Line #145 Roleplay/ExcaliburSquadron


1	A Website/NationStates RP created by [[http://www.nationstates.net/nation=the_tiger_kingdom The American Tiger Kingdom]]
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3	[[http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=191383 Can be found here.]]
4
5	September 20th, 1939.
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7	Nazi Germany, after years of being appeased, years of threats, and years of military buildup, has finally unleashed its military upon the world. Poland has been entirely overrun by German forces, with the unprecedented might of the Luftwaffe aerial forces playing a huge role in the annihilation of the Polish military. It will be only a matter of weeks, maybe days, before the entire Polish Army is annihilated. To the East, Stalin's Russia has cynically made a marriage of convenience with Hitler's Germany, and has annexed all Poland east of the Curzon Line. Even farther East, Japan continues its brutal war in China, and begins to look towards British, American, and Dutch possessions to fuel its conquests. It is a dark time for humanity.
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9	It will not be the tactics of the old war that will bring triumph to the Allies, but new ideas and conceptions of warfare. The new First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy, Winston Churchill, has never been a man to shy away from novelty in warfare, and has been sending new ideas and tactics into the War Office for consideration constantly, with some good ideas, and many merely "interesting" ideas. One of these ideas: to train pilots capable of working as commandos on the ground, capable of accomplishing sensitive and high-risk missions with unparalleled versatility, was put into action.
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11	The RAF and the French Air Force have collaborated, and have started to set up and train a squadron to this effect. It will be the bleeding edge of the Allied military, taking in the best of the best, regardless of nationality. They will need to be adaptable, utterly fearless, and very, very skilled, both the air and on the ground. They will be deployed all over the world, with the best weapons and aircraft the Aliies have, and go up against the best the Axis Powers have to offer.
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13	They are Excalibur Squadron.
14
15	!! This RP provides examples of:
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17	* AFatherToHisMen: Page - unlike the much resented Cutler, he insists on bunking with his subordinates during the trip to Africa in Operation Cambyses.
18	* AcePilot: The entire squadron is made up of them.
19	* ActionGirl: Isabelle and Samantha especially (the former was literally born into war while the latter was a [[spoiler: well connected member of [[TheMafia the mob]]]] beforehand). Kaya to an extent.
20	* AscendedExtra: At first, Noble was just an unnamed aide to the Air Marshal supervising Excalibur. Over time,her role expanded to Excalibur's mission planner/handler, and finally an active member.
21	* AttackAttackRetreatRetreat: During Southern Cross, Alix, in response to Lev's suggestion, demands everyone to stay where they are and fend off the attackers; however seconds later, it becomes apparent that the UDF has air support, and she orders everyone into the basement.
22	* {{Bayonet Ya}}: Staff Sergeant Smythe really, really likes Bayonets. In fact, since he's also well and truly prepared to use it without the rifle attached, it probably comes into his craziness as well.
23	* BeautyEqualsGoodness: This trope is heavily prevalent in the Excalibur universe: Noble, Isabelle, Ellie, Alexis, and maybe even Vera Lynn qualify.
24	* BigDamnHeroes: The moment when the captured Excaliburs are presented to their rescuers in both Operations Cambyses and Highwire.
25	* BloodKnight: Given the fact that they're an elite military outfit, it's little surprise that 319 will have several of these: the two Zilorski brothers certainly qualify, whilst Stanford has an icy reputation from his time with 41 Squadron. Even Page slowly dips into the realms of this trope as his personality darkens after his imprisonment.
26	* ButtMonkey:
27	** Cutler: A full half the squadron would kill him on the spot if it was legal, only because he's the exact opposite of Page.
28	*** Surely you mean C*ntler?
29	** Stanford: Up to eleven doesn't even cover this guys lack of luck. The poor guy can't get a break, even from his writer. Poor Stanford has had three planes shot out from under him and almost bleed to death, in two missions.
30	** Charlie: Has had at least four planes hot out from under him, even Noble said "don't crash this time" when Charlie was briefly seconded for another mission.
