Power That Lives on Your Floor
Block Councils are the closest thing Commonwealth City has to face-to-face authority.
They govern individual megablocks, housing clusters, or tightly bound residential corridors within Stackside. Their power is not abstract. It is personal, immediate, and enforced by people who live next door.
The City guarantees housing.
Block Councils decide what living there actually means.
They are not gangs.
They are not bureaucrats.
They are neighbors with jurisdiction.
Block Councils emerged organically during the City’s early stabilization period, when centralized governance proved too slow to resolve day-to-day conflicts inside dense residential structures.
Noise disputes.
Augment malfunctions.
Domestic violence.
Resource hoarding.
Reputation conflicts that escalated faster than city response times.
Waiting days for civic arbitration was not survivable.
So residents organized.
What began as informal mediation groups hardened into elected councils with enforcement arms, community defense teams, and internal codes of conduct.
The City recognized them retroactively.
It had no better option.
No two Block Councils are identical.
Locally elected representatives
Community defense collectives
Reputation tracking (formal or informal)
Fast, decisive judgment processes
Some councils are civic-minded and transparent.
Others are authoritarian, insular, or openly violent.
Legitimacy comes from acceptance, not law.
Loyalty outweighs legality
Outsiders are tolerated, not trusted
Reputation spreads faster than records
Justice must be seen to be immediate
A council that hesitates loses control.
Block Councils do not arrest people.
They make life unlivable.
Access restrictions within the block
Social ostracism
Service denial through informal channels
Community defense “interventions”
Forced relocation requests
Most conflicts never reach city authorities.
By the time they do, outcomes are already decided.
To Stackside residents, Block Councils are reality.
They:
Resolve problems faster than the City
Protect locals from outside exploitation
Enforce norms people actually care about
To civic officials, they are a necessary headache.
To activists, they are both:
Proof of community self-governance
Evidence of localized tyranny
The City officially recognizes Block Councils.
It unofficially fears them.
Assembly Secretariat: Constant friction. Local rulings often die in procedural review.
Civic Systems Authority (CSA): Adversarial. Optimization clashes with lived experience.
Patchwork Clinic Network: Frequent allies. Clinics survive because councils protect them.
Maintenance Corps: Quiet cooperation. Both keep people alive.
Freeholders: Occasional overlap. Ideological fractures can turn violent.
Players encounter Block Councils when law becomes local.
A council enforces a brutal but popular rule
A newcomer is targeted for violating unwritten norms
Two councils dispute a shared corridor
A council is infiltrated by external interests
Community justice crosses into atrocity
Players may:
Mediate disputes before violence erupts
Challenge a council’s legitimacy
Become enforcers, negotiators, or scapegoats
Exploit council rivalries for access or protection
Block Councils respect people who commit to the block.
They punish those who treat it as a temporary stop.
Every Block Council eventually fractures.
Civic Idealists want fairness and transparency
Hardliners believe fear keeps people safe
Survivors only care that tomorrow is quieter than today
When councils fail, they fail fast.
And when they fall, something worse often replaces them.
Block Councils are not a flaw in the Unowned City.
They are a consequence.
When survival is guaranteed but dignity is negotiated, power collapses downward—to hallways, stairwells, and shared walls.
The City governs millions.
Block Councils govern you.
And that makes them the most dangerous authority of all.