Schutzstaffel

The Schutzstaffel, a name that translates as "Protective Squadron," serve as Yhwach's handpicked bodyguard, drawn from the very strongest of the Wandenreich's Sternritter. Setting aside Jugram Haschwalth, they rank above every other member of that order. Once numbering three and later five, these elite Quincy hold the highest status in Yhwach's army, standing at his side and skipping the councils held with lesser Sternritter. Though Haschwalth outranks them as Grandmaster and keeps closest to the emperor as his adviser, he gives them no orders; they report to Yhwach alone.

Their origins reach back over a millennium to the age of the Lichtreich, when four Quincy already guarded Yhwach, a group that predated the founding of the Sternritter order and perished during that early invasion of Soul Society. In the present war the guard reforms around its leader, Sternritter "X" Lille Barro, the first Quincy Yhwach ever granted a Schrift, joined by "M" Gerard Valkyrie and "C" Pernida Parnkgjas, who are secretly the Soul King's heart and left arm. Askin Nakk Le Vaar, "D," was raised from the lower ranks as the fourth member to prepare for the assault on the Soul King Palace, while Uryū Ishida, "A," became the fifth and final member once the Royal Guard had fallen. After the fortress-world of Wahrwelt took shape, each guardian was posted to defend one of its five branch cities.

Each member proved almost impossible to kill. Lille Barro can render himself intangible and survive attacks that would obliterate anyone else; Gerard Valkyrie turns every wound into greater size and power, reviving even after being slain; Pernida Parnkgjas regenerates from total destruction; and Askin Nakk Le Vaar can grow immune to any ability, even a foe's spiritual pressure. Uryū alone never truly served Yhwach, having joined the Wandenreich to avenge his mother and find a way to end the Quincy King. In the end Yhwach cast them all aside as expendable, turning his Auswählen on the last survivor, Gerard, to strip away his power once no subordinate was of any further use. An earlier Lichtreich generation, made up of Seydlitz, Huburt, Algora, and Nikita, all died long ago.