Now what would you call a story about Tracy and the Inca (or Inka, depending on which spelling you prefer)? On Sunday, Bonnie P. asked the list whether there was a faction "because the Inca was every thing Vachon was not." Okay, there was some joking around involved—but then, nowadays, any factioneering has to be taken lightly.

Upon being told that, up till now, no Tracy/Inca faction existed, Bonnie R. promptly dubbed them the Trinkets. Heartily endorsed by both Bonnies and Allison, it must be so. Right?

Which means they have an icon. Obviously.



(The patterned background is a hot pink version of an actual Incan weaving.)

Bonnie P. also included a Trinkets ficlet in her post; and Andrew C. promptly followed it up with another one. So, whether or not there are any Trinketly inclined FK fans out there, the faction name does have its uses!

During the recent Forever Knight War, several moribund factions-of-yore were mentioned by former members who found intriguing the idea of resurrecting them temporarily—reclaiming their old affiliations, so to speak, if only for sentimental reasons. Other players, however, enjoyed the idea of asserting the existence of new factions. To help people keep track, I included in the war site a page showing affiliations both old and new.

So naturally I mysteriously found myself temporarily a Feliksity, and later morphed into a Blue Knightie.

For a while, though, there was some discussion among the Vaqueras as to whether some of them should change faction for the duration. Naia Zifu, for example, turned Urchin, and had her own story arc for a bit. Another player toyed with the idea of becoming a VietVamp—that is to say, a fan of Tran, the Vietnamese vampire from the episode "Can't Run, Can't Hide". In the end, she decided not to; but, in the meantime, I'd made a faction icon just in case (for I was using the icons I'd made back in 2012 to illustrate the website).

The VietVamps were not among the new factions named back in 2012. The idea of a faction for Tran was raised; but no name was suggested. It was put forward last year; but I never got around to making an icon at that time. Still, better late than never. Here it is now:


VietVamps:




Naturally the icon is dominated by a picture of Tran himself. On one side, his past is represented by a picture of a burning house. I got this off the net: it was apparently taken during the Vietnam War. The other side of the icon has a black background, representing Tran's state of mind after the destruction of the village.

"What more icons?" you ask. "Just how many factions are there, anyway?"

I'm sure I don't know! I was browsing through lists of factions and came up with several more names. I mentioned a few of them on FORKNI-L; and it seems there is still some interest in icons. So here we are.

Not surprisingly, these are not factions in the original FK sense of the term. Rather, they are really terms applied to fans with certain tendencies or interests, but not (I suspect) in any organized way nor War-related.

These first two, the "Deniers" and "Nevermores", relate to the way that some fans reacted to new directions in two episodes in particular, "Black Buddah" and "The Human Factor".




The Deniers:

While many disliked it when TPTB decided to eliminate Schanke from the show, the term "Deniers" was applied particularly to those who then proceeded to come up with ways in which he might have survived, especially if they then wrote stories based on such premises. I dare say, if I were to look, I'd find that someone wrote fan fiction in which his death was faked as a cover for witness protection. I've certainly seen stories in which Forever Knight was crossed with Highlander so that Schanke could be resurrected as an immortal.

When I brought these factions up on FORKNI-L, this was the one that immediately sparked discussion in terms of what to include in the icon. In the event, I decided to go for a picture of the tombstone which we saw at the end of the season premiere. I found a suitable picture of a cemetery to use as the background for the icon, and then—to counter the gloom—put in a classic Schanke smirk.




Nevermores:

The other Season Three episode to set the cat among the pigeons—before the finale itself, that is—was "The Human Factor". Did Janette die or not? That is the question; and, despite the hints that may have been intended when it was filmed, the truth is that many fans read (and I suspect still read) the final scenes to mean that she died. Someone on FORKNI-L coined the term Nevermores, referencing Poe's poem, "The Raven"; and two fans turned it into a short-lived faction.

As it turned out, the people on list had an advantage over the more typical viewer, for there were those among them who had contact with people on the show. They were therefore fairly quickly told that Janette was supposed to have been brought back across by Nick. I'm sure that, in contrast, people who were not on list at that time simply continued to assume her dead—and probably do so today, as far as that goes. I interpreted the final scenes that way myself: only when I joined FORKNI-L in 2004 did I learn that the on-line fandom had been told otherwise. Indeed, I still appreciate the irony of her returning to mortality only to be killed—especially considering that this nicely demonstrates the danger of Nick himself suffering such a fate were he to become human, especially if he continue as a police officer.

