Principal
Principal is the administrative Sister that oversees all operations on the Orchard and manages the other divisions of sisters. She takes their reverence of ALLMOTHER very seriously and extends both praise and punishment to the deserving. (rewrite later)
⚠️ CAUTION! major spoilers ahead! ⚠️
Personality[edit | edit source]
Principal is diligent and meticulous in her service to the ALLMOTHER, enforcing the religious dogma upon the other Shapen Sisters and The Shells. She initially presents herself as a mentor figure, especially to Watcher, patiently guiding her through the early chapters and wisdom as Watcher needs it. Despite her mentor status, she is assertive and proactive in enforcing the law of the land, sending Fixer to the incinerator without hesitation. This single-minded religious devotion masks a deep loneliness as a result of her abandonment a thousand years ago. Since her abandonment, Principal's years of attempting to receive acknowledgement from her mother went ignored, driving her further into her madness and grief. She eventually channels her energy into a years-long plot to orchestrate the murder of the ALLMOTHER at the hands of Watcher. And while she is initially high off of the freedom from her eternal burden, it is still not enough for her to fully move on.
meticulous, assertive, patient, obsessive, grief-stricken
History[edit | edit source]
Nostalgia can be a dangerous thing
The following sequence of events were presented to Watcher through a communion. Since it is revealed later that these communions were compromised, the events within this sequence may not fully reflect the truth of what happened.
Youngest of the Ancient Sisters[edit | edit source]
Principal was among the first five clones created by Iris after she took over The Orchard. Each clone was given a color and a duty, and Iris proclaimed that all five clones were sisters and that she was their mother. Principal was given the color blue and the designation of Watcher. Since she was the youngest of the clones, she was simply called Youngest.
Determined to please her mother, Youngest dutifully monitored the other clones. This, along with their mother’s favoritism of Youngest, drove a wedge between them. The other sisters wouldn’t let Youngest play with them, and kept their distance from her. Youngest would turn to her mother for help, but Iris was unequipped to deal with the amount of attention her children needed while also keeping the Keepers satiated.
Hide and Seek[edit | edit source]
One day, the other sisters invited Youngest to a game of hide and seek – being a Watcher, they reasoned, meant that she’d be perfect at the job. Not understanding that her sisters were teasing her, Youngest eagerly agreed. Her sisters hid, and she searched all across the Orchard for them. Though they were hiding in plain sight, Youngest searched from morning until night without finding them. As the day wound to a close, Youngest cried into the night for her sisters to come out of hiding, and lamented her uselessness.
YOUNGEST: Why… I try to do everything right, to be loved… But nothing ever changes. What is wrong with me? Why do they hate me?”
Youngest stumbled into a hidden waterfall alcove as her final searching place. Within the cave, she found Jiao’s old diary and a poem Iris dedicated to Jiao. Realizing that Jiao held special significance to Iris, Youngest saw a strand of hair in the diary and had an idea – something that would make her mother happy and proud, and prove her usefulness to her family.
YOUNGEST: (reciting) “No sisters we make, no promise we break / pluck hair from our heads, so slain us deads…”
YOUNGEST: …But…what if… Pluck from another…to please my mother…?
YOUNGEST: I’ll show them who’s useless.
Youngest’s Surprise and the Ancient Sin[edit | edit source]
With Jiao’s hair, Youngest created an imperfect and malformed Jiao clone. Even though the Jiao clone was falling apart and could barely speak, Youngest was so happy with her creation, calling Jiao “the best thing I’ve ever done.” She told the Jiao clone that she was to be a surprise for Iris on her birthday.
When the birthday came around, the other sisters apologized for their behavior, with Sister Purple and Sister Pink even offering to look into a new prescription of glasses for Youngest. Youngest thanked them but told them that her role was surely about to change once mother saw her gift.
Youngest approached Iris as she was cutting the cake. She told Iris that she knows she’s been lonely, and that having the clones as companions was nothing compared to what she had before. And so, Youngest presented the Jiao clone to Iris. After standing dumbfounded, Iris cut the clone down with her cake knife.
Nostalgia can be a dangerous thing
The following sequence of events were presented to Watcher through a communion. The events within this sequence may not fully reflect the truth of what happened. It is revealed later in the story that Principal has tampered with the memories in the communions. A flashback during Chapter 7 also shows that Iris had departed to the Other Side with the other Ancient Sisters, who were still alive.