31	* CavalryBetrayal: The UDF contingent in Operation Southern Cross is a perfect example of this trope, although it is debatable whether they knew they were attacking an allied force or were just being manipulated by General Van Huidebroeke
32	* CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys: The conspiring French troops in Operation Guillotine, whom intend of handing over the French naval fleet at Toulon to the Germans in an operation overseen by Konrad. Somewhat subverted in that it's later revealed that only a relatively small number of the French contingent were actually aware of the treason - the average soldiers were merely obeying orders, and when the ruse is revealed, at least one Frenchman disrupts Konrad enough for the squadron to fight back.
33	* ChekhovsGun: The grappling hook harpoons used by the British Commandos to scale the French cliffs in the first half of Operation Highwire end up as the inspirational source of Noble's radical plan to save Page and the captured squadron members in the second. A more minor example in the same synopsis involves reusing the Wellington bombers captured from Konrad's raiders in Operation Modred.
34	* ChekhovsGunman: Page's brother, mentioned as a background character more than a month ago, becomes part of the plot in Operation Guillotine.
35	* ChestOfMedals: Most of 319’s members have earned at least some sort of awards for military merit along the lines. This trope is referred directly by Birch in Operation Cambyses, who visually scans the RAF personnel for signs of overt “pomp” as they arrive to support his troops at El-Arouk.
36	* CombatMedic: Matthias was in the later stages of becoming a doctor before the war.
37	* CoolBoat: HMS ''Llamrei'' (formerly ''TP-2112''), a Q-Ship 1st Class, is incredibly cool. It has booze in it, you can sleep in it, it's owned by the SOE, and it's basically a clandestine aircraft carrier. Basically, it's an important fucking boat.
38	* CoolPlane: Spitfires, Hurricanes, even [[MirrorCrackingUgly Short Fucking Empires]].
39	* {{Determinator}}: Several squadron members, but Captain Page and his arch nemesis Major Konrad especially; both will go to the greatest of limits to foil each other's plans. Both will stop at nothing to ensure that their respective sides of the war end up winning.
40	* EagleSquadron: Despite being an RAF squadron many of the pilots aren't British.
41	* ElitesAreMoreGlamorous: Both Page and Konrad command elite special operations units on their countries' behalf. The role-play does revolve around one after all.
42	* FightingIrish: Monroe always jumps at the chance to take on the Germans, whether in the air or on the ground.
43	* ForcedToWatch:
44	** Excalibur is forced to do so altogether when they are captured by an Arab warlord, Al-Rafiq, in the middle of Operation Cambyses. Al-Rafiq promptly gives them a live demonstration of the effectiveness of some World War I German nerve gas, which includes a batch that brainwashes its victims rather than killing them, using members of a captured Italo-German task force as guinea pigs.
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46	** [[spoiler: It happens to Page in Operation Taurus when Isabelle is executed in front of him.]]
47	* FragileSpeedster: The German HE 100s seen in Operation Guillotine fit this trope. They're monstrously fast, but can barely turn, and aren't particularly heavily armored. [[note]]This is purely extrapolation on the part of the author. There is remarkably little firsthand information on the combat performance of the Heinkel HE 100/112/133, due to a combination of factors.[[/note]]
48	* FunetikAksent: James and sometimes Nils.
49	* GoodScarsEvilScars: Both Page and Konrad end up getting them in their repetitive clashes against one another: Konrad displays a hand chewed up by shrapnel during Operation Guillotine, while his sworn enemy is tattooed with his prisoner ID number just under the armpit.
50	* HellholePrison: The old French castle in which the captured Excalibur members are held and tortured under Konrad's overseeing. It has a long, sordid history, including being the location of a Cathar massacre and a Royalist prison pre-Revolution.
51	* HeroicBSOD: Page is the victim of many as he glosses over [[spoiler:Isabelle's death]] in the aftermath of Operation Taurus. It gets to him so severely that he hallucinates seeing her standing alongside Konrad at one point.
52	* HeroicSacrifice: Samantha pulls her plane in front of the transport plane to take the most of the enemy fire herself instead of risking it to the occupants the squadron was protecting.
53	* ILetGwenStacyDie:
54	** The squadron as a whole suffers a minor wave of this trope when McArvon is suddenly killed during Operation Guillotine.
