Captain-Commander Promotion Arc

The **Captain-Commander Promotion Arc** (総隊長起用篇, *Sōtaichō Kiyō Hen*; Literally meaning "General-Commander Appointment Arc") is the first sitewide story arc. It centers around the Gotei 13 selecting a new leader in the absence of Shunsui Kyōraku.

## Prelude

*Main article: The Vanishings*

In June 2018, hundreds of thousands of people and Souls suddenly went missing, leaving behind only their clothing. The most notable among the missing were everyone involved in the Quincy Blood War twelve years prior, as well as several prominent members of Wing Bind.

In Soul Society, the Kidō Corps quickly learned that the Vanishings caused a massive release of **Reiryoku**, likely stemming from the Souls that went missing. As one, they used Kidō to disperse the energy across the three worlds to prevent further catastrophe. The survivors of the Twelfth Division believed that Yhwach's soul fragments were somehow involved in the event.

## The Trials

In order to select a Captain-Commander among the candidates presented, the Central 46 have designed a series of trials to gauge their ability and character as a potential leader of Shinigami. Upon special request, the Kidō Corps will participate in order to carry out these trials effectively.

### Trial 1: Trial of Leadership

The first trial measures the leadership capabilities of the candidates. All Shinigami Captains are leaders, but only a Captain-Commander can be expected to lead an organization of such proud and noble warriors. In this trial, all Captains will be required to participate. It will take place in a special Valley of Screams secured by the Kidō Corps. All non-candidate Captains will be led by one of the Captain-Commander candidates. They will have to coordinate their team as they engage a group of Gillian-class Menos. Captains have been ordered only to act on the orders of their team leader. Each candidate will take turns as the team leader, leading the team of Captains through the trial as they see fit.

**Roleplay Notes**

* Each Captain-Commander candidate will take turns in coordinating a team consisting of all non-candidate Captains. For every post made by the roleplay director, each Captain and Captain-Commander candidate will be permitted one post each. It is expected that the entire trial will take at least three or four posts per user, depending on the situation.
* While the Captains have all been ordered to only act based on orders given by their team leader, users will be free to do as they please with their characters. This is to create a realistic environment where the Captain-Commander will have to take into account unpredictable factors as a leader.
* Who goes first will be decided amongst the candidate users themselves. Bear in mind that there are both benefits and consequences in going first, second, third, et cetera. Going first means having Captains fresh and raring to go, whereas going last means having Captains that have already exhausted some measure of their stamina and strength. However, going first means having to think of completely new strategies, whereas going second or even last means being able to consider how best to improve upon the previous candidate's strategies and exhibiting a more impressive performance.
* There will be an additional enemy thrown into the mix during the Gillian fight, but this will not be known until reaching that point.

### Trial 2: Trial of Arts

The second trial measures the proficiency of the candidates in the Zankensoki: Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Hohō, and Kidō. As the Captain-Commander, the leader of the Gotei 13, it is expected that they have mastered the four combat arts of the Shinigami. This will be a sparring match between the candidates in which each candidate will start the match being limited to an announced Zankensoki art. During that time, they will only be able to use that Zankensoki art. After a particular amount of time, another Zankensoki art will be announced, and during the sparring match, the candidates will both be expected to shift into that fighting style. For the duration of this sparring match, Zanpakutō releases will be forbidden. The winner will be decided not based on victory achieved in the fight but rather the performance they displayed during the match with the four Zankensoki techniques.

**Roleplay Notes**

* Each user will be expected to stick to a specific Zankensoki for a maximum of three posts before being told to switch to another style.
* This trial will be a total of twelve posts (three for each Zankensoki demonstration).
* Hohō will be a special case: during this part of the trial, a Kidō Corps member will join the fray and fire off spells at both of the candidates. The users will be expected to dodge the spells demonstrating skillful footwork and Hohō technique.

### Trial 3: Trial of Death

The third and final trial will take place in different locations for each of the candidates. They will be presented with a child Plus taken from the Material World. Their soul chains will be forcefully removed in order to initiate the Hollow transformation. The candidate is asked to save the child child before they transform into a Hollow.

**Roleplay Notes**

* Each user is permitted only two posts. The first post will be their action in how to complete the challenge, and the second post will be a response in which the character will justify the reasons as to why they made their decision.

## Roleplays

* Main Story
* Side Stories

 4. **The Trial of Death** | N/A | N/A | Mayumi Kurosawa; Captains Hakuro Kuchiki, Jian Arashi, and Kazuki Shihōin