R9

In 1996, the authoritarian nation of Petria prepares for a presidential election between new candidate Florres, who vaguely promises change to the nation, and Petria's long-standing dictator, Tyrak, whose win would doom the prospects of the country's working class. Ten years earlier, in 1986, a landslide, caused by an explosion on a mountain pass, killed many civilians during a televised event. The government blamed the terrorist group known as the Black Brigades for the fatalities and concluded that their bombing was an attempt to assassinate Petria's president, Tyrak. In reality, the explosion was orchestrated by Tyrak to discredit the Brigades and eliminate civilians he believed were sympathetic to them. Tyrak controls the security forces to pay off officers to suppress protests against him, and he manipulates state media to portray dissenters as terrorists. Teenagers who oppose his policies are secretly arrested and sent to labor camps known as the "iron pits", prompting many young Petrian citizens to attempt to flee by crossing the northern border.