Post by Rainier Rucio on Feb 25, 2016 23:27:13 GMT -5
RUCIO, RAINIER
Arrancar
Privaron 108, Las Noches
Personal Characteristics
Name: Rainier Rucio
Age: 482 [28 Human, 318 Hollow, 134 Arrancar]
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Birthday: January 21st, 1534
Date of Death: March 2nd, 1562
Ethnicity: French
Physical Specifications
Height and Weight: Tall for men of his era, the medium-framed and thickly muscled Rainier stands at 178 centimeters. With a father for a blacksmith and a job that required grueling, 16th century travel and even combat, his well-built body weighs in at 77 kilograms. These traits have translated well to Rainier’s body as an Arrancar and add a respectable, imposing presence to a man who seems enigmatic to all those who don’t know him.
Eyes: His eyes defy Hollow convention, as many Arrancar do, with their bright green color. A unique feature is how often they tend to glow an even brighter green as Rainier’s gears up for combat, a curious aspect of his soul that he has yet to fully understand.
Hair: Many Arrancar aren’t very big on regular haircuts and Rainier is no exception. He keeps his somewhat long, dark hair pushed back so it gathers behind the ears. It even reaches so far as to get about to his shoulders before the ends curl up. This does well to keep his hair out of his eyes until the stress of battle leaves him wounded and disheveled, his hair becoming a mess in short order.
Spiritual Traits: Rainier has a few unique, spiritual aspects about him.
The first is that, while many Hollows take on a yellow or red eye color, Rainier’s has been bright green ever since he developed an individualized mask as a Gillian. In the realm of color, this also translates to bright green hue to his spiritual energy. However, the regular crimson of a basic Cero still dominates his favorite spiritual technique.
His eyes have one additional, unique addition: They glow brightly when he mentally gears up for battle and his spiritual energy begins to build. Although he does not yet realize it, this trait is a symptom of his greater proclivity towards spiritual vision and awareness that he has yet to awaken or learn.
Like any other spiritual being, Rainier’s spiritual presence causes those around him to share in his experiences, feelings, and what it is like to “stand in his shoes”. They will feel the self-doubt that’s at the core of his paranoia, they will feel the ground unsteady underneath their feet, and those who are particularly drowned by his presence might even smell the burning wood of his wagon from the time of his death.
The imprints of his human death are still that strong and Rainier will frequently wake at night from a recurring dream of a burning wagon, wailing horses, and men marching away. This is the only fragment of a memory that remains from his forgotten human life and the sheer desperation and betrayal he felt in that moment has scarred him deeply enough to persevere after all of this time.
General Appearance: The primary aspect of Rainier’s appearance that most take note of is his Las Noches outfit. Like any other Arrancar he is free to customize the design, within reason, and after well over one hundred years in Las Noches, Rainier has found the time to do just that.
Keeping with all of the other outfits, the cloth is a thin, white fragment that has the edges trimmed in black. He wears a long-sleeved, collar-less jacket that is joined in the middle with a shallow zig-zag pattern held together with flat hooks on the under portion of the jacket. His hakama’s hop is partially covered by this extra-long jacket, but hangs all the way down to his feet like normal. Instead of black tabi wrapped in sandals, similar to the Shinigami, Rainier opts for a black boot trimmed in white.
When not in public with other Hollow-Breeds, or prowling on Earth with Anastasia for a new victim, Rainier actually prefers to walk around shirtless. He’ll even wear the hakama of his Las Noches uniform but, if nothing else, will let the jacket hang open.
This exposes the Hollow Hole in his chest, centered far to the left, practically on the shoulder. Rainier ponders, from time to time, just why his Hollow Hole is located there and not somewhere more meaningful, unaware that it was that spot where he took the wound from the Quincy that allowed them to impale him to death on their spears.
His Mask Fragment exists as a ring of Mask Material that covers his forehead and reaches around both sides of his head, stopping just behind the ears, but largely covered by his long hair. From the front of the Mask Fragment protrude two broken horns. The left side one is nothing but a stub, cut off at some point in the past, while the other only as the last few centimeters broken off and the gentle curve of his former minotaur horn can still be seen.
Like almost everything else in Las Noches, the rest of Rainier is dominated by a sense of death and sterility. He smells of nothing but sand and his clammy, pale skin will be cool to the touch for anyone who bothers.
Psychological Profile
Positive Traits
Although Rainier does his best to show this side to the world, it rarely comes across. Between his typical Hollow-Breed traits such as a thirst for battle and a penchant for flesh-eating, and his own actual issues as a person, the good parts of Rainier are only truly seen by what Rainier refers to as “those precious to him.” These few people see the warm, caring, and ultimately still fatherly figure that has been encased in a Hollow shell for centuries. It is this aspect of him that drew people to him, even unconsciously as a Gillian, in search of the better man they can sense beneath the surface.
Negative Traits
In many ways, Rainier is like a castle under siege by all those drawn in by the warm man they perceived within. However, everything about Rainier’s life has taught him a collection of strategies for keeping those people away. Therefore, those who have not earned Rainier’s respect, or become one of the few who are precious to him, will only see the violent, Hollow, paranoid, and generally detestable side of him. In order to get deeper, you have to power through a literal army of obstacles that seek to stop you and, even then, there’s no guarantee you’ll make it in the front gate.
General Behavior: To boil it down to a single sentence: Rainier is a man who is difficult to get to know and the kind of person you want in your corner.
There are countless aspects of him that exist solely to keep other people away. He’s difficult to get to and will push away those who try. If this weren’t enough, it’s due to a very deeply-rooted sense of inadequacy that he so rarely allows his real behavior to show to the outside world. Only the most persevering will be able to make it through and get to see the other side of the man, the side that has managed to hold a lover for well over one hundred years.
This separates Rainier’s life, and everyone in it, into a few categories: those precious to him, those he respects, those he doesn’t know, and his enemies.
The latter two groups will see the most negative side of him. Around them he doesn’t bother to behave in any way that doesn’t come entirely naturally to a hollow: haughtily, arrogantly, keen to provoke violence and thrilled to engage in it. He’ll torment with words, he’ll torture with steel, and he’ll fight dirty if that’s what it takes to get what he wants and to get his way. His own, personal flaws as a person will show through as well. He doesn’t bother to hide his bad habit of complacency around those he doesn’t care about and doesn’t bother to hide his thirst for vengeance when he feels wronged.
The people who Rainier’s respects, however, see a different side. He’s not as quick to violence, not as quick to mouth off, and treats people more like allies. His attitude shifts to show his genuine and dependable side. He becomes the best kind of friend you could ask for, one that will always lift you up when you’re struggling and have your back when the chips are down. More than that, these sorts of people are rare for him and, for this reason, he seeks not only to protect and ensure the health of their relationship, but also of the person themselves. His time as a Gillian in a pack hasn’t been lost on him and Rainier is always quick to propose fighting together, instead of individual as so many Hollow-Breeds are inclined.
Even less common than people who earn Rainier’s true, deep respect are those who have become loved and truly precious to him. In his entire Hollow life, he only ever met one person who made this cut for him: Anastasia. She’s more important to him than the rest of Las Noches combined and their unique relationship, the way they balance each other out and have saved each other’s lives, only enhances that effect. He’s at his best around her and all of the traits that make him a desirable “friend” for other Hollow-Breeds are even more pronounced. This was true even back when he was a human, where his love for his children—if not for the wife that betrayed him—held strong even as his Hollow mind descended into madness.
With Rainier’s new resolve to re-enter life as an Arrancar of Las Noches, the behavior that once made him a popular and successful Espada is returning. He has begun to forge new relationships with the latest generation of Hollow-Breeds in Las Noches, finding new friends and potential enemies in his own home. He also has begun to interact, more than ever before, with the Soul Society and even Earth. Much to his own surprise, Rainier has discovered that both worlds have people he can relate to and connect with, a fact that provides great opportunity to fully transform his once stagnant life.
Hollow Traits
Aspect of Death: Paranoia
It is said that the Aspect of Death is what killed the Hollow as a human and what will, if left unchecked, kill them again.
Rainier’s story as a Hollow began with Paranoia and it is Paranoia that has, from behind the scenes or not, played the puppet-master in his life. Without even realizing it, so much of this part of him still dominates his life. The distance he keeps between himself and others, the defenses he puts up to stop those who still manage to get close, and his overwhelming need for a sense of security.
It is that last detail that really defines Rainier’s paranoia. Although he could be said to be paranoid of the world at large and the people in it, it is Rainier’s paranoia about himself that truly shapes him. This traces back to his human death where, in his concern for his safety while being an undercover operative for the French Crown, he didn’t realize the opinions that others had formed of him or that his wife was getting ready to betray him.
