Synopsis
There is one superpower in the world, the Empire of Britannia. Lelouch vi Britannia and his younger sister Nunnally vi Britannia are children of the royal family. Lelouch is 17th in line for the throne and hence unlikely to ever wield any real power. They lived with their mother, a commoner by birth. When Lelouch is just 9, Nunnally 6, their mother is assassinated and Nunnally losing the use of her legs and eyes. Officially claimed as a terrorist attack, Lelouch believes it was an act of the royal family. He confronts his father to no avail and he and Nunnally are sent to Japan as hostages.
There they live with and befriend the Japanese Prime Minister and his child, a boy Lelouch's age named Suzaku. They find peace for a while before Britannia suddenly invades. The Prime Minister is killed and Japan is utterly defeated, unable to counter the Britannian "Knightmare Frame" mech infantry. It becomes a territory of Britannia and is renamed area 11. Lelouch declares to Suzaku that he will one day destroy Britannia.
7 years later, Lelouch, 17 and Nunnally, 14, both attend at Ashford Academy in Area 11. They now use their mother's maiden name, Lamperouge, as their last name to hide their true identities. Terrorism is common, as the Japanese are referred to as Elevens and are treated as second class citizens. After an afternoon of playing chess Lelouch heads back to school and is caught up in a military Truck/Plane (anime/manga) crash. At the crash site he uncovers a young woman - restrained and locked in a strange machine. He frees her as the Britannian army arrives, who declare he must die for seeing the top secret experiment. He is about to be killed when Suzaku, now a soldier of the Britannian army steps in and is shot instead. They turn on Lelouch, but the girl dives in front of him and is shot in the head. Facing death, Lelouch hears the girl speaking to him in his head, she offers him power, in exchange he must grant her wish. Lelouch accepts.
So Lelouch gains Geass, the power to give an order which can not be disobeyed. He uses this power and his tactical genius to aid the rebellion and bring about the fall of Britannia, for the sake of creating a better world for his sister. He goes by the alias "Zero" and has created his own army, the Order of Black Knights. Suzaku survives and dedicates himself to trying to change Britannia from the inside, he becomes the pilot of their experimental Knightmare Frame, Lancelot. Lelouch and Suzaku have chosen different sides. And the girl, C.C (pronounced C Two) is alive somehow though what her true purpose is and how she survived is still unrevealed.
