Russian Secret School for Love Spies - Pulpy Cold War setting

[RedEve]

This would be a game based upon this pulp novel cover.

Basically a 1950s, Cold War setting. Young women from all over the Soviet Union are trained at a secret facility. The main objective for the graduates of this school: become successful honeytrap operatives in the West.

Some of the students would be volunteers. Many more would be there selected for their physical beauty.

I see this game falling apart in two groups: a small cadre of teachers and a larger group of students.

If the game lasts long enough, we can also incorporate some of the students "graduating" and getting a posting in the West.

For now, this is just an interest check thread. If I have enough interested parties, I will start expanding on the background a bit and do some more world-building.


CS template:

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[float=right][img width=500 padding=15](insert image url here)[/img][/float]
[b]Name:[/b]
[b]Age:[/b]
[b]Role:[/b] (instructor or student/recruit)
[b]Background:[/b] (you can write as extensive a bio as you’d like, but some of the focus should go to how they ended up at the school. For instructors, this means how they ended up teaching at the institution. For students, this means how they ended up as recruits. In terms of the latter, this could be variety of motives: an ideologue who volunteers, a more skeptical individual who was coerced or a girl who is there by force).

The IC part of this game would start in the Spring of 1955.



Approved characters

Colonel Titanya Krushenko - played by Chrystal

Name: Colonel Titanya Krushenko
Age: 42
Role: Instructor
Background: Titanya's parents were peasant workers in a factory in St Petersburg when she was born.  A year later her father went to war, came back missing an arm. He was lucky. Her mother worked hard to support the famoly, but when the revolution swept the country, both Titanya's parents joined the Bolshevik party.

Her mother became very active and her father did what he could with one arm. During the civil war, he became commissar to an infantry regiment, while his wife was put in charge of the factory she had formerly been little more than a slave at. Titanya's father was killed fighting the Ukranian Nationalists in 1919.

Titanya excelled in school, and was recruited into the NKVD, where she rose slowly through the ranks of the Leningrad branch, denounced her own mother as an enemy of the People when in 1936 the shoe factory failed to meet it's quota for the third time.

During WWII she was still based in Leningrad when the Germans besieged the city. She received the Award Of Lenin for her part in the defense of the city and was promoted to Major. Her military experience meant she qualified for Spetsnaz training and she excelled at this with a certain ruthlessness, becoming Company Commander for a covert operations unit. After the war, when the NKVD was split up, she remained with the GRU's Spetsnaz units.

When the Honey-trap school was being set up, the people at the top identified a need for a woman instructor who could teach the girls how to seduce other women. Someone, as a joke, suggested Comrade Krushenko. But the Soviet system does not recognise jokes, the suggestion was taken seriously, and Titanya found herself reassigned and promoted to Colonel.

To everyone's surprise, including her own, she has taken to the role like a duck to water!

Yulia Fedorovich - played by RedEve

Name: Yulia Fedorovich
Age: 30
Role: Instructor
Background: Yulia was born in 1925 to Yuri Fedorovich and his wife Marga. Her father Yuri had been at the forefront of the revolution 8 years prior and it had afforded her family a privileged position within Soviet Russia. So much so that they were one of the original tenants in the Government Building in Moscow upon its completion. So from an early age, Yulia and her two older brothers Vasily and Anton had lived the lives of the children of the Russian elite. Yuri Fedorovich had further distinguished himself during the second World War and rose to the rank of General in the Red Army. His eldest son Vasily was injured at Kursk and built a further career in the Red Army post-war on his supposed heroism. Anton for his part made a career in the NKVD and subsequently the MGB. Yulia spent the war years as an overseer in a war factory. It was only after the glorious victory of Comrade Stalin that the next phase in her life began. With the Cold War steadily warming up, she was identified as a good prospect for a female field operative. Her family connections also helped her achieve this goal. She was recruited in 1947 and finished her training in 1949. She was successfully deployed as a foreign operative in Western Europe and on the East Coast of America for half a decade until she was burned as an asset on a botched operation. With her face now being familiar to Western intelligence agencies, she became useless in the field. Thankfully, by then the spy school for young women had been approved and she was swiftly identified as a perfect candidate to teach at the institute. The idea is for her to pass on her experience in seduction and manipulation of the many western officials, diplomats and officers she shared the bed with on to the pupils at the school.

