Ehrström, Matthias - Quincy

Q U I N C Y
MATTHIAS CLAUS-PHILLIPE EHRSTRÖM
PALADIN

---

B A S I C S //

• Nickname/s | None
• DOB | April 1st, 1994
• Age | 17 years old
• Gender | Male
• Sexual Orientation | Heterosexual
• Ethnicity | French
• Occupation | Quincy
• Loyalty | The citizens of Karakura Town; Himself

---

• Mekkyaku (Quincy Cross) | Matthias possesses a very unique Mekkayu amongst the Quincy. Having a very plain and average looking cross at first, Matthias chose to melt it down and create one that better suited his tastes. The end result of this was the creation of his current Mekkayu that takes on the form of a cross shaped USB Drive. It is three inches tall with rounded edges and an ivory white finish. The edges are outlined in gold while silver pentagrams are etched into the center of both faces of the cross. The end is removable and serves as a cover for the connector. While it is taller and bulkier than most other Mekkayu it is sleeker and more modern in design. Having been created from the same ore as other Quincy crosses Matthias can focus reishi into the device to form his bow Kunsterzeugnis. Being so modern makes it extremely difficult for humans let alone out of touch spiritual beings to identify as his weapon. It also serves a practical function by operating as an actual USB Drive allowing him to upload and download personal computerized information on any computer system. The cross is connected to a silver-coloured chain bracelet that’s worn around his left wrist.
• Quincy Bow | Kunsterzeugnis (Artifact) – Matthias has a Quincy Bow just as unique as his Mekkayu that is known by the name Kunsterzeugnis, or Artifact in English. It is a compound style bow that is fifty inches long from end to end, with a brace height of sixteen inches. Like a compound bow it has several thick tethers all of which connect to a central rectangular shaped mechanical releaser. This releaser has two and a half rings on the end that is used the draw the tethers back while the end of the arrows shaft sits in it. Each inner edge of the bow has a blade like protrusion allowing for slashing and hacking in melee combat. The riser section is the most ornate and unique section of the bow. It’s shaped like a rotated arch with a pink crystal mounted into the keystone. Another larger rectangular box is conjoined to the keystone of the riser meaning the arrows are fired from the center of the arch. This second rectangular box actually serves as the bow’s arrow shelf, arrow rest and scope. Going against the grain, Kunsterzeugnis is a solid Quincy bow as are the arrows it fires. It has a mass weight of roughly seven pounds.

bow and arrow appearance:

• General Fighting Style | The best type of fight is no fight. However, this is not always a viable option and there are times when conflict between individuals must arise. In these scenarios, Matthias prefers a long, drawn out battle where he fights cautiously and observantly – attempting to gain an advantage through observance and a small number of well-placed shots.
• Overall Ability | While the arrows from Kunsterzeugnis appear primarily solid in nature, the interior is actually hollow. What fills the shaft and arrowhead when fired at a target is highly condensed reishi. Using this highly-condensed reishi, Matthias can manipulate the substance within the arrow for a variety of effects. The most common use of this ability is for various types of explosions, such as timed, high-explosive, flash-bang or fragmentation.

---

• Height | 178cm / 5’10ft
• Weight | 66.4kg / 146lbs
• Hair color & Style | Matthias has ear-length silvery-white hair that is left unkempt in most instances while several thick strands awkwardly fall into the center of his face where they intersect at the bridge of his nose.
• Eye color | His bright eyes are a light shade of Columbian Blue.
• Overall Appearance | Matthias stands at one-hundred-seventy-eight centimeters and weighs in at a meager sixty-six point four kilograms. He has a slender, lithe build that is oddly muscular. His pectoral, core and arm muscles are quite defined when seen by the light of day. Matthias is fair-skinned, nearly to the point of being considered pale which helps to accentuate his bright Columbia blue shaded eyes, which appear cold and disengaged. His hair is silvery white and is styled unkemptly. Part of his bangs fall between his eyes, just passed his thin eyebrows where several thick strands intersect at the bridge of the nose. In most instances Matthias’ face is devoid of expression. Both his ears are awkwardly pointed at the tips like an elf’s and he has an ornamental piercing that hangs from his right ear lobe.

