User blog:Zf6hellion/Zf6hellion's Shitty Guide to Characters: Quincy

Apparently people like getting terrible advice from someone with the ego the size of a small planetoid (No, not you Pluto), and there was some desire for this kind of thing. So here I am, back for round two of my terrible guides. You were warned.

So, today we'll be covering the Quincy, that one off race that ballooned in population out of nowhere in the very last act of the franchise. Because that's how foreshadowing works in Bleach.

For the new folk, a Quincy is a Human that has been gifted, or was born with, a fragment of 's soul, giving them the power to manipulate in the surrounding environment so that they may combat spiritual beings, such as Hollows with their own array of powers. They act as the primary counterpart to the Shinigami with all of their powers generally serving as parallels to the Shinigami's own. They are typically squishy, unlike the hardened and unflinching Shinigami and fight at range with archery as opposed to close range. Even Gintō and Hirenkyaku are presented at odds with Shinigami abilities, the former being an externalised form of magic in contrast to the internalised nature of Kidō and Hirenkyaku is always shown in a static form, which stands opposed to Shunpo's notion of taking steps forward. So how do we make one of these reverse Shinigami you ask? Very poorly, I say. But read on if you must.

Name & Appearance
The Quincy are a very diverse group of people, but they are all Human (with one or two major exceptions). Designing a Quincy physically should not be the hardest of tasks as the themes they embody are all readily apparent from the get-go. They are aristocratic, noble, and high-blooded on a normal level and their designs should reflect that, otherwise they are militaristic and garbed in uniforms emblazoned with insignia's and soaked in the Quincy's trademark colours (white and blue). The militaristic style is juxtaposed onto other features of the characters to show their individuality within the ranks, and hint at their personalities. has a great pink mohawk that hints at his eccentricity and aggressive nature, adorns a wrestler's mask that immediately informs us that he's the type to love a crowd and the act of a glorious bout on stage.

Though Quincy are Human, they are also Humans with superpowers. Unlike Fullbringers, the circumstances behind their powers are a bit more... weird, and this has an effect on some characters physically. The twins and  are both relatively featureless as people (Excepting some tattoos above their eyes and around their ears) because their powers are based upon mimicry. has two tongues and both his eyes point in opposite directions because his powers are focused on repulsion. Something to think about when making a character.

Again, Quincy are Human, and they spread all across the Earth so naming shouldn't be much of a problem. To help with this, Kubo actually has a couple of themes for several of the Quincy that can help with coming up with names should one need help, or wish to follow the trend. Diversity itself seems to be one of these themes as each Quincy we've come across has names based in different cultures,, , , and are just a few examples. After that comes alliterative names such as the aforementioned Loyd Lloyd, or Bazz-B who's real name is Bazzard Black. Or in the case of Loyd's twin names that flow well coming one after another, Royd Lloyd and Nianzol Weizol being our prime examples. Finally we have names that are basically onomatopoeia in the case of or

History, Personality, "Theme"
Many people would tell you that the Wandenreich is full of boring one-note characters and well... They'd be right, by and large the Quincy of Bleach's final arc are very one dimensional characters that only, rarely, hint at something more. But we're not here to laugh at Kubo's inability to write, we're here for the foundation, and that, at least, has been provided for us. The Quincy's primary theme is one of pride. Which comes in many forms across the cast, pride in themselves, pride as Quincy, pride in their powers, pride in their faith, or even pride in their place within the Wandenreich. Most if not all of the Quincy exhibit a sense of pride throughout the arc and for many different reasons which often plays into two other themes. That of superiority and perversion (But not in the way you think (But also in the way you think, goddamn it PePe!). The Quincy as a whole see themselves as better. Not only are they more than Human, but they are righteous and holy beings that feel that it is divine providence that they would topple the Shinigami, which is made clear through out the many sigils they bear which evoke a form of religious symbolism which the hammers home by turning most of them into angels, with halos and all.

This is also where the perversion comes into play, for the most part the Quincy are extremely sure in their ideals and when this is challenged during the story, they all tend to react... poorly. This not only becomes evident in how they talk, but how they look as well.
 * carries both pride in the Quincy and pride in his powers, declaring his belief that the Wandenreich had won the war the moment they set foot in the palace. He was the first person to be gifted a Schrift from Yhwach, and in his eyes this made him the man closest to God. After unleashing his Vollständig he declares himself a being akin to a deity and from then on constantly berates his opponents for trying to attack a God. His physical form went through the motions of being a man, then a holy-esque figure before devolving into some freakish owl-dragon monster. The more wrapped up in his perceived superiority he got, the worse-off he looked.
 * is a showboat, constantly yelling about legends and superstars and how he is a righteous hero where-as the Shinigami are heinous villains. He carries great pride in his perceived talent, and his imagined fan following that is embodied by the solitary character of James. The more he bought into his own hype during his fights with three Captain-level opponents the worse he looked, because nipple pasties are clearly an analogue for looking grotesque. Yes. Nevertheless, when he was faced with an opponent he couldn't easily topple, his ideals went right out the window and he became a screaming mess of cursing and threats.
 * was self-sure in his belief that irrational fear could not be overcome, everyone was susceptible and all would suffer for trying to act otherwise. This was a religious man with a deathly fear of being cast into Hell, and to see others lack caution for their fears twisted him into a malevolent being. When confronted with someone who was not perturbed by their fears, and someone who was basically immune to his power, Äs went off the deep end and like our previous examples transformed into a monstrous caricature.

