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Description
...FLAMMIS ACRIBUS ADDICTIS

- Siegfried has always joked that the Catholic Hell cooks steaks, whereas the Soul Kings’ Hells grind out powdered spices. Once E'thn brings forth his omni-mutating 'plague' to manufacture the Exgriseo’s headquarters, the resulting Hell combines the best of both worlds, so to speak, and makes kebabs.

- There is a grain of truth in that jest. E'thn's job during the Four Horsemen's 'Phase One' is to gradually conform a targeted Hell's landscapes, laws, and logics to the Exgriseo's standards. Some Hells are also sentient, and the Horseman of Pestilence’s mission is to taint that Will – or outright replace it with his own if more convenient. E'thn's powers as a (former) Eldritch Outer God ward away the reigning Soul King's own, overriding it alongside the authority of any relevant factions and/or pantheons who oversee celestial affairs. The infection process is enigmatic and swift; it’s the symptoms that take a little longer to set in, but eventually, inexorably, the targeted Hell is remade.

- While the regular Spirit Kingdom’s Hell has five ‘floors’, the Exgriseo's Hell is styled off the Nine Circles from Dante's Inferno, and strangely enough, the Nine Terraces of Purgatory are there too; each Circle or Terrace exists as endless realms with passageways to the other partitions placed throughout them. All the Circles and Terraces possess a special aesthetic and function that will be discussed in a later section. For now, attention must be drawn to why the Exgriseo’s Hell was based off the fictionalized variant created by Italian poet Dante Alighieri as part of his magnum opus, the Divine Comedy.

- In both the Catholic and Protestant canon, Hell has no demonic sovereign. Even Satan himself, at the end of days, would be in its depths be treated and mocked by fellow sinners as a nobody. If the Four Horsemen were to operate as leaders, a less ‘accurate’ depiction of Hell had to be used. Josh had also made it clear to Siegfried that although he had a mind to support this vendetta against all Spirit Kingdoms, he did not want what he considered an adventure to become a chore. If they were to wage war, they were to wage it in luxury, and this was non-negotiable.

- However, there are times when the Four Horsemen must do without a proper start or foothold.

- Some Spirit Kingdoms are risky to invade, not because of threats from within, rather, it’s threats from without. The details are confidential, but certain Spirit Kingdoms are more ‘exposed’ to being noticed by the faction that the Four Horsemen originate from, that is, the Weird Zenith. Their colleagues and in the Weird Zenith might not be actively seeking for disturbances to Spirit Kingdoms anymore, mostly due to Josh’s trickery – that doesn’t mean they don’t keep a passive eye out for Siegfried’s shenanigans. The last time Siegfried attempted a crusade against all Spirit Kingdoms, he made no effort to conceal his actions, hence the undoing of all he had achieved. This time, after Josh got on board, being covert is of the utmost importance.

- As it stands, an activity or trait the Four Horsemen exhibit that isn’t detectable by the Weird Zenith in one Spirit Kingdom could be a dead giveaway in another.

- Consequently, before a Spirit Kingdom is attacked, it is analyzed thoroughly, and this analysis yields a list of actions, situations, and/or characteristics that the Four Horsemen need to avoid at all costs order to maintain their cover. That list is called the Taboo Compendium. Its articles vary depending on which Spirit Kingdom is being targeted, and have ranged from conditions like ‘Only a maximum of three specific Techniques can be equipped to an Exgriseo’, or ‘This Spirit Kingdom should not be sealed off from its neighboring multiverse’, or ‘Zanpakuto cannot be tampered with using Sins or Virtues’, or ‘Rebirths can only occur once a day’, and so on.

- Every now and then, to the grimaces of the Four Horsemen, the Taboo Compendium for a targeted Spirit Kingdom contains a condition along the lines of ‘Hell must not be completely infected by E’thn’.

- A Hell-limiting restriction is considered among the most grievous of handicaps. A partially-remade Hell automatically results in fewer Togabito being freed, much smaller Soul Voids to pit against Reiryoku wells, extremely downplayed Sin/Virtue potencies, and overall weaker incarnations of all Exgriseo. Such Spirit Kingdoms will only be assaulted if the Four Horsemen are in the mood for a challenge. There will be no relaxing for their opponents either. Even the weakest of the Four Horsemen’s Manifestations have toppled dynasties.

- On the other hand, if E’thn is able to take over Hell in its entirety, the Exgriseo are awarded a private universe that the Four Horsemen have total dominion over, presiding over everything from its Quantum States to its Akashic Records. The Hell section of Exgriseo’s domain is called the Infernum, and its Purgatory section is called the Purgatorium. Collectively, the whole place is called the Barathrum, and if fully-formed is effectively impregnable. Even malformed Barathrums routinely shrug off multiple shots from dimension-obliterating doomsday devices.

- No matter the case, barring a Taboo Compendium item saying otherwise, the successful construction of a Barathrum of any caliber is what unlocks one of the Exgriseo’s most potent and iconic abilities. The Exgriseo’s Rebirth cannot be dethroned as their ultimate treasure, but the ability to resurrect oneself endless means little if one can’t return fire. Generally, Rebirth wins the Exgriseo wars, the Sins and Virtues skill sets wins them battles, and the Condemnation Sacrament wins them fights.

