[The following is a translation of p. 38-39, 57, 63 of the Saint Seiya Encyclopedia. Only words inside the brackets are my comments.]

Saints of Hope, Athena's Saints[Goddess's Sacred Fighters]

When the world is rampant with evil, mysterious fighters will appear. They have existed since the time of the myths, people call them, Saints!

    A long time ago, in the time of the myths, power struggles of the gods had unfolded on this planet. Those so called gods are humans who have the Big Will or Gods' Will inside them. They spread their influence by guiding people into their own fold.
    Before long, Zeus ruled the sky and land, Poseidon ruled the oceans, and Hades ruled the underworld. As such, Zeus entrusted the land to his own daughter, Athena and disappeared to the sky.
    As Athena ruled the land, Hades and Poseidon schemed to take the land as their own. Especially Poseidon's invasion, the fights was so intense that many heroes of the land were defeated.
    Unknowingly, youths with tender ages, started to stand out on the battlefield. Those youths trained their bodies to the limit and they are known to have punches that can tear the sky, and kicks that can break the earth.
    The protection[protective tool or gear] that protects the bodies of these youths are Cloths[Sacred Cloth]. In praise of their actions, people call these youths that wear these Cloths, Saints[Sacred Fighters].
    Though in the long passage of time, the war of the gods has unfolded again and again, these events have been hidden by the veil of time, and not even fragments of these events or even the existence of the Saints were pass down in the myths.
    But, in our present time, Saints do exist. By exploding their Cosmo[Microcosm], they can launch punches that are equal to the speed of sound, having amazing destructive power, with one hit, one concrete block can be smashed.
    They have mastered all kinds of distinctive fighting skills that are far beyond human knowledge. It is almost miraculous that they exist.
    All their movements are supervised and controlled by Greece's Sanctuary[Sacred Precinct], which is not connected to any nation, race, or group.
    Their committed purpose has been decided from the time of the myths, to carry out one mission,"To Protect Athena and the Peace of the Earth".
    Under the orders given out by Sanctuary, some of the Saints had their qualifications pass down to them in secret. They are given Cloths which are the proof of the Saint.
    Because the destiny of stars determines what Saints wear which Cloths, even if some of them appear to have gained the ability of the Saints, they may not become Saints.
    Because of complexities like someone's ability, fate, character, and many other conditions, only those who are endowed with all conditions will gain the qualification of the Saint. The probability of a birth of a new Saint can almost be said to be equal to the study of astronomy.
    But, at the end of the 20th century, a certain personality tried to create lots of Saints using artificial means. That personality was Mitsumasa Kido, founder of the Graude Foundation which build up great power by exercising a lot of influence over the world.
    The aged Mitsumasa has longed shown he had a deep interest in the fighting arts and has been known to support many well-known events of the world.
    One year before he died, almost by coincidence, he discovered the existence of Saints and Cloths, and so, he worked up to show to the world the ultimate fighting skills of the battle of the Saints. For that purpose, 100 young kids were sent around the world to receive hard training to become Saints.
    The result of that was 10 boys was able to gain the qualifications of the Saints. They returned to Japan and participated in the Galaxian Wars[Milky Way, Galaxy War] opened by Saori Kido who carried out Mitsumasa's last wishes. Unexpectedly, this was the beginning of a new myth.
    As mentioned above, to become a Saint many kinds of destined factors imposed on them are needed. The fact that the Graude Foundation was able to produce Saints in such a high probability, 1 out of 10, is attributed to one other big reason: it is that those very Saints have the mission imposed on them to protect Athena.
 

Black Saints[Darkness Saint]

    By the discovering Death Queen Island, those who were stripped of their title of the Saint or couldn't become a Saint would wear Black Cloths[Darkness Sacred Cloth]. Because the Black Saints use the Saints' powers for selfish purposes, Athena sealed off Death Queen Island.
 

Permenant Frozen Land, Illusionary Blue Grad

    Said to be a place that can't sustain life, not even a flower can bloom, the land of extreme cold, Blue Grad, used to be a base for the Blue Warriors[Ice Warriors] which are said to be the most powerful. They valued Blue Grad with the honor of being a big empire, but, that was in the deep past.
    Alexer who couldn't accept the fact that Blue Grad was in its current situation was banished because he kept suggesting that they should start an invasion toward the south.
    But, he came back with the Blue Warriors and killed the ruler, Pyotor and began to realize his desires.

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