Neverthless, the existence of the Nevermores was not considered at all amusing by some of the other fans on FORNI-L. The Ravenettes were particularly affronted. As a result (and because of the information from people involved in the show), the two fans who had been using the name decided to discontinue the faction, for they had never intended to hurt people's feelings.

That being said, the Nevermores are a part of the history of Forever Knight factions, however briefly they may have existed. I have therefore decided that they, too, should have an icon.

For its background, I used a screen capture of Janette in the burning house after she'd been shot. Over it, I simply laid the name of the faction and a symbol; and I then gave the whole a narrow black border to finish it off. This seems appropriate, given that such borders are traditionally used around death notices.

To create a faction symbol, I rebuilt the raven of the Ravenettes to represent a dead bird, and skewered it with a large arrow. Then, when I assembled the icon, I oriented it to lie on Janette's breast as if the arrow pierces her, as well. It is true that she was shot with a bullet; but then it is also true that she is not a big black bird. We are dealing here with symbolism, after all.

( Because of its size, I've put the symbol behind a cut. )

I have a few more icons that I may do for other tiny not-quite-factions; so I'll hold off on posting the enlargements till then.

Please note that I have corrected the description and history of the Nevermores in response to a comment by brightknightie. I apologize to anyone who may have been offended by my original error.

Do you realize that I posted the first faction icons back in February? It's hard to believe, isn't it? In all, there are over a hundred designs, some of which are available with alternative faction names. Although there are not that many posts (for I have usually discussed three or four icons at a time), it does mean that they've got spread out well over my blog.

So, for the benefit of anyone who is simply looking for the icons themselves, I've decided to add a page to my website so that the whole collection can be found in one place. (If anyone is still on dial-up, it will therefore take a while to download; and you will just have to be patient.)

I've divided the icons into related groups to make them easier to find. All the ones for Nick's factions are together, for instance—well, except for the couple factions, which have their own section.

Most of the icons are also links. If you click on them, you'll get the larger-size version (usually 350px, but occasionally smaller). The exceptions are the icons for the Lurkers and the Mikies, which could only be made in the 100px size.

I hope that having the icons all together like this will be handy!

  So, here we are at the last icon!

Feeling that it would be best to end this project on a high note (by which I mean the icon for one of the larger factions), I've been saving this one for months. The Forever Knight Mercenary Guild is not one of the original six; but it was created a war or three later, and has been a popular faction ever since.

I immediately decided that, as with other early factions, the Mercs' icon would need to incorporate a version of the old symbol that was created for them back in the 1990s:



This appears as a header on the Merc Central site; and, as soon as I brought up the question of icon design with their Grand High Pooh-bah (admittedly very much ex post facto), she immediately said she thought it should be included. So it's just as well that I'd already done so!   ( A bit of history.... )

Once the basic design of the icon was done, I added the name of the faction, looked upon my handiwork, and—decided that something was missing.

After all, if the Mercs are associated with anything besides gold, it is chocolate. How could I possibly do a proper Mercenary Guild icon without chocolate?

I googled "chocolate".

Well! Most of the images were of truffles. (Strange but true.) And truffles, let me tell you, do not reduce acceptably to icon size. All you get is a little brown blob. Even truffles with squiggles on top turn into unrecognizable blobs.

I did in the end discover, though, that chocolates in paper cups do reduce to a minute size yet remain recognizable.

So here (blare of trumpets) is the icon for the Forever Knight Mercenary Guild.



( And here is the big version...! )

I specifically started this project to create icons for Forever Knight factions. However, it wasn't long before people started asking me to show versions larger than the basic little 100px square so that they could see more of the detail.

Okay, there are a few cases where this isn't possible; but there are certainly many icons that lose a lot of detail in the final miniaturizing. Over the past months, therefore, I've posted several collections showing the designs at a larger size, usually 350px square. Now, though, the icon project is almost at an end.

