Spouse Trade Treaty

The Spouse Trade Treaty was an agreement struck between Grad and the West United Islands of Grad, when they became such. Historically, the islands had a problem with inbreeding due to the small population and local weather conditions rendering sea travel beyond the island group very risky. Grad’s nautical technology, very advanced for the time (and core to the success of their conquests), meant they did not have the same problems travelling to and from the islands.   In exchange for coming under Grad’s rule, the West United Islands were supplied with new breeding stock, in the form largely of people that Grad wanted rid of anyway; troublemakers and prisoners, supplemented with excess slaves and a few volunteers looking for a new life. These people were promised freedom on the islands provided they met the terms of the treaty—namely, that their purpose was to be the spouse of a local and provide them with children. As long as they did this and did not make trouble on the islands, they were left to fulfil that role in peace.   This treaty continued for centuries, even enduring Grad’s being overthrown by one of its own territories. When Sorgrad’s revolution put them in charge, they kept the agreement but amended the details. After initially disposing of their remaining enemies (those who had not been executed) by sending them to the islands, the new approach entailed two new traditions. Sorgrad’s ultra-patriarchic culture meant that many daughters were often unwanted and there was a huge problem with baby girls being abandoned. These girls were sent to the islands to be raised by local families, with the end goal of her marrying a local man.   The other new tradition came out of the envy that many wealthy Sorgrad men had for other countries in which polygamy was legal. Sorgrad legalised the practise under very precise circumstances, the logistics carefully planned. It became a common practise for a nobleman in Sorgrad to live with his primary family most of the year, but for one or two months annually, travel to the West United Islands and spent it with his second wife there. In both circumstances, detailed records were kept, to avoid any incidents of accidental incest.   These traditions mostly died out with the invention, centuries later, of air travel. The islanders can now easily travel oversees to find spouses for themselves, which has led to a new rite of passage largely replacing the old traditions. Although the law permitting polygamy with a West United Islands woman still stands, those who seek to take advantage of it are now largely refused since the women of the island are now free to choose a husband for whom she is not an optional extra; newer legislation protects them from being forced into marriage against her will. While the tightening of legislation concerning child abandonment means the practise is much rarer now, those few victims are still sent to the West United Islands, their future being deemed happier there than if they were raised in a city orphanage.