Ever since then a deeply-seated sense of insecurity and inadequacy has plagued everything about Rainier. He doesn’t trust himself with others, with those who get close, or with his own abilities in combat; though he’d never admit any of this even if he were explicitly aware of it himself. His own failures become magnified to support this internal and self-deceptive narrative while his successes are thrown away.
The close relationship with Anastasia has both helped with this and enabled it. Anastasia has provided the foil Rainier needed to find success despite his Aspect but, at the same time, has prevented the necessary conflicts with it that would have allowed Rainier to continue to grow on par with the other Espada of the time.
To journey farther as an Arrancar, Rainier will need to meet his Aspect face-to-face and take ownership of it. After that, he will have to learn how to make it something that he lives with, not something that lives through him.
Hollow Power
For a man who does everything he can to keep everyone else out for his own safety, his power is perfectly fitting.
Once mentally activated, Rainier projects a constant field of force that acts as a repulsive effect all around him. It pushes away any person, magic, or any other perceived threat away from Rainier as best it can. In most cases this power only acts to slow down something that seeks to approach it, forcing it to work far harder than normal—or move far slower than normal—just to get near him.
The entire power operates on Rainier’s sense of danger. Anyone or anything he doesn’t feel threatened by will not feel the magical energy that keeps everything else away. For this reason, the general environment is typically unaffected, such as grass, sand, trees, or simple earth. Even the wind doesn’t respond.
Anyone caught in it will feel like they’re suddenly submerged in a viscous, molasses-like liquid that fights their every movement. Even breathing, if someone is particularly effected, will become more difficult along with all of their movements. However, sufficiently skilled or powerful beings will be able to work through the detrimental effect with greater and greater ease depending on how much advantage or power they have over the Arrancar.
The fact that this power has, over the centuries, saved Rainier’s life on more than one occasion simply reinforces his way of life, proving to be both a tool and an obstacle for his future success.
Sealed Zanpakutō Appearance
While many Shinigami are stuck with the form of the Asauchi handed to them, Arrancar never hand this problem. Their souls generate a spiritual weapon upon their evolution and this weapon can be anything at all, whether it’s Japanese-styled or something completely alien and unique.
In the case of Rainier, his Zanpakutō takes the form of a Yari—similar to the spear that ended his life as a human.
This Yari in particular is perfectly black, save for the streaks and waves of gray that run through it similar to the gray that ran through the black fabric that covered Rainier’s white-booted Gillian form. The very tip is a triangular prism with each edge, and the tip, supernaturally sharp as Zanpakutō so frequently are.
The weapon extends to about 180 centimeters in length and Rainier has, over his long life, developed many ways of fighting with it. His personal best, and his favorite, is to combine the powers of Cero with his Zanpakutō in order to enhance his destructive strength or surprise an opponent. He particularly enjoys, though, fast-paced and close-range exchanges with his spear that he uses deftly no matter which hand is dominant on it at any given time.
His most effective method, in an ironic twist, is completely unlike his death as a human. Rainier most excels with the accuracy of his spear when used in throws, especially from a longer distance. He boasts great accuracy, possible thanks to his excellent natural vision, and nothing quite satisfies him like hitting a distant and moving target. However, this lacks the thrill of fast-paced combat and is only rarely used to begin combat, if at all.
Documented History
Snapshots
Human Life
Plus Life
Hollow Life
Gillian Life
Números Life
Espada Life
Privaron Life
Background
Back in 1534, even in the heavily Catholic city of Reims, the beginnings of the Protestant uprising in France could be felt. Rainier was born that year to a loving mother and hard-working, blacksmith father. Fate long decided that Rainier’s family life would be wrought with tragedy and the young mother died during childbirth despite the successful delivery of her baby boy.
This left the father—his name and the mother’s long lost to history—to raise their only child alone. Given his competence as a blacksmith and only having a single son, the family never wanted for food, shelter, or wealth. The father even did his best, but ultimately failed, to pass down his trade to his largely uninterested son.
Instead, as a child, Rainier found himself much more interested in trickery, thievery, and sneaking about. Within the city of Reims, he quickly earned himself, and his father, a reputation for being the local, troublesome child. Rainier thrived despite the reputation and found himself popular among his young peers.
Already stressed due to the demands for steel made by the French Crown, the father had little patience for his son’s behavior. When gentler discipline failed to work, he quickly turned to outright physical violence. He quickly took a strong liking to beating the boy with the whips used to spur along horses or other pack animals, but the father’s favorite form of punishment was to jab his son with the red-hot end of a forge poker.
This turned his outgoing, if mischievous, son into a timid and reclusive boy who quickly lost the strong social circle he developed. Rainier modified his behavior to avoid the impatient wrath of his father and, in turn, avoided the beatings and burnings that his father had turned to in order to control his son. Instead he kept to himself, behaved around adults, and developed a need to impress and gain the approval of his elders. He found solace and purpose in the Catholic Church which, at the time, had a strong presence in Reims.
As Rainier transitioned from adolescence and into adulthood, he got more and more involved in the Catholic Church. Spurred on by his loyalty to what was, perhaps, the best force in his childhood, Rainier lead a life that would make any priest proud. He married young to a beautiful, young French woman and began a fairly large family. He fathered three children, a son and then two daughters, over the course of four years.
His family was not the only achievement that made those around him proud. Unknown to most, Rainier joined with the French Crown that supported the Catholic Church despite the growing popularity of the various Protestant movements of the era. He worked as a double agent that would, in an entirely innocuous manner, ingratiate himself with local Protestants and report their actions and plans to the forces of the French Crown. At the same time, Rainier understood that his long absences put strain on his wife and—despite worries about her faithfulness—he did everything he could to make each day with his wife and children count.
This job brought out some of the best and worst in Rainier. He proved to be a hard worker who was genuinely dedicated to the work he did, believing it to be in the best interests of the Church and France. However, the deceptive nature of his work also brought out his insecurities and inherent paranoia after being raised so brutally by his father. Without the context to understand his situation, many higher-up individuals in the Church and the French nobility became suspicious of Rainier’s behavior.
Clueless regarding the suspicion that surrounded him, Rainier caught word that the Duke of Guise searched for a place to attend Mass. Rainier had just been on assignment near Wassy, France and discovered a group of Huguenots—a term for Calvinists at the time—that gathered in a barn to worship away from the prying eyes of the public and the Crown. With a couple well-placed messengers, Rainier ensured that the Duke would find the heretical worshippers and execute them all.
This event would become the historic Massacre of Wassy that ignited the first of the Wars of Religion in France.
Even in light of this success, however, the Crown forces had decided to do away with the exceedingly cautious and jittery Rainier. They planned an ambush on his wagon on his way back to Reims using—unknown to him—information from his wife on when he expected to return, sent to her via letter. Rainier kept to schedule and met the ambush as the sun began to set.
Like any undercover agent in all of history, Rainier had been trained to defend himself. He managed to fend off one, then two of the people that ambushed him. As he pulled a knife he caught, out of the corner of his eye, a flash of blue that he could only describe as “holy” in the moment. It tore a hole in his shoulder and left him writing on the ground.
Shocked, confused, and in pain, Rainier never noticed the spear that impaled him moments later and ended his life.
Rainier awoke mere minute later and stood over his corpse. Around him, the forces of the French Crown— but not including the mysterious man who had grievously injured Rainier with nothing but light itself, he had left immediately—set fire to his wagon and left his body to rot on the road between Reims and Wassy. They talked amongst themselves how great it was to be rid of such an unreliable man and how dangerous his paranoid and suspicious behavior had been. Rainier could hardly stomach the words as his mind raced to come to terms with what exactly just happened to him.
He had died, he realized, and there was far more going on than he ever knew. In an ironic twist, not only did his paranoia lead to his death, but it was also completely justified. There were men out there who had powers that he could only assume were gifts direct from heaven itself. They had once been mere rumors, the idea of men with supernatural abilities, but it turned out those stories were more than myth and legend.
Now he stood there, a phantom that haunted his own body and burning wagon, and he knew he had to learn more. He had to learn more about the man that killed him and what this black, metal chain in his chest was.
Rainier kept his distance and stalked the men back to Reims. When they arrived in the city he followed them into the church and, from a dark corner, listened in as they reported that their mission was complete and Rainier lay dead. His death had been, as planned, made to look like a bandit raid on a traveling man. These were dangerous times, after all. Rainier listened to the entire story with a growing fury at the betrayal until, finally, he heard a word of Germanic origin than he had not before:
Quincy.
This word stuck with him for reasons he did not fully understand. It wasn’t until the men present explained that “the Quincy” had done a great job when he struck Rainier down right when he pulled his knife. It was then that Rainier realized that, yes, men with supernatural qualities did exist in this world. No doubt, if they existed, they posed a threat to him now even in his current state. Although he wanted, desperately, to learn more about them, Rainier realized that he would have to keep a considerable distance in order to do it safely.
