DACH Grauzone

Contested buffer zone between the three blocs. No recognized governance, no enforced laws. All three AIs maintain surveillance infrastructure but none claims or controls the territory — direct conflict here would destabilize all three escalation models. Population survives through local networks, barter, and self-organization. Violence is common; large-scale massacres are suppressed by automated deterrence from all sides (none wants the others to gain a foothold). A pressure valve the blocs tolerate because eliminating it would require fighting each other.