I didn't say it would work! I just said I half-expect them to declare it.
Depends on how the party approaches it. If they take a "live and let live" approach towards the Prince, the Prince may be willing to let them have their little fiefdom but prepare to pull them back under his control when necessary. If they go full antagonistic towards the Prince, he will pull out the stops to... fix the situation.More seriously, I'm not sure this is a strict loss for the Prince. It's not as good a win as putting a more loyal servant on the throne, but it's still somebody likely in their debt.
At the moment, I anticipate the Prince will expect them to hold College Town in his name. Whether that happens by them overtly turning it over to him once they have control or they take control and the Prince just treats them like they are his vassals will be determined in-game.I mean, you also need to decide how obvious the Prince wants their rule to be.
Huh... That could work.
That is where I was going with the Prince sending a Baron to oversee College Town once it is under control. The Baron runs the day-to-day, but reports to the Prince.Actually, feudalism might be a good model for this situation. The people at the top have a claim to a large territory, but they can't control all of it directly themselves.