1 | A WebSerialNovel set in an AlternateHistory in which World War 1 ended two years early in complete stalemate, leaving Europe's governments and national borders largely unchanged. The world is ostensibly at peace, though a cold war still brews between the opposing sides. In the absence of military imperative, heavier-than-air flight has failed to reach practicality and the skies are ruled by airships. |
2 | |
3 | Captain Roland P. Everett of the Royal Navy Airship Service is on routine patrol duty over the Pacific Ocean when his vessel is ambushed by a massive [[TheSkyISAnOcean cruiser]] of unknown origin. Caught by surprise, he is able to save only a few of his crew by taking refuge on the still-airborne bow of the bisected ship as the stern plunges into the ocean. They manage to reach an island containing a French colony, only to discover a German airship already docked. As the two nations are still officially at war, he decides to investigate, and finds himself drawn into a power struggle that threatens not only himself and his crew, but the very foundations of an already tenuous peace. |
4 | |
5 | Find it [[http://airships.paulgazis.com/index.htm here]]. |
6 | ---- |
7 | !!"The Flying Cloud" contains examples of: |
8 | %% * AllohistoricalAllusion: many, most frequently to places that took prominence in WWII. |
9 | %% * AlternateHistory |
10 | %% * BigBad: The eight-engined airship, and whoever is running it. |
11 | %% * BiLingualBonus |
12 | %% * BrickJoke: "That's a very unimaginative name." |
13 | %% * BrownNote: This is assumed to be how the FantasticNuke works. |
14 | * ChekhovsGunman: If they're given a name, expect them to show up eventually. |
15 | ** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in Episode 122, when Captain Everett encounters a war surplus tank with the name "Chekhov's Gun" painted on its side. You'll never guess what vehicle the good Captain ends up driving just three episodes later... |
16 | %% * ChristmasEpisode: Once a year, like clockwork. |
17 | %% * CoolAirship: the ''Flying Cloud'', which is incredibly fast for its size. |
18 | * CrazyPrepared: Jenkins is a signalman of the Royal Navy Signal Corps, goes into situations prepared for most eventualities, or has a particular set of skills or knowledge on the most obscure of subjects handy at the moment. Captain Everett explains that "his other talents remain a mystery, for members of the Signal Corps have secrets that are not for such as you and I to know." |
19 | * DepletedPhlebotinumShells: This is one of the possibilities raised during an in-universe WildMassGuessing session about what the bad guys want with uraninite. |
20 | %% * FantasticNuke: What the crew assumes the bad guys are building. |
21 | %% * FishPeople: "Dear old Dagon and his wonderful fishy friends". |
22 | %% * GambitPileup: It seems that the cast discover a new faction every time they walk through a door. |
23 | %% * GeniusBonus: The amount of subjects needed to understand the references in each chapter is astounding. |
24 | %% * IceQueen: Miss Perkins, though she may be [[DefrostingIceQueen thawing]] a ''little''. |
25 | * ImAHumanitarian: One of the characters comes from a tribe of cannibals. PlayedForLaughs. |
26 | %% * InMediasRes: Episode 1 |
27 | %% * LowerDeckEpisode: Episode 141 |
28 | %% * [[MessageInABottle Message In A Smuggling Crate]] |
29 | * NoodleIncident: |
30 | ** Whatever Helga's crew did with cymbals and roller skates at the Germans' Christmas Party. |
31 | ** Episode 197 mentions a past conflict between Baron Warfield and Viscount Millbridge in Burma. All we know is that water buffalo were involved. |
32 | *** Also, in the same episode, whatever Lady Millbridge did to Baroness Warfield with the ice skates and barrels of salt. |
33 | %% * ObstructiveBureaucrat: One of the few privileges of being a clerk. |
34 | %% * PrivateEyeMonologue: |
35 | %% * Episodes 141 & 176 |
36 | %% * Episodes 370, 372, & 374 ("[[Literature/TheBigSleep The Big Sheep]]") |
37 | * RichardNixonTheUsedCarSalesman: Creator/HPLovecraft is captain of a tramp freighter. |
38 | * RunningGag: |
39 | ** "Oh, that's alright then." |
40 | ** Abercrombie and [=MacKiernan=] betting a shilling over anything and everything. |
41 | ** Iwamoto insists that he just "Comes with engines" whenever anyone questions him about his origin. |
42 | ** In the earlier chapters, Iverson expects scenarios to work out like the plots of radio dramas, then explained to that real life is not the same. |
43 | ** The Trapezohedron |
44 | -->"I don’t have the slightest idea what you’re talking about," he replied, unable to imagine what the German could possibly want with a dual polyhedron of an n-gonal antiprism. |
45 | %% * ShoutOut: Film/JamesBond, Creator/HPLovecraft, Creator/RaymondChandler, and Franchise/StarTrek each get a few. |
46 | %% * Episode 54's title is one to The Darwin Awards. |
47 | %% * There's also a subtle one to Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy. See if you can spot it! |
48 | * ShownTheirWork: The author dives quite a bit into the details of airship piloting. |
49 | * StiffUpperLip: The cast tries to keep proper English composure at all times (unless they're Scottish). |
50 | * TheSkyIsAnOcean: Airships are operated by the navy, and are given names and classifications similar to water ships. |
51 | %% * ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld: The primary means of air travel, aside from a few enthusiasts. |
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FollowingContext Literature / TheFlyingCloud
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