Bianka Fuch - played by Foxy Oni

Name: Bianka Fuchs
Age: 26
Role: Student/Recruit
Background: Like Karl Marx, Bianka was born in the German city of Trier. Her father Konrad was an intellectual and a member of the Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands. Tragically her mother passed away a few years after her birth. When Adolph Hitler came into power and banned the KPD, Konrad and his daughter crossed the border into Luxembourg. There he raised her in his ideology, even having her learn the Russian language of the Soviets he supported as wel as the French many of their neighbors spoke. When the Nazis invaded in 1940  Konrad joined the resistance. But finding it too passive and disturbed by the antisemitism of some of the factions (the Fuchs family were non-practicing Jews), he took Bianka with him to France to join the efforts there as a member of the communist-led Francs-Tireurs et Partisans. While Konrad was an active combatant, the teenage Bianka did her part by smuggling messages and supplies, as well as giving first aid when needed.

After the war, The Fuchs family stayed in France, After a few years, Konrad took a position at the University of Bonn and reurned to Germany. Bianka had been working as a hotel maid in Metz, eventually rising to a management position. Both retained their communist loyalties, although they wisely kept them quiet and instead presented themselves as more acceptable socialists.

While visiting her father in the early 50's, Bianka was recruited into the recently formed Ministerium für Staatssicherheit. More commonly known as the Stasi, this was East Germay's secret police and intelligence agency. Her position at a hotel in an industrial city and transportation hub made her a keen asset, as well as her ability to pass for French.

Eventually the Stasi passed information about Bianka to their counterparts in the Soviet Union and she was selected to undergo more specialized intelligence training there. Honored to be able to do more for the cause of German communism, she took a sabbatical from her job (claiming her father was ill) and went to Russia. While what she is learning is valuable, Bianka has not had an easy time in the program. Some veterans of the Great Patriotic War do not fully trust a German. Others had questions about her commitment to communism since she had lived most of her life in the West. And some Soviets shared Stalin's antisemitic feelings. As a result she has suffered some abuse that her Russian classmates are not subjected to. Still, Bianka pushes on in her quest to be the best agent she can.

Natalya Vanya Evanovich - played by Blinkin

Name: Natalya Vanya Evanovich
Age:26
Description: Natalya, standing at an unimpressive 5’6, is none the less a striking woman with golden-blonde hair framing an oval face with dark, chocolate brown eyes and full, kiss me lips and softly tanned skin. A slender neck leads into well rounded shoulders, firm C-cup breasts and a slender, softly curving hips and lovely heart-shaed rear. Smooth, shapely legs completes the image of womanly curves that fits the image of any American pin-up.
Role: Student/recruit
Background:
Natalya was born to a mill worker in Stalingrad; her mother worked as a school teacher. When the germans invaded and the battle for Stalingrad began, her father joined the army and died on the first night of the first actions against the nazi’s. Over the next several months, things were hard for the Evanovich family as both Natalya and her mother went to work in the war effort; Natalya lied about her age in order to get work and help put what food there was on the table.

In the winter of 43, while  the two women were working on repairing communication lines near the edges of the city, they were captured by a german patrol. The germans were not kind, but the distraction of two women being raped served to allow a squad of Russian troopers to take the nazi’s unaware… her mother was killed in the fire-fight as she tried to get away from one of the soldiers.

Jump forward to 1955…

A woman’s cry of pain echoed off of the walls as another slap left a hand-mark against her bare breast and she spun again…. Her arms straining in the manacles that held her on her toes; her clothing laid in a pile in a corner where they had been thrown after the KGB officer had ordered them cut from her body.

“Tell the truth whore!” the man in the uniform of the KGB shouted at her as another hand slapped her rounded bare ass and her toes left the floor for a moment, another scream filled the room as her full weight dropped upon her arms. “You are a traitor to the Motherland!”

“No, no, no, I know nothing… I did nothing..” she whimpered. She had been hanging there for hours and marks covered her body… and she didn’t even know why.

The officer stepped closer, the fanatical glare met hers as he yanked upward on her hair, “You are a traitor and you whored for Nazi’s. We have witnesses, photographs… we have you.”

Natalya began to sob softly, “I was raped… my mother was raped…”

A fist slammed into her mid-section and she couldn’t make a sound as the breath left her, even through the pain. “You comforted the enemy in war… you betrayed your people… you should of died first.”

He turned away as she gasped for breath and shivered in the chill room.

“So, you have a choice whore.” He turned back and looked at her. She was an attractive woman with curves that even Americans would like. “You can whore for prison guards in Siberia…. Or you can whore for the KGB. Spread your legs for us and you will have a good life… spread those lovely legs for who we tell you to and you will have a very good life…” He grinned, “Or you can freeze your tits off with frostbite.”

