Anchor identity in a social graph: trust starts from verified seeds and spreads outward, each vouch spending scarce credit that regenerates only through honest history. A sybil operator can invent a thousand names, but forging edges is the fable he cannot write, real links must be earned through real interaction. His puppets form a dense basalt island of mutual vouches with thin bridges to the trusted mainland, which graph analysis flags. The pearl is the scarcity of vouch credit itself. Limits: newcomers stall without a sponsor, and a patient adversary can infiltrate genuine communities.