Born For War
| Archive | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Born For War |
| Date(s): | May 2000 to November 2015 |
| Archivist: | Delenn |
| Founder: | Delenn |
| Type: | het, fanfiction |
| Fandom: | multifandom |
| URL: | Born for War AO3 Collection http://bleeding-heart.net/bfw/ (defunct)  Born For War's main page as it appeared on August 14, 2011. V. 14, "united through love", designed by Delenn. |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Born For War was an archive for multifandom works (chiefly het fanfiction).[1]
Born For War (BFW) opened its doors in May of 2000, after Xena/Ares fanfiction author Something Royal threatened to withhold future fanfiction unless Delenn opened her own site. It was named after one of Delenn's early fanfiction works, Born For War, and the name persisted when the archive expanded. The archive began its life on GeoCities, then moved to Angelfire in Nov. 4 2001 and, finally, to Delenn's personal domain, Bleeding-Heart.Net in Nov. of 2003.
Originally it housed only Xena/Ares (Xena: Warrior Princess) works, but later expanded to include Max/Alec (Dark Angel), Angel(us)/Darla (Angel: the Series), and Spike/Buffy (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) works. For a brief period beginning August 3, 2003, it also housed works focused on Drusilla (BtVS/AtS), which were later absorbed into the respective show sections. For even briefer periods in 2001, as the site was still coming into its own, it housed a Callisto (X:WP) sub-section, a forum (which was never really used), as well as original works and even poetry.
BFW was updated regularly for six years (through 2006), and sporadically in 2007. After a two and a half year hiatus, BFW last officially updated on September 28th, 2009. The last website version (v. 14: united through love) was updated on September 27th, 2009. It remained online until early November, 2015, when it was removed due to the overwhelming amount of work required to restore it to use, the lack of necessity for personal fan sites in the modern internet age, a lack of time on the owner's part, and ongoing upkeep costs.
At the time of the site's removal, it hosted approximately 537 Ares/Xena fics, 84 Alec/Max fics, 30 Angel(us)/Darla fics, 98 Spike/Buffy fics, and 2 Drusilla fics, along with a number of fics linked to but not hosted by additional authors (with permission). It also included episode guides, quotes, awards, quizzes, games, challenges (fic prompts), and a wide variety of fanart, including: posters, slogans, icons, skins, montages, wallpapers, and layouts. BFW was hand-coded using HTML (and, eventually, CSS) for the duration of its life.
In January 2017, it was announced that Born for War would be moving to the Archive of Our Own as an Open Doors Project[2]. The import was completed in May 2019.[3]
Website versions
There were 14 incarnations (versions) of BFW, all of which used a black background in homage to the darker title of the website. The initial site was uploaded by Delenn without much more than a main page. The first real version by EvilLiz (v. 1: Chakram Coming Home). V. 2 (Even War Needs A Little Love) was designed by Electra. All subsequent versions were designed by Delenn:
- V. 3: {Dangerous & Deadly}
- this was the first version to feature multiple fandoms (X:WP, Dark Angel, and Angel).
- V. 3.5: {Girls & Roses}
- V. 4: ...Dark Desires...Shattered Dreams...
- this was the first four-fandom version of the site (X:WP, Dark Angel, Angel, and BtVS). It went up June 5th, 2002, and the Spike/Buffy section was installed over that month.
- V. 5: ...Dark Desires...Shattered Dreams...
- revamped (pardon the pun) version 4.
- V. 6: ...you see i cannot be forsaken...
- released September 10, 2002.
- V. 7: ...a.pretty.fire...
- the first version of the site using iframes, which was a big upgrade/revamp at the time. Version released April 21, 2003.
- V. 8: ...the.one...
- released December 28, 2003.
- V. 9: burnt light
- this was the first version where each section had its own graphic image "skin". In this version the short-lived fifth section was added: Drusilla's Shrine. Version released June 15, 2004.
- V. 10: still with you
- released May 2, 2005
- V. 11: ... here in your eyes ...
- this version was another big overhaul that occurred at about the 5 year mark of the website. DIV layers were introduced to work around the iframes from version 7, which were now more trouble to get rid of than they'd been worth. This was the last big website overhaul and would remain the foundation for the rest of BFW's days. Version released May 31, 2005.
- V. 12: closer
- released January 12, 2006.
- V. 13: Bloody Ecstasy
- this version closed Drusilla's Shrine and consolidated content from that section into the respective BtVS/AtS sections. Version released June 26, 2007.
- V. 14: united through love
- this was the final version of BFW. Coded by hand using Java, CSS, and HTML on EditpadLite for Firefox. All graphics done in Adobe Photoshop.
Awards won
Over its long tenure, BFW won several website awards from other sites (sadly, now all defunct/closed):
- Site Award @ Greek Fire.
- Wicked Site Award @ Written By The Evil Hand.
- November/December's Site of the Month Award @ Written By The Evil Hand.
- Passion Award @ Sinister Attraction.
- The Beauty Award @ Heat... Desire....
- Site Brilliance Award @ Dusk 'Til Dawn.
- Lethal Fiction Award @ Vampire's Kiss.
- Pure Gold Award @ Dream Chyld.
- Loves Your Site Award @ Baby Blue's Playground.
- Xena Kicks Butt Site Award @ Archives Of Desire The Warrior's Redemption.
- Best Of The Web Award @ Scarlet Skies.
- Redemption Site Award @ Club Comfortador.
- Council Certified Site Award @ Club Comfortador.
- Xena & Ares Flame That Never Dies Award @ Greek Amazon.
References
- ^ Mod's correspondence with Open Doors, July 2016.
- ^ "Born For War is Coming to the AO3". Archived from the original on 2021-01-24. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
- ^ Born For War page on Open Doors website (Accessed 31 May 2019)