Description
Armenia has been ruled by many: the Persians, Macedonians, and Seleucids all played a part in forging the land and its people. The land-owning nobility, the Azat, were descended, so they claimed, from the Armenian gods, and like the nobles of many lands they fought as cavalry. They produced elite, heavily-armed and armoured cavalry that served as superb bodyguards. Historically, they carried lances, along with longswords, maces or axes, making them deadly in close-quarters combat. In 368AD, at the siege of Artogerassa by the Sassanids under Shapur II, they protected Pharantzem, King Arsaces II's wife. The Azat can be considered as forerunners of the chivalric knights of the Medieval era, obsessed with personal honour, loyalty, and their status.