DAMNED IF YOU DO

- The Sinner’s Chains that adorn Togabito were meant to be indestructible. Yes, not all Spirit Kingdoms can make good on creating Sinner’s Chains that can withstand all challenges, but even Chains that are only nigh-indestructible take obscene amounts of damage to snap off. They are of a transcendent nature, always invisibly following their prisoners. Kushanāda who do catch up with runaway Togabito can take hold of the normally invisible Chains and reel the escapees in. The Chains themselves seem to ‘shackle’ more than just their Togabito’s body; it’s as if they bind the very fate of the said to an eternity in Hell, so that the cleverest of schemes are brought to the same resounding failure as attempts to escape using brute force. Even after a Togabto becomes an Exgriseo, Siegfried does not change that attribute of the Sinner’s Chain. What does change, however, is their usage.

- Curiously enough, the foundations of the terrifying Condemnation Sacrament of the Exgriseo is actually credited to the Kushanāda. In times of crisis, these lumbering guardians of Hell can grant titanic Reiatsu boosts as well as jurisdiction over Hell to any champion deemed worthy. Though the in-depth effects are not well-documented, the ones frequently observed by Siegfried before the first Exgriseo were ever produced was the bestowment of a golden armor, the ability to destroy Chains, and the ability to create and attach Chains onto their foes.

- As mentioned in other files, the Exgriseo must consume Kushanāda into order to fuel their existence outside Hell. Their Soul Voids’ gestalts are so incompatible, so alien to the continuum of any Spirit Kingdom that simply stepping outside the Barathrum for a moment without eating at least one Kushanāda will cause an Exgriseo to cease existing, wasting time on a needless Rebirth. Siegfried has cunningly reverse-engineered the trappings of the Kushanāda’s blessings and forged them into an Exgriseo staple. And while the Horseman of War mostly capitalized on the means to afflict opponents with Sinner’s Chains, he has refined and elevated its mechanics to a grand new height:

- Once Hell Dimension has been replaced by the Barathrum, Exgriseo may now direct the chains that used to hold them to drag a designated target into the Infernum’s Circles. The premise is simple, but that’s just the start of the insanity.

- To unleash a Condemnation, an Exgriseo silently performs the Sign of the Cross in reverse. The vicinity begins to quake with the rumble of deep chanting, the crackle of unseen lightning, and the clanking of metal. Immediately after the Condemning Exgriseo hand touches his or her forehead, a phrase from Dante’s Divine Comedy is spoken: ‘Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate’, that is, ‘Abandon all hope, ye who enter here’. That Exgriseo’s aura then pulses outwards at a rate depending on the pull of his or her Soul Void to stain his or her surroundings, completing the initial Condemnation setup.

- The Condemning Exgriseo can now beckon a host of chains to erupt from any locations within his or her continuously-spreading aura using a word of command: ‘Tekel’. As per the Book of Daniel, ‘Tekel’ carries the meaning of ‘Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting’, adding a sense of poetry to the Condemnation Sacrament. Sinner Chains summoned this way can be freely governed, albeit they only last a short duration (depending on their Exgriseo) before evaporating and/or slithering back in from their point of origin. Victims are often impaled and cocooned brutally prior to being wrenched down to one or more of the Infernum’s Circles.

- The type of ‘targets’ that may be affected are not limited to fleshly bodies. Depending on the skill of the Exgriseo using the Condemnation Sacrament, even the incorporeal or the metaphysical may be snagged by the Chains. The Exgriseo in question also determines the main specifications of his or her Condemnation Sacrament. Details like power, speed, scale, and special traits do hinge off one’s own, so novice Exgriseo might struggle with detaining Captain-Class combatants, while the Four Horsemen easily eradicate civilizations.

- What isn’t determined by the Exgriseo, however, is the ‘favored prey’ of the Circle of Hell where the Condemned are being hauled into. Each Circle of Hell adds its own unique customizations to Sinner Chains, and those are more effective against some targets compared to others.

- Of course, there could be Taboo Compendium restrictions in play that complicate things. Conditions like ‘The Soul Void of the User must be double the Spiritual Pressure of his/her quarry’ can defang the Exgriseo greatly, but for the most part even the strongest of opponents must avoid getting tagged at all costs. If so much as a single Chain connects for more than a few seconds, it’s curtains.

- This not merely because the Exgriseo’s brand of Sinner Chains are orders of magnitudes stronger than before, to the point where infinite strength is rendered meaningless. This is not merely because the Condemnation tears entities away from their rightful Fabric of Reality, forcibly subjecting them to an existence solely controlled by the Four Horsemen.

- Condemnations are made so insurmountable, so res judicata, via the enactment of the ‘Togabito’s Fate’ on anything the Sinner Chains entangle.