Night after night he listened in on conversations and trailed people to places that he didn’t even know were used for gatherings. He learned about many things in that time, particularly when he stalked his Quincy killer. He learned about their people, their association with the Catholic Church, how “the Shinigami” struggled to keep up with all of the souls that needed to be saved and “the Hollows” that needed to be purified.
Over the course of a few weeks, he managed to piece together a decent enough understanding of the supernatural world that existed on the other side of death and it was, to say the least, nothing like what his religious upbringing had taught him to believe. Where he thought to find a world of angels and demons, he instead found a world of men dressed in strange robes and masked monsters that preyed on the living and dead alike. Just like with the Quincy, Rainier decided to keep his distance from other dead souls around him and especially any monsters that might come to hunt them.
With his curiosity as sated as he dared to make it, Rainier sought out his family. What he found when he arrived home shocked him.
As he watched for a few days he learned that the Quincy man that had killed him was actually a cousin to his wife. She, in response, had started to raise his children as if he weren’t around—that their father was simply gone and that this wasn’t a big deal. The children fussed about this, no doubt, but ever-so-slowly Rainier watched as they grew more accustomed to their new reality. Children always adapted well, even to the dismay of the dead parents that watched over him.
Less than two weeks of this proved too much for Rainier and, before he realized it, the chain in his chest had devoured itself entirely.
What happened next marked the first memory that Hollow Rainier was able to retain. He remembered the sensation of total nothingness and the burning pain and urge to fill it. He remembered the feeling of his body as it reappeared—shaped more like a demonic minotaur—as if it were made of slime. He remembered the rage that followed at his wife, at the Crown, the Church, and the world.
But not his children. He loved his children.
Rainier stormed away from the home of his family and, instead, hunted down some of the regular, mundane humans that had been involved in his betrayal. He devoured them, one by one, and felt the rush, the fullness, the satisfaction that came with each kill. Years passed like this in a frenzy of eating and fighting and rampaging. He quickly heard stories of an invisible monster that terrorized Eastern France.
No one ever put together the connection between the primary victims—how could they? They had buried the truth of his death and, because of that, they themselves got buried.
Once more confident and his new, powerful body—and the abilities that came with it—Rainier began to hunt the few Quincy that had been involved. Each fight with the Quincy proved dangerous and Rainier very quickly learned to fear the powers they had seemingly developed solely to kill Hollows. Each time, though, his rage and sheer determination managed to overcome their opposition. Every Quincy he ate proved more delicious and satisfying than any “regular” human he ate.
By the time that Rainier’s crusade ended, his children had grown into independent adults. One of his sons started a family of his own, complete with four children of his own, and his daughter had been married to a kind and loving nobleman who gave her children of her own as well. For a handful of days, Rainier watched his children and felt the most at peace since his transformation into this monster.
During this time, he also watched his wife; the one that had sold him out to her Quincy relative and cost her husband his life. She was the one that had taken the father out of their children’s lives.
After all of this time, Rainier could no longer control himself. He destroyed his old home and devoured his aging wife without an unrestrained glee. In his euphoric, roaring rampage that followed, Rainier realized the consequences of his crusade and the souls he devoured.
They still existed within him and now they had grown large enough to yell and scream endlessly. Rainier had begun to lose his mind and knew that, soon enough, would no longer be in total control of his actions.
Not too long after he became a Hollow, Rainier realized that there existed another plane that his kind existed in. He had visited once for a handful of minutes and then returned to Earth. Now, he realized, it would become the salvation of his family.
He retreated to this mysterious desert, trapped in an ever-present twilight. He later learned, from other monstrously huge Hollows like he had become, that it was called Hueco Mundo.
Lost and alone in this strange new world, Rainier did the only thing he felt compelled to do: eat. He traveled the sands of Hueco Mundo and largely avoided conflict. He picked his battles carefully and, for that, won each and every one of them. He grew ever larger as the years and decades ticked by as a pointless Hollow. Even as his mind deteriorated, a single, overriding rule remained: that he could never, ever return to Earth. He had long since forgotten why.
Every other aspect of himself slowly fell away until Rainier hit a psychological and emotional bottom. Gorged on other Hollows and the souls within them, he lost sight of his identity and purpose. When he looked back on the moment in the future he could never pinpoint the moment when he transformed from a giant minotaur into the towering monstrosity called a Gillian.
One of countless tens of thousands, maybe and probably more than that, Rainier struggled to differentiate himself from the other souls within himself. Despite this, aspects of himself still bleed through into the behavior of the Gillian mass that he had become. Appropriately, this led his Gillian self to seek out a pack of other Gillian to join.
Rainier managed to find one such group after a few years of searching. After he migrated into the Quartz Forest beneath Hueco Mundo, Rainier discovered a large pack of Gillian commanded by three powerful Adjuchas. Like any other mindless Gillian, he was compelled to follow the orders of these Adjuchas and joined the group shortly thereafter.
For reasons his nearly-unconscious self absolutely did not understand at the time, the other Gillian seemed drawn to him. They gathered around him in groups when idle and made way from him when they were on the move.
Decades passed in this mindless state as Rainier and the others went into battle at the behest of the Adjuchas. They devoured other Gillian packs and, sometimes, devolved into infighting in order to thin their own numbers so the Adjuchas could remain in control. With the only exception being the strange behavior of the other Gillian, Rainier’s long period of time as one of them proved to be just as static and unremarkable as any other.
A new Gillian joins the pack, this one unique in Rainier’s eyes. Although the mask on this Gillian was just the same as everyone’s, a subconscious pull brought the two of them together. They quickly began to stand next to each other when idle, walk together when they migrated, and fight together when the Adjuchas called them into battle.
On numerous occasions Rainier managed to save the life of his new Gillian “friend” and prevented them from falling prey to other Hollows. This Hollow returned the favor in kind and, over their years together, developed a tendency to take the initiative for Rainier when he could not bring himself to.
The Gillian that had once been drawn to Rainier—no doubt because they sensed his growing, unique nature—were suddenly repelled by the band that had formed between the duo of monsters. Rainier felt hurt and betrayed by this, one of the first real emotions he ever felt after he became a Gillian, but refused to change his relationship with his Gillian friend.
Eventually, this relationship allowed Rainier to regain a semblance of true control and awareness. This ignited the same in the other Gillian and, together, they formed their own, unique masks.
The trio of Adjuchas that continued to lead the group successful did not fail to notice this strange, mysterious relationship between mindless beasts or the unique masks that had formed on them. The three agreed that these two Gillian, despite their great success in combat, were too great a threat and needed to be dealt with.
One day, one of the Adjuchas lured the surprisingly gullible Gillian friend of Rainier’s away from the pack. Rainier, still innately distrustful, followed the Adjuchas from a distance and stalked the pair. When the Adjuchas assaulted the Gillian, a great rage forced Rainier into battle.
Together, he and his friend were able to fend off the Adjuchas and cripple it—but not before the Adjuchas chewed off part of the other Gillian. After the two of them devoured the Adjuchas, Rainier led them to hunt down the other two individually. Together again, the two of them got the drop of both Adjuchas and devoured each of them. This destroyed the leadership that the pack had and the Gillian quickly devolved in their mindless equivalent of civil war.
Rainier, on the other hand, was overcome with genuine grief over what happened to his friend and that the leadership of his pack had done. He raged and thrashed in the Quartz Forest for days and his Gillian friend remained ever-present, unable to help. Eventually, in one of his fits, Rainier destroyed the unique mask on his face and a great transformation occurred.
When Rainier awoke, all of his rationality had returned to him. The human form, minimally similar to his forgotten human body, felt fresh and powerful as he moved his limbs for the first time. In his slumber the other Gillian had, with no one else to turn to, followed his example and smashed their mask to bits.
Next to him awoke a beautiful, white-haired woman with bright, blue eyes that shined like ice in a world that had none. For the first time in all of their years together the two were able to speak, to exchange their names, and he learned that his partner this entire time called herself Anastasia.
The connection between the two, even after their long history as Gillian together, was undeniable. Unwilling to separate from each other and eager to learn more about who they were, the two agreed to travel to Las Noches together where they would join with the forces rumored to be gathered there. Side by side they marched right in through the wall and were, as all Arrancar were back, welcomed with open arms by the current Hollow King.
It didn’t take long for the connection between the two Arrancar, and the protective relationship they had developed, to turn into something more. Although romantic terms were never really used by either of them, a de facto sort of relationship formed that would make up the backbone of their life together within the walls of Las Noches.
Rainier, eager to secure himself a stable home within Las Noches, looked to Anastasia to discuss a plan for making themselves stand out within Las Noches. The two of them had the same idea almost instantaneously: That while most Arrancar fought solo, they would fight as an unstoppable duo. They would do everything in their power to cultivate strong relationships with other Arrancar of the same Números rank as themselves, the Espada, and even the King. With enough success in battle, and even the tiniest shred of social skills, they would be welcomed as prodigies within the castle.
