Illyandria's Xena and Ares Page

Illyandria's Xena and Ares Page was home to the first large-scale Xena: Warrior Princess fan fiction archive dedicated specifically to the Ares/Xena pairing. The site was created on October 30, 1999, by a twelve-year-old girl in the midwestern United States. It was not an automated archive, nor were WYSIWYG tools used; each story was coded by hand in HTML.
Over the course if its life, the site hosted over 500 stories and poems, an active forum (Illyandria's Fan Fic Board), the Ares and Xena Writer's Club (with over 150 members), the Ares and Xena Fan Fiction Awards, graphics, episode guides, lyrics, and more.
The site was not subtext-friendly, meaning that the archivist did not support a romantic reading between Xena and Gabrielle, and this was reflected in the fan fiction submission guidelines as well as the forum rules. Gabrielle was often referred to as "the irritating blonde" both on the forum as well as in the hosted fiction.
Though it frequently changed hosts as well as names, the site was open until December 4, 2002, at which point it was closed without warning by the archivist.The index page of the site was replaced with a message that stated "Gone 12/04/02. What can I say? I'm impulsive."Index Page (archive link), Illyandria's Enchanted Lands. (Accessed 18 August 2022.) At the time of closing, the site hosted 506 Ares/Xena stories and poems.What's New? (archive link), Illyandria's Enchanted Lands. (Accessed 18 August 2022.)
Although the site was closed, it was never deleted by the webmistress, so much of the content was still accessible to those who had bookmarked the pages, until certain file names and folders were changed, making the fan fiction inaccessible. When Geocities closed in 2009, the site was finally deleted.
A portion of the original archive was restored by the archivist as AresXena.Net on May 21, 2006.Illyandria. AresXena.Net Grand Opening!, posted on 21 May 2006 at Shipper Heaven. (Accessed 18 August 2022.) It stayed online for a decade before being closed (this time with notice) on August 31, 2016.Illyandria. AresXena.Net closing August 31st, posted on 10 August 2016 at Shipper Talk. (Accessed 18 August 2022.)
=== Milestones ===
* Surpassed 400 stories/poems on March 31, 2001.
* Surpassed 500 stories/poems on September 6, 2001.
=== Memberships ===
The site was part of the Hercules and Xena Banner Exchange, The Ares and Xena Have a 'Thing' Webring, and The Ares and Xena United SiteRing.Index Page (archive link), Illyandria's Enchanted Lands. (Accessed 18 August 2022.) The archivist, Illyandria, was Member #311 of The Xenite and Herkulean Webmasters Association.Trinkets (archive link), Illyandria's Enchanted Lands. (Accessed 18 August 2022.)
=== Awards Won ===
* The Empress' New Site AwardAwarded by The Empress of The Empress' Homage to Ares, God of War.
* The Empress' Underappreciated Character Site Award
* The Empress' Magnificent Site Award
* Greek Amazon's Xena & Ares Flame That Never Dies AwardAwarded by Maureen of Greek Amazon's Page.
* The Widow Twanky's A Site Worth Fanning For AwardAwarded by Nicole and Shannon of The Young and the Hercless.
* The Awesome Site Award (for the Ares and Xena Writer's Club)Awarded by Krissiana of Krissiana's Ares and Xena Page.
* The Official Home of Heroes Fan Fic AwardAwarded by ATTorXenafan of Home of Heroes.Awards We've Won (archive link), Sooner Die In Your Arms... (Accessed 18 August 2022.)
* Hades' Award of ExcellenceAwarded by Hades Rox.
* Chakram Award of ExcellenceAwarded by Maytha of Maytha's Xena Warrior Princess Website.
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Xena: Warrior Princess Archives
Category:Het WebsitesCategory:1999Category:2000sCategory:2010sCategory:GeoCities