- As was mentioned, unredeemed Togabito are destined to fail their escape, no matter how they try to cheat or beat the system. This ‘Fated Failure’ utterly shuts down any effects, immunities, and countermeasures that might have been deployed against the Condemnation Sacrament. Then, the never-ending barrage of ever-evolving disasters and mishaps befalling the Condemned (according to the Infernum Circle they’re in) demolishes all aspects of their being and reduces them into a dust-like residue: the fate of all Togabito even before Siegfried dissected such an inevitability, tinkered around with it, and put it back together after many innovations and improvements.

- Yet, there’s worse to come. Once the Exgriseo get their hands on said ‘dust’, the Condemned’s misfortunes begin to extend to everyone else.

DAMNED IF YOU DON'T

- Due to the ever-shifting variants of the Barathrum and the conditions of the Taboo Compendium, only brief generalizations of the Infernum’s Circles can be provided. This should suffice, for now, to give a quick sketch of what the dark side of the Exgriseo’s domain holds for Condemnation victims. The fact that the Four Horsemen do have freedom to alter the Barathrum’s blueprints and aesthetics at a whim also makes it impossible to jot down with absolute certainty what each Circle of Hell will be like, though there are consistencies.

- First Circle, Limbo: The storage abyss of all current and future deceased. The Horsemen are aware that the nature of humanity in the current omniverse do not follow the Abrahamic model, wherein there is a strong distinction between one’s soul and one’s spirit, and they are no position to impose said model due to their standing with the Weird Zenith. Consequently, after they conquer a Spirit Kingdom, the Four Horsemen will whittle the Soul King’s ‘Balance of Souls’ into its most simplistic level, where one’s consciousness is reset and recycled into their next incarnation. All the residents of that new system (who will be obviously be made to forget the Exgriseo) will be free to decide their collective fate in a far more amicable environment, one without the threat of Hollows or overbearing Shinigami. The Four Horsemen will leave secret benedictions behind that will prevent the collapse of civilization and maintain a semi-utopia for the remnants, but they do not intend to reign. Until such a scenario transpires, or until the Exgriseo are expelled, the First Circle of Hell remains as a place of emptiness where an individual passing into the afterlife who are ill-suited to becoming Exgriseo will be kept in an oblivion-like stasis. Sinner Chains that aim to drag Condemned to this Circle turn jet-black and the holes in between their links are filled with a bright white light. Ideally, the targets sent to this Circle should not be sentient or alive; Chains headed for the First Circle will find it easier to Condemn energy blasts than it would be creatures. Nevertheless, anything that does make it into the First Circle will soon be ‘annihilated’ into Black Dust, a paradoxical substance that is both something and nothing at the same time.

- Second Circle, Lust: Commonly takes the appearance of a hurricane. There is no solid terrain, so one must fly or fall forever, tossed about on violent winds. Sinner Chains attuned to this Circle have links forged in a Figaro configuration; the hole of the elongated oval link glows the color of its Exgriseo’s aura. The ideal targets of the Second Circle are those who wish to safeguard their society and/or relationships. The Condemned here are ‘eroded’ into Red Dust, a levitating substance with self-propelling properties.

- Third Circle, Gluttony: [redacted]

- Fourth Circle, Greed: [redacted]

- Fifth Circle, Wrath: Commonly takes the appearance of a corpse-filled river. The water is acidic, and the corpses jostle with everyone, including the Condemned, in an attempt to reach the surface. Sinner Chains attuned to this Circle have links forged in a Curb configuration, with the sides of the links sharped into cutting edges. The ideal targets of the Fifth Circle are those who rely on (or produce) emotional outbursts for (or as a by-product of) an increase in power. The Condemned here are ‘dissolved’ into Orange Dust, a corrosive substance with explosive properties.

- Sixth Circle, Heresy: Commonly takes the appearance of a graveyard. Each coffin lies open, is dedicated to a single Condemned, and burns with unimaginably-hot flames. Sinner Chains attuned to this Circle have links forged in a Bead configuration; the entire length of each Chain is encased in a line of heavy, keeled scale plating. The ideal targets of the Sixth Circle are those who have a philosophy and/or outlook that saturates and/or drives their lives. The Condemned here are ‘burned’ into Grey Dust, a semi-memetic substance with self-propagating properties.

- Seventh Circle, Violence: [redacted]

- Eighth Circle, Fraud: Commonly takes the appearance of a chaotic jumble of stairs and bridges in the reminiscent of Relativity, a piece by Mauritis Cornelis Escher. The gravity here fluctuates constantly, offering no sense of security. Sinner Chains attuned to this Circle have links forged in a Snake configuration; every now and then, the Chain passes through a floating halo of metal that moves in unison with its closest link. The ideal targets of the Eighth Circle are those who value deceptive, illusory, political, and/or misdirection methods. The Condemned here are ‘desiccated’ into White Dust, a frictionless substance with ‘quantum particle’ properties.

