Naboo Handmaidens

"[Name of mistress], I, [Name of handmaiden], swear to you my life and my death. I will serve you ever faithfully, and protect you, until my death, or yours, which will not happen as long as it is in my power to prevent it."

- Traditional handmaiden vow

The office of the handmaiden on Naboo dates back from before King Jafan. It is believed to have evolved in response to the pressure on female monarchs to live in considerable isolation, and their heightened risk of assasination. Thus they required special companionship and protection. In the time of Jafan they served only Queens, but since the 7th Century BBY they have served senators and ambassadors as well. A Queen will traditionally have at least five and up to thirteen handmaidens, a senator two or three, and an ambassador one or two.

The handmaidens have always been considered an elite guard, and those whom their mistress can trust above all others. They will work ruthlessly to safeguard their mistress' interests, and to keep her secrets. They are also something of a stealth guard; they tend to be unnoticed and/or underestimated. In the second half of the first century BBY it became common for handmaidens to impersonate thier mistress in times of danger, but this practice eventually became too well known to work effectively and was abandoned.

Loyalty to Their Mistress
The Naboo tend to view an oath as very sacred, but a handmaiden will be especially zealous in this. Any handmaiden who betrays her oath is disgraced and stricken from all records, and invariably one of her fellow handmaidens will kill her; they will in fact kill anyone, handmaiden or not, who betrays their mistress. Naboo authorities have a habit of turning a blind eye to any laws that a handmaiden breaks in service to her mistress, and in the case of a mistress being brought to court, it has been known for her handmaidens to quietly be granted a blanket pardon as soon as it is considered safe to let them go free.

In theory, a handmaiden's service ends only with death, either hers or that of her mistress, or in rare cases, should her mistress release her from her oath. However, as time has gone on and the figures whom they traditionally served have taken to leaving their own offices before death, it has become understood that when this happens, most of a handmaidens' duties to her mistress will be done and she will be considered inactive. In the 3rd Cenutury BBY, furthermore, a law was passed forbidding a handmaiden from following her mistress between positions.

Even then, however, should a mistress have any need of her former handmaidens, for any reason, she only need ask their aid and she will always receive it. Even after her death, a handmaiden may extend her oath by swearing to do something on her late mistress' soul, and then it must be done. Such oaths are known as second oaths, and are usually done to justify doing whatever she must to avenge her mistress; the existance of these oaths allows the authorities to continue to turn their blind eye. Note that the most famous second oaths of all time, those taken by Padmé Amidala's surviving handmaidens to take the Emperor down, were effectively vengeance oaths, as they were prompted by the belief that their target was responsible for Amidala's death.

Loyalty to Each Other
Whether or not handmaidens grow close in affection to their mistress can vary on condition, but they always grow very close to each other. Friendships between handmaidens can often last them their entire lives. They will consider themselves to be sisters, and their loyalty to each other is second only to their loyalty to their mistress. For a handmaiden to be responsible for the death of one of her sister handmaidens, provided the latter did not break her oath or the death was not otherwise necessary for their mistress' protection, is considered the blackest crime she can commit, worse even than betraying her mistress, and it too is punished by disgrace and death.

Selection of Handmaidens
When an incoming Queen, senator, of ambassador has had no handmaidens in the past, her initial handmaidens are typically selected by her captain of security, out of those who put their names forward. Underage girls must have parental consent, both to submit themselves and to take the oath. In the case of the Queen, because of the extensive training required, handmaidens are always selected for finalists before the actual election, though their oaths are not taken until right before the coronation ceremony. Before taking her oath, a handmaiden may walk away at any time.

The captain of security will in fact nominally appoint the handmaidens to any political figure, but if there are any inactive handmaidens, the actual choosing of their sucessors is almost always left completely up to them. They will meet with and question all prospective handmaidens, make their choices as a group(how much dissent will be allowed in final decisions is decided on beforehand), and report them to the security captain, who is expected to abide by them.

It also falls to nominally the security captain, but informally to all active and inactive handmaidens, whether to replace handmaidens who are killed or released from their oaths, though they are required to mkae replacements when a Queen is left with less than five active handmaidens, a senator with less than two, or an ambassador with none. If they choose to make replacements, they are done in the same manner as the initial selection.