Here are three more Natalie-related faction icons. In fact, I think this finishes all the Nat-factions—though I can't actually be sure. As the Knaughtie Knighties have proved, there may well be (or once have been) subfactions out there which no one has mentioned before. At any rate, this post contains what I think are the last three Nat-faction icons.

You may have been getting the impression that I'm trying for a comprehensive collection.   :)   To achieve this, I have asked people on FORKNI-L for information; but I have also perused every faction list I know about. Although I was not initially planning to bother with the small fry, I've clearly changed my mind.

That meant that I needed to look into the "Dark Natties", "MadNatters", and "NatVampCamp". At least one faction list treats these as more or less synonymous; but it turns out that's a misunderstanding. My research, such as it is, suggests that each term does, in fact, have a distinct meaning.

"Dark Natties" seems to be an early name for the Dark NatPack. At any rate, I've found no instance where the two names appear together; and it is "Dark Natties" that appears on the earliest faction list we have, Meredith's Affiliation FAQ from 1996, which does not mention the Dark NatPack. I can see how the latter might have seemed a more formal choice for their faction name, especially if they wanted to parallel the NatPack. Of course, I've already made an icon for the Dark NatPack, which can be found here.

The NatVampCamp have a Yahoo! Group named "Forever Nat"; and, at one time, they also had a website of the same name, with a gorgeous picture on the main page of Nick with a vamped-out Natalie. Whereas the Dark NatPack are attracted to the "dark" side of Natalie, which may mean writing her as a vampire, the NatVampCamp prefer her that way.

Then, we have the MadNatters. I'm not sure, but I think the "Mad" in their name is actually directed towards the members of the NatPack. You see, during the first flurry of factioneering, people basically declared their affiliation with one, and only one, of the small number of available factions. (Or to none at all, whence the Die-Hards.) However, as the number of factions increased, people often wanted to declare multiple affiliations—especially as things like chat rooms and e-groups began to proliferate, so that they needed to join multiple lists in order to engage in all the various discussions that interested them. Indeed, most factions were quite easy about multiple memberships.

Not so the NatPack. Somewhere, I came across something that indicated that, in order to join, one had to not belong to any other faction. I don't know whether they forbade NatPackers joining such groups as the Knights of the Cross or the Cross-Stitchers; but they certainly didn't allow them to belong to other character-based factions. That did not, though, stop fans from liking Natalie as well as other people. So these rejected prospective NatPackers decided to form their own faction so that they could discuss her among themselves. They called it the MadNatters; and there is at least one person still on list who puts it in her sig.

So that's two icons: for the NatVampCamp and the MadNatters. What's the third?

Well, okay: you probably don't remember the Morgue Maniacs. Unless, that is, you're also on FORKNI-L, because I posted about it recently. Basically, the Morgue Maniacs are a faction that never quite materialized.

On 14 March 2001, Molly/Stormborn presented fellow list-members with a Top Ten "There Oughta Be a Faction" List. It was all pretty tongue in cheek, as Top Ten lists often are. Number Two on the list was the Morgue Maniacs, defined as "akin to the CaddyWhacks, but devoted to Natalie's toys (including the caterpillar!)".

It was not until ten days later that Cousin Tserisa picked up on it. First, she pointed out that there already existed a broader "NickKnack Caddywhack" faction for fans of all the props in the show. Then, she asked, "On the other hand, is there a faction for Grace and Nat? Seems like a darn good name for that. ;) I must admit I have a fascination with forensic pathology, coroners, and so on. :> "

Three days later, Judy F. said she shared the fascination, and added, "I think there should be a Nat and Grace faction, as long as it does NOT become a slash one. Everyone else has a faction. Morgue Maniacs sounds like a good title for it. As good as any other one."

And Eve D. immediately wrote, "Count me in! I've always been interested in forensic pathology myself [...]"

Which all sounds very promising. Alas, the discussion was immediately derailed when Tim P. said that "DeadOfTheKnight" would be a better name, and added, "P.S. or is that a faction for all the bit-players who are 1st/2nd scene people (scene 1 - the show opener - they are killed. Scene 2, we find them with a toe-tag with Nat describing what has happened to them."

People promptly turned to a light discussion of toe-tag wearers, wondering whether Schanke would qualify. No one mentioned the Morgue Maniacs again. It's one of those suggested factions that never actually got organized.

However, that doesn't mean that there's no place for it! The truth is that, however much the old couple factions may have claimed to cover each of their relationships "in all its aspects", they were really factions for "couples" in a romantic sense. Even the obvious exception, the Cousins of the Knight, was formed less out of the wish to start gen factions than from the wish to counter a sense of creeping UFfishness.

Nevertheless, the Crew is also a faction of fairly long standing, albeit small and not at all well known. And, more recently, we've created the PotM (Nick & Schanke), and three family factions (Brabantines, LambKins, and Vetterans). So a Grace & Natalie faction seems well in order.





NatVampCamp:

Initially, the NatVampCamp icon seemed quite quick to make. That's because, back when I was working on the Dark NatPack icon, I created a splendid faction symbol that, in the end, I didn't use. It seemed to me that the modified caduceus, with its hissing snakes and batwings, better suited a faction that turned Natalie far to the dark side. Well, I figured the NatVampCamp qualified; and I certainly didn't want the faction symbol to go to waste. (I'm not sure if this is "reusing" or "recycling"; but it's clearly very virtuous of me. Either that, or very lazy. One or the other.)

To go with the symbol, I modified a screen capture of Natalie to give her prominent fangs and vampire-orange eyes. (This was also a fairly swift job.)

No, the problem came when I tried to create a suitable logo. Red and gold were ideal colours; but I found it a dreadful job getting the letters to show up properly when the name was laid over the gold-toned batwings. Eventually, a series of options was sent to NAT, who selected this as the most legible.




MadNatters:

Since the MadNatters are, in many ways, parallel to the NatPack, I decided to make their icon very similar, at least in terms of its components. If you compare it with the NatPack icon, you'll see that each has a morgue-tiled background, a caduceus, a picture of Natalie, and facing pages from the notebook in which she kept her notes on her experiments on Nick. For this icon, I've simply used a different pair of pages from the book, a different caduceus, and so on.

Also, the icon lacks a border. I did not add the border to the NatPack icon with any symbolic intent; but leaving it off the MadNatters' icon is deliberate.




Morgue Maniacs:

I had a little trouble compositing this icon until it occurred to me to put the rack of test-tubes behind the pictures of the two women. At that point, it all came together quite quickly.

Of course, the lighting was different for each picture I used. That required colour correction—and for white, let me tell you, even a little coloured shading shows up. Each lab coat required retinting in sections before I got it looking suitably white!