BingTheWing — Roleplayer Guild

Looking for a co-GM!

Tiger Tiger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

–  William Blake

Great Britain, July 1940. The lone British war machine is reeling from the military disaster of Dunkirk, where only 20,000 troops of the British Expeditionary Force escaped from France and the rest dead or taken prisoner by the advancing Wehrmacht. Now, the German Luftwaffe prepares to launch a crushing air superiority campaign across the English Channel, with British factories, seaports, and civilian centers all newly designated targets of Operation Sealion. With the great empires of the United States and the Soviet Union infuriatingly neutral, the United Kingdom braces for a final death struggle against the Nazi menace.

But how could it have come to this? How could have hope dissipated so quickly?

As far as you are concerned, you will never know. The 20,000 survivors of Dunkirk and their rescuers in the various branches of the Royal Armed Forces have been prevented from contacting their families and forced to remain on their respective bases. New recruits to the Royal Army, Navy, or Air Force, for now, have been directed to other bases of operation. 

You are a newly minted aircraftman in the British Royal Air Force. The first thing you are greeted by as you arrive on your first base of duty is an empty airfield and around five to seven other fresh recruits just as confused as you are. However, you have certainly heard rumors about what transpired in the last few months in France - that the Germans have developed a secret weapon that made our men literally lose their minds, that the dead in Dunkirk were slain not by the Wehrmacht but by their fellow soldiers, that the survivors on base have been indefinitely confined to mental institutions, robbed of their sanity, their rationality, and their hope.

But, of course, those are just rumors. High Command will release pertinent information when it can.

Meanwhile, you are one of the lucky few aircraftmen in the RAF who have been assigned to Turin Squadron, a special detachment of the Royal Air Force that, for all intents and purposes, does not exist. You have been especially chosen for your supposed 'fortitude of mind', whatever that means. The only thing you have been told at the briefing is that you will play a special part in the defense of the British Isles against the Luftwaffe assault. As far as anyone else in the force is concerned, you are part of other, officially recognized squadrons. You are not told of the exact nature of your missions, only that your first will start in forty-eight hours.

You attempt to sleep peacefully after the briefing, pushing out of your conscience the nagging feeling that you have absolutely no idea what you have gotten yourself into.

• Starting from May 28 onwards, the British public has received little to no information regarding the Battle of Dunkirk and the initial French campaign. 

• Only 20,000 troops of the British Expeditionary Force were able to be rescued in Operation Dynamo. The 380,000 men left in France have all been listed as missing in action.

• The 20,000 BEF troops, the crew of twenty Royal Navy battleships out of the forty-two involved in Dynamo, and the 850 RAF airmen who provided aerial support at Dynamo have all been ‘quarantined for smallpox’ at several bases in the Midlands. They have been prevented from writing to their families or coming into contact with the locals. It is rumored that they are all being transferred to New Zealand.

• There are rumors that the survivors of Dunkirk have been literally driven mad by their experience.

• Turin Squadron, a 12-plane all-fighter RAF combat squadron, was newly formed on July 5, 1940. It does not appear on official RAF records.

• Turin Squadron is based at RAF Carrington, a RAF airbase located in the Duchy of Cornwall. RAF Carrington is officially listed as abandoned and scheduled for demolition. 

• You are a recently graduated airman in the Royal Air Force. Your first assignment has been Turin Squadron.

Name:
Rank: You are most likely a Flying Officer, since you are a recent graduate noted for outstanding performance. If you are another rank for whatever reason, refer to this link for more info.
Serial Number: This is a random 8-digit number.
Date of Birth:
Place of Birth: Anzacs, Americans, French, and even Polish pilots participated in the Battle for Britain.
Physical Appearance: Short but sweet.
Aircraft: As an elite pilot, you'll most likely be flying a Spitfire, but if you're comfortable with a Hurricane it's fine - just somewhat discouraged.
Callsign: There are three 'flights' in Turin Squadron - Green, Gold, and Ghost, composed of four planes each. Refer to the squadron roster in the Characters Tab. If you want to be a flight leader, ask a GM.

Psychological Evaluation:

This is a semi-important part. You can’t be diminutive or weak-willed in nature. You have been especially chosen for your perceived ‘fortitude of mind’, which means you’re somewhat more resistant to mentally stressful or straining situations than the average soldier. In addition, you have been run through a series of several psychological batteries that examine:

Your opinions on the meaning of life, God, the existence of extraterrestrials, the vastness of the universe and the (in)significance of man,

Your ability to comprehend basic non-Euclidean geometrical shapes,

Your ability to maintain a certain level of mental composure when exposed to particularly graphic or harrowing stimuli, e.g human bodies metamorphosing into grotesque insectoids, pictures of (supposedly theoretical) monstrous and terrifying underwater sea beasts,

And most importantly, your worst fears. These could range from slight discomforts to all out phobias (though not too much of the latter - you don't want your character to be a nervous wreck).

History: Discuss how your background has shaped your personality, especially in terms of being mentally ‘tough’ and worldly.

@Avanhelsing That could certainly be a part of your own character's story arc. I need new recruits because seasoned pilots would have known what happened at Dunkirk, thus taking away somewhat from the first part of the story. Said seasoned pilots would also have had their performance and mental sanity severely affected by the incident at Dunkirk. 

145 RAF planes were lost at Dunkirk - in our timeline, let's up that to 200. Let's say out of fear of losing their flying force to whatever the Germans were controlling, only about 800 planes were deployed. That means about 600 pilots came back different men and quarantined. An estimated 3,000 pilots fought for the UK in the Battle of Britain. That's a lot of fresh blood. (Will include this in the OOC.)

Are you guys okay with doing this in Advanced? Standards won't be incredibly high.

BingTheWing Member

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