Fifty Shades of Purple

Fifty Shades of Purple (originally published on the chatternet as Zealot of the Galaxy) is a 2563 human erotic novel by Martian author Z. N. Ophelia. It is the first installment in the Purple trilogy that depicts the interspecies romantic relationship between young Office of Naval Intelligence officer Violet Corcoran and Sangheili Zealot Perse 'Orkeed. It is notable for its depiction of not only interspecies romance, but romance across UNSC and former Covenant lines, in addition to heavy elements of BDSM (bondage and discipline, domination and submission, and sadism and masochism). The second and third volumes of the trilogy, Weapons of Purple and Vessels of Purple, were published in 2564.

Fifty Shades of Purple topped best-seller lists all over UEG-controlled space, including Earth and Mars, selling over 70 septillion copies. Critical response was mixed, with many decrying the book's perceived poor understanding of the English language. A holofilm adaptation produced by Morgan Terry-Weiss, of GlobeWar fame, was released in 2566.

Plot
Fifty Shades of Purple concerns a young woman named Violet "Vi" Corcoran, a junior artist of Section Two of the Office of Naval Intelligence, who becomes enamored of a visiting Sangheili Zealot, Perse 'Orkeed, who comes to her ONI base for diplomacy work. When her boss, Carmen Callahan, becomes injured, she sends Vi to conduct an interview with Perse in her stead.

Ill-prepared, Vi stumbles over her questions, accidentally insulting the Sangheili. Perse becomes angry but doesn't interpret her slight as a UNSC offense, merely a product of her own weakness. He takes control of the interview, guides Vi through the process, and then escorts her from the building. Though embarrassed, Vi finds herself attracted to Perse's take-charge attitude, and she impulsively asks him out to coffee. Perse turns her down, but he finds the offer intriguing.

The following week, human rebels aligned to the People's Occupation Government steer an explosive-filled bus into the ONI base. The resulting explosion kills several ONI officers and visiting Sangheili, but Perse is able to shove Vi out of the way of falling debris, saving her life. In an effort to calm the traumatized human, Perse then takes her to the cafeteria for coffee, and they end up bonding over tea. Perse indicates that he would like to spend more time with her, and he puts his contact information in her chatter.

The next day, Vi becomes troubled because of her feelings for Perse. She has to deal with two major taboos: feeling attraction to a being of another species, and feeling sympathy toward a member of the former Covenant, a soldier old enough to have fought in the Great War and decorated enough to have killed several hundred humans. She decides to get Perse off her mind by going out drinking with her male friend Jurou.

While intoxicated, she drunk-dials Perse to tell him she's found a good human replacement for him. Concerned by her state, Perse takes a private Seraph (incorrectly spelled as "Serif") to the grid location listed on her chatter. He arrives in time to see a drunken Jurou sexually assault Vi. He throws Jurou aside and takes Vi with him in his Seraph back to his ship, Reasonable Execution.

Vi sleeps off the alcohol and is subsequently delighted to see that Perse has surrounded her with gifts, including a new outfit that fits perfectly and an antique paper book of her favorite novel, Story of O. Perse says that he would like Vi to stay with him for companionship, but only in a specific power dynamic. A Sangheili simply cannot exist on the same level as a mere human. If Vi wants to be with him, she has to accept a role as his property and sign a contract declaring such. Vi is alarmed by this prospect and wishes to take things slow with Perse; Perse agrees, and they continue to meet as friends until Vi can reach a decision.

Eventually, Vi agrees to become Perse's slave, provided Perse agree to treat her well. They negotiate the contract over several weeks, mostly over chatter. When Vi teasingly expresses sexual attraction to Jurou, Perse disciplines her by spanking her with an energy paddle, an activity she finds sexually arousing through algolagnia, and she signs the contract.

Perse gives her one more night on Earth, in which he showers her with gifts and lets her experience the wonders her planet has to offer, before he takes her back to Sanghelios to introduce her to his family. Perse's family reacts to the interspecies union with disgust, but Perse assures Vi that they'll eventually accept her as one of their own--if on the level of a pet.

Indeed, Perse's brother Emme soon accepts Vi, and Perse asks him to be his support in an official bloodmating ceremony, here presented as a Sangheili ritual despite its Jiralhanae origin, to bind Vi's soul to his. The ceremony is performed, melding Perse's blood with Vi's, even though this is not actually safe in real life given their completely incompatible blood compositions. As Perse consummates his union with Vi, she thinks about her new life with absolute delight.

