MRF2

Just finished ... our own header, now replacing the borrowed one. While keeping some similarities of style with the familiar header from the original maryrenaultfics of yore, this has been designed to be immediately recognizable also as distinct.

Perhaps most obvious is the black ground. However, a different selection of graphics has been composited, again with the intention of symbolizing various of Mary Renault's novels. Most striking among these images are perhaps the famous Cretan bull rhyton (original photo by Wolfgang Sauber, taken from Wikipedia), and the Etruscan winged horses (original photo by Ulrich Mayring, also from Wikipedia).

The website logo is seen in the centre of the header, comprising the initials MRF2, with "maryrenaultfics2" across the centre. For this version, the logo is superimposed upon a gold laurel wreath commemorating the tenth anniversary of maryrenaultfics. This reflects the fact that the first project to be undertaken on this community is the completion of the Ten Years On (10YO) Celebrations that were begun last summer.

Until recently, the maryrenaultfics community on LiveJournal was active. Indeed, this past summer saw its tenth anniversary. However, its moderators have decided to place it on hiatus.

Their decision, of course. Unfortunately, it puts two of its members in a difficult position.

For the Ten Years On (10YO) Celebrations, my sister fawatson and myself planned a series of ficlets set in a metaverse that was created in 2008 by the members of maryrenaultfics to be a place outside space and time that can be visited by any of the characters from Mary Renault's books. Originally, the Clubhouse there was simply a place where an Interviewer could chat with the characters. (The In Their Own Words project, it was called.) Over time, though, it became much, much more. In addition to the original interviews, a number of individual stories and series were set in this ITOWverse. Some of these were celebratory in nature (for instance, the Five Years On Celebrations of 2009). Others were comments on current events at the community: the characters' own perspectives on the members. A fictional newspaper, The Renault Times, allowed another form of meta as it was ostensibly delivered to the characters in their own books, reporting to them on events in both the ITOWverse and the maryrenaultfics community, while "columns" from it were posted as commentary.

So, naturally, an ITOWverse series was planned for the tenth anniversary of the comm; and my sister and I duly began to write and post it at that time. But it was never completed: events in the summer of 2014 derailed our best intentions. We intended to return to it—all fall and into the winter we intended to return to it. Indeed, after the Yuletide gift exchange (in which we both participated), we did indeed start back writing; and one post was made.

However, before we could continue, maryrenaultfics was closed.

This community has been created, therefore, so that we may complete our intended series of 10YO stories and provide an ITOW transition to the future.