I'm loving the ideas here that I'm reading. Have to agree about some sort of warning that two prospective mates are related too closely. Having a parent mate with a child is pretty ecchh! Same with brother-sister matches. Also have to agree that mothers should get more parenting points for raising the child than the father gets for just engendering that child. And yes, yes, yes to the idea of different races for the island.

If the idea for a trade store doesn't work out, how about some sort of central community building that can be entered and changed/decorated as desired with tech points?