The Land Dispute¶
The Land Dispute is the year-long campaign of eviction letters and pressure by unnamed "corporate goons" to push the Covenant off its land in Auraria, Georgia.
| Type | Lore (legal and corporate conflict) |
| Aliases | corporate goons |
| Affected | The Covenant |
| Place | Auraria |
| First appearance | Appalachia 04 |
Overview¶
In Appalachia 04, River tells the team that the community has deals in the works to get money "to stave off those corporate goons", including a peach orchard arrangement and sales of preserves, so they can hire a lawyer. The goons "started showing up about a year ago" with paperwork claiming some right to the land, and told the community it would be evicted unless it signed the land over. According to River, Elijah Ray says the claim is bullshit and that the people behind it are agents of Satan (Andre (as River), Appalachia 04). The Covenant also holds Auraria to be the Garden of Eden (see Covenant Beliefs).
Evidence¶
- Mother Dahlia Riversand fetches the nasty letters. She cannot give them up, since they are for the lawyer, but the team may copy information from them. The letters name a law firm, Jackson and Lee's, and do not say who the client is. Kurt Larson says he will put out feelers (Appalachia 04).
- The community is short of money. In Appalachia 02 and Appalachia 04 the team sees a stand selling preserves and quilts and members frantically canning in hot tents. The boiler they want, with a contract for February, was delayed because they were saving for the lawyer (Appalachia 04).
- The community boils its river water and has used what Dahlia thinks are chlorine tablets for about a year, after earlier intestinal trouble. One man lost two toes to an infected toenail, which she does not link to the water. She says she will find out what is in the water when they have a lawyer (Appalachia 04).
- River says the bathing river carries "a lot of runoff from the Spud Hut plant" (Appalachia 04).
Theories¶
The players suspect a link between Spud Hut runoff, the land push and the Covenant, but the episodes never say who is behind the eviction campaign. Jackson and Lee's names no client. At the end of Appalachia 04, the Biz suggests checking the river for chemicals and taking a closer look at Spud Hut, and the team decides to have dinner there first.
What remains unknown¶
- Who the client behind Jackson and Lee's is.
- What Kurt's feelers turned up. Later episodes do not report back.
- Whether the water problem is connected to the land push.