Underneath Ahsonov's new tyranny, laws were written and removed by a sole governing body: the single administrator. ACTs refer to clusters of laws. Below is a detailed description, along with historical public opinion, of "ACTS", a term relating to a massive group of legislative changes that changed Stem City in major ways.
Ahsonov's SILENCE ACT wiped out the once-free STEMNET and gave Stem Tower the legal right to do whatever it desired across Stem Island. It revoked the council's old laws that gave citizens the right to protest, speak freely, practice religion openly, and have privacy within their own homes.
Religious settlements, libraries, local press groups, and groups of homes were burned, groups of rebels were slaughtered, and most off-worlders were siphoned into enclosed sections of the city under the guise of conspiracy.
Any inkling of rebellion against the new, oppressive laws resulted in the city slaughtering dozens.
Ahsonov's NATIVE PRIORITY ACT made a definitive legal distinction between the native Stem Rams and any off-world-originating alien. The modern-day term "Noble" originates from the way Ahsonov's texts referred to Native Stem Rams and their rights.
Off-worlders had practically all remaining rights removed: they lost the ability to own land, the minimum Marks wage was changed to a pitiful zero, and to express an opinion for any off-world group or nation meant fines followed by forceful deportation. Immigration into Stem City was banned.
A specific chunk of Stem City was stolen from the majority of the off-worlder housed there population and given to Ahsonov's loyalists. Construction reforms were made in the sector to make it more luxurious to live in when compared to the rest of the crumbling land. Even the minority of Stem Ram families that hated Ahsonov came flocking to the proposition.
This ACT stated only nobles could enter the newly reformed education system, and all the schools in the city were demolished. A megaplex of knowledge placed smackdab in the middle of the new noble neighborhood became the only hub of education. Stem Rams became the only ones allowed to request things from the Nexus and host .STEM sites.
If anybody was found to be too far from Stem Tower's domain, the law would hunt them down and terminate them. Lawmen spent the next few decades building Stem City's now-iconic wall that marked the borders of the city for its prisoners.
This ACT also introduced the quarterly noble Ahsonov Ball.
After ten years, most off-worlders stayed watched as the once prosperous city became taken over by opportunistic rams. The off-worlders that stayed were mostly native families that had nowhere to return to or those that still considered this hell better than whatever was in the outer universe.
The third ruler's DIGITALIZE ACT established The Complex as a way to give Stem Tower more control over the Marks' value. 98% of all physical Marks gold ingots were forced from people's homes and stored inside The Complex. Markcards were given out to both nobles and off-worlders at the Nexus. The cards were effectively IDs and wallets baked into one item. Cheap Markcard processing technology was offered by Stem Tower so companies could get in line with the economy's new direction.
Many skeptical citizens who didn't give up their ingots were enticed by a promised addition to their Markcard account if they did so.
The wealthy nobles despised this new regulation. It was tiresome to even deal with such a thing. Yet, the state did not budge on any of their demands. Time marched on.
The third ruler's ABANDON ACT was released after 20 years of The Shroom Shade terrorist group growing increasingly violent in their demands of off-worlders to be given more equal rights. It is now legal for off-worlders to claim ownership of any land.
Off-worlders grasped at whatever straws they could for some semblance of control over their lives. Many off-world families managed to secure property, renovating it to the best of their abilities with whatever scrap they could buy from the Nexus.
The comfortable nobles couldn't stand the audacity of this change in the city's power dynamics. In protest, dozens of apartment owners planned to raise their rent until Stem Tower reverted this change. Hundreds became homeless due to the unreasonable demands put forward. Stem Tower never backed down on its change in fear of The Shroom Shade's response.
The fourth ruler's SURVIVE ACT was released only 10 years after the ABANDON ACT. It was created because The Shroom Shade demanded affordable shelter for the off-world population. A fine balance was struck by the city to appease both groups: apartment owners now had a cap on what they could charge based on the size of the room. The more spiteful and greedy nobles kept their prices high; the small group of intelligent nobles lowered their prices to be affordable to get ahead of their competition.
While many off-worlders could now afford places to stay, not much else was on their plates. Even the cheaper apartments practically squeezed their Markcards dry. The Shroom Shade still viciously demanded more rights.
The fourth ruler's SAFETY ACT criminalized many specific terrorism and conspiracy-related practices. Stem Tower offered a hefty Marks payment for anybody who brought forward any valid information regarding terrorists and conspirators.
The Shroom Shade turned on itself within weeks. Just as the current ruler planned, the terrorist group broke down as selfishness and paranoia poisoned their ranks. The payouts to the snitches were well worth it.
The fifth ruler's OPEN ACT was made in response to a declining birth rate, no new businesses forming, and a record-high suicide rate. Seeing the dire straits Stem City was in resulted in the passing of this ACT. Off-world immigration was allowed for the first time since before Ahsonov's time, along with the legalization of off-world entertainment and religion. Many basic rights were still restricted for the immigrant off-worlders, but it was a start.
Long-lasting off-worlder families threw parties, celebrating. The delusional nobles were livid. While no major protests were organized due to the desired economic boost, they didn't enjoy the future this painted for their vice grip over Stem City's economy.
The seventh ruler's UNITY ACT was enacted after swarms of immigrants formed socially disrupting protests. It took a lot of time to rewrite Ahsonov's old laws, but the seventh eventually removed the legislation stating any difference in rights and treatment between Stem Rams and off-worlders.