When venturing through Karakura Town and the rest of the world Matthias wears a white dress shirt, black pants and dress shoes for clothing. However, this is only how he appears to non-spiritually aware Humans. Over top of his human garbs, Matthias wears an extravagant, ornate Quincy outfit made of spiritual fabric that can only be seen by spiritually aware Humans, Shinigami, Hollows and Arrancar. The outfit is predominantly white and form fitting to his body with black outlines and golden fabric sewn in to create elaborate designs against the black. The garb stretches from the tips of his toes to the top of his neck and even engulfs his entire arms. Connected to the outfit’s priest-like collar is a white cloak that conceals Matthias’ entire body and cuts off half way down the lower legs. Around his waist is a black and gold fabric sash that three pouches are mounted to on the sides and rear that contain silver tubes, Seele Schneider, and other technologies or tools he routinely uses or needs.

Spoiler:

close up:

Quincy Garb:

---

• Positive Traits |

• Self-Confident – Though very young and accomplishing so very little, Matthias has a great degree of self-confidence in himself. He undertakes every task and challenges as if he knows he’ll complete it better than anyone –including himself- expects. He also realizes that by not believing in himself that none of his undertakings will ever prevail successfully.
  
• Self-Motivated – In times of dissuasion and doubt Matthias has always been capable of functioning at optimal efficiency. This is due to his ability of being self-motivated. He doesn’t need to be asked or given a pep talk in order to complete a task or challenge that needs to be completed. He will do it instinctively without the being aided by outside influences.
  
• Self-Reliant – Matthias does not need help from other people to get through his daily life. He routinely relies on his own judgement, capabilities and the resources at his disposal to complete his tasks and to take care of himself and several others. Relying on anyone but himself is a prospect that is out of the question and only serves to weaken the resolve and his drive.
  
• Intellectual – Matthias is an intellectual. He prefers to use words, logic and reasoning skills rather than relying on actions to convey his intentions, motives, and visions to those around him. Complex and deep seated conversations serve only as a minor but enjoyable challenge to the young man. Compounded to this is his love of researching and developing new concepts, ideas, phenomena and technologies.
  
• Perfectionist – No matter what task or agenda is undertaken the outcome must always be the same: perfection. While this may slow the young man down at times it ensures that all his undertakings are done to the best of his abilities and all foreseen lose ends are tied. It also ensures that he strives to be the best he can be as no matter what role he finds himself in at the time.
  
• Charismatic – Say it ain’t so! Passed Matthias’ expressionless exterior lays a heart full of charisma. While introverted by nature, Matthias has a powerful voice and understanding of socialization which he uses in his favor to sway the opinions and beliefs of whomever he is addressing to those of his own.
  
• Devoted – Spending hours upon hours honing his skills and working in a lab has taught Matthias an important life lesson; how to be devoted. Whether it is a task or relationship Matthias will work to the very best of his abilities in order to make things work, regardless of whatever amount of time and effort he needs to put in.
  
• Visionary – Matthias considers himself to be a visionary amongst his peers. He sees the world and situations as how they ought to be in a perfect world and he will strive to make them as such, regardless of the hardships he will face along the way.
  
• Empathic – Not taking the feelings of others into consideration when making a decision has always proven to be a great challenge for Matthias. Due to this fact he is incredibly understanding of how other individuals feel and can strongly empathize with them when tragedy or conflict strikes. Every choice made is influenced directly by empathy in the form of reaching a decision based on how he perceives others will react/feel. This ensures every decision he makes is the best for the majority.
  
• Loyal – While difficult to penetrate his exterior defenses once an individual is successful at earning his trust they will find the young man to be a loyal, faithful companion and friend. He will never abandon a friend in need nor will he purposely go out of his way to hurt them out of anger or vengeance. As long as someone Matthias is loyal to is in need he will support and lead them down the right path. His loyalty follows a code of modern day chivalry.
  

• Negative Traits |

• Suspicious – Trust must be earned, not given. This is a saying that this young man lives. He will not trust someone he has just met nor someone with shady intentions. Information given and trust misplaced in the untrustworthy will only come back to haunt him. In this way it is hard to break through his suspicions and glean information that can be extremely relevant to a task or goal. He may not even divulge that much when directly asked.
  
• Secretive – Tying in with his suspicions of those around him is Matthias’ secretive nature. Having little trust in those he has just met or knows very little about drives him to keep any information he is aware of out of their grasp. Getting into his lab is difficult enough due to this but earning the privilege to be shared with is an even greater task.
  
• Isolationist – Being self-reliant and self-sufficient do have their drawbacks. It allows individuals such as Matthias to operate without the help and concern of those around them. In this way, the lack of worry has made it possible for him to spend long hours and even days locked away in a laboratory away from other beings to avoid being distracted from his goal at hand.
  
