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*** Before Ichigo shows up and starts changing things shonen-hero style, the Soul Society is a stagnant place. The Soul King is a figurehead, the ruling council is so secretive that nobody is aware when they get slaughtered, and the population of half the districts runs around [[BarefootPoverty barefoot and in rags]]. Since leaders don’t die until they get killed, the same people run things for century after century, and entrenched behaviors get more so. At least three squads still have their original captains (Yamamoto, Kyoraku and Ukitake), right?
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**Also, it seems like the primary qualification to be a captain is a certain level of spiritual power, which is so rare that the Soul Society sometimes has few choices. Think of Unohana, once a notorious criminal; Hitsugaya, who isn’t in full command of his power; and the Visored, who broke some pretty fundamental laws and have no love for the Soul Society, but got recruited somehow when they needed three captains at once.
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** Because there's no good way for them to go on offense. The Gotei 13 can't send their regular soldiers because even Aizen's rank-and-file far outclass them simply by being Arrancar. They can't send a small force of captains/lieutenants because the Espada would outnumber them - Ichigo's group only made it as far as they did because all the stronger Espada obeyed Aizen's order to leave them alone. And they can't send a large force of captains because that leaves both Karakura Town and Soul Society vulnerable. As for why Yamamoto doesn't just obliterate Las Noches from a distance with Zanka no Tachi, if he does so then that's like a million souls he's either releasing into the reincarnation cycle or yanking out of the cycle entirely. Each Menos counts for all the souls devoured and merged to make it. He also can't guarantee it would even get Aizen - nothing is stopping him from hopping into a garganta once he feels Yamamoto's spiritual pressure.