- Ninth Circle, Treachery: [redacted]

- As with the rest of the Barathrum, the Infernum is dotted with fleshly constructs that are obviously pieces of E’thn himself. They are called Via Dentes and appear as bony, spiny, eye-encrusted, armor-plated mouths. Via Dentes function as generalized interdimensional portals that keep all parts of the Barathrum connected. Due to the shortage of manpower (and because outsiders cannot be enslaved; anyone entering the Barathrum without the Horsemen’s Permission soon grows a Sinner Chain and is treated as a Condemned) Via Dentes can be equipped with brains and limbs for autonomous movement. Mobile Via Dentes are handy when it comes to the next section. As stated above, the Condemned wind up as ‘colored’ Dusts, and none of it goes to waste.

- Sentient Via Dentes funnel Soul Dusts away from the Infernum and into the Purgatorium section of the Barathrum. Speaking of which.

THERE IS A GREAT GULF FIXED

- Details on the Purgatorium section of the Barathrum are even more scant. As the home of the Exgriseo and the Four Horsemen, its confidentiality and privacy are well-kept. Often, if spies do break through to survey it, E’thn simply remakes the layout of each Purgatorium Terrace to invalidate their gathered data. As usual, however, there are consistencies with how the Exgriseo’s ‘Purgatory’ is built.

- Ante-Purgatory First, The Excommunicate: This miniature universe is the ‘business district’ that holds the Soul Dusts yielded by the Infernum, as well as the factories dedicated to sorting out, refining, and replicating those Soul Dusts. Attached to those factories are institutions that belong to the many Industries responsible for working Soul Dust into various goods; more on that in a different document. As per its name, the Excommunicate Ante-Terrace mostly takes the form of an endless conglomerate of rooms, some tiny, some immense.

- Ante-Purgatory Second, The Late-Repentant: The ‘crucible’ of the Four Horsemen. Togabito who show potential but have not surrendered to service are kept here in a powerless state within spartan jail cells whose temperatures are cranked up to thousands of degrees Celsius; excruciating, yet nowhere near the flames found in the Infernum’s Sixth Circle. Though it seems cruel, one must remember that Togabito are worthy of damnation, and that their crimes were outrageously vile while they walked upon the Earth. Siegfried is not about to let them off that easily, but if they do volunteer to become Exgriseo, part of their initiation is to grant Siegfried permission to reach into their past and undo the occurrence of the Sins that landed them in Hell, effectively washing their history clean of gross immorality. Doubtless, this poses the risk of causing fluctuations in the space-time continuum, and both E’thn and Siegfried are quick to patch those up. Once a Togabito dares to trust the Four Horsemen and believe in their cause, they are brought to the regions of the Late-Repentant Ante-Terrace that specialize in equipping them with their new nature and calling. The museum listing all the names of the Togabito who become Exgriseo also exists on this level. It is all the Four Horsemen can keep of them, because if a Spirit Kingdom is successfully remade, their Exgriseo will be released with clean slates and cleaner memories. Sometimes, the Four Horsemen can make exceptions and bring Condemnation targets here (held in less uncomfortable cells, if applicable) to be remade into Exgriseo, if the latter are willing.

- First Terrace, Pride: Mostly a secret. Rumored to be a ‘Booster Realm’ that can attach to any Terrace or Circle in order to ‘supercharge’ it.

- Second Terrace, Envy: Rumored to be the metropolis of all Exgriseo.

- Third Terrace, Wrath: Contains the exclusive Palaces of the Four Horsemen, as well as miscellaneous facilities they might cook up according to need.

- Fourth Terrace, Sloth: An isolated realm. Risky experiments and training sessions utilize the Dangai to minimize collateral damage, and the Exgriseo use the Fourth Terrace the same way.

- Fifth Terrace, Avarice: The ‘escape hatch’ into the previous Spirit Kingdom. The Barathrum of a conquered Spirit Kingdom will always surpass that of an unconquered one, so attempting to bring the fight there is pointless, despite all Exgriseo in such a Spirit Kingdom being retired, and the Four Horsemen will only fully vacate once they’ve completely cleaned up their current target.

- Sixth Terrace, Gluttony: The Kushanāda’s hatchery, grazing pastures, and breeding barns.

- Seventh Terrace, Lust: The staging grounds of the Exgriseo into the current Spirit Kingdom, and it also functions as a sort of ‘moat’ that detours all invaders into it. Any unauthorized portals that attempt to open in anywhere else in the Barathrum always end up here. This Terrace can disguise itself as another, and is the place where defenders attempt to quarantine interlopers, the former buying time for Sinner Chains to start sprouting out of the latter, after which they’ll instantly be Condemned to the Inferrnum.

- E’thn’s Via Dentes are still the main method of travel in the Purgatorium, but the Seventh Terrace does have a proper ‘front entrance’. The Gates of Hell are summoned when a soul guilty of heinous crimes is denied access to Soul Society. Under the Exgriseo’s control, the new Gates of Hell, now called the Gates of the Barathrum, take on Gothic Architecture and are adorned by statues of the Four Horsemen. They no longer respond to the Soul King and his Shinigami, only heeding the Exgriseo. They do not participate when a Condemnation Sacrament is activated, but their advent should be just as much cause for despair.

Bleach belongs to

The Four Horsemen of the Exgriseo and the Weird Zenith (the Ternate) are mine.

Details will be added, removed, or revised until a 'final' product is attained.

