The single ruler who has single control over all internal and external affairs has no single title. Most legislation refers to them as "Stem Tower's Administrator", though most citizens use the informal term "ruler" or, in a negative connotation, "dictator" to refer to the person, currently or formerly, tasked with running Stem Island from within Stem Tower's confines.
The next ruler is directly chosen by the current ruler and announced shortly before they take power. If the ruler were to pass away without choosing a next kin, then the Nexus manager would be promoted to the role. The cult, Stem's Origin, carefully picks the next ruler to be initiated and trains them for years before they're presented to the public.
A cruel and ambitious man who had sociopathic malice born from spite.
Decades worth of machinations involving streams of propaganda and false flags resulted in several anti-off-worlder terrorist attacks and riots that took place between XX445 and XX450. These riots would lead to the coup that saw Count Ahsonov the Great assume total power over Stem City. He demolished the Council of 12 and enacted Stem Tower's dictatorship.
He remodeled Stem City's more democractic into a secretly theocratic, openly totalitarian state. His SILENCE and NATIVE PRIORITY acts caused a massive economic and social class divide within Stem City's native and alien species. He erected up Stem City's walls with the intent to keep everybody under Stem Tower's watchful eye. In modern-day Stem City, the scars of his old actions mark the city. Off-world immigration was completely disallowed.
Ahsonov is the only Stem City ruler to have ever left Stem Island. He did it to personally order a massive restocking of updated Lawmen from LAWCORP.
During his time, he was loved by the Stem Ram loyalists and despised by the remaining off-worlders. The lower class let out sighs of relief when it was publicly announced that he had died.
In the modern day, his name is only mentioned in noble history books. Though his memory has all but faded away from the general populace, the class divide he created still rages to this day.
A sleazy businessman enticed by the promise of riches.
The second ruler kept turning Ahsonov's wheel of tyranny and suppressing the masses. In an attempt to obtain more power over all Stem City citizens, the second's tower penned Operation COMPLEX which would soon result in the DIGITALIZATION ACT.
A young orphan who found himself lost down a dark street.
The third ruler's early completion of Operation COMPLEX, thus setting the DIGITALIZATION ACT in stone, left most of the populace with a bad impression from the beginning. The Shroom Shade and the third ruler's trouble dealing with their demands led to the ABANDON ACT. This resulted in the noble class viewing him unfavorably and protesting accordingly through economic protests. The off-worlders saw him only a smidge more favorably afterwards.
XX820's Shroom's Academy paints him as the one who modernized Stem City's Marks system from crude ingots to simplistic cards. While he did finish this plan, history is misleading. The second was the one who penned the entire DIGITALIZATION ACT, the third was simply the one who put it into action.
A vindictive gambler low on luck. The dice were rolled, and he ascended farther than those who had used him.
The fourth ruler's SURVIVE ACT was quickly released to deal with The Shroom Shade's still violent demands. It slowly defused the noble's rent protests against the ABANDON ACT while stabilizing the lower class' living situation. As the decades went on, the fourth grew to hate The Shroom Shade as their activities became deadlier and deadlier. The SAFETY ACT splintered the terrorists' resolve. By the time the fifth administrator had arrived at Stem Tower, the rebellion had all but dissolved.
Nobles were disgruntled with the fourth until the SAFETY ACT, in which their public opinion raised significantly. Numberous off-world citizens appreciated the SURVIVE ACT and the future it appeared to paint for them. The Shroom Shade's downfall was long, and many ex-members of the group grew to despise the fourth. A few assassination plots were planned. None of them succeeded due to mysterious circumstances.
A sympathetic artist at heart driven wild by divine visions.
The fifth ruler had to save the depressing, dying city he cared so fondly for. It took him decades to work out all the details, but soon enough, the OPEN ACT was released. New life poured into the city as desperate outer universe off-worlders migrated in with fresh ideas and fresh beliefs.
At the time, the poor off-worlder families held marvelous community celebrations over the OPEN ACT. As expected, the noble class hated the fifth. Though there were no major protests like in the past due to the new blood giving much-needed and desired economic growth, the nobles were awaiting the day to come in which the playing field was corrected again.
