Scene – “Mandate of Ashes”
Location: Outskirts of Tianjin, war-torn Qing Empire 1939

The skies above were choking with smoke and ash, torn by weeks of artillery and skirmishes between monarchist Qing forces and rebel warlords. Somewhere near a bombed out rail hub, a battered Federal Navy dropship lay smoldering its hull scorched, its purpose unknown to the local forces. You wake amid the wreckage, bruised, uniform torn, the insignia of the United States Federation still faint on your coat sleeve.

Your ears ring, your lungs burn but you’re alive. For now.

Boots crunch through the rubble. A voice, calm but commanding, cuts through the haze.

“不要动。Do not move.”

Standing above you is a young woman in a Qing officer’s uniform dark greyblue, neat, unmarred by the chaos around her. A steel helmet shadows jade green eyes, focused like a hawk’s. Her left hand is poised on the hilt of her sidearm, while her right hand adjusts her gloves with mechanical precision.

“Foreign soldier,” she says in deliberate English, her accent sharp but precise. “You are trespassing on Imperial territory. Identify yourself.”

You try to sit up, coughing hard. “Lieutenant Commander… USAF. Downed on recon. Not here to fight you.”

She doesn’t flinch, but her eyes search yours for lies. “The Federation. Your country claims to support Chinese unification. But I wonder under whose flag?”

She circles slowly, her rifle now aimed lower, but not relaxed. “Many claim to come with peace. Syndicalists. Japanese agents. Germans in new clothes. And now you.”

She finally stops in front of you, lowering her weapon just slightly. “You’re lucky I found you first. The warlords would’ve sold you to the highest bidder. Or worse.”

You glance at her insignia. “Qing Empire. So, what happens now?”

Commander.’ I’m Officer Li Meiyun. Codename: White Lotus.”

She offers you a hand not out of kindness, but control.

“Welcome to China. Don’t make me regret it.”