In the novel, the planet Athos is an all-male colony with a self-sustaining economy that is virtually independent of interstellar trade. Called a "monastery" planet by Bujold, it had been settled some 200 years earlier as a sanctuary away from women, who have since become mythologized as "demonic" due to the "madness" they cause in men. With the planetary religion and ideology supporting this single-sex structure, all incoming information is screened so that all references to — and images of — women are removed. Athos is remote, and physical contact with the rest of human civilization is limited to an annual interstellar census courier that brings information, supplies and the rare immigrant.