FKWar 15

Screen capture of the index page of the war site for War 15.

"Twenty Years On" was the fifteenth of the FK Wars. It officially ran from Saturday January 25, 2014 through Sunday February 9, 2014. However, participants who needed additional time were encouraged to continue as long as necessary to finish their story arcs.

War Leader

No official warleader.

Archives

• archived on the FKWarArchive Yahoo!Group
• War 15 website

Premise

There was no official war premise. It was, however, generally agreed in advance that the traditional climactic party would be a combined celebration of the twentieth anniversary of War One and a memorial for the late Greg Kramer, to be held at Casa Loma.

Beyond this, factions and independents were encouraged to develop their own ideas, with the result that there were three major plots that ran through the war:

• Vaqueras: Vachon's church is threatened by a demolition order, and the Evil Pink Bathroom takes it into another dimension. Its mysterious disappearance makes the news, and has ramifications that involve not only the Vaqueras but other factions as well.
• Die-Hards: An other-dimensional game of scrabble between The Powers That Be and The Powers That B'Aint (No More) results in fans of various affiliations suddenly believing themselves to be members of factions other than the ones they are officially playing with. In general, these are either inactive factions of yore or recently invented ones.
• Independents: Bonnie Rutledge and Bonnie Pardoe—and sundry other fans as the war progresses—are zapped by mysterious blue sparks that send them into flashbacks from various episodes of the series.

Factions Involved

The factions officially playing in War 15 were the Cousins, Mercenaries, Nick & Nat Pack, Die-Hards, Knighties, Vaqueras, Ravenettes, Perks, and RatPackers. There were also independent players.

• Cousins:
  • Leaders: Cousin Tok, Cousin Shelley
  • Players: Rebecca Hinson (Cousin Becky), Becky Young (Cousin Becky), Lisa McDavid (McLisa), Rhonda MacKenzie, Cousin Stan
• Die-Hards:
  • Leader: Don Fasig
  • Players: Greer Watson, Ron the Enforcer
• Knighties:
  • Leader: Nancy Taylor (NAT)
  • Members: Katrinka, Lisa Knust, Mindy Dowdy, Tara Williams (Gemsong), Vickie Farr, Maria Corral (Mari)
• Mercenary Guild:
  • Leaders: Laura Davies a/k/a Shadowstar
  • Members: Bast, Kathleen Wilson, Liz the Lucky, Bec
• Nick and NatPackers (NNP):
  • Leader: Soulseeker, Susan Bennett (deputy)
  • Members: Mary Combs, Karen Gunther (Nitenurse), Michelle Loo, Kelly Parks
• RatPack:
  • Member: Libratsie
• Ravenettes
  • Members: Alex Braun, Barbara Braun
• Vaqueros:
  • Leaders: Tabitha Carlson, Teri DeLong
  • Members: Marilyn Teplitz (the VaqShaman), Melissa McFarlin, Naia Zifu, Wendy Bonewald, Doña Angel
• DP/Perks:
  • Members: Anne Jensen
• Independent:
  • Bonnie Pardoe, Bonnie Rutledge, MsLibrarianXYZX, Chanda Keith, Allison Lahikainen, the Caddy

Statistics

In all, 43 people signed up to play in War 15. Collectively, there were 177 story posts.

Having said that, not all participants were equally active. It is true that posts were authored or co-authored by 22 different faction members. However, 11 people only authored (or co-authored) one or two posts. On the other hand, there were 9 people who wrote or co-wrote eight or more posts. Five of these were principal scribes for factions: the Knighties (Knightie Nat), NNPack (Susan B.), Mercenary Guild (Shadowstar), Ravenettes (Alex Braun), and Die-Hards (Greer Watson), while a similar number of posts were made collectively by the Vaqueras, who had two main scribes (Teri DeLong, aided by Naia Zifu). Notably, however, two of the most prolific writers were independents: Bonnies Pardoe and Rutledge, who wrote mostly as a team. Another independent, Allison Lahikainen, wrote an eight-post story arc.

Rules

No specific rules were posted for War 15. However, general guidelines were posted pertaining to civility, permission slips, posting, and the like. These were modelled on rules from earlier wars.

Management of Characters

There were no rules regarding the management of characters: factions were free to write them as they chose.

Calendar of War Events

This calendar lists major events officially scheduled during the War.

• January 25 - FK fans begin arriving in Toronto.
• February 8 - a party is thrown honouring the twentieth anniversary of War One, with a tribute to the late Greg Kramer

Resources During the War

A war site was prepared by Greer Watson, who kept it updated throughout the war. This included information on wars in general, the rules and premise for War 15, posting tips, and a page about Casa Loma with illustrations and links.

Synopsis

A list of all war posts can be found in the article FKWar 15: List of War Posts.

7 January 2014

Vachon returns to the church to discover a notice on the front door officially stating that the building is scheduled to be demolished in a month's time.

24-25 January 2014

Fans from a number of factions start arriving in Toronto, not for war but to prepare to hold a celebration in honour of the twentieth anniversary of the first Forever Knight list war. From the perspective of those who arrive early, things are quiet—though Bonnie Pardoe is finding that odd blue sparks keep snapping around the small apartment that she is subletting in Toronto.

