Historical Context:
In March 1362, all Esurchian business figures and ex-patriots had left the Independent Commonwealth State of Retun, following orders by Prime Minister Raol Robinson. Though they were long gone by November 1362, consequences from the Esurchian Occupation still lingered, most notably at Cabotton University, whose Campus had been sold to a third party and was now subject to a bidding war.
The Unofficial Cabotton University
Between September and October 1362, an explosion in enrollment numbers occurred for the Unofficial Cabotton University, whose student size was 1700 percent higher by late October than it was months previous. At first, the students occupied only the vacant spaces on the Cabotton University Main Campus. Following the aforementioned increase in enrollment, however, such spaces became overcrowded, leading student groups to demand that businesses on campus yield their spaces to them, citing their right to receive a quality education. Such businesses refused the demands, prompting the students to force their way into the occupied spaces and confront the occupants. The businesses responded by submitting reports of such break-ins and confrontations to the owners of the Campus: the Linbraean Royal Treasury, who responded on 05 October 1362 with a call to the Retunian federal government for intervention. Bound by terms within the University Deed, the Retunian federal government responded with the dispatch of the Retunian Civil Guard, RCG, to break up the ensuing protests and forced the students to leave the Campus. The Cabotton Scholar Foundation, under the leadership of Heather Walker, urged students to follow the RCG's orders for now. However, some Members defied this and engaged in fights with the RCG officers; the RCG quickly subdued the protests, though.
The remainder of the student body returned to the Cabotton Scholar Foundation North Kempton Chapter and continued Unofficial Cabotton University classes there.
The Bidding War of 1362
Meanwhile, a bidding war continued between the Scholar and Research Foundation Coalition and the henshale industry, the latter led by the Brandondale Gas Mining Company (BGMC), a henshale extraction company with headquarters in the Canticulan nation of Gamroa.
On 13 October 1362, the Foundation Coalition proposed to buy the Main Campus of Cabotton University for a price of 51 million Retunian Credits. The BGMC failed to outmatch this bid within the 72-hour timeframe established by the Linbraean Royal Treasury (October 16) due to internal debate within the BGMC over the outmatching price exceeding the threshold allowed for cuts in profit. Thus, the Foundation Coalition won the bidding and scheduled an official signing of the transaction with the Royal Treasury, to take place at a Royal Treasury conference chamber in Linbrae on 05 November 1362. The student body celebrated this accomplishment as they forced their way onto Campus again in the days that followed October 13. This time, seeing that they would be made to move out, the businesses opted to do nothing to remove the students.
The Last-Minute Transaction of Brandondale
However, at 3:00 am local time in Linbrae, John Renmore, lobbyist from Furthing representing the Gamroan BGMC, called a mandatory meeting with Linbraean Royal Treasury leadership, during which Renmore proposed an override to the anticipated Foundation Coalition transaction with a purchase of the Campus for the BGMC at a price of 61 million Retunian Credits, to be paid over the course of five years. The Treasury agreed to this new transaction, which took effect immediately, voiding the previously scheduled transaction with the Foundation Coalition, which would have taken place the next day.
Upon receiving a tip from an unknown insider on this effort, Maxima Tangreen and a group of students took an urgent gyroplane flight to Linbrae in the hope of delaying proceedings. However, by the time they arrived, it had been two hours since the BGMC transaction was signed; thus, Tangreen's effort was futile.
By 9:00 am local time in Cabotton, students awoke to find the Main Campus enclosed in a chain link fence, every building within marked with a sign stating that the Campus was condemned for demolition under ownership of the BGMC. With the transaction effective immediately, the BGMC had contracted a lightfire construction company to set up fences and prepare for the demolition of the campus. On November 06, the BGMC decided to have the demolition teams hold off efforts until March 1363, citing the unfavorable winter weather.
Heather Walker: Change in Approach
Starting November 4, upon hearing news of the last-minute transaction, mass hysteria ensued among the student population. Maxima Tangreen, in response, urged the students to remain calm, assuring them that the matter would be brought to Heather Walker for a decision. Some students, noting Heather Walker's soft-handed approach thus far, decried Tangreen's call as lackluster given the circumstances. However, on November 5, Heather Walker gave a speech to Foundation Membership, condemning the last-minute transaction as "dishonest, deceitful, and devious." It was in this moment that she admitted that her ethics and approach leading up to this point had failed her, and that the only resolution was to go "full-frontal" with taking back the Campus and restoring the University.
Starting on November 7, student protestors organized and launched human waves to knock down the fence and storm the Campus to occupy it. On November 9, students broke into the University Council Building and called for an election of Council members, as well as for formal recognition from the Retunian and Remikran Union governments of the re-establishment of the University. The following day, the Retunian federal government dispatched RCG units who flooded the campus and used non-lethal force to remove the protestors. The RCG was overwhelmed in this effort; however, fear began to permeate the student body amid emerging rumors that Retunian Prime Minister Raol Robinson was mulling the idea of dispatching the Retunian Armed Forces, as well as rumors that the RGMC was considering the idea of electrifying the fence surrounding the Campus.
On November 18, Heather Walker and Maxima Tangreen led a signed petition demanding the Retunian federal government, BGMC, and Linbraean rescind the last-minute transaction and restore the original promised transaction of the Main Campus to the Foundation Coalition. This petition would go unanswered.