Injustice is intolerable to the human. By his nature, Prince Regen disobeyed his father, Lord Sard, who was master of exports on Astragoth, second in power only to the planetary minister, the emperor's own nephew Anj Kurim. Perhaps how Prince Regen became son to Anj Kurim is a tale too bold to ever be repeated, for it dares the instinct of man to do right or wrong, the hearts of the young to fall in love from mere eye contact and the honor of the knights who braved the arena on the tournament of Easter. A tale too bold, but I'd go mad to keep it all to myself:
The lords in question were the three barons of slag on Astragoth who commanded the planetary production of mech armor alloys, Astragoth's most valuable export. The types are well known, Bronze-Steel, Silver-Steel and Gold-Steel, although none of those alloys contain any such metals, they are named poetically, rather than literally. Lord Sard grew quite suspicious of them, or perhaps jealous. He had them summoned, stripped, beaten and arrested, accusing them of crimes against his office. His next order of business was to have their estates seized.
Normally such a moment would be conducted honorably through a Trial of Combat, but since these men were severe mech knights, Lord Sard chose caution over honor. His son was not such a coward, and witnessing the atrocity, he fought his way into the holding compound in light armor, a tactical mech without markings, but only so the guards would not die withholding their attacks. Regen considered dying honorably to be more important than shielding himself with his identity. When he had rescued the three lords, he did turn himself in, for he took responsibility for his actions.
Lord Sard was furious and had his son exiled. Regen was sent into the frontiers of Astragoth with only his fine robes, a horse, some supplies and a servant named Igor. Igor was quite corrupt, and when they were out in the wilderness he shot Regen in the back of his head when the prince was bathing in a stream, and left him there face down in the water, believing he had killed him. Letting nothing go to waste, Igor took everything, the clothes, supplies, horse and even the prince's identity, managing to assume the prince's identity.
Regen was not dead. By a miracle he'd survived, and the gunshot attracted a retired combat medic who fought in the Scratch Wars and had seen much worse than a naked, drowned man with a gunshot wound in his head. She easily patched him up, rolling the cosmic dice with critical precision. It was not enough for Regen to have his memory intact, as he had severe amnesia.
By instinct he was still very honorable and brave, and pleased with this, he was made apprentice to the one who'd saved his life. She taught him how to care for the kinds of injuries the locals came to her with, and in time he grew wise in the ways of medicine and he worked hard, volunteering to help anyone who needed his strength.
One day he came to the main star port of Astragoth, traveling in the world and seeking his fortune. The daughter of Anj Kurim, Lili, was getting married soon. The whole city was in a state of celebration and three days of games were declared, in which mech knights would duel for the honor of Princess Lili's favor. No mech knight who wasn't willing to risk death would dare step into a close-range combat in the Phoenix Dome, as the impressive arena of Astragoth was called then.
Regen put his only coin into the coffer of the richest man on the planet and bought a ticket to the games. The likelihood that he'd be seated so that Princess Lili could not take her eyes off of him was only the whim of such stars. She'd seen him there and something was different about this man than any she'd ever seen. Some part of her had sailed through the ethers at the dawn of time, and he was her other half, torn from her when she was born as a human on Astragoth. That's how the Princess described the feeling.
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Regen glanced across the crowd and met her gaze. He felt like his world began that day, at that moment, as though suddenly every detail of his life became relevant. It was all so he'd be at ~Bed, Bath and Beyond~, right there in the Phoenix Dome as an eight-meter-tall fusion-powered battle armor mech walked out the gates spraying steam at thirteen hundred degrees Celsius from its flamers.
The opposite gate opened but there was no other mech. A weird silence fell over the crowd. It wasn't uncommon for someone to forfeit, anything could go wrong. There was a challenge issued, not as though any unexpected contestants ever answered it. Yet this time a mech in full bronze-alloy armor did enter Phoenix Dome. Nobody knew who it was, and when the newcomer won the battle, they left without claiming the victory.
On the second day, the new husband of the Princess Lili was revealed, and the games would be in his honor as well. He was Prince Regen, except it was really Igor, having assumed Prince Regen's identity. When the combatants were about to fight a third mech entered the arena, this time in silver-alloy armor. He fought both enemies at once and defeated them. Again, before claiming the victory, the mech knight left the arena.
Lord Anj Kurim had a battalion of mech painted in white and decorated with garlands surrounding the arena on the third day. No more intrusions and dishonorable departures. The insults on the first two days by mysterious mech knights could only be surpassed by the games of the final day.
No mech knight had the courage on the third day. Anj Kurim worried this was worse and relayed to the mech commander of the wedding games detail to allow any rogue mech knights in, deciding it couldn't be worse than no games at all.
When the mech knight in the gold-alloy came around the corner and spotted the battalion guarding the arena, he did not know they were ordered to let him past. He charged at them, firing his weapons and they scattered. The holo displays in Phoenix Dome showed this exchange, emphasizing the damage to the government-owned superstructure, cashing in on each chunk of concrete sheared away by laser fire.
The gold-alloy mech stood in the arena alone. Someone had hijacked the holo displays and suddenly they showed the face of just one man in the crowd, and as he looked up he recognized himself. It was all coming back to him in a flood of memories.
The other two mech from the previous games entered, the bronze-alloyed and silver-alloyed. They stood side by side, having found Prince Regen in the crowd and turned their mech to face him.
"Open your cockpits and reveal yourselves." They were ordered by Lord Anj Kurim.
They were the three lords Regen had set free so long ago.
"Honor the Princess!" they were told and they did.
"Now the Prince!' but they saluted the man on the holo display instead of Igor. Lord Anj Kurim saw that Igor was terrified. He drew his sword and beheaded Igor on the spot, his blood spraying all over the booth, and Princess Lili was barely able to escape the gore.
The real Prince Regen was married to the Princess Lili, and the remains of Igor were tossed to the dirt floor of the arena and left there. Soon Regen inherited Lord Anj Kurim's position and had his father's power stripped from him and he gave the three lords back their old homes.
And the armor? What alloys are we even talking about? Some say the bronze is infused with courage, to do what is right even when it is very dangerous and to overcome fear in order to act. Some say silver is imbued with the holiness of love, how it causes miracles, drives us to our destiny and opens the locked doors of fate. And gold? Gold stands for honor, an unyielding adherence to fairness and justice.