The Vaqueras meet at Buckstar's coffee shop, deeply concerned about Vachon, whom they are sure will be mourning Greg Kramer. However, they are having trouble picking apart the actor from the part: Screed is very much still around; in fact, Vachon doesn't even know who Greg was. Before they can explain, though, there is an explosion. They rush to the church to find it surrounded by an Evil Pink glow. ("At first it seemed to be light, or smoke or....something.... but as they got closer they saw it was made up of.....tons.....and tons....of....Evil....Pink.....Confetti. It floated down all around them in sparkly swirls and put them all momentarily into flashbacks of 2 weeks of cleaning and de-stickifying everything they owned after an attack in the last War.")

Floating down amid the confetti is the notice of condemnation. As they realize in horror that the church is in danger, it suddenly vanishes down a vortex, leaving only a door standing all on its own—a door that they recognize with disgust to be the door to the Evil Pink Bathroom. Nevertheless, the Vaqueras boldly enter, and find that they and the church are now in some other dimension. The only witness to their disappearance is a bewildered vagrant.

Around town, pink confetti rains down. The explosion makes the news, causing delays for late-comers who find security restrictions at the airport. When McLisa—who has been drinking in her hotel room—sees the report on TV, she tipsily wanders off on a search & rescue mission, looking for Stonetree, whom she remembers from a previous war as an elephant at the Toronto Zoo.

Meanwhile, the Mercs are getting bored and decide to amuse themselves by breaking into the 1800s museum. When they split up, two of them are arrested and taken to the 96th Precinct.

25-26 January

Off in some other dimension, The Powers That Be (TPTB) and The Powers That B'Aint (No More) (TPTBn't(NM)) are holding a scrabble game to determine the fate of Forever Knight. When the scrabble pieces are accidentally dropped on the floor, some of the players change factions. At this point, the people affected are Shadowstar, acting leader of the Mercs, who suddenly believes herself to be a Dark Nick-and-NatPacker, and Greer Watson, the Die-Hard warscribe, who suddenly believes herself to be a Feliksity. Neither has any memory of ever belonging to any other faction.

At the time of her transformation, Shadowstar had been on her way to the 96th Precinct to bail out her fellow Mercs, Liz the Lucky and Bast, who therefore remain incarcerated. To the consternation of the real NNP, she instead goes to their headquarters, where she starts watching television. Greer, on the other hand, remains in contact with the Die-Hards, but only as a representative of Feliks Twist, who is their financial manager. Attempts by both Feliks and Ron the Enforcer to whammy her back to normal prove a total failure.

Meanwhile, the two Bonnies—Pardoe and Rutledge—have joined forces and go on a spree round town to honour the memory of the late Greg Kramer. Along the way they encounter McLisa and, along with Libratsie, gatecrash a performance of Greg's last play which is being held at the NNP theatre. After the performance, the NNP discover that someone has walked off with the money from the box office.

The Bonnies invite the NNP to dinner, though only one person takes them up on the offer. On the way to the restaurant, they run into the lone Ravenette, Alex. All wind up arrested. When they are taken to the 96th Precinct, they realize that a drunken McLisa and two of the Mercs are also in the cells. Here the snaps of sparkly blue become more frequent; and eventually a pattern is realized: they happen when someone says "should have" or some similar wishful conditional. The light starts to spread, eventually engulfing four of the prisoners (the two Bonnies, Alex, and Liz the Lucky), who disppear from the cells.

The remaining Merc is bailed out by Kat, and the lone NNP is bailed out by her own faction.

Meanwhile, the four who have disappeared find themselves in the Wild West, where they rescue a railcar from a gunman who turns out to be a U.S. Marshal with a wanted poster—specifically, the poster from "The Code". They realize that they have been transported into the flashback from that episode. After encountering Nick, LaCroix, and Janette, they are able to return to the present day when Libratsie pops out of Bonnie's TARDIL luggage, which they realize is a portal they can use to get home. When they get back, though, they discover that several days have passed.

As for McLisa, Allison Lahikainen (playing as an Independent) has tracked the sparkly blue lights across town to the 96th Precinct, where she persuades Nick to let McLisa out of the cells. When they are in her car, though, Allison utters a wishful phrase that results in the pair of them also being drawn into the past. After being puzzled by various clues, they eventually decide they are in the flashback from "Close Call". Like the others, they return to the present after several days' absence.

26-30 January

In the meantime, since Alex has been off in a flashback, Janette has taken care of his three-year old daughter, Barbara. At one point, she recruits LaCroix as babysitter. (He starts to teach the child Latin.)

[more to come]

Behind the Scenes

Although officially War 15 ran from 25 January to 9 February 2014, there was no final cut-off time for posting stories. A couple of factions did, indeed, time their final story for the 9th. However, most also posted the following day; and a number of concluding installments were delayed until late in the week. There were also a few factions that took full advantage of the lack of deadline in order to finish up story arcs, with the result that the final post did not appear until 21 February 2014.