So the two fought. Whether it was rogue Arrancar or Hollows eager to destroy Las Noches, Human Spiritualists, or even some Shinigami, the duo of Rainier and Anastasia battled them all. They spilled blood proudly in the name of Las Noches and brought stories of their adventures and victories back to the castle for all of them to revel in. They immersed themselves in a truly Hollow life and, through their successes, Rainier felt secure and ever-motivated to continue with this lifestyle.
The rewards it brought were great and immediate. Not only did their success as Arrancar together, a mirror of their success as Gillian, cement the close bond that Anastasia and Rainier developed, but it got them noticed by Arrancar and Hollows of all rank. The Espada respected their achievements and enjoyed their stories. Even the King smiled, his own twisted version of it, when he heard the news of their triumphs and adventures in the name of Las Noches.
Their success ran deeper than that, though. Rainier and Anastasia quickly discovered just how well they complemented each other and balanced out their defects. When Anastasia felt compelled to take the word of someone she shouldn’t trust, Rainier stepped in to save her. When Rainier would feel compelled to push away the new Arrancar and Hollows friends they made, Anastasia would remind him to open up every once in a while or risk never finding another connection with anyone else ever again.
This unique circumstance where their inherent flaws counterbalanced the inherent flaws of the other carried them all the way to a promotion to rank of Espada.
At the time the Espada were a much larger group of wildly ranging power that, in general, paled in comparison to the Espada that would follow. Even then, Rainier and Anastasia were only promoted to the ranks of Octava and Noveno respectively. But, just like before, they took to their new positions well and continued their lifestyle of grand adventures and battles that inspired the population of Las Noches to strive for more, to hunger.
However, nothing was meant to last forever. As the decades marched on and the 20th century gave way to the 21st, a Shinigami by the name of Sōgetsu Voltaire came into power in Las Noches. Anastasia, given her disdain for Shinigami, immediately picked up on the danger that he represented to them. Rainier was much more accepting but they both realized what would inevitably happen.
Over the course of those past few decades the general power of the Espada grew and grew. Eventually, the lowest-ranked Espada found themselves entirely outranked by the men and women above them. This left Rainier uncertain, afraid, and desperately seeking a new means by which to find security in his life. Anastasia, on the other hand, wasn’t nearly so bothered, but also knew what it meant.
When Sōgetsu announced their replacement and demotion to Privaron Espada 108 and 109 respectively, neither of them were surprised. They had both long since lost the spark and power necessary to make them stand out among the Espada and the tales of battle they brought back to Las Noches did not compare to the stories of battle with Lieutenants and Captains from the Gotei 6.
Unlike Anastasia, Rainier took well to their new lives as reclusive Privaron within the walls of Las Noches, known as Tres Cifras. He enjoyed the quarters they made for themselves and the general isolation they enjoyed, which protected them from the now monstrously-powerful Espada that roamed the inner desert of Las Noches. They could even entertain themselves with the occasional intruder that the two would rip apart in tandem.
This hermit status also allows Rainier more time alone with Anastasia, the only other Arrancar he truly managed to connect with over his century plus as an Arrancar. Their relationship remained the single, stable thing through his life as other Hollow-Breeds, even Espada, died and got replaced all around him. He quickly found himself compelled to remain like this, relatively safe, for as long as possible.
Anastasia, on the other hand, did not enjoy this new lifestyle nearly as thoroughly as Rainier did. As Sōgetsu gave way to Riko, she did her best to urge Rainier out of his complacent, comfortable new way of living. Rainier remained entirely uninterested, even as Riko gave way to the leadership of Truth. Anastasia pushed and pushed but got nowhere.
She would continue to bide her time over the course of a few years as Truth was replaced during the Siege by—as far as the rest of the castle was concerned—the very same man. He would later be revealed as “Alter” Tova Diabló and Rainier cited his powerful leadership as even more reason that they should not bother to give up their comfortable lives.
The first cracks in Rainier’s argument, and his steadfast refusal to surrender their safety and security, came when Tova got replaced as the King by a pink-haired woman calling herself Severance. She was, supposedly, the former Espada, Amaya Kidachi. Whatever the true story there, her leadership proved to be anything but effective, and Rainier’s comfort in Las Noches as a Privaron reached lower than it ever had before. Anastasia realized her opportunity, but held back one final push on Rainier to get them back out into the world as active Arrancar.
That final effort came when Erasmus ascended to the throne and instituted a series of reforms to Las Noches that made them feel much more like the Seireitei than a world of Hollows. This sat well with neither Rainier nor Anastasia and, as his rule continued to disappoint them bother, Rainier finally caved. He admitted that she was right and that they could no long afford to wallow about in Tres Cifras. They could no longer afford to watch the world as it passed them by.
Thrilled with a return to form for her long-term partner and lover, Anastasia and Rainier both re-entered the world of Las Noches, of Shinigami and Humans, with a determination and vigor they hadn’t had for decades.
Out of Character
Player Alias: Tova
Desired Starting GP: 1,500 Grade GP for the full, 3,000 Total GP starting score!
Length of Roleplay Career: Twelve years this August.
How I found Bleach Gotei: Google
Other Active Characters: Shun Minamoto and Noboru Takayama
Arrancar
Privaron 108, Las Noches
Personal Characteristics
Name: Rainier Rucio
Age: 482 [28 Human, 318 Hollow, 134 Arrancar]
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Birthday: January 21st, 1534
Date of Death: March 2nd, 1562
Ethnicity: French
Physical Specifications
Height and Weight: Tall for men of his era, the medium-framed and thickly muscled Rainier stands at 178 centimeters. With a father for a blacksmith and a job that required grueling, 16th century travel and even combat, his well-built body weighs in at 77 kilograms. These traits have translated well to Rainier’s body as an Arrancar and add a respectable, imposing presence to a man who seems enigmatic to all those who don’t know him.
Eyes: His eyes defy Hollow convention, as many Arrancar do, with their bright green color. A unique feature is how often they tend to glow an even brighter green as Rainier’s gears up for combat, a curious aspect of his soul that he has yet to fully understand.
Hair: Many Arrancar aren’t very big on regular haircuts and Rainier is no exception. He keeps his somewhat long, dark hair pushed back so it gathers behind the ears. It even reaches so far as to get about to his shoulders before the ends curl up. This does well to keep his hair out of his eyes until the stress of battle leaves him wounded and disheveled, his hair becoming a mess in short order.
Spiritual Traits: Rainier has a few unique, spiritual aspects about him.
The first is that, while many Hollows take on a yellow or red eye color, Rainier’s has been bright green ever since he developed an individualized mask as a Gillian. In the realm of color, this also translates to bright green hue to his spiritual energy. However, the regular crimson of a basic Cero still dominates his favorite spiritual technique.
His eyes have one additional, unique addition: They glow brightly when he mentally gears up for battle and his spiritual energy begins to build. Although he does not yet realize it, this trait is a symptom of his greater proclivity towards spiritual vision and awareness that he has yet to awaken or learn.
Like any other spiritual being, Rainier’s spiritual presence causes those around him to share in his experiences, feelings, and what it is like to “stand in his shoes”. They will feel the self-doubt that’s at the core of his paranoia, they will feel the ground unsteady underneath their feet, and those who are particularly drowned by his presence might even smell the burning wood of his wagon from the time of his death.
The imprints of his human death are still that strong and Rainier will frequently wake at night from a recurring dream of a burning wagon, wailing horses, and men marching away. This is the only fragment of a memory that remains from his forgotten human life and the sheer desperation and betrayal he felt in that moment has scarred him deeply enough to persevere after all of this time.
General Appearance: The primary aspect of Rainier’s appearance that most take note of is his Las Noches outfit. Like any other Arrancar he is free to customize the design, within reason, and after well over one hundred years in Las Noches, Rainier has found the time to do just that.
Keeping with all of the other outfits, the cloth is a thin, white fragment that has the edges trimmed in black. He wears a long-sleeved, collar-less jacket that is joined in the middle with a shallow zig-zag pattern held together with flat hooks on the under portion of the jacket. His hakama’s hop is partially covered by this extra-long jacket, but hangs all the way down to his feet like normal. Instead of black tabi wrapped in sandals, similar to the Shinigami, Rainier opts for a black boot trimmed in white.
When not in public with other Hollow-Breeds, or prowling on Earth with Anastasia for a new victim, Rainier actually prefers to walk around shirtless. He’ll even wear the hakama of his Las Noches uniform but, if nothing else, will let the jacket hang open.
