In 2020,
[7] the world is in turmoil and warfare, with the United States fractured as a result of prolonged
second civil war and a pandemic of the "St. Mary's Virus" ravaging Europe. The United Kingdom is ruled as a
Nordic supremacist[8][9][10] and
neo-fascist[11] police state by the
Norsefire Party, helmed by all-powerful High Chancellor
Adam Sutler. Political opponents, immigrants, Jews, Muslims, atheists, homosexuals, and other "undesirables" are imprisoned and executed in concentration camps. The
Irish are not exterminated, but are considered inferior compared to people of
Nordic and
British descent.
[8]