For the first quarter-century on the islands, the survivors lived in a state of fractured anarchy. It wasn't until the Great Ash Fall of '95—which Lucas claimed was a divine warning—that he was able to push aside the old leadership and establish these commandments as the supreme law of the Twin Islands.
The Post-1995 Context: This was Lucas's way of ending the "free-loading" era. He argued that the islands' survival during the ash fall was a loan from the Fire God, and every hour of labor since is interest paid on that debt.
The Post-1995 Context: Before 1995, the islands were a cacophony of arguments and old-world debates. This pillar was designed to surgically remove the "Founding Council's" voice, leaving Lucas as the only recognized authority.
The Post-1995 Context: This was the definitive move that ended the civil unrest. Lucas ordered all salvaged metal from the 1970 wreck to be surrendered to his "Iron Guard." Anyone caught with a hidden blade after the Iron Requisition of '96 was banished to the Makeshift Prison. There are some people on the island that have an exception from Lucas.
The Post-1995 Context: By 1995, the hope for rescue had turned into a poison. Lucas used this pillar to "cure" the community's depression by forcing them to accept that the outside world was gone. It turned the islands from a prison into a sanctuary in the minds of the followers.
The Post-1995 Context: This pillar replaced the old democratic "town hall" meetings. Instead of public debate, Lucas instituted private "Hearth Confessions," turning every citizen into a potential informant for the newly formed Iron Guard.
The Gilded Five (the 2014 survivors) arrived nearly 20 years after these laws were written. To them, the Pillars feel like ancient, unchangeable laws of nature, whereas the old survivors from 1970 remember when they were just a desperate power-grab by a charismatic preacher.