This exposes the Hollow Hole in his chest, centered far to the left, practically on the shoulder. Rainier ponders, from time to time, just why his Hollow Hole is located there and not somewhere more meaningful, unaware that it was that spot where he took the wound from the Quincy that allowed them to impale him to death on their spears.
His Mask Fragment exists as a ring of Mask Material that covers his forehead and reaches around both sides of his head, stopping just behind the ears, but largely covered by his long hair. From the front of the Mask Fragment protrude two broken horns. The left side one is nothing but a stub, cut off at some point in the past, while the other only as the last few centimeters broken off and the gentle curve of his former minotaur horn can still be seen.
Like almost everything else in Las Noches, the rest of Rainier is dominated by a sense of death and sterility. He smells of nothing but sand and his clammy, pale skin will be cool to the touch for anyone who bothers.
Psychological Profile
Positive Traits
Although Rainier does his best to show this side to the world, it rarely comes across. Between his typical Hollow-Breed traits such as a thirst for battle and a penchant for flesh-eating, and his own actual issues as a person, the good parts of Rainier are only truly seen by what Rainier refers to as “those precious to him.” These few people see the warm, caring, and ultimately still fatherly figure that has been encased in a Hollow shell for centuries. It is this aspect of him that drew people to him, even unconsciously as a Gillian, in search of the better man they can sense beneath the surface.
- Genuine to his core. Rainier can’t imagine that he’d deceive others with kindness, something that he could trace back to his time as a father if only he could remember it. Just like with his children back then, he shows his true self to those who manage to get close to him, no matter how difficult that is for him to do. He feels they, just like his children, deserve it simply on the basis of being so dear to him—and he’s happy to share it.
- Dependable, because if he can’t count on himself how can anyone else? Whether it was his time as a son, father, or even a Gillian, Rainier has always wanted to have the strength and willpower to be there when he was needed. You can always count on him to come through when you need him, to succeed when success is the only option, and to put in all the effort and more that would you want in a team effort.
- Motivated to succeed, grow, and ultimately to excel. When Rainier hasn’t sunk into depressive and reclusiveness, he works hard at anything he sets his mind to. His time as a Hollow taught him that he needed to have the power to carry out his ideals, to achieve want he wants, to be there for those who need him, and ultimately to protect those precious few that have wiggled into his cold heart.
- Protective of those who finally manage to get past the great expanse that separates Rainier and his heart from the rest of the world. These people are rare and appropriately precious to him for that reason. He has a deep-seated, subconscious need to cling to this people as tightly as possible and keep them not only safe, but happy with him. Even after centuries and even after losing those memories, the sting of his lost family lingers with him.
- Curious about the world around him, even if he finds it difficult to dive in and learn. There’s an innate need to know about Rainier that’s rooted in a natural curiousness but, also, a realization that knowledge is power and that power is safety. Since he craves and so slavishly pursues that sense of security his life has so long been without, he too pursues knowledge and a greater understanding of the mysterious world around him.
Negative Traits
In many ways, Rainier is like a castle under siege by all those drawn in by the warm man they perceived within. However, everything about Rainier’s life has taught him a collection of strategies for keeping those people away. Therefore, those who have not earned Rainier’s respect, or become one of the few who are precious to him, will only see the violent, Hollow, paranoid, and generally detestable side of him. In order to get deeper, you have to power through a literal army of obstacles that seek to stop you and, even then, there’s no guarantee you’ll make it in the front gate.
- Distrustful of everything and anything except those core few who manage to get in past Rainier’s walls, defenses, and the moat that surrounds his castle. The rest of the world is one giant, dangerous unknown that threatens not only his life but also his security and happiness at every turn. For this reason, Rainier is pathologically distrustful of others, good events, and even himself.
- Vengeful after a long history of loss and learning how sweet revenge truly tastes. The beginning of his Hollow life was marred with bloody revenge and, through that, Rainier discovered how much he loves it. When wronged by someone else he is desperately motivated to exact that vengeance not only to right a perceived wrong but also to restore a sense of security and even superiority to the person or force that hurt him.
- Complacent when certain circumstances align. This is the result of Rainier achieving the sense of safety and security he constantly strives for—he devolves into laziness and inactivity. It defines the majority of his life as a Privaron Espada and is only just now beginning to change. When complacency gets him in its grip it is an incredible difficult force to resist, something he almost always must rely on others to save him from.
- Dishonorable, because sometimes in order to win, survive, or preserve the desirable status quo, you have to fight dirty. While he wouldn’t imagine employing such tactics against those precious to him, or even those he respects, he will use them when all other options seem exhausted or when the person that stands in his way is not particularly important to him. He has no qualms about deceit, cheating, or cheap tricks in order to get his way.
- Distant, because it is his first line of defense. Before anything else that makes him difficult to get close to is how far away he keeps others, and how much he likes to keep them there. There is a long, difficult march between Rainier and the outside world and, even if you cared to make that journey, there would be an army of other obstacles stopping you when you managed to get close.
General Behavior: To boil it down to a single sentence: Rainier is a man who is difficult to get to know and the kind of person you want in your corner.
There are countless aspects of him that exist solely to keep other people away. He’s difficult to get to and will push away those who try. If this weren’t enough, it’s due to a very deeply-rooted sense of inadequacy that he so rarely allows his real behavior to show to the outside world. Only the most persevering will be able to make it through and get to see the other side of the man, the side that has managed to hold a lover for well over one hundred years.
This separates Rainier’s life, and everyone in it, into a few categories: those precious to him, those he respects, those he doesn’t know, and his enemies.
The latter two groups will see the most negative side of him. Around them he doesn’t bother to behave in any way that doesn’t come entirely naturally to a hollow: haughtily, arrogantly, keen to provoke violence and thrilled to engage in it. He’ll torment with words, he’ll torture with steel, and he’ll fight dirty if that’s what it takes to get what he wants and to get his way. His own, personal flaws as a person will show through as well. He doesn’t bother to hide his bad habit of complacency around those he doesn’t care about and doesn’t bother to hide his thirst for vengeance when he feels wronged.
The people who Rainier’s respects, however, see a different side. He’s not as quick to violence, not as quick to mouth off, and treats people more like allies. His attitude shifts to show his genuine and dependable side. He becomes the best kind of friend you could ask for, one that will always lift you up when you’re struggling and have your back when the chips are down. More than that, these sorts of people are rare for him and, for this reason, he seeks not only to protect and ensure the health of their relationship, but also of the person themselves. His time as a Gillian in a pack hasn’t been lost on him and Rainier is always quick to propose fighting together, instead of individual as so many Hollow-Breeds are inclined.
Even less common than people who earn Rainier’s true, deep respect are those who have become loved and truly precious to him. In his entire Hollow life, he only ever met one person who made this cut for him: Anastasia. She’s more important to him than the rest of Las Noches combined and their unique relationship, the way they balance each other out and have saved each other’s lives, only enhances that effect. He’s at his best around her and all of the traits that make him a desirable “friend” for other Hollow-Breeds are even more pronounced. This was true even back when he was a human, where his love for his children—if not for the wife that betrayed him—held strong even as his Hollow mind descended into madness.
With Rainier’s new resolve to re-enter life as an Arrancar of Las Noches, the behavior that once made him a popular and successful Espada is returning. He has begun to forge new relationships with the latest generation of Hollow-Breeds in Las Noches, finding new friends and potential enemies in his own home. He also has begun to interact, more than ever before, with the Soul Society and even Earth. Much to his own surprise, Rainier has discovered that both worlds have people he can relate to and connect with, a fact that provides great opportunity to fully transform his once stagnant life.
Hollow Traits
Aspect of Death: Paranoia
It is said that the Aspect of Death is what killed the Hollow as a human and what will, if left unchecked, kill them again.
Rainier’s story as a Hollow began with Paranoia and it is Paranoia that has, from behind the scenes or not, played the puppet-master in his life. Without even realizing it, so much of this part of him still dominates his life. The distance he keeps between himself and others, the defenses he puts up to stop those who still manage to get close, and his overwhelming need for a sense of security.
It is that last detail that really defines Rainier’s paranoia. Although he could be said to be paranoid of the world at large and the people in it, it is Rainier’s paranoia about himself that truly shapes him. This traces back to his human death where, in his concern for his safety while being an undercover operative for the French Crown, he didn’t realize the opinions that others had formed of him or that his wife was getting ready to betray him.
Ever since then a deeply-seated sense of insecurity and inadequacy has plagued everything about Rainier. He doesn’t trust himself with others, with those who get close, or with his own abilities in combat; though he’d never admit any of this even if he were explicitly aware of it himself. His own failures become magnified to support this internal and self-deceptive narrative while his successes are thrown away.
The close relationship with Anastasia has both helped with this and enabled it. Anastasia has provided the foil Rainier needed to find success despite his Aspect but, at the same time, has prevented the necessary conflicts with it that would have allowed Rainier to continue to grow on par with the other Espada of the time.
