Provisional Government

PRINCIPAL: A great rewriting and all the pleasures that followed. (ch. X)

After ALLMOTHER's death and subsequent social unrest, Principal reformed The Orchard's governance. Society would now be governed by different ministries, and employ a law enforcement branch – the Red Guard.

The Ministries

• Denise (formerly Understudy Shell) leads the Ministry of Culture. While they oversee most artistic and cultural functions, the act of creating art is handled by Principal directly.

• Vanissa (formerly Unlucky Shell) leads the Ministry of Education. Unlike the Knowers of old, this ministry prioritizes "new" knowledge and looking towards the future. They view the old text of the ALLMOTHER as esoteric and regressive, and all the ancient human knowledge as useless nostalgia.

• Janice leads the Ministry of Infrastructure. Like the old Fixers, they maintain infrastructure, handle logistics, and oversee repairs.
  • The title "Fixer" is considered taboo now, likely because of Fixer's alleged betrayal and alleged incineration, followed by the New Fixer's death before her tenure even began.

• Vivian (formerly Sorting Shell) leads the Ministry of Health. Like the Healers before them, they are in charge of healthcare and the cloning chambers.
  • However, they have been directed to prioritize churning out sisters at a faster rate than ever before, to keep up with increased labor demands stemming from the Government's many new projects. As the machines have been pushed beyond their expected capacity, many new printings are born experiencing memories that are not their own.
  • They have stopped pursuing research into the "immunity project", focusing efforts on treating other ailments, including severe cases where shells would have previously been incinerated. In the past, if a shell was found to have genetic variations even as benign as color-blindness, they would have been incinerated.
  • The Ministry of Health has also started to create Jiao clones, since that taboo no longer matters with the ALLMOTHER gone. The Jiao-type clones were created as a servant underclass to the Iris-type clones.

• Eileen (formerly Military Shell) leads the Ministry of Defense. A successor of the Bang Bang Fires, this ministry responds to external threats to the Orchard. Internal policing is left to the Red Guard, though they collaborate and share information when necessary.

• Knower is now the High Minister. She leads and sets direction for the other Ministers, and liaisons with Principal. She has also been delegated to oversee the internal police force, the Red Guard.

Differences to the ALLMOTHER Era

• Instead of being referred to by function-type, shells are referred to by color-type, such as "pink-types"