• Obsessive – While driven by his perfectionist instincts, Matthias can often become quite obsessive. When in the middle of a task or activity he will spend ungodly amounts of time in order to finish or reach a suitable conclusion. Drawing him away when he is right in the middle of something is nearly impossible. Even if distracted or forcefully made to adhere to another’s demands he will constantly obsess over the previous task or activity by thought and word of mouth until whoever it is that dragged him away gives in to his obsessive nature.
  
• Perfectionist – At his best, Matthias can complete tasks and goals better than originally hoped with little to no lose ends. At his worst, he can be slow and overly dedicated. In order for his ideal perfection to occur the little details cannot be ignored nor steps skipped. This can culminate into long lengths of time being needed to complete simple tasks and unneeded attention to detail and devotion in his lab.
  
• Overly Mature – Matthias is a Quincy first and foremost and he was raised as such. Having to complete hard tasks at a young age and experience situations that were beyond his years due to his racial background has led to the creation of a level of maturity not present in younger generations. This places Matthias out of touch with teenagers his age and may even make him appear cold and intimidating to communicate with.
  
• Passive Aggressive – While preferring to avoid conflict altogether is his tendency this may not always be possible. In this case should he not wish to get into an argument or raise his voice Matthias will become passive aggressive in response to actions and behaviours he finds are wrong and distasteful. Direct physical or verbal conflict is avoided as well as possible in order to preserve the peace – somewhat.
  
• Political Correctness – Folkways are not be held to the same standard as mores. Sadly, he does the opposite. Matthias treats the norms for casual interactions as if they are norms that are routinely observed and have great moral significance when speaking. This proves to be detrimental when attempting to cast others in a bad light –that deserve it- and can even prove upsetting to another, leading to empathy on his part and confusion by the other party.
  
• Quiet – One of Matthias’ most noticeable negative traits is his silence. He prefers to observe the world and situation at hand rather than interject. In conversations or discussions this can become detrimental as he may not respond at all if he has nothing to say or understand the information being relayed to him. This can come off as Matthias being disengaged when in reality, this is not the case.
  
• Enigmatic – Being both silent and overly mature he is considered by many to be an enigmatic individual. That is to say, he is hard to interpret or understand in depth as are his visions and ideals. His motives come off just as mysteriously and can be met with scepticism and distrust until explained in full detail.
  

• Habits |

• Excessive Silence – Matthias remains an enigmatic and quiet individual by nature. This leads him to enter long bouts of silence when he has nothing of value to contribute to a particular discussion.
  

• Fears |

• Failure - Matthias’ greatest fear is failure. He wishes to be successful at every aspect of life, which ties in with his perfectionist tendencies. Failure is both devastating and terrifying for the young man. The very thought rattles Matthias to his core.
  
• Breaking Bonds – Tying in with his fear of failing is his fear of breaking bonds through death or other circumstances. When a bond is broken, it is a reflection of a failure committed by both parties. Matthias fears breaking the bonds he makes with others and ending up alone and having failed his (former) friends.
  

• Goals |

• Becoming Successful – Matthias’ main goal is to be successful in life whether it be as a scientist, future husband, future father or as a regular citizen of Karakura Town. The context and situations do not matter as long as he accomplishes the goals set out by himself, his friends/family and society.
  
• Making A Difference – This is perhaps Matthias’ greatest goal. Before passing away he wishes to make a difference on Earth in the form of a useful device, system or previously undiscovered concept that helps multiple peoples. While this may be a lofty goal, it’s one he is confident that can be accomplished.

• Overall Personality |

• I – Introverted
  
• N – Intuitive
  
• F – Feeling
  
• J – Judging
  
  
• Dominant – Introverted Intuition § The primary source of his decision making and data processing skills. Matthias excels at processing data from simple expressions and converting it into correct meanings. This gives Matthias a perfect insight into the individuals around him at a near telepathic level and a penchant to have a fairly accurate sense about what the future has in store.
  
• Auxiliary – Extraverted Feeling § Rounding out his intuition is the need to seek out social connections. Matthias maintains and creates friendships through loyalty, politeness and treating folkways as if they are mores. Though, this latter part can prove to be a source of conflict and confusion by both parties. He is generally more concerned and empathic to the needs of others than those of his own. At times, this can become a source of internal strife leading to the emergence of Matthias’ shadow function.
  
• Tertiary – Introverted Thinking § This function Matthias feels uncomfortable making full use of due to the need to perfect his Auxiliary and Dominant functions. While a blemish on his pride this function allows him to notice the small details and use logic rather than his intuition and feeling to solve problems. It also slightly aids Matthias to see the fallacies in his visions and ideas.
  