To journey farther as an Arrancar, Rainier will need to meet his Aspect face-to-face and take ownership of it. After that, he will have to learn how to make it something that he lives with, not something that lives through him.
Hollow Power
For a man who does everything he can to keep everyone else out for his own safety, his power is perfectly fitting.
Once mentally activated, Rainier projects a constant field of force that acts as a repulsive effect all around him. It pushes away any person, magic, or any other perceived threat away from Rainier as best it can. In most cases this power only acts to slow down something that seeks to approach it, forcing it to work far harder than normal—or move far slower than normal—just to get near him.
The entire power operates on Rainier’s sense of danger. Anyone or anything he doesn’t feel threatened by will not feel the magical energy that keeps everything else away. For this reason, the general environment is typically unaffected, such as grass, sand, trees, or simple earth. Even the wind doesn’t respond.
Anyone caught in it will feel like they’re suddenly submerged in a viscous, molasses-like liquid that fights their every movement. Even breathing, if someone is particularly effected, will become more difficult along with all of their movements. However, sufficiently skilled or powerful beings will be able to work through the detrimental effect with greater and greater ease depending on how much advantage or power they have over the Arrancar.
The fact that this power has, over the centuries, saved Rainier’s life on more than one occasion simply reinforces his way of life, proving to be both a tool and an obstacle for his future success.
Sealed Zanpakutō Appearance
While many Shinigami are stuck with the form of the Asauchi handed to them, Arrancar never hand this problem. Their souls generate a spiritual weapon upon their evolution and this weapon can be anything at all, whether it’s Japanese-styled or something completely alien and unique.
In the case of Rainier, his Zanpakutō takes the form of a Yari—similar to the spear that ended his life as a human.
This Yari in particular is perfectly black, save for the streaks and waves of gray that run through it similar to the gray that ran through the black fabric that covered Rainier’s white-booted Gillian form. The very tip is a triangular prism with each edge, and the tip, supernaturally sharp as Zanpakutō so frequently are.
The weapon extends to about 180 centimeters in length and Rainier has, over his long life, developed many ways of fighting with it. His personal best, and his favorite, is to combine the powers of Cero with his Zanpakutō in order to enhance his destructive strength or surprise an opponent. He particularly enjoys, though, fast-paced and close-range exchanges with his spear that he uses deftly no matter which hand is dominant on it at any given time.
His most effective method, in an ironic twist, is completely unlike his death as a human. Rainier most excels with the accuracy of his spear when used in throws, especially from a longer distance. He boasts great accuracy, possible thanks to his excellent natural vision, and nothing quite satisfies him like hitting a distant and moving target. However, this lacks the thrill of fast-paced combat and is only rarely used to begin combat, if at all.
Documented History
Snapshots
Human Life
- Born in France in 1534
- Mother dies during childbirth and is raised by a single, overworked father
- Father violently disciplines Rainier, who has a mischievous streak
- This turns Rainier into a more reclusive, timid man who becomes an ultra-pious Catholic
- Works undercover for the French Crown against Protestant uprisings in France, inherently paranoid and distrustful due to the nature of his work
- Helps cause the Massacre of Protestants at Wassy on March 1st, 1562
- His paranoid behaviors makes the French Crown suspicious and they have him executed the day after the Massacre
Plus Life
- Rainier stalks the people involved in his death as a Plus
- He discovers that his wife is raising his three young children to forge about their father and that she was involved in getting the Crown to execute him
- Watching his children begin to slowly forget their father over the course of a few months ignites his Hollowification
Hollow Life
- Despite his Hollowification being triggered by his family, Rainier spares them and hunts only mundane humans
- After gaining enough strength he starts to hunt those involved in his unjust execution and devours them as well
- After about twenty years, in the year 1583, with everyone involved in his death now long dead, Rainier returns home and devours his traitorous wife
- Feeling his mind slipping, and not wanting to hurt his children, Rainier retreats to Hueco Mundo for the first time
- In a new and strange place, Rainier avoids combat as much as he can but slowly grows stronger by devouring the souls of other Hollows and eventually transforms into a Gillian in the year 1788
Gillian Life
- Rainier is recruited into a large pack of Gillian led by three Adjuchas in the year 1792
- He remains a rank an file, mindless Gillian for decades, completely identical to all the other mindless, towering Hollows
- A new Gillian arrives in the year 1861 that Rainier is subconsciously drawn to, although neither of them can communicate, and they both develop unique Masks as their individuality begins to return
- Rainier becomes paranoid about the two of them and the attention they’re drawing, the other Gillian become distant
- Eventually, in 1882, one of the three Adjuchas takes his Gillian friend away and, distrustful of his motivations, Rainier follows in secret
- When the Adjuchas tries to devour Rainier’s Gillian friend, and manages to take a bite out of the other Gillian, Rainier charges in and the two of them manage to defeat and devour the Gillian
- Together, the two of them stalk and sneak attack the other two Adjuchas individually and devour them both
- Hurt by the betrayal of the Gillian and his friend’s fate to forever be stuck as a Gillian, Rainier descends into something bordering madness and destroys his unique Gillian mask, becoming an Arrancar
Números Life
- His Gillian friend follows suit and the two become Arrancar side-by-side. With their humanity restored, Rainier introduces himself and discovers that his Gillian friend was a woman named Anastasia
- The two of them, inseparably bonded, migrate to Las Noches to join the forces there
- Together they manage, spear-headed by Anastasia’s outgoing and go-get-them attitude, develop a reputation for success and deadliness as an Arrancar duo
- Together they become recognized by the Espada at the time and, eventually, the King, the two are promoted to the lowest Espada position in the year 1913, with Rainier as the Octava and Anastasia as the Noveno
Espada Life
- As Espada, their regular behavior continues unabated as they continue to solidify their base of support among the other Espada
- Slowly, but surely, the two of them begin to fall behind as the standard of power among the Arrancar increases
- Eventually, in the year 2009, they are demoted by Sōgetsu Voltaire, the new Shinigami King of Hueco Mundo, and made into Privaron 108 and 109 due to the new and powerful Espada he raised
Privaron Life
- Rainier, thoroughly demotivated by this turn of events, settles into a mostly quiet existence within Tres Cifras, away from Earth, Soul Society, and the goings-on of Las Noches
- When Riko replaces Sōgetsu as Queen, and then Truth replaces her, Anastasia begins to prod Rainier to restart their lives as Arrancar of Las Noches
- When Truth gives way to “Alter” Tova, Rainier insists that with leadership like that the castle doesn’t need either of them, happy to remain safe as Privaron Espada
- However, when Severance and Obsession fail to impress Anastasia or Rainier with their performance as Queen and King of Las Noches, Rainier finally relents and agrees that they need to become active Arrancar once again
Background
Back in 1534, even in the heavily Catholic city of Reims, the beginnings of the Protestant uprising in France could be felt. Rainier was born that year to a loving mother and hard-working, blacksmith father. Fate long decided that Rainier’s family life would be wrought with tragedy and the young mother died during childbirth despite the successful delivery of her baby boy.
This left the father—his name and the mother’s long lost to history—to raise their only child alone. Given his competence as a blacksmith and only having a single son, the family never wanted for food, shelter, or wealth. The father even did his best, but ultimately failed, to pass down his trade to his largely uninterested son.
Instead, as a child, Rainier found himself much more interested in trickery, thievery, and sneaking about. Within the city of Reims, he quickly earned himself, and his father, a reputation for being the local, troublesome child. Rainier thrived despite the reputation and found himself popular among his young peers.
Already stressed due to the demands for steel made by the French Crown, the father had little patience for his son’s behavior. When gentler discipline failed to work, he quickly turned to outright physical violence. He quickly took a strong liking to beating the boy with the whips used to spur along horses or other pack animals, but the father’s favorite form of punishment was to jab his son with the red-hot end of a forge poker.
This turned his outgoing, if mischievous, son into a timid and reclusive boy who quickly lost the strong social circle he developed. Rainier modified his behavior to avoid the impatient wrath of his father and, in turn, avoided the beatings and burnings that his father had turned to in order to control his son. Instead he kept to himself, behaved around adults, and developed a need to impress and gain the approval of his elders. He found solace and purpose in the Catholic Church which, at the time, had a strong presence in Reims.
As Rainier transitioned from adolescence and into adulthood, he got more and more involved in the Catholic Church. Spurred on by his loyalty to what was, perhaps, the best force in his childhood, Rainier lead a life that would make any priest proud. He married young to a beautiful, young French woman and began a fairly large family. He fathered three children, a son and then two daughters, over the course of four years.