Description
...FLAMMIS ACRIBUS ADDICTIS

- Siegfried has always joked that the Catholic Hell cooks steaks, whereas the Soul Kings’ Hells grind out powdered spices. Once E'thn brings forth his omni-mutating 'plague' to manufacture the Exgriseo’s headquarters, the resulting Hell combines the best of both worlds, so to speak, and makes kebabs.

- There is a grain of truth in that jest. E'thn's job during the Four Horsemen's 'Phase One' is to gradually conform a targeted Hell's landscapes, laws, and logics to the Exgriseo's standards. Some Hells are also sentient, and the Horseman of Pestilence’s mission is to taint that Will – or outright replace it with his own if more convenient. E'thn's powers as a (former) Eldritch Outer God ward away the reigning Soul King's own, overriding it alongside the authority of any relevant factions and/or pantheons who oversee celestial affairs. The infection process is enigmatic and swift; it’s the symptoms that take a little longer to set in, but eventually, inexorably, the targeted Hell is remade.

- While the regular Spirit Kingdom’s Hell has five ‘floors’, the Exgriseo's Hell is styled off the Nine Circles from Dante's Inferno, and strangely enough, the Nine Terraces of Purgatory are there too; each Circle or Terrace exists as endless realms with passageways to the other partitions placed throughout them. All the Circles and Terraces possess a special aesthetic and function that will be discussed in a later section. For now, attention must be drawn to why the Exgriseo’s Hell was based off the fictionalized variant created by Italian poet Dante Alighieri as part of his magnum opus, the Divine Comedy.

- In both the Catholic and Protestant canon, Hell has no demonic sovereign. Even Satan himself, at the end of days, would be in its depths be treated and mocked by fellow sinners as a nobody. If the Four Horsemen were to operate as leaders, a less ‘accurate’ depiction of Hell had to be used. Josh had also made it clear to Siegfried that although he had a mind to support this vendetta against all Spirit Kingdoms, he did not want what he considered an adventure to become a chore. If they were to wage war, they were to wage it in luxury, and this was non-negotiable.

- However, there are times when the Four Horsemen must do without a proper start or foothold.

- Some Spirit Kingdoms are risky to invade, not because of threats from within, rather, it’s threats from without. The details are confidential, but certain Spirit Kingdoms are more ‘exposed’ to being noticed by the faction that the Four Horsemen originate from, that is, the Weird Zenith. Their colleagues and in the Weird Zenith might not be actively seeking for disturbances to Spirit Kingdoms anymore, mostly due to Josh’s trickery – that doesn’t mean they don’t keep a passive eye out for Siegfried’s shenanigans. The last time Siegfried attempted a crusade against all Spirit Kingdoms, he made no effort to conceal his actions, hence the undoing of all he had achieved. This time, after Josh got on board, being covert is of the utmost importance.

- As it stands, an activity or trait the Four Horsemen exhibit that isn’t detectable by the Weird Zenith in one Spirit Kingdom could be a dead giveaway in another.

- Consequently, before a Spirit Kingdom is attacked, it is analyzed thoroughly, and this analysis yields a list of actions, situations, and/or characteristics that the Four Horsemen need to avoid at all costs order to maintain their cover. That list is called the Taboo Compendium. Its articles vary depending on which Spirit Kingdom is being targeted, and have ranged from conditions like ‘Only a maximum of three specific Techniques can be equipped to an Exgriseo’, or ‘This Spirit Kingdom should not be sealed off from its neighboring multiverse’, or ‘Zanpakuto cannot be tampered with using Sins or Virtues’, or ‘Rebirths can only occur once a day’, and so on.

- Every now and then, to the grimaces of the Four Horsemen, the Taboo Compendium for a targeted Spirit Kingdom contains a condition along the lines of ‘Hell must not be completely infected by E’thn’.

- A Hell-limiting restriction is considered among the most grievous of handicaps. A partially-remade Hell automatically results in fewer Togabito being freed, much smaller Soul Voids to pit against Reiryoku wells, extremely downplayed Sin/Virtue potencies, and overall weaker incarnations of all Exgriseo. Such Spirit Kingdoms will only be assaulted if the Four Horsemen are in the mood for a challenge. There will be no relaxing for their opponents either. Even the weakest of the Four Horsemen’s Manifestations have toppled dynasties.

- On the other hand, if E’thn is able to take over Hell in its entirety, the Exgriseo are awarded a private universe that the Four Horsemen have total dominion over, presiding over everything from its Quantum States to its Akashic Records. The Hell section of Exgriseo’s domain is called the Infernum, and its Purgatory section is called the Purgatorium. Collectively, the whole place is called the Barathrum, and if fully-formed is effectively impregnable. Even malformed Barathrums routinely shrug off multiple shots from dimension-obliterating doomsday devices.

- No matter the case, barring a Taboo Compendium item saying otherwise, the successful construction of a Barathrum of any caliber is what unlocks one of the Exgriseo’s most potent and iconic abilities. The Exgriseo’s Rebirth cannot be dethroned as their ultimate treasure, but the ability to resurrect oneself endless means little if one can’t return fire. Generally, Rebirth wins the Exgriseo wars, the Sins and Virtues skill sets wins them battles, and the Condemnation Sacrament wins them fights.