• Inferior: – Extraverted Sensing § Living primarily in a world of visions and ideals the young man is often out of touch with reality. While he sees the end goal clearly he may overlook certain steps that must be undertaken along the way or self-consciously ignore important facts that aren’t harmonious with his idea. If he fails to realize this in time his single-minded thinking leads down a path of self-destruction and failure. Dissenting views and theories are met with mild disdain.

Matthias is considered to be an enigmatic person to make contact with amongst his friends and peers. Not only does his frequent silence and lack of communication add to his mysterious nature but his isolationist tendencies do as well. For the most part Matthias is completely self-sufficient. Enduring long hours of training and spearheading many technological challenges when he was younger self-reliance became a natural part of the young man’s life. He doesn’t need others to nurture him nor look out for his wellbeing. These are daily activities that have been honed above the level of other adolescents his age. Tying in with Matthias’ self-reliance is his ability to be self-motivated. If something is wrong or needs to get done he will take up the task without being asked. Doing nothing about it becomes a source of irritation which leads to self-blame. However, this is offset by an extreme case of self-confidence. Matthias believes he can undertake any task and succeed with little to no lose ends and results that are better than originally expected.

It doesn’t matter what the task or goal is he will complete it despite having to devote long hours or days alone to do so. This perfectionist quality allows him to strive to be the best Quincy, friend, citizen and researcher he can be. It is also a source of damnation for the young man. By being so focused on perfecting everything he sets out to accomplish, even a short simple task may take unneeded amounts of time to finish, which slows his productiveness down while more work piles up. If he finds he runs into a problem while in the middle of something his devotion evolves into obsession. No matter what task or goal he has in mind he must finish it without being disturbed by anyone. If he is forced to drop what he is doing his obsession grows the longer he is away. This eventually culminates into a passive aggressiveness where he will not stop talking –or thinking- about what he is obsessing over to those around him until they get so fed up they allow him to leave in order to achieve some well needed peace and quiet.

Despite his enigmatic nature Matthias is more person-oriented than object-oriented. However, it is difficult to have Matthias warm up to another individual he does not know. He is suspicious by nature and does not trust so willing. In order to become well-acquainted with him one must first dispel all suspicions he may first have. This in part is rounded out by how secretive he is in most instances. He does not trust those he does not know very well and will not share personal information with them. Even if directly asked he may or may not choose to answer the question truthfully, preferring not to take the risk of supplying potential important data to individuals whose motives are shady and goals are unclear. Should someone manage to breach his tough exterior they will find Matthias to be a very loyal companion. He will never turn down a friend in need and will support them through thick and thin as long as they’re agenda is not devilish in nature. In times of despair and suffering he will find it easy to correctly empathize with the individual. At times he can be described as near psychic-like in accuracy to the other individual’s feelings and emotions. Political correctness and manners are key components to this process though, Matthias has the bad habit of treating folkways as if they are mores.

Needless to say, the adolescent boy is an intellectual. His hobby, which has become his career in recent years, is Research and Development in the spiritual field. This does require intelligence and understanding not possessed by even spiritually aware humans. He takes his work so seriously that he hopes to one day make a positive difference in the World of the Living though, he already has the technology and opportunity to do so. His career of Research and Development is partly driven by competing against Seiretei’s Fourth Division and the fact they are years ahead of the World of the Living in the spiritual field. He takes Research and Development, completion of his goals and living up to societal/racial expectations so seriously he is more often than not overly mature by nature. This causes quite a rift between Matthias and other beings that are roughly his age and even those whom are older. In most cases his most trusted friends are older men and women as well as spiritual beings who are more mature than they appear. Along with being an intellectual, Matthias is a visionary. He likes to see the world as how it should be and will work towards this vision.

However, Matthias may not always see all the steps that may need to be taken in order to reach the end goal resulting in venturing down a path of self-destruction and failure. He prefers to focus on the big picture rather than the small details. Matthias can also be very single-minded at times. Any view or theory that is not harmonious with his own are met with disdain and are overlooked because they are considered to be “incorrect.” When placed under great deals of stress due to his needs conflicting with another’s Matthias will slowly begin to crack leading to uncharacteristic traits appearing in his personality akin to those of an Introverted Thinking function.