His family was not the only achievement that made those around him proud. Unknown to most, Rainier joined with the French Crown that supported the Catholic Church despite the growing popularity of the various Protestant movements of the era. He worked as a double agent that would, in an entirely innocuous manner, ingratiate himself with local Protestants and report their actions and plans to the forces of the French Crown. At the same time, Rainier understood that his long absences put strain on his wife and—despite worries about her faithfulness—he did everything he could to make each day with his wife and children count.
This job brought out some of the best and worst in Rainier. He proved to be a hard worker who was genuinely dedicated to the work he did, believing it to be in the best interests of the Church and France. However, the deceptive nature of his work also brought out his insecurities and inherent paranoia after being raised so brutally by his father. Without the context to understand his situation, many higher-up individuals in the Church and the French nobility became suspicious of Rainier’s behavior.
Clueless regarding the suspicion that surrounded him, Rainier caught word that the Duke of Guise searched for a place to attend Mass. Rainier had just been on assignment near Wassy, France and discovered a group of Huguenots—a term for Calvinists at the time—that gathered in a barn to worship away from the prying eyes of the public and the Crown. With a couple well-placed messengers, Rainier ensured that the Duke would find the heretical worshippers and execute them all.
This event would become the historic Massacre of Wassy that ignited the first of the Wars of Religion in France.
Even in light of this success, however, the Crown forces had decided to do away with the exceedingly cautious and jittery Rainier. They planned an ambush on his wagon on his way back to Reims using—unknown to him—information from his wife on when he expected to return, sent to her via letter. Rainier kept to schedule and met the ambush as the sun began to set.
Like any undercover agent in all of history, Rainier had been trained to defend himself. He managed to fend off one, then two of the people that ambushed him. As he pulled a knife he caught, out of the corner of his eye, a flash of blue that he could only describe as “holy” in the moment. It tore a hole in his shoulder and left him writing on the ground.
Shocked, confused, and in pain, Rainier never noticed the spear that impaled him moments later and ended his life.
Rainier awoke mere minute later and stood over his corpse. Around him, the forces of the French Crown— but not including the mysterious man who had grievously injured Rainier with nothing but light itself, he had left immediately—set fire to his wagon and left his body to rot on the road between Reims and Wassy. They talked amongst themselves how great it was to be rid of such an unreliable man and how dangerous his paranoid and suspicious behavior had been. Rainier could hardly stomach the words as his mind raced to come to terms with what exactly just happened to him.
He had died, he realized, and there was far more going on than he ever knew. In an ironic twist, not only did his paranoia lead to his death, but it was also completely justified. There were men out there who had powers that he could only assume were gifts direct from heaven itself. They had once been mere rumors, the idea of men with supernatural abilities, but it turned out those stories were more than myth and legend.
Now he stood there, a phantom that haunted his own body and burning wagon, and he knew he had to learn more. He had to learn more about the man that killed him and what this black, metal chain in his chest was.
Rainier kept his distance and stalked the men back to Reims. When they arrived in the city he followed them into the church and, from a dark corner, listened in as they reported that their mission was complete and Rainier lay dead. His death had been, as planned, made to look like a bandit raid on a traveling man. These were dangerous times, after all. Rainier listened to the entire story with a growing fury at the betrayal until, finally, he heard a word of Germanic origin than he had not before:
Quincy.
This word stuck with him for reasons he did not fully understand. It wasn’t until the men present explained that “the Quincy” had done a great job when he struck Rainier down right when he pulled his knife. It was then that Rainier realized that, yes, men with supernatural qualities did exist in this world. No doubt, if they existed, they posed a threat to him now even in his current state. Although he wanted, desperately, to learn more about them, Rainier realized that he would have to keep a considerable distance in order to do it safely.
Night after night he listened in on conversations and trailed people to places that he didn’t even know were used for gatherings. He learned about many things in that time, particularly when he stalked his Quincy killer. He learned about their people, their association with the Catholic Church, how “the Shinigami” struggled to keep up with all of the souls that needed to be saved and “the Hollows” that needed to be purified.
Over the course of a few weeks, he managed to piece together a decent enough understanding of the supernatural world that existed on the other side of death and it was, to say the least, nothing like what his religious upbringing had taught him to believe. Where he thought to find a world of angels and demons, he instead found a world of men dressed in strange robes and masked monsters that preyed on the living and dead alike. Just like with the Quincy, Rainier decided to keep his distance from other dead souls around him and especially any monsters that might come to hunt them.
With his curiosity as sated as he dared to make it, Rainier sought out his family. What he found when he arrived home shocked him.
As he watched for a few days he learned that the Quincy man that had killed him was actually a cousin to his wife. She, in response, had started to raise his children as if he weren’t around—that their father was simply gone and that this wasn’t a big deal. The children fussed about this, no doubt, but ever-so-slowly Rainier watched as they grew more accustomed to their new reality. Children always adapted well, even to the dismay of the dead parents that watched over him.
Less than two weeks of this proved too much for Rainier and, before he realized it, the chain in his chest had devoured itself entirely.
What happened next marked the first memory that Hollow Rainier was able to retain. He remembered the sensation of total nothingness and the burning pain and urge to fill it. He remembered the feeling of his body as it reappeared—shaped more like a demonic minotaur—as if it were made of slime. He remembered the rage that followed at his wife, at the Crown, the Church, and the world.
But not his children. He loved his children.
Rainier stormed away from the home of his family and, instead, hunted down some of the regular, mundane humans that had been involved in his betrayal. He devoured them, one by one, and felt the rush, the fullness, the satisfaction that came with each kill. Years passed like this in a frenzy of eating and fighting and rampaging. He quickly heard stories of an invisible monster that terrorized Eastern France.
No one ever put together the connection between the primary victims—how could they? They had buried the truth of his death and, because of that, they themselves got buried.
Once more confident and his new, powerful body—and the abilities that came with it—Rainier began to hunt the few Quincy that had been involved. Each fight with the Quincy proved dangerous and Rainier very quickly learned to fear the powers they had seemingly developed solely to kill Hollows. Each time, though, his rage and sheer determination managed to overcome their opposition. Every Quincy he ate proved more delicious and satisfying than any “regular” human he ate.
By the time that Rainier’s crusade ended, his children had grown into independent adults. One of his sons started a family of his own, complete with four children of his own, and his daughter had been married to a kind and loving nobleman who gave her children of her own as well. For a handful of days, Rainier watched his children and felt the most at peace since his transformation into this monster.
During this time, he also watched his wife; the one that had sold him out to her Quincy relative and cost her husband his life. She was the one that had taken the father out of their children’s lives.
After all of this time, Rainier could no longer control himself. He destroyed his old home and devoured his aging wife without an unrestrained glee. In his euphoric, roaring rampage that followed, Rainier realized the consequences of his crusade and the souls he devoured.
They still existed within him and now they had grown large enough to yell and scream endlessly. Rainier had begun to lose his mind and knew that, soon enough, would no longer be in total control of his actions.
Not too long after he became a Hollow, Rainier realized that there existed another plane that his kind existed in. He had visited once for a handful of minutes and then returned to Earth. Now, he realized, it would become the salvation of his family.
He retreated to this mysterious desert, trapped in an ever-present twilight. He later learned, from other monstrously huge Hollows like he had become, that it was called Hueco Mundo.
Lost and alone in this strange new world, Rainier did the only thing he felt compelled to do: eat. He traveled the sands of Hueco Mundo and largely avoided conflict. He picked his battles carefully and, for that, won each and every one of them. He grew ever larger as the years and decades ticked by as a pointless Hollow. Even as his mind deteriorated, a single, overriding rule remained: that he could never, ever return to Earth. He had long since forgotten why.
Every other aspect of himself slowly fell away until Rainier hit a psychological and emotional bottom. Gorged on other Hollows and the souls within them, he lost sight of his identity and purpose. When he looked back on the moment in the future he could never pinpoint the moment when he transformed from a giant minotaur into the towering monstrosity called a Gillian.
One of countless tens of thousands, maybe and probably more than that, Rainier struggled to differentiate himself from the other souls within himself. Despite this, aspects of himself still bleed through into the behavior of the Gillian mass that he had become. Appropriately, this led his Gillian self to seek out a pack of other Gillian to join.
Rainier managed to find one such group after a few years of searching. After he migrated into the Quartz Forest beneath Hueco Mundo, Rainier discovered a large pack of Gillian commanded by three powerful Adjuchas. Like any other mindless Gillian, he was compelled to follow the orders of these Adjuchas and joined the group shortly thereafter.
For reasons his nearly-unconscious self absolutely did not understand at the time, the other Gillian seemed drawn to him. They gathered around him in groups when idle and made way from him when they were on the move.
Decades passed in this mindless state as Rainier and the others went into battle at the behest of the Adjuchas. They devoured other Gillian packs and, sometimes, devolved into infighting in order to thin their own numbers so the Adjuchas could remain in control. With the only exception being the strange behavior of the other Gillian, Rainier’s long period of time as one of them proved to be just as static and unremarkable as any other.