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56	** Noble notably when her copilot bleeds to death in front of her in the aftermath of the raid on the Italian fleet at Taranto in the opening of Operation Taurus. She suffers a panic attack and is hit by survivor’s guilt as a result.
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58	** Perhaps the most prevalent and plot important example: Page resents the nature in which [[spoiler:Isabelle]] dies in Taurus to the point where he hallucinates seeing her standing besides Konrad when the latter interrogates him. Konrad himself notices Page’s apparent weakness regarding the female partisan, purposely waving her death in front of his defeated enemy as a physiological card.
59	* ImprobablePilotingSkills: The whole squadron has them. It's kind of a requirement.
60	* JerkAss: Major Cutler, the squadron's rather uptight superior officer.
61	* KatanasAreJustBetter: Pat kills several armed men with his Katana in Operation Falkland.
62	* KickTheDog: [[spoiler:Isabelle's]] death at the hands of Konrad in Taurus' climax; the latter attempts to lure out a hiding Page in exchange for her life. When Page responds with a poorly managed bluff, his nemesis simply makes him pay the price for it. [[spoiler:It also leads to him exposing himself and blowing his cover anways in a fit of rage.]]
63	* LadyOfWar: Noble in this trope's purest form.
64	* LargeHam: Konrad especially with his mad speech over the values and great goals of the Reich during Page's interrogation in The Prisoner. Birch in a much more mild extent in Operation Cambyses. Vegesack with his unintentional habit for being overly articulate with his vocabulary. Churchill for real, because he ''is'' real.
65	* LastNameBasis: Family, close friends (what few he has), and attractive women may get away with calling him Geoff; to everyone else, it's Talbot.
66	* {{LawfulStupid}}: Yes, Smythe would legitimately execute or knock-out one of his SUPERIOR OFFICERS in the middle of a contact if they chose to murder Major Cutler.
67	* LetsGetOutOfHere: The loudly-expressed opinion of the squadron after attaching the bomb to the Graf Spee.
68	* LoveTriangle: Talbot, Benson, and Eleanor.
69	* MajorlyAwesome:
70	** Played straight with Birch, the LRDG commander who befriends Page and whose troops play their part aiding Excalibur over the course of Operation Cambyses, and Royce, one of 319’s two handlers alongside Cutler, who is his personality opposite and well liked by the squadron.
71	** This trope can be applied to Cutler as well, at least once you see through his rather unforgiving outer shell.
72	** And, of course, where would this trope be without Squadron Leader Robert Page?
73	* MasterRace: Konrad during his Large Ham speech to Page regarding the righteousness of the Third Reich's expansionism - he is so enthusiastic about the need for Aryan racial purity against the barbaric Slavs, "Negroids", and Asiatics to the point where he utterly exhausts himself in the process. Justified in the sense that he is a Nazi anyways, what more could you expect from him?
74	* MeaningfulName:
75	** Being a historically based role-play, it's small surprise that several of the characters' names will have at least some sort form of this trope:
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77	*** Main protagonist and [[TheLeader leader]] of the titular BadassArmy, Robert John Page has a namesake that is a composite reference on behalf of the musical tastes of his creator; Page shares the first, middle, and last names of ''Robert'' Plant, ''[[OneSteveLimit Johns']]'' Jones and Bonham, and Jimmy ''Page'' - the members of the famous rock band Led Zeppelin.
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79	*** “Douglas Stanford” is the product of combining the first and middle names of two period RAF fighter aces: ''Douglas'' Bader and Robert ''Stanford'' Tuck.
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81	*** Geoffrey Talbot is also the name of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Talbot a medieval English knight]], while "Talbot" is the name of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talbot an automobile brand]], on par with the character's auto racing career. Additionally, in a rather amusing homage to the character’s [[OfficerAndAGentleman personality]], the Talbot name is also shared with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talbots a chain of women’s clothing stores]].
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83	*** Charles Fodder shares the name of a character from ''Clear Skies'', a machinima series based on the sci-fi adventure game ''EVE Online''. Additionally, if one abbreviates his first name, the result is C(annon).Fodder.
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85	*** Perhaps one of the most odd examples: [[AlliterativeName Sebastian S. Smyth]] is also name of [[http://glee.wikia.com/wiki/Sebastian_Smythe the homosexual villain]] of the musical TV series ''Glee'' after its second season. His creator maintains that this is unintentional, but the jury is still out.