---

• Birthplace | Strasbourg, France
• Mother | Philippe, Claire
• Father | Ehrström, Alexander
• Siblings | None
• Other Relations | None
• Companion | None
• Overall history |




Matthias was born on April 1st, 1994 in Strasbourg France; a town situated near the eastern border of the country known for its German architecture and innovative citizens. His Father, Alexander Ehrström was a Quincy, while his Mother, Claire Philippe was a spiritually empowered human with the ability to shape shift – a genetic defect passed down to the babe in the form of elf-like ears and nothing else. It was originally thought that Matthias would be a spiritually empowered human like his mother, but this was not the case. The hollow reiatsu that infected his mother was not passed down to her fetus. As a result, after the birth, he was determined to be a Quincy by both his predominantly Germanic features –fair skin and bright blue eyes - which he took after his father for and the feint spiritual pressure being exerted from the boy’s tiny body. Other than his pointed ears and highly uncommon silvery white hair Matthias was like every other baby boy born in the hospital that day. He suffered from no complications or sicknesses during his brief stay in the maternity ward before being brought home by his parents several days later for the very first time.

His first few months at home, predominantly in the care of his mother were not out of the ordinary to any first-time parents. As the saying roughly goes “a newborn baby is like a bomb to first time parents,” and Matthias was just that; resulting in long sleepless nights, regular diaper changing and incessant crying at all hours of the day (and night). He was just a healthy baby boy whom his parents loved and adored with all their hearts despite the hardships he caused to their sleeping schedules and regular routines. Up until he was eighteen months old, Matthias remained in the sensorimotor phase of development – experiencing the world through the five senses. At six months he began to babble at ten months he started to formulate his first words and at fourteen months he knew up to thirty. While the young boy was progressing at a much faster in the way his brain processed information compared to his peers, something else was amiss that his mother noticed. Matthias seemed to experience a lack of interest in objects whenever others were around him. He would spend long minutes simply staring and attempting to communicate with guests and his parents while his toys were practically ignored in these situations.

Several weeks after noticing this strange behaviour and progress it finally dawned on his parents that their son was both people-oriented rather than object oriented and could possibly be gifted. His ability to learn and mimic behaviour was developing unnaturally fast. In order to see their son adequately challenged and ready to achieve in the real world both of the young boy’s parents decided to do whatever was best to nurture their child’s ability. The first step of this was proposed by Alexander Ehrström. Being employed by a computer company that focused on education, Alexander used his son as a test subject for a new learning software program in the midst of development when Matthias turned two years of age. This program involved spending long hours in front of a computer monitor, interactively learning to read, write and spell before ultimately evolving to include arithmetic as well. For all intents and purposes, the education software and the learning program that accompanied it were a success. By four years of age Matthias was roughly three years ahead of his peers in his mastery of language arts and mathematics. To prevent degeneration of his education skills when placed in the public education system Matthias’ mother opted to home school the boy instead to maintain and increase the challenges he faced at five years of age.

At six, it was revealed to Matthias by both his mother and father that he was not a normal human being – he was something called a Quincy. While he did struggle to understand the full implications of this fact at the time, he was still given his first Mekkayu along with a demonstration of spiritual powers from both his parents. He was both shocked and amazed as he watched his father create a bright blue bow from the cross on his right wrist while his mother shape shifted in front of his very eyes to take on an entirely different appearance. This was the beginning of the young boy’s new life; one deeply entrenched in both the physical and spiritual worlds. Quincy training under the guidance of his father began straight away in a secret underground facility while his formal real world education was continued by his mother. This left very little to no time at all to play or interact with the other children as his full attention was on his real world and spiritual world studies as well as practicing to form his reishi bow.





Six months later, after long hours’ worth of training Matthias managed to draw in enough reishi into his cross and stabilize it to form the generic blue long bow the Quincy were renowned for. It was a great feat at first but became quickly devalued as his father’s training intensified. Forming a bow was no longer enough to proceed to the next level. Matthias had to do better. He now had to learn how to use his bow effectively against stationary targets. This proved to be a challenge for the white-haired youth. His first several attempts were met with utter failure when his arrows either destabilized before striking the target or didn’t even come close to hitting the center of the bull’s eye. Only adding to his frustration was the lack of guidance he was receiving from either of his parents. He had to learn how to utilize his Quincy powers with very little feedback or support in order to “toughen him up.” With no other Quincy family living in Strasbourg at the time Matthias would be on his own whenever a Hollow struck – though, he was unaware of the existence of such a monster. That knowledge was meant for a later time.

