Appendix IV: About Purity Island

This is the paper that Amy wrote about Purity Island, the reason she knows so much about the place and the reason that Andrew chose to send her there after kidnapping her.

Amy Cameron
Social Studies 11
Ms. Kenfield—4th Period

PURITY ISLAND

I. THE SETTLING OF PURITY ISLAND

Over a century ago, at the height of the Subling Rights Movement, there was widespread resistance to the movement’s goals among some toppers. There were major protests by toppers at the time of the repeal of the Subling Identification Law, which had required all job seekers to prove that they were toppers and were therefore legally entitled to seek gainful employment, and the simultaneous passage of legislation making it legal for sublings to work for pay. These actions by the government had resulted from pressure by large corporations wishing to hire sublings for their lowest-paying jobs: They had determined it was more efficient to pay wages than to buy sublings as slaves. The leaders of the Subling Rights Movement had reassured the topper-voters that the conversion of sublings to thanerone was not an issue, and would continue as always. Based on that assurance, a narrow majority of toppers had approved the new law. But a sizeable minority of toppers were opposed to the new laws, for two reasons:

(1) Many toppers were afraid that they no longer could count on job security, and that a subling would replace them.

(2) A somewhat larger number of toppers were philosophically opposed to any change in the relationship between toppers and sublings.

Over the next few years, toppers in the first group saw that sublings were being hired for the type of menial tasks that toppers mostly didn’t want. It took several decades for sublings in the work force to start looking for higher-paying jobs. By that time the toppers had come to accept sublings as natural co-workers rather than competitors.

The toppers in the second group, however, remained adamant that it was morally and ethically wrong for a subling to be treated as equal to a topper. They believed that the ancients had always understood that sublings exist to serve toppers, both as labor and as a source of thanerone. That distinction was sacred to them; erasing it was an affront to the ancients and showed callous disregard for many centuries of inherited wisdom. The most vocal members of this category formed a counter-movement of their own, calling it the Subling purity Movement (SPM). They held that the highest purposes of subling existence were being tainted by being mixed with topper values.

There is evidence that many of the leaders of the SPM had allowed their slaves to wear clothes up until this time. But their resistance to a changing world led them to believe that letting sublings wear clothes had led directly to sublings masquerading as toppers to gain access to privileges legally denied them. They decided that his was the reason for the passage of the Subling Identification Law at the outset of the Subling Rights Movement. The SPM consequently declared that the wearing of clothes by sublings was an unmitigated evil, a primary reason for the disruption of traditional values, a disruption that they deplored. Setting sublings free of slavery, to pursue goals of their own in life, was an even greater evil, to be fought with all of the energy the SPM possessed.

Members of the SPM staged a number of demonstrations in the decade following the new laws governing subling rights. Generally these remained peaceful, though their leaders were occasionally arrested when the demonstrations went beyond the accepted boundaries of orderly assembly.

At last the highest ranking members of the SPM saw that the battle to maintain their values in a changing world was being lost. They decided that an exodus was in order. One hundred fifteen years ago, eight hundred SPM members (now calling themselves the “Purists”), and their slaves, established a permanent settlement on Parmola Island, renaming it Purity Island.

Those remaining were less committed. The remains of the SPM on the mainland gradually withered away. It ceased to operate as an identifiable organization less than ten years after its leaders left.

II. GEOGRAPHY OF PURITY ISLAND

Purity Island, about two hundred miles southwest of the continental coast, was created by earthquake activity many thousands of years ago. It is oval in shape, measuring about fifteen miles west to east, and forty miles north to south. A ridge of rocky hills runs along its center, north to south, reaching altitudes up to about five hundred feet. Lower lands on either side slope gently toward the eastern and western shores.

The island is located just south of the Tropic of Cancer, so it is quite warm and very humid. It has measurable rainfall nearly every day, heaviest from early spring through late summer. There is an abundance of fruit trees, particularly those bearing what are now called “Purity peaches”—a variety that grows only on that one island.

