In "The Backlands," an ancient war has just begun... Ray Hatcher at 23 has been framed and wrongly sentenced to a prison work camp on humanity's new home, the planet Anatus. While mining the dangerous cliff sides alongside the native, lizard-like slave species called the Cydarians, Ray discovers an ancient Cydarian machine buried in the rusty dirt known as a biomech. A warrior that existed only in myths and possibly the key to his freedom. The problem is only a Cydarian can "bond" with the mech to act as its pilot and serve as its host. Ray's hopes of finding a Cydarian partner were next to none until an accident nearly takes his life. A Cydarian doctor named Sy saves him and agrees to help him escape. Everything goes according to plan until a freak accident on the night of the breakout causes the biomech to bond with Ray instead of Sy, which shouldn't be possible. Now Ray's very life is entangled with the biomech's as a masked man known only as Xham hunts him down and mysterious god-like beings called the Valtaimae whisper to him in dreams. Most importantly, they tell Ray that he must uncover the secrets of the biomech and control the powers awakened inside himself or all on Anatus will perish with him.