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87	*** The beginning of Cliff's full name, Clifford John Clavin [=McTavish=], is the same name as John Ratzenberg's Boston barfly character Cliff Clavin in the popular sitcom ''Series/{{Cheers}}''.
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89	*** Commander Smollett's surname is taken from Captain Abraham Smollett, of the Robert Louis Stevenson novel Treasure Island.
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91	** Besides the names of human characters, the titles of the various operations that 319 Squadron undertakes also serve as distinctive markers regarding their circumstances:
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93	*** Operation Lancer, which takes place at the start of the war in Poland, is a reference to the popularly known aspect of World War II that elite Polish cavalry undertook futile charges in defiance of German tanks. The reality was actually a half-truth with a dose of misinterpretation; a Polish horseback regiment actually did launch a charge in the opening shots of the war, but against a battalion or so of German infantry instead, not a full on armored unit. Despite suffering losses, the Poles came to be successful in driving their dismounted opponents from the field, but were eventually forced to withdraw as the odds came against them. In the aftermath of the battle, a German panzer division swept the area to secure it, bringing platoons of international journalists and reporters along with it. Seeing the corpses of cavalrymen strewn across the field now marked with tank and vehicle tracks, they misinterpreted the sight as the result of courageous but futile Polish defiance against the industrial war machine of the Third Reich - and thus the popular mythos was born.
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95	*** Operation Falkland is an overt waving of the operation's Atlantic South American setting, with the British controlled Falkland Islands being in the geographic proximity of the hunt for the German warship Graf Spee.
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97	*** The creator's reasoning for this title (which he has gone on record as regretting) was actually pinned on a reference to the Battle of the Falklands in World War One, where the forces of Admiral Graf von Spee were annihilated by the battlecruiser squadron of Admiral Frederick Sturdee. The author, in reflection, thinks that the name of one of the battlecruisers present (Inflexible) would have been a much better name for the operation.
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99	*** Operation Guillotine plays this straight with the setting of the mission being turmoil spilt France under German invasion in mid 1940. An interpretation of the title taken up to eleven can have the squadron being sent in as the French government is decapitated once again in history, but at the hands of a foreign military than its own people.
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101	*** Operation Mordred bears the name of the Arthurian character whom betrays Arthur and dies fighting him at the Battle of Camlann. The role-play itself takes place at the height of the Battle of Britain on British soil, with 319's home base at RAF Tempsford under assault by elite German special operations raiders led by none other than Major Konrad.
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103	*** Operation Cambyses shares the namesake of the great Persian emperor who expanded his empire into the role-play's primary setting of Egypt and southern North Africa.
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105	*** Operation Taurus can sprout many interpretations over the intent of its name due to the fact that the astrological symbol of the bull can mean different things. First off, the physical constellation of Taurus is one of the largest and most prominent in the winter skies of the northern hemisphere, with the annual Taurid meteor shower radiating from the general direction of the constellation in late November - the timeframe of the operation.
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107	*** Secondly, the constellation Taurus has strangely come to be accepted as closely associated with various romance and fertility goddesses despite gaps in time and culture; to the Mesopotamians, the Bull of Heaven was linked with Innana, to the Greeks, it was Venus. Here's where things can get a little weird: In the Mesopotamian ''Epic of Gilgamesh'', one of the earliest works of literature, the goddess Ishtar sends Taurus, the Bull of Heaven, to kill Gilgamesh for spurning her advances - one can interpret this as a rather darkly humored joke regarding the strained relationship between Page and Isabelle.
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109	*** A much more serious theme could be seen in the ancient Egyptian Taurus, which was associated with the renewal of life and fertility in spring. This was because when the spring equinox entered Taurus, the constellation would become covered by the Sun in the western sky as the season began; thus, one can interpret the use of Taurus in the sense that the squadron, or more specifically, its commander Page, will plunge into a dark winter in its history to be reborn in the spring - which can easily correlate with the latter's captivity in German hands and ultimate rescue weeks later.
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111	*** It should be noted that Operation Taurus was also the name of a planned prosecution by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), the British police force in Northern Ireland from 1922-2001, against the Sinn Féin (Irish republican) politician Martin McGuinness.