Background
Author Z. N. Ophelia, using the handle "Icecavern of Sunmagic", originally posted Fifty Shades of Purple to the chatternet as a derivation of existing novel Dawning Day, where it was published under the title Zealot of the Galaxy. Upon receiving praise from her readers, Ophelia decided to market her story to the public. To distance her work from its inspiration, she changed the character names to no longer reflect existing Dawning Day characters. When questioned on what he thought of Fifty Shades of Purple, Dawning Day author Esteban Mayer replied that it wasn't to his taste, but he congratulated Z. N. Ophelia on accomplishing success.

Reception
Critical reception was mixed to negative, with extreme lambasting of the book's word choice, grammar, and storytelling. Noted literary scholar Kyle Quinn made the scathing remark "Holy crap, is this bad!" as he exited the book and tossed away the chatter.

"ONI wouldn't just give up an officer to be some Elite's [expletive]," said a baffled ONI specialist John Hanson. "And the People's Occupation Government hasn't been active in several decades!"

Meanwhile, it became a popular chatternet meme to read the erotic scenes while doing humorous impressions of celebrities. When the former Arbiter Thel 'Vadam was asked what he thought of the book, the Sangheili appeared to visibly shudder before offering a noncommittal response. This ambiguity inspired a meme of constructing holograms of terrified Sangheili fleeing Fifty Shades of Purple female fans.

On the other hand, Eleanor Regis, of the Interplanetary Herald Tribune, said that the book, while "not a literary masterpiece", offered positive escapism. "In an age of destruction and misery, many of us can enjoy the fantasy of erotic domination and submission applied to modern politics." Likewise, University of Mare Erythraeum professor Angel O'Neil described Fifty Shades of Purple as a healthy way of dealing with the extreme fear felt toward the existing Sangheili population after the collapse of the Covenant.

Derivative origin
The book attracted criticism with regard to its origin as a derivation of an existing novel. Copyright issues have long been a concern for UEG countries, and many readers viewed the apparent copyright violation represented by Fifty Shades of Purple with apprehension. Minister of Culture Wayna Gardener made a statement allaying such fears, saying that "Fifty Shades of Purple and Dawning Day are quite different. You see, [Z. N. Ophelia] changed the character names and turned the Edmund character into an Elite."

Interspecies romance
Fifty Shades of Purple also attracted criticism with regard to its depiction of a romance between a human and a Sangheili. Many people, such as Katherine Dahl of the Kelorist Science Monitor, derided the novel as promoting bestiality. Humorist Alan Tsetsang joked that Fifty Shades of Purple signaled "a new age of depravity" because when he was growing up, the animal humans wanted to have intercourse with was the tame sheep, and now that women want monstrous aliens, he's a little afraid. This has provoked responses from people such as Iakopa Orosz, of the Institute for Facilitating Interspecies Relations, to assert that Sangheili are people and that it's wrong to think of them as mere beasts. "We have to recognize personhood of species beside our own if we are to function as a healthy resident of this galaxy."

Still others recognize that Sangheili are people and find the novel worrisome for promoting sympathy toward an alien menace. "That women know this Perse character slaughtered countless human lives and still feel sexual attraction and sympathy is a travesty far greater than a simple guilty pleasure erotic work," said Jannick Ward, of the Cydonia Times. "In an age of rampant [Insurrectionist] sympathy and Covenant remnants gaining power, is this really the message Z. N. Ophelia wants to send?"

Depiction of Sangheili culture
Xenosociologists like Abigail McGregor criticize the work for its depiction of Sangheili as "misanthropic and misogynistic swine" who would treat humans as sex slaves. "I am not certain a Sangheili should ever want to take a human woman for a mate," said McGregor, "but if it happened, I know he would treat her with immense respect." She believes that Sangheili culture is too honor-bound to ever permit such a thing as depicted in Fifty Shades of Purple.

Xenosociologist Howard Curry, author of the nonfiction title We Have Met Aliens, and They Are Kinky, agrees with McGregor. He explains that while Sangheili have some sadomasochistic relations, these are typically restricted to homosexual interactions in academy days. "When a Sangheili matures, he is expected to put away such childish things as bondage and submission." Curry went on to describe how many depictions of brutality from the Sangheili culture actually come from "the species we have termed 'Brutes'" and not Sangheili.

Questioned Sangheili have refused comment, though if Thel 'Vadam's apparent shudder is to be interpreted as a gesture of disgust, this speaks volumes of the Sangheili opinion of Fifty Shades of Purple.