DAMNED IF YOU DO

- The Sinner’s Chains that adorn Togabito were meant to be indestructible. Yes, not all Spirit Kingdoms can make good on creating Sinner’s Chains that can withstand all challenges, but even Chains that are only nigh-indestructible take obscene amounts of damage to snap off. They are of a transcendent nature, always invisibly following their prisoners. Kushanāda who do catch up with runaway Togabito can take hold of the normally invisible Chains and reel the escapees in. The Chains themselves seem to ‘shackle’ more than just their Togabito’s body; it’s as if they bind the very fate of the said to an eternity in Hell, so that the cleverest of schemes are brought to the same resounding failure as attempts to escape using brute force. Even after a Togabto becomes an Exgriseo, Siegfried does not change that attribute of the Sinner’s Chain. What does change, however, is their usage.

- Curiously enough, the foundations of the terrifying Condemnation Sacrament of the Exgriseo is actually credited to the Kushanāda. In times of crisis, these lumbering guardians of Hell can grant titanic Reiatsu boosts as well as jurisdiction over Hell to any champion deemed worthy. Though the in-depth effects are not well-documented, the ones frequently observed by Siegfried before the first Exgriseo were ever produced was the bestowment of a golden armor, the ability to destroy Chains, and the ability to create and attach Chains onto their foes.

- As mentioned in other files, the Exgriseo must consume Kushanāda into order to fuel their existence outside Hell. Their Soul Voids’ gestalts are so incompatible, so alien to the continuum of any Spirit Kingdom that simply stepping outside the Barathrum for a moment without eating at least one Kushanāda will cause an Exgriseo to cease existing, wasting time on a needless Rebirth. Siegfried has cunningly reverse-engineered the trappings of the Kushanāda’s blessings and forged them into an Exgriseo staple. And while the Horseman of War mostly capitalized on the means to afflict opponents with Sinner’s Chains, he has refined and elevated its mechanics to a grand new height:

- Once Hell Dimension has been replaced by the Barathrum, Exgriseo may now direct the chains that used to hold them to drag a designated target into the Infernum’s Circles. The premise is simple, but that’s just the start of the insanity.

- To unleash a Condemnation, an Exgriseo silently performs the Sign of the Cross in reverse. The vicinity begins to quake with the rumble of deep chanting, the crackle of unseen lightning, and the clanking of metal. Immediately after the Condemning Exgriseo hand touches his or her forehead, a phrase from Dante’s Divine Comedy is spoken: ‘Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate’, that is, ‘Abandon all hope, ye who enter here’. That Exgriseo’s aura then pulses outwards at a rate depending on the pull of his or her Soul Void to stain his or her surroundings, completing the initial Condemnation setup.

- The Condemning Exgriseo can now beckon a host of chains to erupt from any locations within his or her continuously-spreading aura using a word of command: ‘Tekel’. As per the Book of Daniel, ‘Tekel’ carries the meaning of ‘Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting’, adding a sense of poetry to the Condemnation Sacrament. Sinner Chains summoned this way can be freely governed, albeit they only last a short duration (depending on their Exgriseo) before evaporating and/or slithering back in from their point of origin. Victims are often impaled and cocooned brutally prior to being wrenched down to one or more of the Infernum’s Circles.

- The type of ‘targets’ that may be affected are not limited to fleshly bodies. Depending on the skill of the Exgriseo using the Condemnation Sacrament, even the incorporeal or the metaphysical may be snagged by the Chains. The Exgriseo in question also determines the main specifications of his or her Condemnation Sacrament. Details like power, speed, scale, and special traits do hinge off one’s own, so novice Exgriseo might struggle with detaining Captain-Class combatants, while the Four Horsemen easily eradicate civilizations.

- What isn’t determined by the Exgriseo, however, is the ‘favored prey’ of the Circle of Hell where the Condemned are being hauled into. Each Circle of Hell adds its own unique customizations to Sinner Chains, and those are more effective against some targets compared to others.

- Of course, there could be Taboo Compendium restrictions in play that complicate things. Conditions like ‘The Soul Void of the User must be double the Spiritual Pressure of his/her quarry’ can defang the Exgriseo greatly, but for the most part even the strongest of opponents must avoid getting tagged at all costs. If so much as a single Chain connects for more than a few seconds, it’s curtains.

- This not merely because the Exgriseo’s brand of Sinner Chains are orders of magnitudes stronger than before, to the point where infinite strength is rendered meaningless. This is not merely because the Condemnation tears entities away from their rightful Fabric of Reality, forcibly subjecting them to an existence solely controlled by the Four Horsemen.

- Condemnations are made so insurmountable, so res judicata, via the enactment of the ‘Togabito’s Fate’ on anything the Sinner Chains entangle.

