State of the World of the Living

The World of the Living was once a thriving, populous place where billions of Humans lived in relative safety. Now, it is but a shadow of what it once was. When the Soul King awoke, the World of the Living was cut off from the Soul Society and Shinigami were no longer able to perform their duties. This led to an overabundance of both Hollows and Souls. With their natural predators gone, the Hollows began to encroach more and more into the World of the Living. With them came Arrancar. And with no one to fight against them, the denizens of Hueco Mundo feasted upon the hapless Humans.

The world was devastated by the sudden Hollow incursion. Even if they did not know what was actually going on, humans were affected by powerful souls hunting in large numbers. Cities were damaged by what few Shinigami remained fighting an unwinnable battle against the Hollows. Countless Humans disappeared as Hollows ate their souls. Governments declared emergencies, but no source could be found. Faith in these institutions failed thus many governments—including the United Nations—fell into anarchy within the first decade.

But all was not lost for humanity. As the number of sources of Reiatsu grew, Humans became more spiritually aware. Nowadays, it is uncommon that a Human can't see Spirits. And with their spiritual senses awakening, so too did latent spiritual powers. These newly-empowered Humans—Mediums—became one of Humanity's two saving graces. The second was the enigmatic Quincy rising from their shadows to defend what remained. Thanks to their preparations and teachings for a thousand years, the Quincy were able to expand their influence rapidly. The Quincy fought as a unified front against the Hollows and were able to hold back the complete destruction of Humanity with the help of the newly-awakened Mediums.

Life began to return to some form of normalcy by about 2061. Although many governments fell, some remained. The Quincy restored functionality of critical infrastructure such as power plants, hospitals, and communications hubs. They even restored access to the internet with Reishi-based defenses against Hollows and other spiritual entities. Most cities had been abandoned by Humans and were overtaken by nature. With the hope of safety now returned, people have started to return and reclaim cities and even entire countries. However, Humans now know the threat that once loomed unseen is real. The things that go bump in the night have masked faces—but now, Humans can fight back



Human population dropped by about 20% with the Hollow incursion. This led to many population centers falling into disrepair and sometimes being abandoned entirely. With the assistance of Quincy and Mediums, many of these cities and towns have been reclaimed. This, however, is not all good. When the realms stabilized, the boundaries between the World of the Living and the Soul Society were no longer mostly equal. Before this, there would have been an almost-uniform "distance" between the realms. Now, there is very little uniformity.

The uneven boundary has led to multiple Jūreichi (重霊地, Important Spirit Ground) being formed. A Jūreichi is a point in the World of the Living where the boundaries between the realms is weaker. More spiritual beings will naturally appear in or be attracted to a Jūreichi over other areas. The more powerful of a Jūreichi, the more spiritual beings will be attracted to it. The six largest Jūreichi in the World of the Living are:

• Cairo in Egypt
  
• Karakura Town in Japan
  
• New Orleans in the United States
  
• Öndheim in Norway
  
• Rio de Janeiro in Brazil
  
• Sydney in Australia

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