Plot Synopsis:
"Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only truth."
Edward and Alphonse Elric are brothers living in the village of Resembool in the country of Amestris. Their father, Hohenheim, left home when Edward and Alphonse were still very young. Years later, their mother, Trisha Elric, dies of a terminal illness. After their mother's death, Edward becomes determined to bring her back through the use of alchemy, an advanced science in which an object can be reformed into something completely different. They learn of the Human Transmutation, a forbidden art in which one attempts to create a human who had died. However, this attempt failed, ultimately resulting in the loss of Edward's left leg and Alphonse's entire body. In a desperate effort to save his brother, Edward sacrifices his right arm to affix his brother's soul to a suit of armor. After that, Edward's left leg and right arm are fitted with two sets of automail, a type of advanced prosthetic limb, created for him by his close family friends Winry Rockbell and her grandmother Pinako.
Edward sets out to become a State Alchemist, which are alchemists employed by the State Military of Amestris. State Alchemists are identified by their Fuhrer-issued silver pocket watches and the unique titles assigned to them upon becoming a State Alchemist. Becoming a state alchemist would enable Edward to use the extensive resources available to them to discover a way to restore what he and Alphonse had lost, but it also turns him into a "dog" of the military, who are famous for destroying almost all Ishval's population in a past Civil War. The brothers eventually learn of the Philosopher's Stone, a legendary stone that is said to allow the holder to completely bypass the law of Equivalent Exchange, and set off in search of it as a means to restore their bodies.