Obviously this collection contains the newest icons. However, looking through past posts, I realize that there are some older icons yet unseen. So there are a round dozen here, for factions both old and newly created.

( The final collection of enlargements.... )

It's been a while since I last posted any faction icons. However, during the factioneering back in September, there was actually quite a flurry of interest among the Vaqueras. Vachon's motorcycle and guitar are particularly cherished; and they wanted to create factions for them. Nor did I have much difficulty coming up with designs for the icons.

Nevertheless, there has been quite a delay, for—as the Vaqueras themselves would be the first to admit—they are a slackerly lot. Oh, the name "Triumphants", which I suggested might be suitable for the motorcycle faction, proved immediately acceptable. (Vachon's motorcycle is a Triumph.) A name for the guitar faction was another matter.

One obvious possible name was "Gibson Girls" (for Vachon's guitar is a Gibson). However, this has a fatal flaw: it is really only appropriate for female faction members. Admittedly, there do seem to be only women in the group at the moment. However, it was generally agreed that that is no excuse for excluding potential male members. Then waltd came up with quite a little list of possible alternatives. Among them, "G-Strings" (referring, of course, to guitar strings) immediately struck the eye. However, it elicited a strongly polarized response, with a few people loving the pun, while others found the name quite offensive.

So all had to wait while the membership was polled at their leisure—and, as I said, the Vaqueras are a slackerly lot! They have eventually decided, though, on the non-sexist "Gibsons".

( So here are the icons.... )

No truly new icons in this post. Rather, a couple of old icons with new logos, and another old icon revised to look better.

Although I've done two versions of the Ravenettes icon already ("Ravenettes" and "Raven/ettes"), I decided that I ought to do a third one specifically for any members who prefer to be known as "Ravens". Since this is a shorter name, I had to shift it sideways a bit; however, the icon is otherwise the same as before:




Then we have the Stonetree-ites. Now "Scorpions" was an early suggestion for a faction for Stonetree. Indeed, it still has a member or two. However, it never gained a large membership. Believing it to be defunct, someone put forward another name couple of years later. Mind you, "Stonetree-ites" really doesn't have the same pizzazz. (What it is with the "-ites" names, I don't know. They're surely an admission that the proposer lacks imagination.) Nor did the faction gain many adherents this time, either. After all, Stonetree had, by then, been replaced as captain, first by Cohen and then by Reese. If I'm doing icons for all factions though, the Stonetree-ites have a right to one. However, as they are essentially only a temporary successor to the Scorpions, I've simply given them that icon with a new logo:




Finally, I've straightened the Unnamed Faction. (Wait! Hang on! Let me rephrase that!) I've rectified the UF icon. (That's better.) I realized a while back that the letters in the logo didn't line up properly. They're vertical, and I didn't—as I should have done—drop a guide line so I could get them properly centred. Well, it's now been done:




( Naturally, all three also come in a larger size.... )

Among the various tiny Forever Knight factions of the "miscellaneous assorted" variety, these are the last three to get icons. I think it's fair to say that they are very "miscellaneous".

The Friends of Gillian take their name from one of the scriptwriters on the series, Gillian Horvath. More than once, she wrote fans into the show by using their names for characters (though I think the faction can also be claimed by those whose names were used by other writers). From what little is written about the Friends of Gillian, I gather that fans could sometimes be quite enthusiastic in assuming that an identical personal name meant they'd been honoured by character-dom. However, it definitely did happen a few times for real.

The DracPack are fans of both Forever Knight and a slightly earlier show, Dracula: The Series. Geraint Wyn Davies appeared in a couple of its episodes; and quite a number of guest stars were also in the show, either as regulars or as guests. The DracPack is, however, not affiliated with the actors but with the various characters these actors play in Forever Knight.

As for the MacGregors: they're actually fans of Nigel Bennett, and got their name after he read a Beatrix Potter story aloud at a convention. Not a formal fan club, but a purely fan thing, they are generally counted among the factions.

( So here are their icons.... )

Once again, I'm posting icon designs at the larger (350px) size. There are ten of them this time, in alphabetical order. Most of them are for "real" factions, albeit mostly rather small ones.