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113	*** The creator later revealed, somewhat flattered by the level of analysis demonstrated here and embarrassed by the relative simplicity of his actual reasoning, that the actual line of logic that led to the name was "Spain -> bullfighting -> bulls -> Taurus". There's also some underlying relation to the metaphor of a bullfight to the actual outcome of the operation, with Excalibur being the bull and the SS force the matador. Hes comfortable with any of the other interpretations, however.
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115	*** Operation Highwire's decisive meaning can be deciphered simply by glancing at a dictionary: a high wire is a tightrope that is stretched very high above the ground, referencing the climatic hijacking scene in which Noble leads the squadron in breaching the German transport plane carrying their captive comrades mid-air using grappling lines shot from harpoons. It also is a metaphor for a risky job, undertaking, or operation.
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117	*** Operation Southern Cross draws its name from the constellation of stars known as the "Crux". This constellation is easily visible from the Southern Hemisphere and it's distinctive shape earns it the commonly used nickname "The Southern Cross". The Southern Cross is most usually associated with Australia, New Zealand and Brazil (appearing on all three national flags) but it also can be associated with South Africa (the host nation for OPERATION: SOUTHERN CROSS) and it's people, particularly the Afrikaans. There is also a small town, located in the Western Cape of South Africa called "Suiderkruis", which, in English, translates to "Southern Cross". [[spoiler:Its also meaningful because Excalibur gets betrayed (i.e., crossed) during the operation.]]
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119	*** Operation Foxchase's name possibly refers to the band ''Blackfoot'''s song "Fox Chase". Expand plox???
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121	*** Finally, Excalibur Squadron itself. The name refers naturally to the sword of Arthurian legend, but less known is that Excalibur is the (semi-)official symbol of the [[UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships United Kingdom Special Forces]]. The [[http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/sas_badge.gif Special Air Service ]] cap badge is a 'downward pointing Excalibur, wreathed in flames (often incorrectly referred to as a winged dagger)' worn with a Sand beret. The [[http://www.loeser.us/flags/images/england/special_boat_service.gif Special Boat Service]] Cap badge is an upward pointing Excalibur superimposed over waves and oriented with the motto to appear as if it is an anchor, worn with a Commando Green beret. The [[http://www.militaryimages.net/photopost/data/563/SRRCapbadge_800x594.jpg Special Reconaissance Regiment]] Cap badge is an upward-pointing Excalibur with a corinthian helmet superimposed over it and the word 'Reconnaissance', this is worn with an Emerald Grey beret. Finally, the [[http://www.eliteukforces.info/images/sfsg/insignia.gif Special Forces Support Group]] Cap badge is a downward-pointing Excalibur with a red and black lightning bolt superimposed over it, worn with a Maroon (P-Company trained) or Commando Green (Commando trained) beret.
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123	* MenOfSherwood: The LRDG troops in Operation Cambyses and the British Commandos in the first half of Highwire; both units aid Excalibur through a respective mission and suffer casualties for the Rule of Drama. It should be noted that although the LRDG end up bearing the brunt of the losses during Cambyses (an entire platoon is decimated over the course of the operation compared with Excalibur's relatively minor casualties of only a single injured member), they were still competent enough to last the mission to not be deemed as a RedshirtArmy.
124	* MissionBriefing: A fixture of each operation Excalibur is assigned.
125	* MultinationalTeam: The Squadron has pilots from several countries.
126	* MoodWhiplash: Given to the squadron after Samantha has disappeared during Operation Highwire. Captain Page, after returning from capture to take over the squadron, goes about business of announcements. Just when the squadron is getting their spirits up, they get weakened again when the first person's award the Captain announces is a posthumous Distinguished Flying Cross for Melody.
127	* MyLocal: The Red Lion, closed after sustaining considerable damage during the events of Operation Guillotine.
128	** Role Later taken by the RAF Tempsford canteen.
129	* NamedWeapons: Several squadron members have named their aircraft.
