The Background of Saint Seiya

Basics
Saint Seiya takes place in the near future. The Goddess Athena is said to be returning to bring peace and balance to the world.
There is ANOTHER force, bent on not alowing that to happen, so that they may seize power themselves. The Saints of Athena,
Her protectors are also reviving in modern forms, and this is the story of the battle between good and evil.

Saints
Saints are young men who fight in the service of Justice, protecting Athena, and all that is good. The Saints draw their power from
the Armor they wear, and their own inner energy source - their COSMOS. There is a Saint for each Constellation in the Heavens.
The ranks are Bronze, Silver and Gold Saints. The Gold Saints are the most powerful, able to move, and perceive movement, at the
speed of light. The Gold Saints are represented by the 12 signs of the Zodiac. They reside in 12 palaces at Sanctuary, in Greece.

Sanctuary
Sanctuary is the center of all Saints on Earth. It is from Athens, Greece that they sprang from. Seiya was trained at Sanctuary by
the Silver Saint Marin (a woman who MAY be Seiya's missing Sister, Seka). It is in Sanctuary itself that the Evil seems to be coming
from to face off against Athena. Holy Father Yalishi sends Saints both Evil and Good (though misled, or mind-controlled) after
Seiya and the other Bronze Saints.

The Galaxian Wars
The Galaxian Wars is a fighting tournament, put on by the Kiddo Foundation, with the Saints returning from 6 years of training,
and hopefully in possession of their Saint Armor (called Cloths). They then battle it out to find the one among them worthy to
wear the Gold Sagitarius Armor. The contest is interrupted when the Armor is stolen by Phoenix, under the control of the now Evil
Yalishi of Sanctuary.

Saori Kiddo
The young woman, Saori Kiddo is the reincarnation of Athena. She was spirited out of Sanctuary, along with the Gold Armor, by
the Gold Saint Aiorius, who died after entrusting the then infant girl and the Sacred Armor to industrialist Matsuhiro Kiddo. The
reason he ran off with her ws to protect her from being assassinated by Yalishi. As a young girl, she was very much a spoiled brat,
often picking on the orphans, before they went out on their training, but matured into a gentle & caring person. Her own Cosmos
is what convinced several Gold Saints to switch sides, after proving they were misled by Yalishi, as they could not deny that she was
indeed Athena reincarnated. The Bronze Saints, especially Seiya, are her first defenders.