After cutting down the clone, Iris was about to turn her wrath on Youngest, telling her that she would pay for treating her mother like this. The other four sisters jumped to Youngest’s defense, standing between her, and their mother. As punishment to all of them for defying her, Iris revoked the immunity of the four sisters. They ran through The Orchard, each trying to find a way to stop the disease with their respective talents, only for each to fail and fall dead.
As Youngest waited for her turn, begging to explain herself, Iris told Youngest to finish off the Jiao clone and kill it. When Youngest couldn’t do it, Iris told Youngest that if she wanted to make sisters so badly, she would make sisters from “dawn to dawn,” from her own head of hair until they were perfect.
And so Iris left Youngest behind in the Orchard, never returning, as Youngest endured her ceaseless punishment.
A New Era[edit | edit source]
Youngest began her early years of isolation in desperation. She ran for miles along the train tracks, searching in circles. She dwelled on her mother’s anger, her last words, and her sister’s “blank faces.” She learned to manipulate and reconstruct the memories to make the time go by faster.
Eventually Youngest started trying to make clones again, this time from her hair as her mother mandated. The early ones were unsuccessful and fell apart like the first Jiao clone, but each failure brought her closer to success. It was during this time that she shed her old blue Watcher colors, became clad in red, and started calling herself Principal. Eventually, she sent out her best clone on the train and told her to be good when she met their mother, because “everything reflects back on me.”
But there was no response. Not even a rejection. Principal would send clone after clone, and there was never a response. Years turned into decades turned into centuries, and as a new civilization sprung up from all of the clones Principal created – as the Six Shapen Sisters were established, as ALLMOTHER’s doctrine was taught to every shell, as sisters graduated and boarded the train – Principal began to form her next plan that would bring about the end of ALLMOTHER.
A Plot for the Newest Watcher[edit | edit source]
Principal selected the latest Watcher – the game’s protagonist – because she reminded her of her younger self. During Watcher’s first communion, Principal belabors the sanctity of the commune.
TBD:
watcher's communion
ALLMO stabbing
taking power
police state, jiao-type clones
explosion
judgement/remains
Relationships[edit | edit source]
Iris/Allmother[edit | edit source]
(during the Provisional Government's annual reenactment of ALLMOTHER's death)
PRINCIPAL: Call me Youngest.
IRIS ACTOR: Principal? We didn't rehearse that...
PRINCIPAL: Do it.
IRIS ACTOR: I..uh.. Youngest..
PRINCIPAL: Now tell me you missed me.
IRIS ACTOR: I... I missed you.
PRINCIPAL: Youngest.
IRIS ACTOR: I...missed you...youngest.
PRINCIPAL: I'm a good girl.
IRIS ACTOR: You're...ah...good.
PRINCIPAL: You forgive me.
IRIS ACTOR: I don't understand...what did you do? What's my motivation?
PRINCIPAL: Just shut up and say it. You forgive me. (ch. 6)
For her entire life, Principal has coveted the attention of her mother. When she was Youngest, still naive and needy, she was always trying to be at her mother's side, constantly knocking at her door, even interrupting Iris's communion with the Keepers at one point.
While Iris loves Youngest and tries to protect her and the other sisters from the Keepers, she finds herself driven mad by Youngest's neediness. When Youngest takes things too far by creating a Jiao clone, Iris and the other clones leave her behind in the Orchard as punishment. Youngest continues to create and send out clones for decades in the hopes that Iris will acknowledge her gifts, but the acknowledgement never comes.
Years later, as Principal, they finally see each other again face to face as Iris lays dying at Watcher's hands. In Iris's dying, post communion haze, she doesn't seem aware that much time has passed at all, and can only tell Youngest how much she's missed her.
Watcher[edit | edit source]
PRINCIPAL: quote.(ch. 1)
manipulated her
Gallery[edit | edit source]
Principal
PRINCIPAL: I promised you justice. (ch. 2)
Principal after Iris got killed (ch. 5)
Principal speaking redactedly (ch. 5)
She must see justice. (ch. 5)
THE YOUNGEST: The others won't play with me. (ch. 7)
Iris decreeing "the Ancient Sin" to Youngest
Principal, maskless – THE YOUNGEST: How long must this go on? Pretending, so I can be forgiven. (ch. X)
Principal logo ( 長 )
Principal concept art
Principal's office
Principal's drawing of Watcher being a snitch
Principal bust shot
Trivia[edit | edit source]
- Principal's text color is #FF366B.
- Youngest's text color is #A8F4FF.