By 2044, America had completed a tepid decline. Through careful rise of the same Oligarchy that had orchestrated the two great wars of Europe, the secret powers feasted on the glut of American exceptionalism.

Through weak leadership, greed, and deceit, the nation that once proved resilient to the influences of the Oligarchs now swooned at the concept of such figureheads. Misinformed, misguided, led astray, the electorate became distrustful of the very people they elected to lead them. They were told to trust nothing but the truth. The truth as spoken by the Oligarchs.

America did this to themselves.

First they came for the government bureaucracy. Initially, it was the abolition of the Department of Education. Then the Department of Energy. Then the Department of Defense.

Then they came for entitlements. They lost Social Security. They lost Medicare. They lost fair elections. They lost the working class. They lost their right to privacy. They lost it all to a man who promised them the return of greatness.

Now he comes for the government, armed to the brim with the fearsome Dixie Brotherhood and Blue Mountain Boys militias, President Connor is ready to take Washington by force.

His reward?

The American people re-elected President Connor to a second-term despite the obvious that the Oligarchy was pulling the strings behind the man.

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

That was the old America.

A land of opportunity and prestige, born out of the idea that free men could govern themselves. Through meticulous, careful engineering of checks and balances, power could be utilized for the common good of men, and with time a more perfect union would emerge.

Two great wars challenged the concept of free men, but the nation persevered. A great society blossomed in their wake, the land of opportunity was boundless, unbridled and unconstrained from the endless possibilities of success through equality and hard work.

That was before 1974.

That's what congressional staffer Chase Lewis must do now. He and his best friend-turned-boss Representative Alyssa Cambridge must escape the US Capitol, evading the militants storming the capitol in name of US President Aiden Connor.

Congress is herded onto the house floor like cattle to a slaughterhouse. This is the coup many have dreamed of for the last twenty years.

Connor finally did it. He finally feasted on the demise of the United States.

Almost.

The Forefathers anticipated this day would come. After all, the nation was born out of rebellion and there was always a chance that rebellion would return.

They anticipated The Obliged. The select few patriots that would rise as the resistance, in the name of perseverance of the undying American Dream, those who took to task carrying the burden of an idea forged on a hot July day 270 years ago.

Eight ordinary people with an extraordinary task.