In the Stem Island, 12 warring tribes of Stem Rams struggled to survive in the wild world. A religious 13th tribe called Stems based themselves in a heavily guarded settlement under the Grand Shroom in the Fungal Core. They went out and hunted the other tribes of Stem Rams before bringing them home and feeding them to the gluttonous stems.
This era came to an end as the 12 tribes banded together against their common enemy and raided Stems. They killed the cult's deity, beheaded their leader, and claimed Stems as a neutral ground that all were allowed to live on.
Under a group of 13 representatives known as the Council of 12, this era was marked by the Stems religion being flushed out of society and the previously warring tribes seeking peace. The Stems village expanded in population, and tribes mixed together. Over the next two centuries, Stems became the Fungal Plains' trading hub. Despite life still being harsh, the village's Council of 12 smoothed over any issues between the 12 tribes in an effort to retain harmony.
Several families that did not adhere to these developing ideas of peace ventured off from the Fungal Plains and into the Fungal Wastes to continue their primitive lifestyles.
The fanatical Stems cult was kept alive in secret. They continued to steal isolated Stem Rams and feed them to the Grand Shroom's stems. Every body let the stems grow longer. A plan was brewing.
XX190 marked the first appearance of The Volva. Every few months, one tribe's village would be burned. The soil would be cursed by the flames, unable to regrow any food. The 12 tribes were removed methodically, with the refugees moving to the Stems village. All the old tribal grounds were left razed, and The Volva descended upon Stems to take them out. In a public show, the original Stems cultists revealed themselves and banished The Volva.
Though many were still skeptical given the history, it had been a long enough time that many simply did not care as long as they discarded their violent practices. It was shortly after this reveal that the ends of the Grand Shroom spawned swirling green portals to the outer universe.
An otherworldly race appeared before the Council of 12. A quick explanation let the council know that the green wormholes The Grand Shroom manifested led to a wider universe outside of theirs. The group of powerful space monks sought to protect the Stem Rams from off-world groups. The less civilized rams did as they were told. Any off-world group that desired to utilize The Grand Shroom's land for their own found themselves warded away by their protectors. Dozens of friendly groups of aliens, referred to as locals by "off-worlders', settled to help the rams.
The Nexus, Stemrail system, and Stem Tower were built over the course of the next century by both the native Stem Rams and off-worlders. Its purpose was to allow previously opportunistic off-world groups to benefit from Stem Island's unique position as a wormhole hub. Stem City's Nexus traded for food, materials, and technology in exchange for letting these groups pass through.
A huge cultural boom took place during this era. Many religions, foreign media, and alien technology were spread amongst the previously isolated Stem Rams by the off-world population, which quickly grew to dwarf them in population percent. It was during this time that the village of Stems turned into Stem City.
Starting in XX415, the Stems cult, now renamed Stem's Origin to further hide from their past, grew in size as xenophobic Stem Rams joined their ranks. The group worked from the shadows to inject anti-off-worlder propaganda into the few majority Stem Ram communities. Their plans evolved from careful propaganda and passionate speeches into faking terrorist attacks done by off-worlders. This came to a head as the Council of 12 dealt with Stem Rams inciting acts of blind violence against off-worlders and their culture.
XX450 was when a popular Stem Ram figure known as Count Ahsononv the Great incited a coup against the Council of 12 in the name of reclaiming control of the Stem Rams' land. He took control of all of Stem Island.
Ahsonov's rule was a horrific one. He rewrote history in his image, destroyed the large off-worlder's rights and elevated the native Stem Ram's, deported or killed any that tried to protest, and instated a horrific dictatorship ruled by one. As the impoverished off-worlders were pushed down and the new class of nobles rose, the ruler worked with the high priestess to eliminate all Stem's Origin's cultists.
Nobles relentlessly terrorized those under them. Any settlement that was deemed "too far" from Stem Tower had their land burned and the settlers slaughtered to send a message to the rest. Immigration
The Era of Ahsononv ended, yet his NATIVE PRIORITY ACT had the intended effect of keeping the Era of Nobility extended far after he passed.
The Era of Nobility began the moment that Ahsononv made the legal distinction between the off-worlders and "noble" Stem Rams. For this entire Era, nobles were completely dominant in all aspects of the city's majority off-worlder populations' lives. Greed and pride stained their culture.
