Saturnalia was a science fiction comic by Nina Matsumoto, also known as space coyote. It won Outstanding Science Fiction Comic in the 2004 Web Cartoonist's Choice Awards. The story was put on indefinite hiatus while Matsumoto worked on her other series, Yōkaiden, and other projects. Matsumoto has taken down the webcomic, and it is no longer available as of 2014.

Setting

Saturnalia is set in the year 2999 CE in the city of Ampersand, on a planet (not Earth) which was colonized by humans approximately three hundred years previously. Ampersand is a city in the Web kingdom, which is ruled over by King Hal, and which also includes the cities of Sumdumgoi, Samarkan, Terminal, Watertank, and Playbill.

Plot

The comic is set in the year 2999 CE. Human civilization has colonized other planets and created very realistic androids as servants. Mainstream society is generally content with the status quo, comfortable treating androids as machines, but below the surface, a conflict is unfolding: some believe androids should be granted equal rights as independent citizens, deserving freedom from slavery, segregation and abuse, while others believe they are an abomination and a threat; underground vigilante groups have formed on both side of the debate. To some of these people, the conflict is an all-out war.

The story so far: Ellipsis is attacked by a mugger, but succeeds in knocking him out. Sysreq happens across the scene, and as the mugger turns out to be a murder suspect, insists that the uncooperative Ellipsis act as a witness in the investigation, only to find that the Ampersand database has no record of her existence. Her privacy compromised, Ellipsis panics and knocks Sysreq out as well, and drags him to PACER headquarters to get help from Nine Bucks. There, Sysreq is restrained until Nine successfully bribes him into becoming a PACER: Sysreq will get credit for any criminals the PACERs catch, thus ensuring his job security, and will receive assistance with his frustrated love life.

The following night, Sysreq is sent on his first assignment, partnered with Ellipsis. They stop a pair of HASL members who have infiltrated an android manufacturing facility, where they (HASL) have been sabotaging androids by contaminating their brains in a way that causes them to commit suicide. The mission is a success; the saboteurs are caught by police, Sysreq is commended for his work, and the PACERs' involvement remains a secret.

On their next mission together, Sysreq and Ellipsis are trying to stop a group of street thugs who have been beating and robbing androids, when they stumble across a badly mutilated android, headless, strung up on a fence and painted with the words "Repent Sinner". More mutilated androids are found in the days that follow. The police consider it a matter of mere vandalism and destruction of property, but the PACERs are horrified by what they see as a killing spree.

That night, Sysreq and Tristan set out to find the perpetrator. Tristan wanders the streets alone, acting as bait; when a woman emerges and attempts to shoot him, Sysreq appears and holds her at gunpoint. She refuses to put down her weapon, explaining that believes mankind is playing God – sinning – by creating living machines in its own image, and that she is taking matters into her own hands to build a future free from evil. She tries to shoot Tristan despite Sysreq’s warnings, but Ellipsis appears from the shadows, disarms her, and renders her unconscious. More PACERs reveal themselves to Sysreq as having been watching the whole time, just in case anything went wrong.

Sixième Caret shows up then, and the other PACERs leave her and Sysreq (and the unconscious woman) alone to talk. She offers Sysreq a job with HASL, and explains their motives. Sysreq sympathizes with their beliefs more than those of the PACERs, but he rejects their destructive methods for the respectable police work the PACERs help him accomplish.

Later, at PACER headquarters, Sysreq demands that Nine show some progress on the PACERs' promise to mend his love life; Lan Win Nook says he will hack into the private entries of Paige's journal. After Sysreq leaves, Nine puts Ellipsis in charge of mending Sysreq’s love life.

One week later, on the King’s birthday (a public holiday), King Hal gives a rare public address to announce that he will be retiring from his post and seeking an heir to his throne. Sysreq, meanwhile, has the day off, and Ellipsis joins him to discuss his relationship woes.

Characters

PACERs

• Sysreq Varies - The protagonist, a police officer obsessed with his ex-girlfriend, Paige.
• Ellipsis - Introverted PACER who originally brought Sysreq into the PACER world.
• Nine Bucks - The leader of the Ampersand division of PACER.
• Kerberos - A mechanic, biologist, doctor and hairstylist with an affinity for marine animals.
• Cookie - A cheerful and hyper girl.
• Feight - An intelligent girl who was raised in a wealthy household, girlfriend to Tristan.
• Tristan - A recreational-type android that was intended as a friend for Feight, now her boyfriend.
• Lan Win Nook - The team's teenage computer hacker and research specialist.
• Jonelle - Holographic humanoid representation of the PACER computer system, presented as a small child.

Others

• Sixième Caret - Leader of the Paladin Unit, a well funded and secret radical underground group that works for Humans Against Synthetic Life (HASL).
• Ricoh and Aficio - Two HASL members
• Verdana Tenpoint Bold - Sysreq's bubbly best friend from college.
• Paige Downe - Sysreq's ex-girlfriend.
• Abby - An android prostitute from Ampersand.
• Sergeant Cedilla - Sysreq's supervisor at the Ampersand PD.
• King Hal - Ruler of the Web kingdom, and inventor of androids.
• Postrophe - Archduke of the Web kingdom, and first advisor to the King.
• Riven - The Peace Ambassador for the Web kingdom, second advisor to the King.

External links

• Saturnalia at the internet archive
• OnlineComics.net listing