130	** Page's "Red Special"
131	** Pat's "Yankee Samurai"
132	** Talbot's "Brighton Belle"
133	** Samantha's Thompson; "Melody's Violin"
134	* NewMeat: For the most part, the squadron's newly revived Gold Flight ([=McTavish=], Vegesacke, Eriksfjord, and Abram), whom are forced to act as TheCavalry to rescue the BigDamnHeroes in Operation Highwire.
135	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Simply played straight up to eleven for the sake of practical convenience: all of the characters' vintage looking dossier photographs are in fact those of real world figures. Examples listed include:
136	** Noble's is one of the British actress Keira Knightley (''Atonement'', ''The Duchess'').
137	** The Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (''Game of Thrones'', ''Oblivion'') serves as Page's.
138	** Isabelle uses the appearance of the French actress Léa Seydoux (''Inglourious Basterds'', ''Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol'')
139	** Cliff's appearance is based off American actor Robert Mitchum (''The Hunters'', ''The Longest Day'', ''El Dorado'')
140	** Jimmy's photo is that of B.J. Novak's character, Private Utivich, from ''Inglourious Basterds''.
141	** Lev has the same facial makeup of that of Maximilian Schell, an Austrian actor (Despite Lev being Russian) who starred in the films ''Judgement at Nuremberg'' and ''A Bridge Too Far''.
142	** It should be noted that Melody has the distinction of being the only character whose "photograph" is in fact animated; she is modeled off the character Jisuri from the Japanese manga and anime series ''Upotte!!''.
143
144	* The majority of the rest of the cast deploy period photographs of historical characters:
145
146	** Stanford using the face of RAF Victoria Cross recipient Geoffrey Cheshire,
147	** Vegesack with the German fighter ace Adolf Galland, whose is currently one of two highest ranking photo figures alongside Higgins, possessing the rank of General de Flieger.
148	** Talbot and the British actor Leslie Howard (''Gone with the Wind'', ''Of Human Bondage'')
149	** Fodder with the British LRDG officer David Owen,
150	** Silva and USAAF fighter ace Elmer Koonce,
151	** Smollett with the appearance of Royal Navy submarine officer David Wanklyn
152	** Marchand using a photo of the British actress Kirsten Cooke (both of whom are French Resistance operators in their respective character roles).
153	** Waddock and an actual photograph of a WAAF officer who appears on [[http://stelliansstories.wordpress.com/tag/uniform/ the online blog of a British family]].
154	** Higgins, who alongside Vegesack, is based off the physical appearance of a high ranking military commander: this time being the British Army general Frank Messervy.
155	* OfficerAndAGentleman: Talbot - it’s small surprise that various young women take up important roles in his life. Vegesack in a more elderly form, as he drops womanizing as a feature of his declining youth; instead however, he manages to blurb out a rather complicated and articulate vocabulary, even during stress of combat.
156	* PluckyComicRelief: Carter, in the very sense of the word
157	* PrivateMilitaryContractor: Vegesack in a way; he's a Swedish aristocrat turned mercenary airman. [[spoiler:However, he initiates himself into blood and combat in Spain out of a promise with a related German family (he's of noble blood after all) to protect his cousin Frederick more so than the salary involved.]]
158	* PutOnABus - Many, many squadron members depart the group between missions -IC, due to lobbying within the RAF and the various national governments that the pilots came from, OOC because people just up and leave sometimes.
159	* RedOniBlueOni: Alix and Samantha both have pretty much completely opposite backgrounds and as such, entirely different ways on how they view the world.
160	* RedshirtArmy: the Spanish Maquis partisans in Operation Taurus; these are the final leftovers of the Republican faction(s) of the Spanish Civil War before World War II who continue to resist the dictatorship of the victorious Generalissimo Franco against all odds. The resistance group that Excalibur fights alongside in particular is the same one that rescued Page during his service in Spain, being led by [[spoiler: his former love Isabelle Seigner]]. Sadly, they end up being the ultimate victim of [[spoiler:[[ArchEnemy Von Sporrenburg's]]]] EvilPlan that [[spoiler:lures the entire Allied task force into a trap]]; in the ensuing chaos, Isabelle and her fighters are destroyed as a fighting force at the hands of the Spanish government and German troops sent to ambush them, with the former [[spoiler:being [[ForcedToWatch executed in front of]] [[BigNo Page]] by Sporrenburg after he delivers a poor bluff to the her captor]].
