The story takes place in the far future, in Ampersand: a major metropolitan city and capital to a cybernetic kingdom called The Web. Ruled by King Hal, the ancient cyborg and major founder of the Web, order is somewhat well-maintained. Computers and robots live among humans, as well as a great variety of androids -- humanoid robots with artificial intelligence. However, there is hostility between humans and androids. Some see androids as a gift to humanity, being effecient workers and intriguing pets. Some see them as a threat to humanity, and believe they must be destroyed before society grows too dependant on them, giving robots a chance to take over people's lives. They're also not very happy about the fact that their king is mostly non-human.

Prejudice and violence against androids are on the rise. They are taken advantage of and abused, even to the point of suicide (which humans treat as a joke). The police aren't much help, because of laziness, corruption, and abuse of power. The general public opinion is "androids are not people; they do not breathe, they do not bleed, their actions and emotions are determined by nothing more than a fancy computer, they are not living creatures, therefore they do not deserve the same rights as humans."

This comic follows a young police officer named Sysreq, whose ideas do not stray far from that particular opinion. Somewhat new to the force, his position of authority feeds his arrogance. His life is changed (against his will), however, when he runs into a secretive but aggresive group of vigilantes whose mission is to protect androids and somehow end the hate. Thus, Sysreq struggles to juggle his job, social life, secret life which goes against all the principles of his job, and his muddled relationship with his ex-girlfriend, all while trying to maintain his sanity.

Things start to get rather messy and complicated when Sysreq slowly begins to realize that what he's doing is more dangerous than he thought...

Saturnalia is a sci-fi. It is also a comedy, a drama, a fantasy, a romance, an action, a shounen and a shoujo manga. Its main themes are man versus machine, and relationships (both romantic and platonic). If we give life to a machine, should we treat it as a living creature? Will human pride and dependence to technology ultimately bring forth the end to our greedy civilization? Is a break up officially a break up if your obsessive boyfriend still insists that it's not over? Some questions may never have an answer...