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User:Illyandria
| Name/s: | Illyandria Salara Valassiah (1999 to 2002) Savage Enchantress Aurelia (2001 to 2002) Jac (2002 to 2008) K.H. Ivywater (2007 to 2014) Vex Verlain (2014 to present) |
| Fandom/s: | Xena: Warrior Princess (Ares/Xena) Savage Garden RPF (Daz/Dan) Smallville (Clark/Lex) Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Buffy/Spike, Angel/Spike, Giles/Ethan) Star Wars (Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan) Harry Potter (Drarry, Snarry) Sherlock (Johnlock) Inception (Arthur/Eames) MDZS & The Untamed (Wangxian) and so many more... |
| You can find me at: | AO3 Tumblr Dreamwidth Fandom vCard |
| On Fanlore: | My contributions / email me |
White, cisgendered lesbian her late thirties who's been in fandom since 1999. Intersectional feminist, fangirl, gamer, and highly sensitive introvert.
Shipper, because that is the entire point for me. Always has been, ever since I first dipped my toes into fandom at the turn of the century. There is nothing more exhilarating to me than falling in love; that is the dopamine rush I chase when reading fan fiction. I have my own intense, romantic, falling-in-love stories, but oh god, give me every other story out there—I am hungry for them.
It may come as no surprise that I tend to exclude Established Relationship from my fic searches. My favorite genres are Slow Burn and Angst with a Happy Ending. I have a complicated relationship with Fluff.
The reason I don’t gravitate toward fluff is because life is dark. Pretending worlds where demons don’t exist doesn’t give me comfort. This girl and I, we fight for our happy ending every day and sometimes all we can do is claw our way to the next sunrise.
So show me two people bloodied and fucking broken but still willing to love. Because I know what I am capable of and it is boundless and beautiful and it has not been destroyed.[1]
Pseudonyms & Fannish History
Illyandria Salara Valassiah
Years Active: 1999 to 2002 (Ages 11 to 15)
This was my original online alias. I began watching Xena: Warrior Princess in the middle of the third season. I got online in May of 1999 (as AresAdorer on AOL), and the first piece of fan fiction I ever read on the internet was "Uncertain Heart" by Larissa, which was then located at Fireheart's Den. I began writing my own fic in August of 1999, which was first published at The Empress' Homage to Ares, God of War. Between 1999 and 2002, I wrote 28 Ares/Xena stories (some of which remain unfinished) as well as 6 poems. In 2008, I briefly returned to the fandom to write a new story.
Under this alias, at age 12, I created the first large-scale fan fiction archive for the Ares/Xena pairing: Illyandria's Xena and Ares Page.
It was fandom that eventually forced me to confront my own homophobia. I was 12, had zero exposure to LGBTQ+ communities, and half of my family were fundamentalist Christians. Shipping culture certainly didn't help—I was enamored with my beloved heterosexual pairing and found no joy in the canonical lesbian relationship.[note 1] I went so far as to tell my best friend in real life to be careful about reading fan fiction because there might be alt stories out there.[note 2] But by the time I was 14, that same best friend had encouraged me to read an incredibly sweet Savage Garden RPF slash fic, at which point I had my moment of “oh, what the hell have I been so worried about?” I started researching LGBTQ+ history, writing my own slash fiction, and becoming more and more interested in slash pairings.
Savage Enchantress Aurelia
Years Active: 2001 to 2002 (Ages 14 to 15)
This was the alias I used for the Savage Garden fandom, for which I wrote RPF of the Darren Hayes/Daniel Jones variety (this was my very first slash pairing). I also published original slash under this name.
My best friend in this fandom was Pomona the Dream Diva, who reached out to me after reading an entry I wrote in a guestbook. We are still friends to this day.
Jac
Years Active: 2002 to 2008 (Ages 15 to 20)
This is the alias I used when hosting my personal domains. My many hostees included personal sites, fanlistings, fansites, etc.
Within fandom, I was primarily a lurker throughout these years, though I consumed a large amount of fan fiction. The pairings I was interested in included Clark Kent/Lex Luthor (Smallville), Qui-Gon Jinn/Obi-Wan Kenobi (Star Wars prequels), Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter (HP movies—I never read the books), Harry Potter/Severus Snape (again, HP movies),
K.H. Ivywater
Years Active: 2007 to 2014 (Ages 20 to 27)
This was the alias I chose in 2007 while I was at university, but I did not start writing with it until 2009. I wrote for the following fandoms under this name: Pet Shop of Horrors, Yami no Matsuei, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Harry Potter.
Vex Verlain
Years Active: 2014 to present (Age 27 to present)
My current alias. Major fandoms I have participated in under this name include Inception, The Untamed, Hannibal, and Attack on Titan.
I've been an Escapade virtual volunteer since August 2023.
Projects Founded
Illyandria's Xena and Ares Page
Illyandria's Xena and Ares Page was created on October 30, 1999. It was later renamed Sooner Die In Your Arms, and then finally Illyandria's Enchanted Lands. In its heyday, my archive hosted over 500 stories and poems, an active forum (Illyandria's Fan Fic Board), the Ares and Xena Writer's Club (with over 100 members), the Ares and Xena Fan Fiction Awards, graphics, episode guides, lyrics, and more.
The archive was closed without warning on December 4, 2002, due to a childish decision on my part.
A portion of the original archive was restored as AresXena.Net on May 21, 2006 and stayed online for a decade before being closed (with notice) on August 31, 2016.
