Why Are Black Lotus Agents Female? Options

[Pidorashka]

Has anyone tried writing an explanation for the all-women nature of the Black Lotus Program?

I personally think it ultimately has to do with the relative surplus of males in near-future China (which also explains the "streamlining" motive behind the formation of the Red Guards). The increasingly gender-lopsided white collar job market, companies began hiring office ladies to woo male job prospectors. These young, attractive unmarried women were little more than ornaments and helpers meant to create a comfortable environment for the male-dominated Asian workplace. Though newcomers to the office lady culture, which is predominant in Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong, the mainland Chinese embraced this tradition with fervor, and foreign and homegrown firms alike started hiring office ladies on a wide scale.

But unbeknownst to the foreign firms, the Ministry of State Security was in on the trend as well. Even in their Chinese branches, Japanese and Korean firms relied upon technology developed in Japan, Korea, and even the West to obtain an upper hand in the market against the native competitors. Eager to get its hands on secret tech without scaring foreign investors with IP eminent domain, the Ministry relied on espionage. A clandestine program was formed, training the brightest and most loyal women China has to offer in espionage and information warfare. These agents then applied to companies like Sony, Samsung, Kia, etc. as office ladies, betraying none of their ulterior motives. Though theoretically a mere cosmetic facet of the workplace, the office ladies are granted unprecedented access to the inner workings of these firms, and enjoyed a level of trust unusually high for their low status. The agents also knew that men are more vulnerable to feminine charm that they would like to believe, as exemplified by Mata Hari. It was only a matter of time until the Ministry would reap its reward...

So what you think? I can continue this if you want.

[__CrUsHeR]

It is an interesting and original premise; it would make sense for the technological and economic monopoly of China in South Asia, especially against Japan and its business conglomerates.

So I'd like to read this, be sure to avoid names of known companies such as Sony, Samsung, Kia etc. to become something a little different from our reality.

[MARS]

That is an interesting idea. In general, I would assume that the Black Lotus unit is primarily used for espionage on foreign businesses but their in-game presence as China's hero unit suggests that they are also involved in military campaigns, and therefore trained in conventional and unconventional combat as well (not depicted in game due to conservation of detail). In 'reality', they are probably also a combat-capable special forces unit, like the US Army's Intelligence Support Activity mixed with some Cold War KGB trickery that would be more suited for their works in a non-military environment (spy gadgets disguised as harmless accessories, lipstick guns, etc)

I recall that in the Generals campaign, it was a Lotus who -ordered- the local PLA troops to destroy the Three Gorges Dam, so it could be assumed that they have command authority over the military units they work with, possibly operating on secret orders from the top cadre of the Party itself. This adds to the ROTR-established point that the destruction of the dam was done deliberately, presumably because the Party elites that came into power after the Beijing nuclear attack wanted to overexaggerate the GLA threat (which naturally backfired) and created a pretence to utterly radicalise the entire nation in a surge of nationalism that would enable them to expand their military and cement their hegemonial rule over their neighbouring region after the war. That'd be an interesting subject for an in-universe conspiracy theory, like in that fic Svea (?) wrote some time ago.

[Svea Rike]

Hmm... now I feel like writing another conspiracy fic.

I always imagined the Black Lotus program as your average "super-spy recruitment program", but this certainly puts a spin on things in perspective. Nice work, I'd like to see more.

Now that I think about it, with Rise of the Reds, we get more and more Fridge Brilliance in C&C Generals and Zero Hour the more we think about it. Why did China attack the dam? To get a reason to super-militarize. Fits perfectly in and we just realized it... Unless MARS had been cooking up that story some time ago.

This post has been edited by Svea Rike: 16 Apr 2015, 8:28