Natalya had no choice and the man knew it; she agreed to his terms… anything to avoid more pain and humilitation at his hands…

Within 2 weeks, with the bruises healed, she stepped off the transport and into a life as a spy, what they called a honey-trap.

Colonel Sergei Orluv - played by MagicalPen

Name: Colonel Sergei Orluv
Age: 48
Role: Instructor
Background: Little is known of Colonel Orluv. What is known is that he was born in the Russian Steppes to what would become a Red Family. His father served with distinction both during World War I and during the Civil War between the Reds and Whites at its end (he was for the Reds). Sergei followed in his fathers footsteps, having a small but active role in the revolution (as a messenger carrier - being so young, no one would stop to question him) before gaining his own promotion into the Red Army. He went through extensive though secretive training in the Interwar years and is rumored to have taken part in the conflicts centered around Finland as well.

Colonel Orluv's record is rather...plain since then, most of his service still under lock and key. What is known is that he is now a Colonel, is Red through and through, speaks multiple languages, and due to his 'service' he was deemed best for the role of instructor at this new school. He has overseas experience (still classified) and his understanding of how people work have made him ideal for this job.

Svetlana Doinya - played by RedPhoenix

Name: Svetlana Doinya
Age: 19
Role: Ace Student
Background: Svetlana is a true believer in the great cause of the People's Revolution. She is happy that her superior proletarian genes have given her a body that great Mother Russia can use as a weapon to distract and confuse the stupid, decadent, men of the West. She views her training as just like any other job training that her country would require of her.

Svetlana is the daughter of a soldier (first name Alcock) who died heroically while Svetlana was still in the womb. Her mother raised her with stories of her father's bravery and showed her his old award all of the time. Svetlana grew up wishing to do proud by her father, and although he might not have wanted this exact job for his daughter he's not around to stop her or tell her otherwise and so she dedicates herself to her craft to live up to her great name.

She volunteered for the prestigious secret service straight out of school and due to her stunning looks, very cooperative attitude, and prestigious heritage was accepted very early to the school for honeytraps. In the time she has been there she has proven herself an excellent student of the seductive arts.

Svetlana is disdainful of anyone she doesn't think is good enough to be a part of her elite sisterhood and will mercilessly use all social tools at her disposal to drive those she looks down on run away from the school or beg to be allowed to go.

Alyona Zharkova - played by Dashenka

Name: Alyona Zharkova
Age: 20
Role: New student / Recruit
Background: Viktor Zharkov was a man deemed dangerous by the communist party in power. He was progressive and fiercely against Stalin and later on, Khrushchev, a trait considered highly dangerous. He and his family were soon arrested and taken from their home in Volgograd. Viktor was brought to justice in the capital, along with his wife and son, who were said to be against the regime as well. Their youngest daughter was put into the care of her grandparents while their oldest daughter, Alyona was brought to a secret government experiment.

Alyona had warned her dad to stop and to just let it go but the moment the police was at their door, she knew it was trouble. She hadn't seen her parents, brother or sister since and when she delivered to the facility, she didn't know where she was or what was expected of her. Mostly happy to still be alive, Yona decided to just go with the flow and see what happens.

She is quiet and careful and needs a lot of training to comfortable approach men or people in general. The reason she was selected for the project was her looks. Despite her intelligence she can sometimes be a bit slow at grasping things.

Threads

OOC thread
Character thread

[Foxy DeVille]

SUPER-interested!

[RedEve]

SUPER-interested!

Yay! Welcome aboard Foxy. :)

[Chrystal]

Expressing interest in the butch lesbian spy-mistress type trope, as typified by Rosa Klebb in From Russia With Love, played by the ever lovely Lotte Lenya.



(Depending upon What Eve wants, I may or may not face-claim Lotte).

[RedEve]

Both the basic concept and face claim would be fine, Chrystal.

I will create a character sheet template once I have some more interest.

[RedEve]

Tentatively interested. Is this a James Bond moon lasers and sexy assassins sort of universe or a George Smiley subtle intrigue and layers and layers of deception universe? Or something else? :)

Pulpy, sexy spy fantasy, I would say. :)

[Foxy DeVille]

I was thinking of an East German in the Stasi who is not quite trusted in Russia so close to the end of WWII so she tends to get a bit... abused. >:)

[Blinkin]

If no one minds a guy playing a girl, I'll express tentitive interest. Perhaps sent to the school as an opportunity to avoid a long, long, long visit to Siberia over some crime (political or not) committed by a close male figure.

Although I know the time period is very wrong, the face could fit... Izabella... what's her last name... from Goldeneye back in '95.

