Arslan Senki: The Heroic Legend of Arslan
In the country of Pars (or Palse, depending on your spelling preferences), there is only one thing that no one understands. That's the freakin' genealogy. Who the heck is the heir to the throne?? I mean honestly. So, our hero, the Crown Prince Arslan, is 14 years old when the nighboring Lusitanians attack. The leader of this attack? A man named Silvermask (Hermes) who is claiming he is the proper hair to the Parsian throne.
So....the current King of Pars is Andragoras III. His father, King Godaruezesu II, had two sons; Andragoras's elder brother was named Osuroesu. Osuroesu had a wife whom Godaruezesu slept with, producing a baby boy, Hermes. Osuroesu and Andragoras murderer their father, putting Osuroesu V on the throne. Osuroesu adopted Hermes as his own son, seeing as it was his wife and his father who produced the baby.
With me? It gets worse. Osuroesu fell ill and asked Andragoras to kill Hermes. Andragoras burned the house where Hermes and his mother lived, killing the adulterous Queen and badly scarring Hermes. Thus Andragoras ascended the throne. However, he and his wife, Tahamine, had no children. So where, you ask, did Arslan come from? No cabbage leaves. His parents, who were low ranking nobles of Pars, died, and Andragoras adopted him. This i very confusing, I know. Check out the Pars Royal Family Page to get a good idea of what's going on.
Everybody wants to be King of Pars. Honestly. How much more comploicated could it get? Actually, Hermes' ally wants the throne too, so no one knows that Hermes is a pretender to the throne of Pars.
Phew. I need to go watch a soap opera or something to unconfuse myself.
Prince Arslan - you know mostly about him already. Or at least about his past. Did I mention that he's fourteen? I feel like a child molester.....When the Lusitanians attack, he escapes from Pars with the aid of loyal Daryun and travels to fetch Narsus, a very smart lord with a penchant for artistry. Along the way they also meet up with Gieve, a traveling minstrel and ladies' man, and Pharangese, a priestess of the Goddess Misra. Now that's a weird combination, I must say. Add in random refugees, Narsus' serving boy Elam, and a girl named Alfreed who is crushing on Narsus, and you have an anime just waiting to happen.
Daryun - the loyal knight whose duty is to protect Prince Arslan. This duty was actually kind of given as an insult after Daryun displeased Andragoras, but it worked out well. At least for Arslan, who evaded capture and survived. Daryun is the quintessential soldier, not to mention pretty darn biseinen in his own right.
Narsus - elegant, cultured, artistic. Yeah, that about covers it. He must irritate Daryun, but he's so wickedly smart that Arslan needs him to make sure he can regain the throne of Pars. Well, if it's actually his to regain, but I'm not about to go into THAT again.....
Gieve - the wandering minstrel and ladies' man. He is passionately anti-aristocracy because he dislikes the way they use the common people to further their goals. He runs into the priestess Pharangese, and, because she kicks ass, starts to follow her around and tries to get her to sleep with him, like he does every woman. She, however, is a little different because she says no. Lesson no. 1 for Gieve!
Others - this category includes Melrain, Alfreed's brother, and Qbad. Or Kubard. Whatever his name is. ^_^
Non-Arslan