The Multi-Fandom Postcard Exchange
The Multi-Fandom Postcard Exchange was established on August 13, 2020, in response to increasing feelings of isolation during the pandemic. As noted in the welcome post: "The mission of the Multi-Fandom Postcard Exchange is to allow fans to anonymously send and receive postcards using us as an intermediary because we believe that small acts of kindness can have life-changing effects." As I strongly believe that fen should face no monetary barrier when it comes to accessing fandom and fannish joy, members were allowed to join without sending a single postcard. Members were able to browse the member directory to find people with similar interests and write to as many or as few of those people as they wished, as many times as they wished, whenever they wished. To prevent doxxing and maintain member privacy, my PO Box acted as a mailing hub--members would send postcards in envelopes directly to me (usually in batches), I would scan them (if given permission, in order to post them on Tumblr), and then I would forward them on to the recipient. The sender would pay the postage required to get the cards to me, but I would pay the postage required to forward them on to the recipient.
Unfortunately, both postage rates and pricing for the PO box increased dramatically each year, and as the pandemic waned, interest in the exchange petered out. The exchange closed on August 22, 2024.
Holiday Cheer
Holiday Cheer originally grew out of the Multi-Fandom Postcard Exchange. It allowed fans to exchange holiday cards in December without giving one's address out to all recipients.
MDZS Fans Against Hate
I ran the MDZS Fans Against Hate charity auction and donation drive in Spring 2021.
Cons Attended
Fan Cons
2022 Virtual Cons
- DC-Slash Con 2022
- CONfabulation 2022
2023 Virtual Cons
- Escapade 33 (online only option of hybrid convention)
- Tech Mod
- DC-Slash Con 2023
- Escapade Online 33.5
- Panel Moderator for Webrings and Personal Fanworks Archives: What’s Old is New Again (Wildcard)
- Zoom Room Host for the Tech/Alt channel
- Tech Mod
2024 Virtual Cons
- Escapade Online 34.5
- Tech Trainer
- LGBTQIA2S+ Meetup Host
- DC-Slash Con 2024
- Panel Moderator for Kink in Fanfic (R18)
- Citrus Con 2024
Upcoming Conventions
- Citrus Con 2025 (June 20-22; registered)
- Escapade Online 35.5 (June 27-29; registered)
- DC-Slash 2025 (July 25-27; registered)
Pro Cons
- Wizard World Comic Con Des Moines (2015)
- Polaroid with Ernie Hudson
- photo with William Shatner
- Wizard World Comic Con Des Moines (2017)
- selfies with Barry Bostwick
- photo with partner and John Cusack
- photo with partner and James Marsters
Additional Fannish Participation
Bangs, Fests, and Exchanges
In 2023, I finally began participating in fic exchanges, despite being a fan of Yuletide since the early '00s.
End OTW Racism
In May 2023, I participated in the initial End OTW Racism initiative, "an effort to call on AO3 and the OTW to fulfill commitments they already made to address harassment and racist abuse on the archive." On May 18, 2023, I published a post on Tumblr titled In response to the reactions I’ve seen to #EndOTWRacism. My thoughts were further summarized as follows:
Yes, it is possible to be anti-censorship, write extremely kinky and fucked up idfic, be a longtime supporter of AO3, and also be anti-racist. Furthermore, your beliefs do not have to perfectly align with a movement—nor every person within that movement—in order for you to support that movement.
The title and summary of the following works were temporarily changed in support of the campaign:
- "Willful Blindness" [Hannibal (TV)]
- "This House is a Prison (But Not a Horror Story)" [House on Haunted Hill (1999)]
- "Postcards to Smallville" [Smallville (TV)]
- "Are We the Monsters at the Heart of the Labyrinth?" [Inception (2010)]
- "The Beauty in Our Violence" [Yami no Matsuei | Descendants of Darkness]
- "Thursday" [The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams]
- "Parallels" [Pet Shop of Horrors (Manga)]
- "Defining You" [Xena: Warrior Princess (TV)]
Fanlistings
Between 2002 and 2009, I ran the following fanlistings at various points in time:
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Inceptiversary
In 2021, I participated in the Inception fandom's annual holiday, Inceptiversary. I was the winner of AELDWS 2021.
Fanlore
New Page Contributions
Xena: Warrior Princess
- Pairings
- Shipper Sites & Groups
- General Sites
Savage Garden
- Fandom
Pages to be Added
Xena: Warrior Princess
- Shipper Sites & Groups
- General Sites
Savage Garden
- Pairings
Inception
MDZS
- Events
Multi-Fandom
- Communities
Notes to Self
- Need to expand the Illyandria's Fan Fic Board page (as much as one can with EZBoards no longer showing up on the Wayback Machine).
- Need to actually fill out the Savage Garden page. Ooof.
- Something about the Fallout: New Vegas pilgrimage?
- Expand on personal website days and my domains and hostees.
- Expand on Holiday Cheer and MDZS Fans Against Hate.
Event Participation
| Year | Event | Event Dates | Challenge | Completion Dates & Times | Completion Details | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Stub September | Sep 12 - Sep 25 | Create a stub. | Sep 13 2022 at 06:55 | Created a stub for the Hercules and Xena Banner Exchange. | 
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| 2022 | Stub September | Sep 12 - Sep 25 | Add to a stub. | Sep 19 2022 at 21:28 | Added to the Petshop of Horrors stub. | 
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| 2025 | Monthly Editing Challenge | Jan 01 - Jan 31 | Add three example fanworks to Fanlore. | Jan 30 2025 at 07:46 | Added 2 fan art examples to the Ereri page.
Added 1 doujinshi example to the Ereri page. |
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References
- ^ Tumblr post by vex-verlain, posted July 23, 2020 (Accessed January 28, 2025).