- As was mentioned, unredeemed Togabito are destined to fail their escape, no matter how they try to cheat or beat the system. This ‘Fated Failure’ utterly shuts down any effects, immunities, and countermeasures that might have been deployed against the Condemnation Sacrament. Then, the never-ending barrage of ever-evolving disasters and mishaps befalling the Condemned (according to the Infernum Circle they’re in) demolishes all aspects of their being and reduces them into a dust-like residue: the fate of all Togabito even before Siegfried dissected such an inevitability, tinkered around with it, and put it back together after many innovations and improvements.

- Yet, there’s worse to come. Once the Exgriseo get their hands on said ‘dust’, the Condemned’s misfortunes begin to extend to everyone else.

DAMNED IF YOU DON'T

- Due to the ever-shifting variants of the Barathrum and the conditions of the Taboo Compendium, only brief generalizations of the Infernum’s Circles can be provided. This should suffice, for now, to give a quick sketch of what the dark side of the Exgriseo’s domain holds for Condemnation victims. The fact that the Four Horsemen do have freedom to alter the Barathrum’s blueprints and aesthetics at a whim also makes it impossible to jot down with absolute certainty what each Circle of Hell will be like, though there are consistencies.

- First Circle, Limbo: The storage abyss of all current and future deceased. The Horsemen are aware that the nature of humanity in the current omniverse do not follow the Abrahamic model, wherein there is a strong distinction between one’s soul and one’s spirit, and they are no position to impose said model due to their standing with the Weird Zenith. Consequently, after they conquer a Spirit Kingdom, the Four Horsemen will whittle the Soul King’s ‘Balance of Souls’ into its most simplistic level, where one’s consciousness is reset and recycled into their next incarnation. All the residents of that new system (who will be obviously be made to forget the Exgriseo) will be free to decide their collective fate in a far more amicable environment, one without the threat of Hollows or overbearing Shinigami. The Four Horsemen will leave secret benedictions behind that will prevent the collapse of civilization and maintain a semi-utopia for the remnants, but they do not intend to reign. Until such a scenario transpires, or until the Exgriseo are expelled, the First Circle of Hell remains as a place of emptiness where an individual passing into the afterlife who are ill-suited to becoming Exgriseo will be kept in an oblivion-like stasis. Sinner Chains that aim to drag Condemned to this Circle turn jet-black and the holes in between their links are filled with a bright white light. Ideally, the targets sent to this Circle should not be sentient or alive; Chains headed for the First Circle will find it easier to Condemn energy blasts than it would be creatures. Nevertheless, anything that does make it into the First Circle will soon be ‘annihilated’ into Black Dust, a paradoxical substance that is both something and nothing at the same time.

- Second Circle, Lust: Commonly takes the appearance of a hurricane. There is no solid terrain, so one must fly or fall forever, tossed about on violent winds. Sinner Chains attuned to this Circle have links forged in a Figaro configuration; the hole of the elongated oval link glows the color of its Exgriseo’s aura. The ideal targets of the Second Circle are those who wish to safeguard their society and/or relationships. The Condemned here are ‘eroded’ into Red Dust, a levitating substance with self-propelling properties.

- Third Circle, Gluttony: [redacted]

- Fourth Circle, Greed: [redacted]

- Fifth Circle, Wrath: Commonly takes the appearance of a corpse-filled river. The water is acidic, and the corpses jostle with everyone, including the Condemned, in an attempt to reach the surface. Sinner Chains attuned to this Circle have links forged in a Curb configuration, with the sides of the links sharped into cutting edges. The ideal targets of the Fifth Circle are those who rely on (or produce) emotional outbursts for (or as a by-product of) an increase in power. The Condemned here are ‘dissolved’ into Orange Dust, a corrosive substance with explosive properties.

- Sixth Circle, Heresy: Commonly takes the appearance of a graveyard. Each coffin lies open, is dedicated to a single Condemned, and burns with unimaginably-hot flames. Sinner Chains attuned to this Circle have links forged in a Bead configuration; the entire length of each Chain is encased in a line of heavy, keeled scale plating. The ideal targets of the Sixth Circle are those who have a philosophy and/or outlook that saturates and/or drives their lives. The Condemned here are ‘burned’ into Grey Dust, a semi-memetic substance with self-propagating properties.

- Seventh Circle, Violence: [redacted]

- Eighth Circle, Fraud: Commonly takes the appearance of a chaotic jumble of stairs and bridges in the reminiscent of Relativity, a piece by Mauritis Cornelis Escher. The gravity here fluctuates constantly, offering no sense of security. Sinner Chains attuned to this Circle have links forged in a Snake configuration; every now and then, the Chain passes through a floating halo of metal that moves in unison with its closest link. The ideal targets of the Eighth Circle are those who value deceptive, illusory, political, and/or misdirection methods. The Condemned here are ‘desiccated’ into White Dust, a frictionless substance with ‘quantum particle’ properties.