They don't all turn into monster clowns, though. Uryū exhibits pride in himself, as well as his heritage as a Quincy, but rather than allowing that to define him completely, he uses his grandfather's ideals to keep himself grounded and realises that he has friends he can rely on which is not something that would weaken said pride. Likewise, we have Bazz-B who is confident and cocksure. He exhibits an overwhelming pride in his abilities, but focuses on his goal of one day claiming revenge against Yhwach as a means of keeping on the right path. We can treat this as another theme for the Quincy, balance. Those that go to extremes in their fervent loyalty to the cause all end up turning into monsters, while those who have goals and proper ideals to keep them grounded are less likely to do so. When Bazz-B used his Vollständig it was a relatively tame affair, and Uryū relies on the much less insane Letzt Stil.

*whew* Okay, now that that's done let's talk about history.

Unfortunately the past of the members of the Wandenreich is covered in very little detail. We know next to nothing outside of passive mentions of things, and I believe Äs was the only character who bothered to dwell on his reasons for following Yhwach. He creates the idea that some members of the Wandenreich, particularly the Sternritter, follow him because Yhwach saved them from whatever ailed them in their life. Indeed we can infer this to be true for at least one other Quincy, the bodyless who would not be able to do anything had it not been for Yhwach bestowning the I upon him. On a broader scale, we have the divide between pure-blooded Quincy, the Echt, and the mixed-bloods, the Gemischt and the two major events surrounding their people, the First Blood War where Yhwach tried and failed to conquer Soul Society 1000 years before the series started, and Auswählen, where Yhwach killed many of the Gemischt Quincy by absorbing their souls in order to fuel his resurrection. Depending on whether a Quincy was around before or after either of these events can paint a very different outlook for them.

Were they a loyal soldier that saw their leader abandon them in the face of the demonic Shinigami? Are they an indoctrinated trooper raised in the Schatten Bereich? Were they saved by Our Lord the Mustachioed One from a crippling injury or illness? Did they live in a time where the Quincy were dwindling in number and the preservation of their bloodlines became key? There's plenty of things you can do with Quincy history to keep yourself occupied.

Reishi Manipulation
As mentioned before, the Quincy have several powers at their disposal that they can use to engage in combat, all of which sit parallel to whatever the Shinigami use. No more is this prevalent than in their primary ability, which is the source of all their other abilities. See a Shinigami gets their power from within themselves, generating their abilities through utilising their own inner energy,. Quincy do this too, to an extent, but the Reiryoku they possess is marginal in comparison, so instead they use that energy to lash onto the energy present in their environment, which they convert into a form that suits their purposes. They use it to make weapons, to create defenses and bolster their offense, it is key in using their movement techniques and casting their spells. It is also a rather muddy tool in the series.

For those who somehow made it through the Fullbringer Arc of the series, you'll have noticed that as Humans with superpowers, the Fullbringers got annihilated flat by anyone they fought against in straight combat. This doesn't happen to the Quincy. This is because, while a Quincy would be weaker than their counterpart on average, the ability to manipulate and absorb Reishi gives them the means to artificially inflate their power so that they can even the playing field. This particular ability is only limited in the Human World where Reishi is thin, but in the primary battlefields of the franchise, Hueco Mundo and Soul Society, the Quincy quickly become overpowered. This was showcased as early as the Soul Society Arc where was utterly thrashed by, and though it necessitated the use of Letzt Stil, Uryū still managed to fair much better against , even eking out a win.

With that out of the way, let's cover the many uses of this particular ability.

Spirit Weapons
The Quincy combat gimmick is archery, and rather than carry bows and arrows with them everywhere they go, a Quincy instead takes their Reiryoku and combines it with Reishi gathered externally to create weapons called Spirit Weapons. The basic form of a Quincy weapon is the Heilig Bogen, a basic longbow but as they train and come into their own a Quincy will change their weapon to better fit their style. This could be a shortbow, a crossbow, even an arbalest if you're feeling saucy. Of course the marching of the modern age allows for cannons and guns as well but, given the nature of spirits and spiritual forces in Bleach, the Quincy aren't restricted to actual ranged armaments. They treat all weapons as ranged weapons, whether they function that way in real life or not. Thus we have things like 's saber or 's sword and shield combo. In this sense, Spirit Weapons can be considered a springboard for firing projectiles with some forms being more efficient for the job than others.

Names for these weapons are uncommon in the series at large, but when done are given names that fit the themes of their characters, such as Gerard's Hoffnung which means Hope, while his theme is focused on the concept of miracles. The names are typically short and simple affairs for the Quincy and done up in whatever language fits the nationality they appear to represent.

Hirenkyaku
Ya move from A to B, there really isn't much to say about this.