With time, Matthias’ physical endurance improved as did his ability to compress and stabilize reishi particles via his Mekkayu. By nine he could pull back his bow’s string and fire an arrow relatively accurately at a stationary target. He wasn’t exceptional at it, but the progress was what counted the most. Matthias had learned to fire his bow on his own without any pointers or intervention from anybody but himself yet, he still had a long way to go. Forming and maintaining a bow is just one single aspect of being a Quincy. There are several others that must be observed in order to call one’s self a member of the Quincy race. From here, time was diverted from mastering the art of the bow and arrow -–which he was still expected to do on his own time—to focusing on a spiritual weapon known as the Seele Schneider. Unlike before, proper instruction was given to him from his father as well as a warning about the nature of the arrow/pseudo sword. If he were to touch the blade either on purpose or in an accident his body and anything else that was hit would be broken down at the spiriton level by the Seele Schneider’s three million rotations per second spin cycle. He made it a habit to keep this fact in mind whenever drawing in reishi from the environment to form the weapon and especially whenever he used it in sword form in CQC training.

Training intensified once again when Matthias gained a basic understanding of how to form the weapon, use it, and the mechanics behind it. It was a simple concept that he easily wrapped his mind around. His next task was to gain a basic understanding of the magic Quincy used known as Gintō. He was given several silver tubes, a spell book and a brief summary of the versatility the art possessed. Apparently it was categorized into the disciplines: augmentation, defensive and offensive. Depending on the spell’s effect it would fall into one of the three categories. It was further explained to him that in order to utilize a Gintō spell an incantation in conjunction with the pouring out of one or more silver tubes. Matthias understood this to mean that while versatile the effectiveness of the magic was limited. He was correct in his initial hypothesis as his father had a similar opinion on the matter. Matthias was simply given a very light Gintō spell book with the incantations of several spells to memorize alongside his normal physical world workload. Not much time was spent on this aspect of the race aside from a rare “pop-quiz” from his father every now and again asking for a spell to be performed, in order to ensure knowledge would not be lost. Any deeper understanding of Gintō would require deeper reading into the subject covered in the spell book.

Next on the list was increasing general endurance, strength as well as speed through the art of Hirenkyaku. This too required a live demonstration from his father along with several explanations and a book on the matter. During this period of his life, more time was devoted to increasing strength and endurance rather than manipulating reishi or other Quincy racial abilities. Hirenkyaku itself was known to be a difficult art to master for an individual at a young age. Matthias thought otherwise, until he attempted for the first time – resulting in an embarrassing face plant against the metal floor and ridicule from his father. He had made a miscalculation when determining the difficulty level of the art but it did little to kill his drive. Over the course of a year he broke the technique down into three steps: reishi gathering, movement and then riding atop the particles. The first step was simply an expansion of forming his bow and he completed that quite easily. The second step was harder and required several months of practice before he could form a stable platform beneath his feet that could levitate roughly a meter off the ground but could make no further progress at the time. To prevent Matthias from obsessing over this fact further his father informed him that it most likely had to do with his body still not being fully developed yet. He accepted this explanation, begrudgingly but Hirenkyaku still weighed heavily on his mind.

In order to distract himself from the thought of his “pseudo-failure” Matthias began to tinker with technology on his spare time. He loved it. Within a few short weeks his tinkering became full out replication of modern technology created from soul-synthesized silver. His parents were not too pleased about this when they found out but refrained from becoming involved – the boy having a hobby was healthy in-between the school work, Quincy training and exercising.





At twelve years old, questions about his heritage began to arise within Matthias that could not be silenced no matter how hard he attempted to bury them in the back of mind. It advanced to the point where he could no longer concentrate when creating simplistic spiritual technology. He finally broke in his “lab”. Slamming one of his recent gizmos in his hands down against the metal table in frustration Matthias gave into his obsession for knowledge. He left the room looking for answers. Confronting his father on the matter, Matthias was only given a brief amount of the information he was looking for. He was simply told the Quincy people had originated from Germany but could be of any racial or ethnic background. Their defining feature was the ability to channel reishi taken from the environment through an object to form a weapon. But why did they need spiritual weapons for? Wouldn’t a firearm be easier to use in this day and age? Were there other spiritual races out in the world he didn’t know about? In the end, Matthias was left with even more questions than answers. The fact began to eat away at him. Being kept in the dark was demeaning and so his hobby intensified to become an escape of sorts. His isolationist tendencies were beginning to get the better of him, yet, only he couldn’t see it occurring.