- Ninth Circle, Treachery: [redacted]

- As with the rest of the Barathrum, the Infernum is dotted with fleshly constructs that are obviously pieces of E’thn himself. They are called Via Dentes and appear as bony, spiny, eye-encrusted, armor-plated mouths. Via Dentes function as generalized interdimensional portals that keep all parts of the Barathrum connected. Due to the shortage of manpower (and because outsiders cannot be enslaved; anyone entering the Barathrum without the Horsemen’s Permission soon grows a Sinner Chain and is treated as a Condemned) Via Dentes can be equipped with brains and limbs for autonomous movement. Mobile Via Dentes are handy when it comes to the next section. As stated above, the Condemned wind up as ‘colored’ Dusts, and none of it goes to waste.

- Sentient Via Dentes funnel Soul Dusts away from the Infernum and into the Purgatorium section of the Barathrum. Speaking of which.

THERE IS A GREAT GULF FIXED

- Details on the Purgatorium section of the Barathrum are even more scant. As the home of the Exgriseo and the Four Horsemen, its confidentiality and privacy are well-kept. Often, if spies do break through to survey it, E’thn simply remakes the layout of each Purgatorium Terrace to invalidate their gathered data. As usual, however, there are consistencies with how the Exgriseo’s ‘Purgatory’ is built.

- Ante-Purgatory First, The Excommunicate: This miniature universe is the ‘business district’ that holds the Soul Dusts yielded by the Infernum, as well as the factories dedicated to sorting out, refining, and replicating those Soul Dusts. Attached to those factories are institutions that belong to the many Industries responsible for working Soul Dust into various goods; more on that in a different document. As per its name, the Excommunicate Ante-Terrace mostly takes the form of an endless conglomerate of rooms, some tiny, some immense.

- Ante-Purgatory Second, The Late-Repentant: The ‘crucible’ of the Four Horsemen. Togabito who show potential but have not surrendered to service are kept here in a powerless state within spartan jail cells whose temperatures are cranked up to thousands of degrees Celsius; excruciating, yet nowhere near the flames found in the Infernum’s Sixth Circle. Though it seems cruel, one must remember that Togabito are worthy of damnation, and that their crimes were outrageously vile while they walked upon the Earth. Siegfried is not about to let them off that easily, but if they do volunteer to become Exgriseo, part of their initiation is to grant Siegfried permission to reach into their past and undo the occurrence of the Sins that landed them in Hell, effectively washing their history clean of gross immorality. Doubtless, this poses the risk of causing fluctuations in the space-time continuum, and both E’thn and Siegfried are quick to patch those up. Once a Togabito dares to trust the Four Horsemen and believe in their cause, they are brought to the regions of the Late-Repentant Ante-Terrace that specialize in equipping them with their new nature and calling. The museum listing all the names of the Togabito who become Exgriseo also exists on this level. It is all the Four Horsemen can keep of them, because if a Spirit Kingdom is successfully remade, their Exgriseo will be released with clean slates and cleaner memories. Sometimes, the Four Horsemen can make exceptions and bring Condemnation targets here (held in less uncomfortable cells, if applicable) to be remade into Exgriseo, if the latter are willing.

- First Terrace, Pride: Mostly a secret. Rumored to be a ‘Booster Realm’ that can attach to any Terrace or Circle in order to ‘supercharge’ it.

- Second Terrace, Envy: Rumored to be the metropolis of all Exgriseo.

- Third Terrace, Wrath: Contains the exclusive Palaces of the Four Horsemen, as well as miscellaneous facilities they might cook up according to need.

- Fourth Terrace, Sloth: An isolated realm. Risky experiments and training sessions utilize the Dangai to minimize collateral damage, and the Exgriseo use the Fourth Terrace the same way.

- Fifth Terrace, Avarice: The ‘escape hatch’ into the previous Spirit Kingdom. The Barathrum of a conquered Spirit Kingdom will always surpass that of an unconquered one, so attempting to bring the fight there is pointless, despite all Exgriseo in such a Spirit Kingdom being retired, and the Four Horsemen will only fully vacate once they’ve completely cleaned up their current target.

- Sixth Terrace, Gluttony: The Kushanāda’s hatchery, grazing pastures, and breeding barns.

- Seventh Terrace, Lust: The staging grounds of the Exgriseo into the current Spirit Kingdom, and it also functions as a sort of ‘moat’ that detours all invaders into it. Any unauthorized portals that attempt to open in anywhere else in the Barathrum always end up here. This Terrace can disguise itself as another, and is the place where defenders attempt to quarantine interlopers, the former buying time for Sinner Chains to start sprouting out of the latter, after which they’ll instantly be Condemned to the Inferrnum.

- E’thn’s Via Dentes are still the main method of travel in the Purgatorium, but the Seventh Terrace does have a proper ‘front entrance’. The Gates of Hell are summoned when a soul guilty of heinous crimes is denied access to Soul Society. Under the Exgriseo’s control, the new Gates of Hell, now called the Gates of the Barathrum, take on Gothic Architecture and are adorned by statues of the Four Horsemen. They no longer respond to the Soul King and his Shinigami, only heeding the Exgriseo. They do not participate when a Condemnation Sacrament is activated, but their advent should be just as much cause for despair.

Bleach belongs to

The Four Horsemen of the Exgriseo and the Weird Zenith (the Ternate) are mine.

Details will be added, removed, or revised until a 'final' product is attained.