( You can find the icon designs here.... )

There was enormous response on FORKNI-L (not to mention some here) when I issued my challenge to find faction names to put on two new icons, one for fans of Schanke's duck lamp, and one for fans of Nick's fireplace.

The names suggested were numerous, though a fair number were clearly tossed out more for humour than use. However, among the "serious" contenders were the Odd Ducks, Lame Ducks, Duckers, and Donald's Ducks—as well as the Quackers, which was the one with the most votes. And we had the Hearth-Huggers, Firelighters, Gloires de Cheminée, and Grate Expectations; as well as the Old Flames, which was the clear winner when second choices were taken into account.

( So here are their icons. )

When I started this project, I did not plan to do icons for all the many tiny factions in Forever Knight fandom. Indeed, even as things progressed and the number of icons grew, there still were factions that I intended to omit. They were too small, too little known, or too similar to other affiliations.

For example, the Caddy-Whackers are better known than the NickKnack CaddyWhacks; and the Woof Pack are more inclusive than the PerryHounds. I have, by now, though, done so many icons for so many factions that it seems wrong to leave them out. Indeed, the third icon here, is for a subfaction so minor that even its creator said not to bother!

( Nevertheless, in the spirit of completism.... )

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. ( However, behind this cut you can find out the details I gleaned from the FORKNI-L archive. ) 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.

( You can find the three faction icons here.... )

I've just posted about this on the mailing list; but, once again, I feel I should post here as well so that people on LJ can comment if they want.

Over the last couple of days, there have been a few suggestions for factions for fans of Schanke's duck lamp and Nick's bedragoned fireplace. At this point, though, it's pretty obvious that, in the race of the icons, the lamp-lovers have it over the fireplace-fans.

For the fireplace, we have the following suggestions, edited a bit:

• Firelighters (from my first post)


• Dragon-petters (ditto)


• Hearth Huggers (NAT)

For the duck lamp, the suggestions break down into different types, some focusing more on the "duck" and some on the "lamp".

• Duckies (from my first post)


• Duckers (foxy11814)


• Donald's Ducks (waltd)


• Lame Ducks (Phylis)


• Quackers (waltd)


• Lamplighters (waltd)


• Odd Ducks (Aviva)

Edited 6 September to add another suggestion to the list.

So far, though, there is nothing remotely anything resembling a consensus! So, if anyone else wants to put their two cents worth in...?

I've just posted this...challenge, I guess...on the mailing list. However, I know not everyone is still on list; and you may also have suggestions you want to make.

Most of the Forever Knight factions are for the characters and their relationships; but there are certainly also fans of the props, costumes, and sets. I've already done icons for the CaddyWhackers, Pinheads, and Lofties—though I suspect the See-Through Knighties were more interested in what was under the garment in question.

Eventually, a faction was created that is supposed to cover all the props in the show. Called the NickKnack CaddyWhacks, they have a website, The NickKnack CaddyWhack Homepage, for fans "who like the inanimate 'characters' of Forever Knight." However, although a partial list follows, including the scorched door and remote operated automatic blinds in Nick's apartment, the site itself is clearly a slightly metamorphosed CaddyWhacker faction site.

Well, I have, of course, made a NickKnack CaddyWhack icon, which will be posted soon. However, it does seem to me that there are quite a few other objects of love in the series that deserve a bit more specific affection than they can get as part of a collective. So I've made a couple of icons featuring props that seem to be popular. (If there's demand to add more, I'm certainly willing.) However, these icons are blank. I don't have names to put on them.

First is an icon for a faction who love the fireplace in the loft. Or perhaps it's the carved wooden dragon on the mantel. Either way, there's a faction icon waiting for the... [BLANK].

Then, there's an icon for people who esteem the kitschy glory of Schanke's duck lamp. It caught quite a few eyes! So, the [BLANK] have an icon, too. All they have to do is—

—fill in the BLANKs.

So, should it be the Firestarters, Hearth-lovers, Dragon-petters...? Are you the Duckies, Mallards, Lamplighters...?

You see, I obviously can't post the icons until they have proper logos on them. So do please give them names!

Another day, another dollar (or so they say). In this case, of course, we are talking about icons—four of them, to be precise. One has been in the works for ages, since I had to redo it almost entirely. Another has simply been waiting its turn for a while. The remaining two are very newly completed indeed.