Before being settled by the Purists, Parmola Island was known to be the home of a small native population. Little is known about how they lived, except that they were not far removed from a stone-age society. The island didn’t have much in the way of natural resources, so its inhabitants were left alone by our ancestors.

The coming of the Purists was a disaster for the native population. The natives outnumbered the Purists at first, but didn’t have modern weapons. There are no reliable records of the battle for control of the island, but evidence today suggests that very few of the natives are left. It is possible that they have been absorbed by, and interbred with, the Purists.

As is often the case with reactionary movements, the Purists were mostly not well off economically. They had not brought nearly enough slaves with them, and they would soon have faced serious health issues from an inadequate supply of thanerone ... The purists’ solution was simple: they killed off nearly all the native toppers, and enslaved the sublings. Then they established breeding farms which soon yielded more than enough sublings for their purposes.

III. INTERACTIONS OF PURITY ISLAND WITH THE MAINLAND

Early expeditions to meet with the settlers on Purity Island were turned away, usually with heavy casualties, until the settlers’ supply of ammunition ran low. At that point, it became possible to talk to the Purists and reassure them that no one on the mainland had any intention of evicting them from the island, challenging them for its control, nor in any way interfering with their way of life—the mainlanders simply wanted to see whether trade relations could be established. In time, negotiations succeeded in inaugurating a regular trade.

Although the Purists’ weapons were no longer useable, they never expressed interest in restocking their supply of ammunition. They had already hunted all large animals and exterminated or enslaved their native competition. As a result, the Purists no longer felt any need for guns.

Eventually a cycle of trade was established; the mainland provided metalware for slaves (chains, collars, etc.) and other metal tools, spices, and alcoholic beverages—especially wine. The settlers had a taste for fruity beverages that would not make them drunk too quickly. In return, the Purists could offer two things to the mainland: (1) Purity peaches, and (2) the herb that provides fertility drugs used in many breeding farms.

These fertility drugs are far superior to those used use before Purity Island was settled. The drugs come from an herb that grows only on Purity Island. When the Purists moved in, they found that the natives had been using the drugs for centuries, and promptly turned it into a cash crop. Attempts to grow the herbs on the mainland have failed. Scientists have speculated some burrowing insect native to the island is needed for the herb to grow properly.

The island will probably be the sole source of modern fertility drugs for the foreseeable future. The Onderman Corporation(s), using its early huge profits from the sale of the drugs to line the pockets of legislators, was able to obtain a government-licensed monopoly on trade with Purity Island. Onderman has subcontracted out the wine, spice, peach, and metalware trade, but handles the drug trade itself. Because of the monopoly, nobody can legally trade with Purity Island, except by arrangement with Onderman or a special license from the government. It’s cheaper for Onderman to manufacture the drug using better-educated workers on the mainland; they simply import the herb from the island.

Aside from trade, the island’s only other contact with the mainland consists of occasional visits by teams of mainland anthropologists. They are tolerated as long as they come in small numbers, conduct their studies unobtrusively, and make no attempt to force their values on the settlers. While on the island, members of a study team are targets of suspicion and constant vigilance, but not, in recent years, violence.

The very first such expedition was some fifty years ago. It was funded by three universities, and made the serious error of including among its members a subling undergraduate: Linsay Parton, the student of one of the anthropology professors leading the expedition. The Purists did not realize Ms. Parton was a subling: it never occurred to the Purists that a subling might be clothed, or act as an equal with toppers. When, at last, Ms. Parton was identified as a subling, the Purists became immediately upset and charged that he was “pretending to be a topper.” They separated him from the rest of the university team as he cried out for help, and took him away, detailing a rear guard to fight off the rest of the party when they attempted to follow. The rest of the team did eventually manage to advance far enough in pursuit to find the shredded remains of Ms. Parton’s clothes discarded in a clearing nearby, but were soon forced to leave the island by angry settlers.