[RedEve]

If no one minds a guy playing a girl, I'll express tentitive interest. Perhaps sent to the school as an opportunity to avoid a long, long, long visit to Siberia over some crime (political or not) committed by a close male figure.

Although I know the time period is very wrong, the face could fit... Izabella... what's her last name... from Goldeneye back in '95.

Scorupco.

The woman who perhaps wasted the most opportunities to become an A-lister.

She turned down parts in both L.A. Confidential (the Kim Basinger role) and The Mask of Zorro (the part that made Catherine Zeta-Jones famous).

[Blinkin]

That's it! Thanks.

Everyone makes bad decisions, some just make a lot more of them than others and don't have the sense... or perhaps an agent?... to just kiss the gift-horse rather than checking it's teeth.

At any rate, it's the face... perhaps the body... that I'm thinking about. I remember that she was a looker and actually looked russian to me on screen.

[RedEve]

Okay, so I have enough interest for a handful of students and at least one teacher.
I will give this some more time, if I get a few more interested players, I think we have enough of a basis to move on to the next phase (character sheets).

[Foxy DeVille]

Question... are there gonna be male characters in this? The inspiration pic is all gals but certain skills might need to be demonstrated on someone the gender of their likely targets.

[RedEve]

Male and female instructors will feature.

[MagicalPen]

Color me interested as a Male Teacher.

[Blinkin]

Color me interested as a Male Teacher.

As I know your thoughts on males playing females, will you have any issue playing off of me as a female student? I don't want to cause theGM difficulties over a potential issue.

[MagicalPen]

No issue, I just simply wont sexually interact with your character.

[Blinkin]

Fair enough. I'll respect thatrestriction.

[Chrystal]

That's it! Thanks.

Everyone makes bad decisions, some just make a lot more of them than others and don't have the sense... or perhaps an agent?... to just kiss the gift-horse rather than checking it's teeth.

At any rate, it's the face... perhaps the body... that I'm thinking about. I remember that she was a looker and actually looked russian to me on screen.

Agents make bad decisions too. Look at Dick Rowe, who famously turned down a four-piece band from Liverpool because he thought that "Guitar based bands were just a fad and on the way out".

[Chrystal]

I have a technical question: Is this under Comrade Stalin, or Comrade Krushchev? Basically before 1953 or after?

[RedEve]

I would say Krushchev.

Basically post-Beria. Since his inclusion would be too sinister and dark for something that is meant to be pulpy and fun.

[Chrystal]

I'm trying to come up with a name for my character. So far I have the following:

Takinallya Nikasoffalot
Titanya Krushenka

......


Um, yeah, maybe not... I'll probably go with something a lot easier to type.

I do have another serious question though: Is the school going to be teaching the young Gospozas the ancient arts of softening up a prisoner, extracting information, inducing Stockholm Syndrome, and how to resist the above?

In other words are the staff allowed to torture the students sexually, and make them torture each other (in many ways just as much fun)?

[Chrystal]

Actually, so do I. It's subtle enough that it actually could be a real Russian name and the sexual hints are quite nicely concealed so people might actually miss them...

So, Colonel Titanya Krushenka of the GRU?

For those who don't know, the GRU is the military arm of the Russian Intelligence Service. Unlike the KGB, it survived Glasnost and is currently the most active intelligence gathering agency in the world. The GRU also until recently had control of the Spetsnaz troops, Russia's equivalent of the UK's SAS/SBS and US' Rangers/Seals. There is no real equivalent in the Western Intelligence world.

In the modern take on Juvenal's famous quote Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? - "Who will watch the watchmen?" - in fact it was the GRU who watched the KGB - and sometimes vice versa. KGB operations were often subject to GRU oversight, and the GRU would use the KGB as a front for their own operations.

Just waiting for a character sheet to fill in...

[RedEve]

In other words are the staff allowed to torture the students sexually, and make them torture each other (in many ways just as much fun)?

There will be some of that, though of course it depends on what you would deem "torture".

So they would be taught counter-interrogation techniques, but the idea is not to push the women so far that they crack.

Basically they are training a very specific type of operative at this school: the honeytrap.

[Chrystal]

Hmmm... but they would have to be taught stuff like bondage, just in case the target was into that sort of thing?

[Foxy DeVille]

Well, I would volunteer my girl for demonstration purposes in those classes. Of course she might not be too eager to be volunteered...

I'm thinking of going with Bianka Fuchs as the name of my Stasi sweetie. It may sound a bit on the nose but it also is a nod to my favorite Bond girl Fiona Volpe, whose name roughly translates into "white fox" in a mix of Gaelic and Italian.