A new Gillian joins the pack, this one unique in Rainier’s eyes. Although the mask on this Gillian was just the same as everyone’s, a subconscious pull brought the two of them together. They quickly began to stand next to each other when idle, walk together when they migrated, and fight together when the Adjuchas called them into battle.
On numerous occasions Rainier managed to save the life of his new Gillian “friend” and prevented them from falling prey to other Hollows. This Hollow returned the favor in kind and, over their years together, developed a tendency to take the initiative for Rainier when he could not bring himself to.
The Gillian that had once been drawn to Rainier—no doubt because they sensed his growing, unique nature—were suddenly repelled by the band that had formed between the duo of monsters. Rainier felt hurt and betrayed by this, one of the first real emotions he ever felt after he became a Gillian, but refused to change his relationship with his Gillian friend.
Eventually, this relationship allowed Rainier to regain a semblance of true control and awareness. This ignited the same in the other Gillian and, together, they formed their own, unique masks.
The trio of Adjuchas that continued to lead the group successful did not fail to notice this strange, mysterious relationship between mindless beasts or the unique masks that had formed on them. The three agreed that these two Gillian, despite their great success in combat, were too great a threat and needed to be dealt with.
One day, one of the Adjuchas lured the surprisingly gullible Gillian friend of Rainier’s away from the pack. Rainier, still innately distrustful, followed the Adjuchas from a distance and stalked the pair. When the Adjuchas assaulted the Gillian, a great rage forced Rainier into battle.
Together, he and his friend were able to fend off the Adjuchas and cripple it—but not before the Adjuchas chewed off part of the other Gillian. After the two of them devoured the Adjuchas, Rainier led them to hunt down the other two individually. Together again, the two of them got the drop of both Adjuchas and devoured each of them. This destroyed the leadership that the pack had and the Gillian quickly devolved in their mindless equivalent of civil war.
Rainier, on the other hand, was overcome with genuine grief over what happened to his friend and that the leadership of his pack had done. He raged and thrashed in the Quartz Forest for days and his Gillian friend remained ever-present, unable to help. Eventually, in one of his fits, Rainier destroyed the unique mask on his face and a great transformation occurred.
When Rainier awoke, all of his rationality had returned to him. The human form, minimally similar to his forgotten human body, felt fresh and powerful as he moved his limbs for the first time. In his slumber the other Gillian had, with no one else to turn to, followed his example and smashed their mask to bits.
Next to him awoke a beautiful, white-haired woman with bright, blue eyes that shined like ice in a world that had none. For the first time in all of their years together the two were able to speak, to exchange their names, and he learned that his partner this entire time called herself Anastasia.
The connection between the two, even after their long history as Gillian together, was undeniable. Unwilling to separate from each other and eager to learn more about who they were, the two agreed to travel to Las Noches together where they would join with the forces rumored to be gathered there. Side by side they marched right in through the wall and were, as all Arrancar were back, welcomed with open arms by the current Hollow King.
It didn’t take long for the connection between the two Arrancar, and the protective relationship they had developed, to turn into something more. Although romantic terms were never really used by either of them, a de facto sort of relationship formed that would make up the backbone of their life together within the walls of Las Noches.
Rainier, eager to secure himself a stable home within Las Noches, looked to Anastasia to discuss a plan for making themselves stand out within Las Noches. The two of them had the same idea almost instantaneously: That while most Arrancar fought solo, they would fight as an unstoppable duo. They would do everything in their power to cultivate strong relationships with other Arrancar of the same Números rank as themselves, the Espada, and even the King. With enough success in battle, and even the tiniest shred of social skills, they would be welcomed as prodigies within the castle.
So the two fought. Whether it was rogue Arrancar or Hollows eager to destroy Las Noches, Human Spiritualists, or even some Shinigami, the duo of Rainier and Anastasia battled them all. They spilled blood proudly in the name of Las Noches and brought stories of their adventures and victories back to the castle for all of them to revel in. They immersed themselves in a truly Hollow life and, through their successes, Rainier felt secure and ever-motivated to continue with this lifestyle.
The rewards it brought were great and immediate. Not only did their success as Arrancar together, a mirror of their success as Gillian, cement the close bond that Anastasia and Rainier developed, but it got them noticed by Arrancar and Hollows of all rank. The Espada respected their achievements and enjoyed their stories. Even the King smiled, his own twisted version of it, when he heard the news of their triumphs and adventures in the name of Las Noches.
Their success ran deeper than that, though. Rainier and Anastasia quickly discovered just how well they complemented each other and balanced out their defects. When Anastasia felt compelled to take the word of someone she shouldn’t trust, Rainier stepped in to save her. When Rainier would feel compelled to push away the new Arrancar and Hollows friends they made, Anastasia would remind him to open up every once in a while or risk never finding another connection with anyone else ever again.
This unique circumstance where their inherent flaws counterbalanced the inherent flaws of the other carried them all the way to a promotion to rank of Espada.
At the time the Espada were a much larger group of wildly ranging power that, in general, paled in comparison to the Espada that would follow. Even then, Rainier and Anastasia were only promoted to the ranks of Octava and Noveno respectively. But, just like before, they took to their new positions well and continued their lifestyle of grand adventures and battles that inspired the population of Las Noches to strive for more, to hunger.
However, nothing was meant to last forever. As the decades marched on and the 20th century gave way to the 21st, a Shinigami by the name of Sōgetsu Voltaire came into power in Las Noches. Anastasia, given her disdain for Shinigami, immediately picked up on the danger that he represented to them. Rainier was much more accepting but they both realized what would inevitably happen.
Over the course of those past few decades the general power of the Espada grew and grew. Eventually, the lowest-ranked Espada found themselves entirely outranked by the men and women above them. This left Rainier uncertain, afraid, and desperately seeking a new means by which to find security in his life. Anastasia, on the other hand, wasn’t nearly so bothered, but also knew what it meant.
When Sōgetsu announced their replacement and demotion to Privaron Espada 108 and 109 respectively, neither of them were surprised. They had both long since lost the spark and power necessary to make them stand out among the Espada and the tales of battle they brought back to Las Noches did not compare to the stories of battle with Lieutenants and Captains from the Gotei 6.
Unlike Anastasia, Rainier took well to their new lives as reclusive Privaron within the walls of Las Noches, known as Tres Cifras. He enjoyed the quarters they made for themselves and the general isolation they enjoyed, which protected them from the now monstrously-powerful Espada that roamed the inner desert of Las Noches. They could even entertain themselves with the occasional intruder that the two would rip apart in tandem.
This hermit status also allows Rainier more time alone with Anastasia, the only other Arrancar he truly managed to connect with over his century plus as an Arrancar. Their relationship remained the single, stable thing through his life as other Hollow-Breeds, even Espada, died and got replaced all around him. He quickly found himself compelled to remain like this, relatively safe, for as long as possible.
Anastasia, on the other hand, did not enjoy this new lifestyle nearly as thoroughly as Rainier did. As Sōgetsu gave way to Riko, she did her best to urge Rainier out of his complacent, comfortable new way of living. Rainier remained entirely uninterested, even as Riko gave way to the leadership of Truth. Anastasia pushed and pushed but got nowhere.
She would continue to bide her time over the course of a few years as Truth was replaced during the Siege by—as far as the rest of the castle was concerned—the very same man. He would later be revealed as “Alter” Tova Diabló and Rainier cited his powerful leadership as even more reason that they should not bother to give up their comfortable lives.
The first cracks in Rainier’s argument, and his steadfast refusal to surrender their safety and security, came when Tova got replaced as the King by a pink-haired woman calling herself Severance. She was, supposedly, the former Espada, Amaya Kidachi. Whatever the true story there, her leadership proved to be anything but effective, and Rainier’s comfort in Las Noches as a Privaron reached lower than it ever had before. Anastasia realized her opportunity, but held back one final push on Rainier to get them back out into the world as active Arrancar.
That final effort came when Erasmus ascended to the throne and instituted a series of reforms to Las Noches that made them feel much more like the Seireitei than a world of Hollows. This sat well with neither Rainier nor Anastasia and, as his rule continued to disappoint them bother, Rainier finally caved. He admitted that she was right and that they could no long afford to wallow about in Tres Cifras. They could no longer afford to watch the world as it passed them by.
Thrilled with a return to form for her long-term partner and lover, Anastasia and Rainier both re-entered the world of Las Noches, of Shinigami and Humans, with a determination and vigor they hadn’t had for decades.
Out of Character
Player Alias: Tova
Desired Starting GP: 1,500 Grade GP for the full, 3,000 Total GP starting score!
Length of Roleplay Career: Twelve years this August.
How I found Bleach Gotei: Google
Other Active Characters: Shun Minamoto and Noboru Takayama
