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Shoka | |
Kanji | 初日 |
English | New Sun |
Romaji | Shoka |
Organization | |
---|---|
Founder(s) | Black Hood |
Headquarters | Varies |
Senior Member(s) | Arthur Callaghan Odiara Kagara |
Other Members | Las Torres Xodus Mahkumlar |
Affiliation | Humans, Hollows, Souls |
Purpose | Creation of a new world |
Shoka (初日, New Sun) is a multi-racial organization spanning several realms with the stated goal of creating a new and better world, their means of doing so are unclear apart from an intent to remove the Soul King from his throne. They have been declared enemies of Soul Society by the Central 46 who refer to the organization informally as "Black Hoods" (黒頭巾, Kurozukin), an appelation that is applied to its mysterious leader as well.
Organization[]
The structure of the organization is largely informal, it does not follow any set hierarchy or focus, instead the individual organizations that come together are left to their own devices on how they decide to govern themselves and their members. The only real authority within Shoka is that held by its mysterious leader who commands the leadership of each organization under him. Though Shoka is clearly an organization devised for the purpose of waging war on Soul Society, it is perhaps better described as a network rather than a military force. It has a large amount of resources at its disposal but limited enough that it can keep itself discreet and the sum of its parts act independent of one another in a manner akin to terror cells.
Las Torres[]
Las Torres (虚螺旋市 (ラス・トーレス), Rasu Tōresu; Spanish for "The Towers"; Japanese for "Hollow Spiral City") is a massive city that rests atop the deserts of Hueco Mundo, one of the few meaningful man-made constructs across the entire homeland of the Hollows. It is ruled by Odiara, a Vasto Lorde. With regards to Shoka, Las Torres is used to refer to Odiara and the army of Hollows that follow her command. They are the most numerous force within the organization, numbering in the thousands across all forms of natural evolution available to Hollow-kind, with a total of four Vasto Lorde-class Hollows, Odiara included, among their ranks.
The structure of Las Torres is simple; power determines ones place. As the ultimate force among them, Odiara stands as their God, and the three remaining Vasto Lorde act as her lieutenants commanding the Adjuchas who further take charge of the Gillian and Básillian. They are amicable to following under the man known as Black Hood because he stands on a higher level than even their so-called God. Strangely, the Hollows of Las Torres seek a world of equilibrium, not one where they are on top of the food chain, but one in which everything is in balance without the needless cycle of death and rebirth.
Xodus[]
Xodus (エクソダス, Ekusodasu) is an organization made up entirely of Fullbringers that hail from the British Isles in the World of the Living. Like Shoka, the group is led informally with no particular structure in place. Its members act as more of a family or tight-knit group of friends rather than a proper organization, with Arthur Callaghan serving as the closest thing they have to a leader as the other members treat his words with priority as both orders and advice. The group operate out of an estate known as Balmoral, the ancestral home of the Callaghan line. The goal of Xodus is to rid themselves of their Hollow power, and perhaps rid a new world of the possibility of such a power forming within them, as a result of them being ostracized from their kind because of the manifestation of their individual Fullbrings.
Mahkumlar[]
Mahkumlar (自由任意手段 (マホクムラル), Mahokumuraru; Turkish for "Inmates"; Japanese for "Freedom Through Any Means") is an organization composed of Togabito that have managed to find a way to escape Hell, if only temporarily, through the aid of an anomalous Kushanāda that sided with their plight as damned beings. Another informal organization, they all follow the order of its self-declared leader Kagara but have no real structure beneath that. They largely act of their own accord, both with regards to themselves and the machinations of Shoka, such that other parts of the organization are forced to keep watch over them so that they don't endanger the group's overall plans. The goal of Mahkumlar, as expected of those confined to Hell is obtain freedom from their eternal punishment.
Others[]
There are outliers within the membership of Shoka, not affiliated with any of the three organizations or directly attached to its mysterious leader but otherwise still serving the group and its goals. Their reasons for doing so varies between them though they typically share the commonality of furthering their own goals, such as Roshan Bamshad who joined not because he believed in the creation of a new world, but because he sought a fight on such a scale that he could guarantee he would die gloriously.
Headquarters[]
The center of operations for Shoka varies depending on the individual groups working with in it, while whatever place its mysterious leader uses remains unknown to anyone beyond himself and a select few others. For those of Las Torres, the city of the same name serves as their headquarters, a massive civilization on the surface of Hueco Mundo's desert sands. Xodus operates out of Balmoral Castle within Scotland, a Northward country in the Human World. The members of Mahkumlar retain their base of operations in the Lowermost Level of Hell, a small keep built in the heart of a forest of dead trees.
Notable Members[]
The Leadership | |||
Name | Role | Species | |
Black Hood | Overall leader of Shoka | Unknown | |
Odiara | Wise Queen of Hueco Mundo, Lord of Las Torres | Hollow | |
Kagara | Leader of the Mahkumlar | Togabito | |
Arthur Callaghan | Leader of Xodus | Fullbringer |
Uniform[]
Many of Shoka's membership are first seen wearing a cloak known as the Shiorishiku (死織布, Death-Weaved Cloth), a heavy black hooded cloak made from unknown materials that gift it with certain attributes. The robes are largely featureless at a glance, apart from the clasps running across the front in place of buttons as well as the black and white checkered pattern running across the coat-tails and sleeves. The hood imparts a shadow-y visage that cannot be penetrated by sunlight, or even illusion breaking spells, making it impossible to discern the facial identity of its wearer. It also obscures detection from spiritual instruments, as the Gotei 13's Twelfth Division could not locate Shoka's members with their equipment and the Kushanāda could not detect that Mahkumlars members had left Hell. This guise is what led to Central 46's informal naming as the "Black Hoods" whilst their true name remained unknown.
Trivia[]
- Originally the organization were to be called the Red Hoods (赤頭巾, Akazukin) after the red cloaks they wore, which later became the Shiorishiku. The name changed to Akanazo (赤謎, Red Mystery), but the author changed his mind feeling that it was kind of stupid. He later settled on Shoka, meaning New Sun as a reference to their intended goal. The Sun is seen as a symbol of new beginnings as such he thought it fit with the idea of creating a new world to replace the old one.