Seeing the chaos that had come from the OPEN ACT, most of the most influential nobles of the time had predicted this. They kept as much control as they possibly could, keeping Stem City's population stuck under their economic oppression for as long as possible. However, they were now on their own.
Lord Frie IX of Stems published the STABILITY ACT. It gave Stephill Frie's company, BACKBONE INDUSTRY, several rights penned in order to assist Stem Tower in managing the Stem City economy. It had several facets: BACKBONE INDUSTRY became a middleman in deciding what supply requests the Nexus would end up accepting, it rewarded business owners with a large sum of Marks if they sold their company and land to BACKBONE INDUSTRY, and it gave BACKBONE INDUSTRY the exclusive right to hire people to work in Stem Tower's Marks gold mines.
The horrible future was apparent to Stem City's more business-savvy nobility: BACKBONE INDUSTRY grew to dominate many major markets in Stem City as desperate off-worlders and struggling nobles sold old property to them for additional Marks. Food, housing, trash, and even more soon fell under Frie's monopolistic control. Any Nexus requests that were not its own had an incredibly difficult time squeezing through, causing countless smaller businesses to crumble from lack of supplies. The once powerful noble class began to struggle under the oppressive hands of Stephill Frie.
Lord Frie IX of Stem's WHISPER ACT was published. It allowed for citizens to bring in photo or audio evidence to Stem Tower, and if the evidence was deemed valid enough to incriminate, then the citizen would be paid handsomely by BACKBONE INDUSTRY and would be awarded fame on that week's STEMNET news.
This ACT only helped cement BACKBONE INDUSTRY's foothold within the legal system for the foreseeable future. Rates of imprisonment increased as desperate people sold each other out.
Blema Von Voldark's WHISPER ACT ADDENDUM was penned. It modified the previous details of the Whisper ACT to remove all of BACKBONE INDUSTRY's involvement, replace their previous roles with Stem Tower again, and increase the Marks payout.
Some of BACKBONE INDUSTRY's competitors liked the direction this was taking. Beyond that, not many cared. It still felt hopeless.
Blema Von Voldark's SOFTEN ACT was penned. It criminalized owning projectile-based weapons of any kind and offered lucrative monetary rewards for those that either desired to exchange theirs in or used the WHISPER ACT's legal inclusions to report them.
Off-worlders and nobles alike started submitting and snitching. Thousands of weapons were handed over to Stem Tower. Many refused to part with theirs and hid them. Lawmen were fast acting on any reports and caught hundreds of citizens attempting to withhold.
Blema Von Voldark's WALL ACT was penned. Responding to both the constant protests that occurred during Lord Frie's rule and the growing misery under BACKBONE INDUSTRY'S monopoly, the WALL ACT installed a checkpoint for Stem City citizens that allowed them to exit out into the Fungal Plains via lift; It was now no longer a capital offense to merely step outside Stem City's walls.
Families left the horrible conditions of Stem City and ventured out to create their bastions of civilization. The highest class of nobles were furious as their profits dropped across the board and their power was threatened. BACKBONE INDUSTRY CEO Stephill Frie was hit incredibly hard by this.
Blema Von Voldark's UNRESTRICT ACT was penned. It legalized many previously criminal acts: drugs, sex work, and bounty hunting were the major ones. Once black market businesses boomed, the economy of Stem City's lower class boomed.
Those that remained in Stem City had heavily split opinions. Though thousands were unhappy with these crude and destructive practices becoming legal, many were simply happy to see the local economy explode. Jobs that the noble class had never invested in started hiring like crazy, with better-paying jobs becoming available.
The middle- and high-class nobles came to despise Blema Von Voldark. From many's perspective, she seemed hellbent on tearing them from their historical pillar of power.
Blema Von Voldark's DECENTRALIZE ACT was penned. It revoked BACKBONE INDUSTRY's control over the Nexus, exclusive Marks gold mining jobs, and removed the bonus for business owners selling their companies to them. It also introduced a slave market for off-world companies to come in and buy The Complex's prisoners.
BACKBONE INDUSTRY stirred up a massive shitstorm over this. The disgruntled noble class followed behind Frie, despite him being the oppressor in the past. Several large family-owned conglomerates, such as the Von Solstars and Von Voldarks, came together with Stephill Frie to form the Great Nobles Union in protest.
For the next several years, the union worked together to make the common off-worlder's life in Stem City a living hell by jacking up all the prices they could. Homeless rates doubled, and migration out to the Outlands seemed like the best bet for most people.
Blema Von Voldark's MONOPOLY ACT was penned. The act contained laws intended to crush the GNU and its movement. She broke up all of the major three companies' property and held auctions in the Ahsonov ballroom, selling them off to the younger middle-class noble businessmen who couldn't get their feet in Stem City's game due to the horrid grip the family conglomerates held over the city's real estate.
Every auction came with a thinly veiled message directed at the GNU: If anybody messed with her city's way of life like this ever again, she'd screw them up worse than she did these poor saps.
Stem City's wider economy transitioned rapidly from monopolies bullying smaller businesses to one where everybody had to compete with everybody. The wealthier corporations held some dominance, but it was only a mere fraction of their previous influence.
A decently sized group of nobles still detested Blema, not being fans of her barbaric tactics. The budding noble business owners and off-worlders approved of this choice overall. The city's economy was back on track, and life for the common citizen became decently affordable for the first time in a long, long time.