North Redmond: The City’s Forgotten Battlefield
What began as a string of scattered turf skirmishes has become, in the words of one Seattle City Council aide, “a low-intensity war we’ve chosen to ignore.”
In North Redmond, heavily armed gangs wage daily battles over crumbling blocks of what is, to outsiders, little more than an urban wasteland. Yet for the Ancients, the Spikes, the Rusted Stilettos, and countless smaller outfits, these streets mean territory, survival, and prestige.
Runaway Firepower
The weapons being deployed are far beyond the pistols and knives of Seattle’s past. Residents report the near-daily use of RPGs, shoulder-mounted missiles, heavy machine guns, and even assault cannons. Surveillance footage shows gangers firing on Knight Errant drones with guided anti-vehicle rockets. No official source can confirm where these arsenals originate, but security analysts quietly speak of “runaway military surplus” from conflicts across the PCC border and smuggling routes that stretch as far as Bogotá.
Law Enforcement Stalemate
Every attempt by law enforcement to intervene has been met with overwhelming and coordinated violence. Patrols entering North Redmond are targeted almost immediately, ambushed by gangs who know every alley, every choke point, every escape tunnel. “It’s suicidal to go in without armor support,” admits one Lone Star officer, speaking off the record. The last major pacification attempt in July left four officers dead and nine wounded.
City Hall insists it is “in discussions with our security partners” about the next steps. But sources close to the negotiations say the real battle is being fought behind closed doors: Lone Star and Knight Errant are locked in a legal struggle over who has jurisdiction — and who would bear the losses.
Spilling Over
For years, Seattle has tolerated Redmond’s chaos, dismissing it as a problem that contained itself. But in the past three years, violence has intensified and begun to spread beyond the Barrens. Businesses on the Bellevue fringe report shakedowns by well-armed gangs, while delivery convoys into Kirkland have come under fire. Now, the rest of Seattle is starting to notice.
“The question isn’t whether North Redmond is dangerous,” says Dr. Helena Cho, a sociologist at UW. “It’s whether the city can afford to keep pretending the fire won’t spread.”
For the moment, the shooting continues — unseen by most, unbearable for those trapped inside, and unsolved by the powers that be.
Beyond North Redmond
North Redmond may be the city’s most notorious battlefield, but it is not alone. Seattle has long tolerated zones of abandonment where corporate contracts falter and municipal authority never truly returns.
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Tourmaline (Redmond): Once a manufacturing hub, now a landscape of stripped warehouses where combat biker gangs stage running battles by night. Residents say the fighting is “for show,” but stray gunfire claims lives almost weekly.
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Glow City (Redmond): A maze of melted chemical ruins and warped buildings, where toxic shamans and squatters wage a quieter, more insidious war. Few outsiders enter willingly — those who do often vanish.
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The Pothole (Ft. Lewis): A dockside district where smuggler cartels and syndicate militias operate with impunity. Heavy weapons are as common as fishing nets, and the Coast Guard openly avoids patrolling its waters.
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The Puyallup Barrens (South): Long dismissed as “already lost,” but recent intel points to Awakened gangs binding elemental spirits to guard their turf. If true, this marks a dangerous escalation in urban conflict.
Security consultants warn that any one of these districts could become “the next North Redmond” if ignored. The violence is no longer isolated — it is migratory, shifting with the flow of guns, drugs, and desperation.
For now, the firefights remain scattered, the city’s corporate heart still gleaming above the fray. But Seattle’s neglected margins are burning, and each spark risks setting the sprawl ablaze.
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