161	* RussianGuySuffersMost: Lev's untimely death in Southern Cross
162	* ShellshockedVeteran: The whole squadron will inevitably become this, however the process had speeded up regarding Page, Talbot, Pat, and Michael after their brutal ordeals as prisoners of war. Noble grows from an uptight intelligence officer to an active field agent, engaging in the same brutal violence as her male comrades. Talbot does so after a personally insisted reconnaissance wrong ends up killing his copilot, whilst Page and Vegesack both do so during the Spanish Civil War. In the case of the latter, the Second Sino-Japanese War ends up making him so.
163	* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: One of Talbot's preferred weapons is a Winchester M1912 12-gauge trench gun.
164	* SidequestSidestory: Played straight with the series' one-shot episodes, a system of optional background stories for each character as influenced by that of Elfen High's. These are usually tales of the various squadron members before or off-screen from their exploits with the main line plot; Forging the Sword, for example, accounts Page's time in Spain, whilst the Talbot Files and Stanford's Story deal with the other two respective character's runnings during the Battle of Britain. Setting of the Sun details Fodder's post-UsefulNotes/WW2 service, Bloodstained Memories reruns the Zilorski brothers' escape from Poland as it falls to the Germans, while Airman of Fortune revolves around Vegesack's career as a mercenary in reverse chronological order. Many more examples follow.
165	* SleepCute - Alix falls asleep on Page's shoulder towards the end of Operation Guillotine. He doesn't mind.
166	* {{Southies}} - Cliff is one of them (although not part of the mob).
167	* SpiritedYoungLady: Commander (later Lieutenant) Alexandra Noble fits this trope perfectly: a woman from an upper-class British patrician family who was trained to fly at her own insistence, and joined the Women's Royal Air Force during peacetime, rising ato a considerably high rank, and eventually becoming a combat pilot for Excalibur.
168	* StarCrossedLovers: A relationship that is, perhaps, doomed to failure, Captain Robert Page and Flight Lieutenant Alexandra Noble. In one man's eloquent words " it wouldn't only be beyond the pale in terms of blatant unprofessionalism, it would effectively torpedo the careers of both of the participants in this illicit and shameful affair. Questions would immediately arise about conflicts of interest, unavoidable and wildly inappropriate emotional attachments, and the possibility of the combat efficacy of the squadron being permanently compromised. And besides, both of these hypothesized participants in this feverishly fantasized full-fledged flirt fest (no, worse, more depraved than that, a SUPER-SECRET-SPECIAL SOLDIER SMOOCHING SEMINAR!) are disciplined and well-trained officers, recipients of the best training possible and veterans of considerable action! The idea that discipline would be broken by them in such a way is nothing short of laughable!"
169	* SurvivorsGuilt: [[spoiler: Cliff after surviving 5 days alone at sea after the crash of his Douglas TBD ''Devastator'', while his two best friends perished.]] He is very reluctant to speak about this traumatic event, rendering it a sort of NoodleIncident.
170	* SweetPollyOliver: Samantha Melody cross-dressed to get into the Army Air Corps, even though she was found out she was still allowed in and then later transferred to the 319.
171	* TheCavalry They fly in, they kick ass, they leave.
172	* TheDrunkenSailor: Cliff to a large extent, especially after the NoodleIncident that led to him leaving the Navy.
173	* TheLeader: Captain Page.
174	* TheLancer: Noble to Page.
175	* TheSquad: Well, duh. A multinational (and frequently rotating) team of pilots from the Allied and Allied-aligned countries, combining many different warmaking skillsets into one coherent group.
176	* TheSquadette: Kaya and Samantha respectively; although lower ranking than Noble, they nevertheless fight alongside their male counterparts effectively.
177	* ThoseWackyNazis: In a World War 2 themed role-play, this trope does tend to become prominent.
178	* UnexplainedRecovery : Silva, leaving the squad for unexplained personal reasons, returns to kick ass and take names.
179	* UpThroughTheRanks : Flying Officer Charles Fodder was a mere Flight Sergeant, once upon a time...
180	* WartimeWedding: Pat and Emily get married just before Operation Guillotine.

Context Roleplay / ExcaliburSquadron