Balancers of Souls

The Balancers of Souls (護団四帝 (霊の任平衡), Godanshitei (Rei no Nin Heikō); 4 Imperial Guard Regiments (Responsible for the Balance of Souls)) is the former military arm of which was comprised of. It was replaced by the, , and, with the former taking over most of its previous duties.

History
Much of the history of the Balancers is unknown, though it is said that the organization was founded at the hands of the several thousand years ago, if not more.

Despite being sworn to defend the balance of souls between the and, the Balancers were little more than hardened killers who brought chaos with them wherever they went, such that though the original Gotei 13 were thought of in much the same light, they were still considered an improvement over their predecessors.

During their lifetime, the Balancers committed a string of atrocities that were initially tolerated but soon drew the ire of the and the  resulting in conflict between the two parties. drew an end to the conflict with his newly founded Gotei 13 through a series of drawn out and chaotic battles across the Soul Society, the Human World, and even.

In spite of the animosity they generated, they were still honoured after their destruction for upholding their duties if nothing else. A series of gravemarkers known as Yüshítou (隅石头, "Corner Stone") were placed across sites in the various worlds.

Several prominent Shinigami had their beginnings amongst the ranks of the Balancers, such as who invented the  that the Gotei used to defeat them.

Duties
The Balancers of Souls were the sole military force of Soul Society during their time, and, as such filled all of the roles that the three succeeding branches of military forces would perform. Alongside this they also had much more power and authority than their counterparts, though they operated under, they also accepted orders from the directly, who, at that time, was more active in the affairs of Soul Society.

They had jurisdiction to operate in all of the known worlds, including and. While they defended the Human World from Hollow attacks and carried out the responsibility of ferrying souls to Soul Society, they took to policing those worlds by exterminating "undesirables" at their own discretion, this included s,, and their predecessors, the.

Structure
The Balancers of Souls is made up of four branches, or brigades, that each operate under different specializations and authorities.

The Balancers are led by the Force-Marshal (高大将, Kōtaisho; "High-General") who has the authority to conduct all of the affairs of the organization, though typically meetings were conducted with the highest officers of the four branches of the organization before making important decisions. Like its successors, in matters regarding Soul Society, the Balancers deferred to the judgement of Central 46 and the Soul King.

As with any military force, the Balancers have a hierarchy of ranks applied to its membership. There are several general ranks that can apply to its troops regardless of their division, but many of them operate under specialized titles supplied by the branch they serve under. During its founding the organization operated on a seniority-based system but eventually changed to a merit-based one as the organization grew and deviated from its origins.

Ranks

 * The Force-Marshal (高大将, Kōtaisho; "High General") is the supreme commander of the Balancers of Souls. The position requires the oversight of all operations performed by the Balancers across any and all spiritual realms and the Human World. The only powers the Force-Marshal answers to are Central 46 and the Soul King, though it is customary to put important decisions to a vote with the captains of each brigade. There have only been two known holders of this position, the first being among the original founders of the orginization and their successor, who claimed the seat after killing the former holder.
 * The Marshals (大将, Taisho; "General") are one step below the Force-Marshal and the leaders of each of one of the four branches of the orginization. They are generally the most powerful members amongst the Balancers of Souls and were once afforded the highest level of respect from the citizens of the Rukongai and others. Each rank is considered to be unique by way of each being named after one of the cardinal directions (Marshal of the North, Marshal of the East, etc.). In this situation the Force-Marshal could be referred to as the Marshal of the Center.


 * The Colonels (大佐, Taisa): (Under Construction)
 * The Majors (少佐, Shōsa): (Under Construction)
 * The Ensigns (少尉, Shōi): (Under Construction)

Branches
(Coming Soon)

Notable Members
(Coming Soon)

Uniforms
The uniform of the Balancers of Souls consists of a long-sleeved tunic with rolled back cuffs on the end. They have huling (護領, lit. "protect collar") sewn into the collars for protection. They adorn both belts and sashes together across the waist with either a double folded robe or half kilt hanging down from the waist. They also adorn a set of baggy trousers that are either worn over or tucked into a pair of hard-cuffed boots. On top of this uniform, members wear a, which later become the inspiration for the Shinigami Haori worn by Captains.

Combat
(Coming Soon)

Equipment
Jiūkǔndao (阄捆刀, "Fate-Binding Sword"): As they predated its existence, the Shinigami that served the Balancers of Souls did not wield. Instead they wielded the blade known as Jiūkǔndao, which would serve as inspiration for the later weapon. While the forging process is unknown, the swords are somehow granted power that serves as a representation of its wielders fate when they were, in other words the event that ended their life before they entered Soul Society as souls. The power has no requirements for its manifestation naturally, and all Balancers are capable of unleashing the power of their respective Jiūkǔndao. As such, a basic Jiūkǔndao could be considered the equivelant of a constant release-type. Like Zanpakutō, these swords do have a release state known as Shìfàng (釋放, "Release"). This state is connected to the physical health of its wielder and can only be activated when they are in critical condition, making it rare that anyone ever sees a use of Shìfàng more than once.

Yüshítou (隅石头, Corner Stone): (Under Construction)

Trivia

 * The ranking structure of organization is partially based upon the.

Behind the Scenes
Though the name of the organization, and its ranks, are rendered in Japanese, the theme decided for them is primarily Chinese as decided by the authors. This was done in part to differentiate them from their successors, but also to show that they were the preceeding organization by using a language that preceeded and helped developed Japanese. Latin was also considered. The uniform of the organization is based upon illustrated representations of -era military clothing with the addition of a Korean jeonbok.