( Another mixed bag, in other words.... )

Believe it or not, I am still learning about new factions! (Or at least subfactions.) However, the first of the two icons here is one that I have had in mind for some time, in the belief that, even though the Knighties never had a subfaction called the Crusaders, they should have. Nick's days as a Crusader were not only interesting in themselves, but had a profound influence on his subsequent life. Or unlife, if you prefer.

As there are so few factions left without icons, I decided that, if I was going to mention the Crusaders at all, it was time I made their icon, too. I then sent it off to Nancy T. (a/k/a NAT), who is not only a fairly senior Knightie (and the source of all the screen captures I've been using), but also a friend. She was immediately charmed by both the notion and the icon.

Then she told me of a little subfaction of Knighties to whom she belongs, who chat now and then. Recently, they have been wondering whether they should ask me to make an icon for them. Well, within a very short time it went off for inspection—and obviously passed muster, since I'm posting it here.

How many other unlisted subfactions there may be I have no idea. I'm sure, from time to time, other factions have also budded small chat groups—ones that have never been mentioned on FORKNI-L (and hence never wound up on one of the lists of affiliations), being purely a faction thing.

( So here are the icons for two more Knightie subfactions.... )

Here are another dozen icon designs at the larger 350px size. I've simply put them in alphabetical order.

Most of these designs are for actual (not newly created) factions. However, most of them are pretty small; and I think quite a number are no longer active.

( Read more... )

Here we have another mixed bag of icons.

The first, at least, is easy to characterize. The Vachonettas are, I think, the last of the couple factions to have their icon done. As they involve the pairing of Janette with Vachon, they must have few members. Offhand, I can't think of any stories involving those particular characters as a couple. Indeed, they never actually meet in canon!

Like the Early Birds (whose icon is posted here), the Third Shift was a faction by courtesy, being primarily a chat room for people whose schedules made it hard for them to join in the regular group. Whereas the Early Birds rose early, the Third Shift worked late. They therefore held their chat in the late morning, around brunch time.

As their name suggests, the Nitpickers revelled in closely examining the aired episodes in order to uncover mistakes. It didn't matter whether these lay in the script itself; the various stages of filming each episode; the backstory to the characters, flashbacks, and plots; or continuity throughout the series. They also tossed in trivia and gripes. Sadly, the Nitpickers never got through analysing all the episodes. It's a serious business, after all, and needs time to do thoroughly. Still, the results of their endeavours can be found on their website.

And finally, there are the Pinheads. No, they don't appear in any faction list I've seen; but they had a nice little webpage honouring the object of their adoration.

( The icons for these obviously major factions can be found behind the cut. )

In my post about the story, "Unattainable", I mentioned that I'd been trying a little "couple factioneering" on FORKNI-L. Indeed, I posted a Challenge—and, according to the traditional rules for Forever Knight challenges, this means that I had to come up with an example of my own. Given the story, this simply had to be a Janette/Schanke faction called the Unattainables. For which (of course!), I have made an icon.



As you can see, I tried to pick a pair of screen captures that would be appropriate to the characters. The faction symbol combines Janette's raven with a doughnut for "Donut Don". I had to tweak the raven a little so that it had an open beak to grasp the doughnut; but I think the result is in keeping with the spirit of the faction.

(Alas, no one seems to have taken up my challenge. Ah, well.)

Mind you, my notion of a round of couple factioneering was not inspired by the Unattainables, who would probably never have been named had my eye not been caught by a plot bunny. Rather, a few weeks earlier, I had discovered an old thread on FORKNI-L about creating a slash faction for Nick/Schanke.

That a gen faction for the two of them had never been created had always struck me as a pity. Not surprising, though: I have come to realize that the traditional couple factions tend to interpret their pairings romantically, even when they nominally deal with all aspects of the relationship between the two parties. However, there are certainly many stories that would be easier to describe if there were a quick shorthand faction name for "Nick & Schanke buddycop fic". So, when Brenda suggested the "PotM", it was one of the first new factions for which I made an icon (which you can see here).

( But it never occurred to me that people would want a slash faction for Nick and Schanke.... )