It soon became a source of worry for Alexander and Claire. He was spending more time isolated from the world than interacting with it. They gave in after two months. On July 2nd, 2006 Matthias received his first true explanation of the spiritual world, its infrastructure, the races, and the history of the Quincy. He was amazed by what he had been taught. The world was composed of five races – Humans, Quincy, Shinigami, Hollows and Arrancar. None of the races got along and were constantly at each other’s throats but it was beginning to get better. The Quincy and Shinigami were no longer at extreme odds with one another like they had been roughly three hundred years prior when a genocide in the spiritual world took place. From the description of the event he recognized it to be more akin to a culling than an actual genocide. His father had confirmed the existence of other Quincy but they were spread thin across the globe. The chance of encountering another of his kin was slim to none. Perhaps in the future it would be possible. In the meantime, he still had much to learn about his peoples and others, especially the Hollows. They seemed like vile creatures but they were a creature he was interested in seeing up close and personal. He didn’t have to wait long.

With his Quincy training nearing completion, it was time for a “live fire” exercise. Unlike before, this exercise would be done in conjunction with another spiritual empowered human – Alexander Ehrström, his father. During the Reformationstag holiday on October 31st, Matthias found himself in the middle of the Black Forest in the neighbouring country of Germany. It was said to be the country where the Quincy first originated. Though no scientific evidence was ever presented to Matthias to back up this claim, it was a deeply entrenched belief in the Ehrström clan. He would not rock the boat by openly question his father or any other member of his family about this fact, lest he face the consequences and damage his closest relationships. The consequences weren’t worth it so he remained quiet despite the initial skepticism on his origins. Matthias had more important matters to attend to. He hadn’t ventured into Germany with his father for research purposes. He had come to the Black Forest to hunt for the elusive creature known as a Hollow. They were said to frequent the forest quite regularly and prey on Humans that ventured too deeply into the woodlands by themselves. In order to draw one out, a special piece of equipment was to be used – Hollow bait. Any Hollow in the vicinity would be drawn towards the bait and into the boys trap.

And so it began, with the flip of a coin. Colliding with the rocky soil the coin shattered into dozens of small fragments. A beast like roar soon followed. The air in the forest itself seemed to change shorty after from light, to heavy. Something was coming; something big was coming. Matthias was sure of it. He was correct, of course. Within minutes of the Hollow bait being broken the forest floor rumbled as the sound of footsteps and trees bending grew louder and louder. Matthias waited beside his father, hidden in the brush in anticipation for their new arrival to show. He wasn’t disappointed. Emerging from the trees a large animal-like figure crept into view. Taking in its appearance Matthias was intrigued. Its sleek lithe frame, dark skin tone and pale white mask almost made it appear beautiful… almost. The creature resembled a large reptile of sorts but that wasn’t enough to detract the young boy’s intrigue. He wanted to analyze the creature, no, the live specimen standing several dozen meters in front of them. There was no time for Matthias to dilly dally. He pulled back the string of his newly formed longbow; loaded with a Seele Schneider. The Hollow caught a glimpse of the pale blue light as the bow was formed from the corner of its left and spun ‘round to face its would be attackers. It was too slow. As it came face to face with the two Quincy Matthias had already let loose the Seele Schneider arrow. It struck the Hollow through the left eye and continued on to pierce its brain. Matthias watched in silence as the Hollow violently convulsed as blood that was black as coal poured from its nose and eyes before its four legs finally gave way with a CRASH. It collapsed in a broken heap.

He had killed it; he had killed a Hollow. Approaching the corpse with his father, Matthias’ chest filled with pride. There was one less monster on the Earth to deal with, and it was a wonderful specimen. Maybe he could dissect it using the Seele Schneider stuck in its skull. It was not to be. Coming within several feet of the broken beast Matthias witnessed the body turn pitch black and evaporate into the air – leaving not a single trace of its existence. Why? He turned to his father wide eyed and confused. A moment of silence ensued before an answer was given from the stoic faced adult. He was told Hollows simply disintegrated upon death due to their souls being destroyed and all spiritual bodies deteriorated within hours or minutes unlike the physical body humans possessed. After several more discreet discussions on what had occurred, the items used and general knowledge about Hollows the two were headed home. While Matthias was disappointed with the lack of scientific knowledge he had gained from slaying such a creature, he pushed the thought to the back of his mind. He had a two day journey ahead of him back to Strasbourg on foot. It was to be a physical test that also honed his survival skills – he passed relatively easily. His speed and strength were already above the parameters of a normal human.

