Knights of the Cross
| Community | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name: | Knights of the Cross, KoC, KotC, Les Chevaliers de la Croix | |
| Date(s): | 1 Sept 1997 - present | |
| Moderator: | NightDancer, Fleurette | |
| Founder: | NightDancer, Fleurette | |
| Type: | faction | |
| Fandom: | Forever Knight | |
| URL: | website (archived)
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| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | ||
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The Knights of the Cross (abbreviated as KoC or KotC) are also known as Les Chevaliers de la Croix. They are Christian Forever Knight fans who discuss the series from a religious standpoint. The mailing list was founded by NightDancer and Fleurette.
The group is often counted as one of the Forever Knight factions. It was formed on 1 September 1997 to provide "a haven for Christian Forever Knight fans on the Internet".[1]
The KoC list was initially run as a listserv provided by Clearlight, with moderated subscription. Around the time of its second anniversary, it moved to Onelist.com.[2] They were also on Bravenet Chat Rooms.
The Knights of the Cross had an eponymous faction site [1] (archived). NightDancer was the webmistress and created the website banner. There was also a smaller button made for the faction by Tser.
Message
The index page of the website opened with the following message:
- If there's one thing that any Christian fan of a science fiction TV show knows, it's the feeling of being alone. It's so easy, considering that many Christians look down on the genre, to believe you're the only one out there. But you're not. Knights of the Cross is a gathering of Christian Forever Knight fans for fellowship and prayer support. Our members are drawn from all corners of the globe, from all denominations, from all walks of life and from all FK factions, united in spite of our diversity, by our love for God, and our interest in the show. Whether you're drawn to Forever Knight by its theme of the search for redemption, the characters, the writing, or anything else, here is where you can connect with others who will understand. And even if Knights of the Cross is not the place for you, maybe you fill find a haven in one of our sister groups, Highlander-Christians, X-Philes for Christ, Babylon 5 Christians, or the original, C-Leapers.
- Just remember, you are not alone.[3]
Registration
To join the Knights of the Cross, it was necessary to submit a registration form. The only questions on the form for which an answer was required were an e-mail address and the prospective member's actual name (rather than their on-line name, which was optional).
Optional questions included the church the person attended and their favourite Bible passage.
Membership
In terms of affiliation, the Knights of the Cross were a secondary faction, in as much as their members also considered themselves to belong to other, character-based factions.
A list on their website indicates that members came from the following factions: the Caddywhacks, Celtic Glow Worms, Cousins (including Light Cousins, Nunkies Anonymous, and Nunkies Scouts), Disciples of Divia, FoDs, Forever Faithfuls, FoSiLs, Immortal Beloveds, Knighties, Les Miserables, Lurkers, Natpack (including Dark NatPack), Nick&NatPack, Nothers, Perkulators (including Dark Perks), Rainbow Knights, Ratpack, Ravens/Ravenettes, RoGes (Roman Goddesses), Seducers, Tracy&VachonPack, Unholy Trinity, Valentines, Vaqueros/Vaqueras, and Virtual Knights.[4]
Faction Lists and Groups
The Knights of the Cross have a Yahoo!Group, KoC, which was founded in 1999. It was very active until 2004, and fairly so for another couple of years, but with dwindling activity thereafter.
Faction Website
In addition to its list and (eventually) chat room, the Knights of the Cross had an eponymous website (archived), comprising a main index page and a small number of ancillary pages. The latter included a membership page (which sorted the members by the other faction/s with which they were affiliated), a links page, and a brief newsletter page. When the faction was two years old (in 1999), a congratulatory "birthday" page was added to the website. At that time, they had some forty members.
The website also included a section of fan fiction written by members. In most instances links led elsewhere. However, some of the stories were actually archived on site.
The copyright date at the bottom of the index page indicates that the website was started in 1997. It was first archived by the Wayback Machine on 24 February 1999, and continued in existence at least until 22 November 2002.
Index Page
At the top of the index page was a title banner (created by one of the founders of the faction, NightDancer). This was followed by the message describing the purpose of the faction. There was then a lengthy section of Christian-oriented quotations, some from the Bible, plus a number from Forever Knight. Then came instructions on joining the Kickstart the Knight campaign to try to get the show back on the air. At the bottom of the index page was a Rampart Award won by the website for "Originality and a Fresh Approach" (Rampart being its neighbourhood in Area 51 on GeoCities).
Guestbook Comments
The website had a guestbook. Comments left include the following:
- "This has got to be one of the most comforting places on Earth. Thank you for creating it, and I am indeed proud to be a member." - Billie Lee
- "As a member of the Roman Catholic religion and a devoted fan to the genres of intelligent science fiction/fantasy/and horror, it is nice to know that there are fellow Christians who appreciate these fine forms of literature. I just discovered your website, and I'm very impressed with how it has turned out." - Sandman
- "What a wonderful website! I was tickled pink at finding a faction after my own heart. I would love to get information on your group. In a world that has such a dark side, christians like us need to pull together. Bravo!" - Christi B.
- "I certainly never expected to find a site like this, for people like me. Nice; I look forward to getting acquainted with creatures even more fantastic than vampires: Christian sci-fi fans." - Debbie G.
Fan Fiction Section
The KoC site offered a page of links to fan fiction written by members. Some of these stories were archived on site. In other cases, links went to the author's own website.
- Carl Nicastro (on the KoC website)
- Charlyne Walker (links only)
- "Choices of the Heart"
- "New Beginnings"
- "Revelations"
- Cheryl Barnes (on the KoC website)
- "The Sorrows Solution"[5]
- Fleurette (links only)
- "After-thoughts"
- "Father's Day Cards"
- "Final Challenge"
- "Girl Stuff"
- "Love Conquers All"
- "Nick's Worst Nightmare" - humour
- "Too Good to be True"
- "Little Nicholas and His Lost Humanity" - humour, poem
- Fleurette series
- "The Hunted"
- "The Healing Process"
- "Explanations"
- "Selective Memories"
- "Moving On"
- "Reunion"
- "Decisions"
- Natasha series
- "Natasha"
- "Proposal"
- "Blame"
- "Beyond the Shadows" - crossover with Dark Shadows
- "Returning Shadows" - crossover with Dark Shadows
- NightDancer (links only)
- "Angels of Light" - crossover with Touched by an Angel
- "Graveside"
- "Nick's Prayer" - poem
- Fleurette and NightDancer (links only)
- "Buckskin" - humour
- "Strange Knight" - crossover with Strange Luck
- Jenice Coffey (on the KoC website)
- Kimberly Colley (links only)
- "As I Lay Dying"
- "The Date from Hell" - crossover with Singled Out
- "Knightfeld" - crossover with Seinfeld
- "On-the-Job Training"
- "One Man's Treasure"
- "One of the Gang"
- "Tracy's Adventures"
- Lee Belsky (links only)
- "All Souls"
- "Change Partners and Dance With Me"
- "The First Christmas Without Daddy"
- "Jenny's Story"
- "The Last of Gilmore's Albums"
- "Redemption"
- "Riding the Q.E.W."
- "Why Daddy?"
- Tser (links only)
Faction Icon
In 2012, Greer Watson created an icon for the Knights of the Cross as part of her project to create a set of icons for all the Forever Knight factions. In lieu of an official faction icon, the design composits a photograph of a medieval cross with a cropped picture of a knight on crusade, taken from a medieval manuscript.
References
- ↑ Quoted from the second anniversary birthday page on the faction website.
- ↑ Information taken from the Newsletter (archived) on the faction website.
- ↑ Taken from the index page to the faction website (archived).
- ↑ This list is taken from the Faction Page on the KoC website.
