Clear It. Hold It. Expand.
The Cordon doesn't pretend there's a version of this where everyone gets along. Their read is blunt: order comes from whoever's still standing when it matters, and everything else is a negotiation you have with people who haven't been tested yet. They hold ground by force and they keep it the same way.
Who Runs It
Orlov — Vybor
"You want to talk, or you want to work? I don't have time for the first one." Orlov doesn't recruit with speeches. He hands you a fight and watches what you do with it.
Kessler — Tisy
Holds the highest, most fought-over ground on the map. "Everyone wants what's up here. Doesn't mean everyone gets to keep it." Tisy doesn't forgive mistakes, and neither does Kessler.
Dragos — Myshkino
Holds the southern line, stretched thin between Vybor and Tisy. Every patrol that tests the border gets the same answer, over and over, until it stops testing.
What Standing With Them Looks Like
Prove you can fight before anyone bothers talking to you. From there it's real ground held — patrols cleared, dugouts taken, a wounded scout brought back alive because that matters too. It ends at a dam nobody else is willing to leave uncontested, and the Cordon's answer to who should hold it isn't a contract. It's whoever's left standing there.