Two years passed and Matthias was now fourteen. He had just recently graduated from secondary school and was now looking forward to begin a career in research and development branch while working part time as a Quincy. He had come quite far from the days when he was a child. Soul synthesized silver and soul synthesized glass were a commonality in the teen’s hands. They played an important role in his hobby of replicating modern day devices into spiritual ones. And those were the components he used on that one fateful day. Matthias had just created a reishi compressor, a small metal cube-shaped device – his first original creation. It was a source of pride for Matthias… until he turned it on. The world rocked and black pungent smelling smoke filled the air. When the light finally returned to his eyes, Matthias was laying on the cold, hard ground; his thoughts muddled and in disarray until one coherent one came to mind. The compressor… the compressor mustn’t have stabilized the rei-. Everything faded to black mid-thought. He was found twenty minutes later by his father and healed using Gintō, after which, he received criticism, and ridicule for his foolhardy attempt at trying to control spiritons using a machine. Matthias locked himself away in his room for several months with minimal human contact after this disastrous ordeal as he tried to discover what had gone wrong.

Becoming obsessed with the event, Matthias slowly pieced the incident back together until he finally found the flaw in his design, which took him several weeks to accomplish. To make matters worse, it had been a simple mistake on his part. He became depressed. How could such a simple mistake go unnoticed? Feelings of doubt clouded his judgement and kill his drive. Hours of moping became days; days became months. Eventually, his confidence did begin to return after his fifteenth birthday when he received a surprise from his parents: a one-way ticket to Japan and information of a town with a high-spiritually aware populace. Matthias was intrigued by the discovery of a large society of spiritually empowered people living amongst a normal populace in several parts of the world. After some encouragement from his parents Matthias accepted the opportunity to travel to an area saturated with others like him. With any luck, he would be able to learn more about the Quincy people, the scientific laws governing the spiritual world as well as fine tuning his racial skills. The day before his journey to a new land, Matthias’ father gave him a stern lecture of the dangers he would encounter and the items he would need to use in order to overcome them. One item in particular he was warned about – the result of its use would cost him everything for several short minutes of incredible power beyond what he would ever achieve naturally. On May 7th, 2010 Matthias was on a one way flight from Charles de Gaulle airport headed to Narita International airport in Tokyo. His first task in Japan would be to travel to the small city of Karakura Town where he would meet up with a Quincy by the name of Nara, Takumi - a close friend of the family's.




Matthias’ flight touched down fourteen hours later at Narita International airport on May 8th, 2010 at 5am JST. An hour later, Matthias emerged from the airport’s front entrance and took his very first steps on Japanese soil. Tokyo was quite different from the small town of Strasbourg, France where the teen originated from. Getting over the culture shock and integrated into the new surroundings would take some time. He would also need to learn to speak Japanese fluently so he could interact with the other council members and the everyday citizen. He knew just enough Japanese to acquire a taxicab that delivered him to a small hotel in the heart of Karakura Town. He remained there for two days before meeting with Takumi. Matthias was accepted right away as an apprentice while he learned the Japanese language and improved on his skill and knowledge of the spiritual world. What he experienced during his time training under Takumi was an eye-opener for Matthias. The elder Quincy's prowess in particular caught the boy's attention. He was a respected member of the community that was well endowed with power and fought with a unique, eloquent fighting style. Matthias hoped one day he too would have the same level of power and eloquence to protect those closest to him. Within six months, Matthias completed his tutelage under Takumi. For his time and effort, he received a gift from his tutor: a Sanrei Glove - though he has yet to use it. Given a modest residence to dwell in from his parents during his time in Karakura Town, the young man decided to remain in Japan amongst his Quincy peers.



Another two annum passed, and much had changed for Matthias. He had become more mature, knowledgeable and professional in his goals and “hobbies.” He experienced the loss of Takumi, his tutor to natural causes. While sad to see the man leave the mortal realm, he knew they each had their own path to follow and one day he too would follow in the elder male's footsteps. In the mean time, he would just have to keep the knowledge about the Quincy people alive and well until tasked to hand it down to the next generation, himself. The creation of his new Mekkayu also occurred during this stretch of time. Unsatisfied by its normality and how it didn’t suit his tastes, Matthias melted down his old Quincy cross and used the ore to create the internal and external components of a cross shaped USB Drive. The result was a new Mekkayu that served a dual function: uploading/downloading data and creating a Quincy bow. Now permanently integrated into Japanese society, Matthias is determined serve his friends and the citizens of Karakura Town through the use of his “supernatural” powers and the devices he creates.

Approved! Moving on to tryouts.