The Republic of San Magnolia has been at war with the Giadian Empire for nine years. Though it initially suffered devastating losses to the Empire's autonomous mechanized Legions, The Republic has since developed its own autonomous units—Juggernauts—which are directed remotely by a Handler. While on the surface the public believes the war is being fought between machines, in reality, the Juggernauts are being piloted by humans and all of them are the Eighty-Six, the designation given to the sub-humans of the Eighty-Sixth Sector who are persecuted and stripped of their rights by the racist-led Alba government.