she neither confirmed nor denied, refused to offer any opinion or assist Diluculum Aeternus; following this, Eriphyla simply left.

Powers and Abilities
As a Shinigami deemed worthy enough for a promotion to Captain even without a Bankai, Glacies has power well within the range of Captain-level despite being a Lieutenant, even when his Zanpakutō is entirely unaccounted for, making him one of the strongest of his peers; however, he is still weaker than his own Captain by his own admission. Glacies' unnatural capabilities are resultant from both his past as an astronomically powerful Nefas and his unique status as a Venator Scientiae. Despite having some of his Nefas abilities intact, his power does not compare to that he once possessed as a human.

Natural Abilities
Vast Spiritual Pressure: Glacies has been noted to possess an incredibly profound Reiatsu even by Captain standards. It is highly volatile and shifts according to his mood, rendering its true extent of depth a mystery; this is likely a result of the power of the founder lying dormant within him. Often described as "akin to a hailstorm," Glacies' Reiatsu forces those significantly weaker than himself to their knees with the weight of what feels to be "otherwordly raindrops" bombarding their body all at once. The accompanying "hail" only serves to deepen its effect, swiftly knocking unworthy bystanders entirely to the ground while gradually piercing their bodies and freezing the wounds it produces with its might to herald a slow and agonizing death should it persist. Even the likes of Lieutenant-level Shinigami, who often feel chilled in his presence, cannot entirely resist the effects of his Reiatsu. His Reiatsu is even capable of dissolving low-level energy attacks and regular objects approaching his being and, when released for an extensive period of time in the Human World, invoke actual hailstorms depending on the climate. Glacies presently has very little control over his Reiatsu, meaning it is prone to surge randomly even when he is not in combat. His past as a Nefas seems to have left some traces of Vis Cassus in his Reiatsu, although only Nefas have detected it; whether or not this has any active effects on his Reiatsu has yet to be determined. Glacies has stated that acquiring full control over his Reiatsu is most likely the first step to regaining his former power.

Immortality: Glacies can remain eternally ageless and does not require any sleep to survive so long as he does not lose his Venator Scientiae powers; he can still die through unnatural causes.

Enhanced Senses:

Natural Agility:

Genius-Level Intellect:

Zanpakutō
Sibilus Vertex (しぶれすべるてくす, Latin for "Whirlpool Whistle") is Glacies' Zanpakutō. It possesses exactly the same name and appearance as the sword wielded by Glacies during his human life, the whereabouts of which are currently unknown. It is one of only two known Latin-named Zanpakutō, the other being Shigeko Yasuda's Lacrimae et Rosae Suavis. Because of its size, Glacies does not normally carry it with him, instead leaving it during outings unless he deems it a necessity or asking Seia to carry it for him. As it is in a constant Shikai release, it does not have a release command.
 * Shikai Special Ability:

Randa Primarosa
As he has little memory of his life as a human, Glacies' opinion of Randa is solely based on his time spent with her as Fidus. Glacies became fiercely loyal to Randa upon her saving his life and followed her whenever possible. Upon Randa's abandonment of him, Glacies spent the following fifteen years before his death awaiting her return to no avail, a further testament to his devotion. As the circumstances of his rebirth are unknown to him, Glacies currently feels little more than contempt for his former master for having seemingly rejected him and is even intent on killing her should he ever regain his full power.

Eriphyla
Despite having little memory of Eriphyla and interacting with her only once during her "infiltration" of Soul Society, Glacies is highly distrustful of her and even believes that she played a part in his assassination. He is naturally appalled with her carefree lifestyle and vulgar attitude.

Seia Tulia Honoria
Glacies has a rather complicated relationship with his master. After being declined for the position of Tenth Division Captain, he loathed the idea of serving as Seia's Lieutenant, seeing her as little more than a subtle attempt to keep an eye on him. As he grew accustomed to his new position and consequently began to develop an attachment to her, he remains somewhat distant from her as he fears that she will one day abandon him just as Randa did; even so, he is particularly interested in learning more about her human existence. While he finds Seia to be annoyingly fidgety and lackadaisical at times, he does make efforts to console her in times of need, which sometimes expands to a lecture. Although he sometimes feels more like her therapist than her Lieutenant, he respects her strength and follows her with unwavering loyalty, even if their time together may be fleeting. Whenever his growing affection for his new master is pointed out, he attributes it to a growing desire to acquire her knowledge, exemplifying his desire to hide his affection of his new master from others as he considers it a weakness. Glacies would even sacrifice himself in battle if only for his new master, but whether this is because of the lingering loyalty of Fidus within him, or that he would rather die than be left alone again is unknown even to him.

Trivia

 * Images drawn by the author.
 * Glacies' dog background was partially inspired by the life of the Italian street dog Fido. The name Fido is a derivative of Fidus.
 * Glacies was born on exactly the same date of Fido's death.
 * Glacies' full name means "Faithful Ice."
 * Glacies was the character originally planned for the RPCQE Exam in place of Silvio da Parma; he was delayed due the author's lack of ideas for the character at the time.
 * Glacies' Zanpakutō was originally intended to be a Water-Type, but this would have been redundant given his identical soul element.