Founded in XX455 as part of the NATIVE PRIORITY ACT, Stem Tower is required to hold a ball at the end of each quarter. The ball is hosted for all nobles in a special dome-shaped ballroom placed in the center of the west sector. Dancing and drinking are not required but are very much incentivized. The security in place is extremely heavy; Lawman Type-2 and Lawairs deployed all around.
When the ball was first created, off-worlders were allowed to obtain work by acting as servants. The incredibly bigoted nobles of the time weren't fans of mingling with those they saw as lesser, all off-worlders officially banned from the ball. Security ramped down over the next couple of decades, now that any nosey off-worlders were escorted away instantly.
The Shroom Shade Revolts hit their peak at XX598's ball, where a team of masked off-worlders shot up the ball. The ruler at the time was heavily injured and reformed some long-standing policies. The scars from this event still echo over two centuries later, with this shooting forcing Stem Tower to get serious with security again.
Many nobles use this event as a way to network. Dozens of partnerships, business and romantic, have come from the ball.