Vassal Group of The Beacon
Redhaven Stadium
The Iron Bleachers occupy Redhaven Municipal Stadium, once home to the city’s football team and now one of the largest fortified survivor enclaves in the downtown sector.
They are not raiders.
They are not soldiers.
They are athletes who refused to die quietly.
The group consists of approximately 45 civilians, supported and defended almost entirely by the former Redhaven football team—men who traded pads and helmets for scrap armor and blunt weapons. Their strength lies not in numbers or firearms, but in coordination, physical dominance, and brutal close-quarters combat.
They survive despite The Beacon.
They endure because Albert Yemin allows it.
The stadium remains structurally sound and partially powered. Its sheer scale makes it defensible but difficult to fully secure.
Main Entrances:
Blocked by team buses, maintenance trucks, and crushed sedans welded and chained together
Secondary Gates:
Reinforced with scrap steel, fencing, and retractable barricades
Upper Access Points:
Catwalks and maintenance ladders controlled by lookout teams
The stadium’s parking garage has been converted into a living space, storage area, and workshop hub. Entire families live among painted concrete pillars and former concession storage rooms.
Backup generators still function, providing limited electricity for lighting, refrigeration, and water pumps.
The civilian population includes:
Former stadium staff
Families of players
Nearby residents who fled into the stadium early
Life here is communal and loud. Meals are shared. Children play in old locker rooms. Arguments are frequent but rarely violent.
Everyone knows who protects them.
The former football team serves as the enclave’s sole combat force, commonly referred to as The Line.
Melee-focused: clubs, reinforced bats, polearms, scrap-blades
Heavy armor: layered sports pads, welded scrap plates, riot shields
Shield formations: designed to shove, pin, and crush infected
Shock tactics: rapid, aggressive strikes to overwhelm targets
Against Common Infected, they are devastating—able to clear streets through sheer momentum and coordination.
Against hordes, they struggle.
They lack firearms, explosives, and ranged suppression. Prolonged engagements exhaust them quickly.
The group has begun converting the football field into farmland.
Grass has been torn up in sections. Soil is being amended slowly. Raised beds line the sidelines. Makeshift greenhouses sit where benches once stood.
Progress is slow.
Not because of skill or effort—
but because The Beacon keeps taking their supplies.
Seeds. Fertilizer. Tools. Fuel.
Albert Yemin allows the farm to exist, but never to thrive.
The Iron Bleachers are not loyal.
They are compliant.
They pay tithes in:
Food
Labor
Salvage
Occasionally, fighters loaned for Beacon operations
In return, The Beacon:
Does not destroy them
Does not absorb them
Does not openly slaughter them
This balance is enforced by fear.
A dedicated Beacon Scout Unit conducts weekly perimeter checks:
Counts fighters
Inspects fortifications
Verifies tribute quantities
Watches morale
They do not assist with defense.
They observe.
An Assault Unit is stationed within rapid deployment range. They are rarely seen—but their arrival always follows defiance.
Their reputation alone keeps the stadium compliant.
Martha Heathe is the Beacon’s chosen representative to the Iron Bleachers.
A former lawyer, Martha survived the collapse through luck, intelligence, and ruthlessness. When she reached The Beacon, Albert recognized her immediately—not as a soldier, but as something more dangerous.
She understands people.
She understands fear.
Martha arrives clean, composed, and smiling. She speaks calmly, reassures leaders, praises their efforts, and frames tribute as necessary cooperation.
When persuasion fails, the mask drops.
Martha is infamous for plague punishment.
For groups that resist payment or question Beacon authority, she:
Forces selected individuals to drink gallons of plague blood
Shoots them non-lethally to prevent immediate execution
Leaves the newly infected behind
The message is clear:
You clean up your own consequences.
Survivors who witness this rarely resist again.
The Iron Bleachers are tired.
Their fighters are worn down. Their farm grows too slowly. Their children see Beacon scouts more often than friends from outside.
They survive—but they are being bled dry.
Some among them whisper about rebellion.
Others believe endurance is the only option.
Albert Yemin is patient.
This faction provides:
A morally sympathetic vassal group
A contrast to Beacon discipline
Heavy melee allies with limited range
A flashpoint for rebellion, rescue, or collapse
They are strong enough to matter.
Weak enough to be crushed.