>>31113317>it should be pretty underdeveloped so it can't support a mainland invasionYeah. In lore the island is pretty much a soft-power mercantile hub - /meat/lite Island; A small piece of /meat/ culture with a friendly face.
1. If any Holo civ wants to trade for exotic goods, they can go there for cocoa, glassworks, potteries, trinkets of /meat/ culture. It's also the place to get even more forbidden materials like non-perishable human based products (gall ointment, oils, blood-bone meal fertilizer).
2. Cultists in nearby regions (/kfp/, /wah/, /ggg/ etc) go there for religious matters. For the clergy-agents it's an intel network bureaucratic center, and for civilians it's a resupply depot for pilgrims on their way to /meat/ proper.
3. Visitors intrigued about /meat/ culture can get their babby's first ryona experience.
Hot wax, piercings, blood bread, nothing too extreme4. It helps maintain the 'raid'n'trade' policy. By having a beacon of 'if we become friends we'll stop raiding you and you can buy even more goods'