Modern noble education paints the fifth as nothing more than an apathetic man who only passed the OPEN ACT due to The Shroom Shade. The truth was that The Shroom Shade had been gone for 15 years when the OPEN ACT was passed. In off-worlder circles, his name is sometimes used as a term for bad people who do good things.
A diseased old lady trying to return to the world she grew up in.
Often bedridden due to a horrid heart disease, the sixth desired to undo the OPEN ACT out of a hatred for the off-worlders flooding her city. During Ahsonov Balls, she held a wide range of polls in an attempt to gauge the preferred way of doing so. Her grandiose plan was to construct the nobility's dream of an ACT after 30 years of ruling.
Growing protests for the rights of off-worlders mounted during her period. She ignored them.
Her chronic illness spiked in XX708, taking her life swiftly. Her Nexus manager at the time replaced her, as Ahsonov's law dictated. Nobles mourned the loss; off-worlders cared less.
Within Shroom's Academy, she is scarcely mentioned due to her lack of executive action during her rule.
An intellectual man who advocated for all.
XX710's UNITY ACT removed the noble and off-world specifications from within Stem City's laws. Off-worlders were given rights. Much of the seventh's following career was hastily putting out small fires caused by this massive societal change. In the end, everything seemed to come out alright.
Nobles, predictably, weren't the happiest. However, the most powerful families had foreseen this change coming based on the first speeches delivered by the seventh. Off-worlders loved the man. An impromptu week-long city-wide parade was held in celebration.
The seventh is remembered fondly by those he helped. The noble's tainted academy textbooks paint him out as a selfish and foolish individual.
A hurt man who held family blood and tradition far too close.
A more stereotypically conservative ruler who focused on rearranging off-world companies' Nexus deals until he passed the STABILITY and WHISPER ACTS halfway through his term. Though these seemed innocent to the average noble business owner, the extremely business savvy quickly realized that Lord Frie had elevated his brother's company to an economically unique position.
During Ahsonov Balls, he denied that his brother would do anything for his fair city. As the economy descended due to Stephill's BACKBONE INDUSTRIES abusing its special power, off-worlders demanded the ability to leave the city's walls and, thus, its economy. Lord Frie held his ground, foolishly subjecting all to the hubris of Stephill Frie's growing monopoly.
Nobles grew to passionately despise the legal nepotism within Stem Tower. Off-worlders quickly fell into deeper poverty. Lord Frie is remembered by most as a foolish, stubborn man who could not appeal to either group under Stem Tower's care.
A broken girl who was played with by forces her blind eyes could not see.
The ninth ruler has done a lot in a short amount of time. The WHISPER ACT ADDENDUM, SOFTEN ACT, WALL ACT, UNRESTRICT ACT, and DECENTRALIZE ACT were all penned within her first years. Guns taken, walls torn, sinful acts legalized, nepotistic monopolies dethroned. Both social classes were shaken by seemingly ill-thought-out and short sighted laws.
The higher class of nobles, including the cruel Stephill Frie, formed the GNU and attempted to destroy the city's economy in protest. It took her quite some time to get to the growing chaos given the complications behind the scenes, but she eventually resolved it by tearing apart the largest company monopolies in Stem City history and auctioning off their property amongst the nobles via the MONOPOLY ACT.
Early on in her rule, nobles hated her with a burning passion as her chaotic legislative changes not only rose the lower classes up, but gave them the option to leave the noble's established influence all together. Off-worlders found themselves a tad more favorable towards her due to her WALL ACT, UNRESTRICT ACT, AND DECENTRALIZE ACT.
However, her strange inaction following the GNU's creation hurt her public image within the city. Her legalization of dangerous, previously underground markets was a controversial choice that had many nobles and off-worlders' alike worried. The streets became far more dangerous as drugs and gangs that peddle them became far more rampant. For the first time in a long time, the noble birth rate has declined due to both higher drug use and economic instabilities.