As centuries carried on, the nobles felt their harsh grasp over Stem City's society fading away. Each new ruler seemed to bend to the unrestful majority population and increasingly violent terrorists. Some form of protest was held by the nobles every time major ACTS were passed, but their efforts were futile to fight against the righteous march of time.
In XX710, Stem Tower removed any legal species distinctions by penning and enacting the UNITY ACT. That didn't mean the city's elite's systematic cruelty ended or the previously poor swiftly rose to overthrow them; it was now up to the nobles alone to defend their status.
The Era of Revival's beginning was marked by the ABANDON ACT passing. This era is marked by slow and painful justice for the passing generations of off-worlders. The Shroom Shade terrorist group whose violent actions had kicked off the era were long gone by the time the UNITY ACT had passed, their legacy utilized by swarms of newly immigrated, fierce off-worlders demanding justice.
Despite Stem Tower itself no longer oppressing them, the increasingly noble-dominated economy made it nigh-impossible to get anywhere economically beyond survivability. Protests sparked off-worlders crying out to have Stem City's walls drop so that they may build their own bubbles of influence away from the monopolistic nobility.
Their prayers were answered. Blema Von Voldark's WALL ACT allowed anybody to leave Stem City and make their way in the scarcely touched Fungal Plains. It took no time at all for settlements full of disgruntled, spiteful off-worlders to crop up. Any desperate nobles attempting to get into their spheres were almost always removed by the locals.
The Era of Revival came to an end as Blema published the UNRESTRICT ACT. Many frowned upon markets such as drugs, sex work, and bounty hunting as they became legal within Stem City's walls. The previously criminal groups of impoverished off-worlds partaking in these black markets rose up, snatching up all the new potential market share from interested nobles as fast as they could. The poor, in exchange for dirtier and more dangerous streets, received an economic boost from this whole incident that was able to put more food on their family's tables.
Some optimistic off-worlders believed that classism would, one day, fade away from Stem City.
Lord Frie's enactment of the STABILIZE ACT ended up giving Stephill Frie's BACKBONE INDUSTRIES huge control over all of Stem City's economy. The near-inpenetrable noble economy that had been a paradise for centuries started spiraling as small and large businesses alike would get their supply requests denied by the Nexus for seemingly illogical reasons. This was, of course, all according to Stephill Frie's plan.
This disaster resulted in loads of both smaller noble and off-worlder businesses selling their companies off to BACKBONE INDUSTRIES due to the Marks bonus they would get from doing so. The only ones who could keep afloat during this period were the other massive enterprises inside of Stem City, such as the Von Voldarks and Von Solstars. Blema Von Voldark put an end to the Frie's family control over the Nexus.
Blema's WALL ACT, UNRESTRICT, AND DECENTRALIZE ACTS resulted in the nobles, who were already suffering from a monopoly problem within their own, growing panicked as the historically pitiful off-worlder class inched closer to them. The beginning of Blema's era was marked by great impoverished prosperity, followed by the jacking up of prices across the city by the monopolistic hands of the GNU and its followers. Great numbers of off-worlders left for the recently opened Outlands.
The MONOPOLY ACT caused the monopoly that the GNU was to break and for countless middle-class nobles to buy up their auctioned-off property. As a new hypercompetitive market was born from the splitting of wealth across the noble class, the average Stem City citizen's quality of life greatly increased.
Blema’s recently opened Outlands saw the profession of Stemrail raiding exponentially grow over the course of time. Aided by Stem City's criminal underground, the Nexus' trains were pillaged by crews looking for both money and infamy in the Outlands. Unbeknownst to the population of Stem Island, this growing profession cost Stem City a lot more than lost supplies. Its off-world food suppliers pulled out after their valuable Stemrail cargo was stolen one too many times by the lawless settlements.
As Stem Island's soil was not made for mass agriculture of any kind, the Nexus had to empty its vault and funnel large amounts of funds from The Complex's savings in order to keep up with the food demand in Stem City. The reason that it was so expensive was because buying directly from the outer galaxy's off-world companies was generally far more expensive than the centuries old payment contracts between the major off-world food suppliers and the Council of 12. If Stem City's unstable economy were to fall, society would crash with it, and mass famine and unrest would surely follow.