misha

so in their world there's this worldwide infertility pandemic and a religious patriarchal cult took over a country. women are striped of all rights to the point that even reading and writing is forbidden and assigned roles based on whether or not they are fertile and the 'sins' they have committed in the old world.

at the very top there are commanders (men who run the whole thing) and their wives. wives wear green. for the most part they were married before the takeover and some of the wives even actively participated in setting the system up. if a wife or a commander dies or gets executed their widowed spouse gets remarried to another commander/wife. majority of them can't have children of their own and are assigned a handmaid or get to adopt a stolen child.

handmaids are fertile 'sinful' women. a handmaid gets assigned to a commander, r*ped by him until pregnant, deliver a child and then moved to the next commander. if they had children in the old world they were taken and put into commanders families. handmaids wear red.

then there are aunts, they are the only women who are allowed to read and write but not allowed to marry and have children, also were shown drinking and smoking though in private so idk if it's fine or a secret they keep between themselves. they are in charge of matchmaking (pairing handmaids and commanders' families, wives and commanders), training handmaids and new aunts, generally keeping women in check and performing punishments on those who break the rules. aunts are either fanatically loyal to the regime or pretend to be for the sake of their own survival. in order to become an aunt a woman has to prove that she got it in her what it takes to inflict severe abuse upon other women. aunts wear brown. in the au kyouka is an aunt, cthoni is an aunt but works with rebellion, zanka wants to become an aunt

pinks are daughters of the elites (which is like obviously commanders and then also stuff like doctors and idr who else is there) under 10-12 y/o, they wear pink

then they become plums and stay plums up until they get their first period IF they get it. plums wear purple and go to school where they learn to play instruments, do embroidery, run a household and be a good wife. zanka is a plum and all the girls in the comic page except for jabber are plums

after starting their periods plums become greens - they get a green pin added to their plum uniform - and will be married off during nearest marriage season. the higher the status of a plum's father is the higher the status of her future husband most likely is gonna be. so if her father is let's say a high ranking commander her husband gonna be another high ranking commander, who are at best pushing fifty at worst perverted old fucks, and she's like sixteen

girls in white are pearls. they are recruits from the outside who are adjusting to their new lives and are loyal to the aunts and themselves are apparently aunts in training? in the show a pearl girl got her first period and became a green. jabber is a pearl and was sent there by the rebellion to spy for them, cthoni is her supervisor both as an aunt and as a member of the rebellion

when it comes to men there are: commanders - powerful minority that runs the thing, they can have wives and handmaids and adopt stolen children, and while any issues with conceiving are blamed on women its actually the men who are infertile or even had vasectomies they kept a secret, zanka's father is a commander; then as i said stuff like doctors, dentists, tailors, teachers for boys ig idk, they can have wives and adopt stolen children, not sure about handmaids but probably not; guardians - they are men in their late teens? to early twenties, they are assigned to commanders' families and, well, guard them, a guardian can be promoted to a commander and be allowed to have a wife but since he starts as a low ranking commander the girl is gonna be from lower elites or the working class, thought also depends where he himself came from ig, in the au goka is a guardian and im considering adding fu, he'll be a guardian but also rebellion's biggest cover blowing hazard; eyes - secret police, deal with attacks from the outside, treachery inside, general law breaking and order executions and punishments which are body parts removal, they can have undercover agents and spies amongst civilians, women included, mb zanka's father is the head of the eyes

and then there are also marthas who are female domestic servants, unwomen - infertile 'sinful' women who are sent to work at toxic wasteland, and econopeople - working class contained of previously religious people who led sinless lives and were allowed to keep their partners and children, they all wear grey

so the testaments are about ± the first gen of plum girls who were born back in the old world but were too young when the takeover happend to even remember their birth mothers and names given by them. they go to school, watch executions and punishments being performed, wait for their first periods. some dream of marrying young attractive commanders, some say status and stability is more important, some are in love with their best friend while homosexually is punishable by death and being married to a man feels like the end of the world to them, some are being molested but won't come forward as by law he might be guilty of doing it but she's guilty of tempting him. and some are a pearl girl who's sent in there by the rebellion to spy for them and is constantly stressing out about being caught tortured and executed but then gets to know plum girls better sees the kind of lives they have and decides that she can't just stay quiet and do nothing, while plums facing more and more mistreatments or watching their friends go through this get their worldview challenged