An informal history of the Brotherhood without Banners (BwB)
by David "Lodengarl" McCaman

In 1997 the first major ASOIAF community was Dragonstone, created by an Australian by the name of Peter Gibbs. He had both a FAQ and a message board. Elio M. García came to the board in the midst of some activity. KAH, Revanshe, Jeff, and others were there. But after one crash too many, Dragonstone never recovered. Peter Gibbs became busy with real life as a programmer and never tried to start it up again. So, Revanshe started a board on eesite, and everyone flocked there. It was a great board for a long while, until it started having horrible crashes and data loss. Revanshe had started an ASOIAF webpage as well, with information, at that time.

Eventually, real life took her out of play, too, with medical school. She gave the board over to Elio to run. Elio and his significant other, Linda, tried pressing on with it, but it crashed again, and that was that. They created and ran the ASOIAF EzBoard on September 12, 2000, and moved to the current message board in November 2005 because of Invision Power Board’s features and security.

This message board is the on-going brain center of the BwB, with over 4,000 "boarders." It has nurtured a strong family of fans and has slowly grown over time as A Song of Ice and Fire has grown in popularity. Ran and Linda are also responsible for what can be safely regarded as the most informative and resourceful A Song of Ice and Fire site ever created — Westeros.org.

In 1999, I (Lodengarl) planned to organize an A Song of Ice and Fire convention and approached George and Parris about the possibility. Despite my determination, George revealed past horror stories and showed me the dangers that lurked where I could not see. His advice was that we find a convention that is already active and work within their structure to have events specific to A Song of Ice and Fire.

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George revealed past horror stories and showed me the dangers that lurked where I could not see

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The Millennium Philcon 2001 (59th World Science Fiction Convention, or Worldcon) was the premier gathering location for the BwB. Now that I had an event to attend and the go-ahead from George and Parris, I needed to get the word out. Ran and Linda's message board was the perfect place. The response was very positive, and people were committing to going. For many of us, this was our first Worldcon and first time meeting each other.

At this point, I felt we needed an identity as fans. It is important to note that this identity was not to separate us from other fans, or from Ran and Linda's message board-it was akin to the saying that speaking something's name gives it life and breath. Calling us "boarders" didn't seem as romantic or encapsulating, and all fan groups have titles... titles build equity and names are better-remembered.

A thread was started to choose a name. Suggestions were presented: The Bloody Mummers, Fans Beyond the Wall, but the name that received the most votes was: The Brotherhood without Banners. This name was suggested by Lannister, and for his winning suggestion he received a free Baratheon t-shirt from Parris. We now had a name, an identity.

Soon thereafter I began work on designing a sigil for our group. With the hard work and patience of Mike Nelson, an accomplished graphic artist, a sigil appropriate to our group was given life. You can find out more about the BwB sigil and the meaning behind its design here.

During the first half of 2001 I worked on organizing the BwB events for Worldcon. With the wisdom of Parris and George, their ever-helpful attitude, and with lots of planning and hard work, everything was set. Worldcon in Philadelphia turned out better than I ever expected. The attendance of fans was incredible. Equally incredible was how well we were treated by George and Parris. When I was knighted by the man himself, at 3 am outside of Pat's Steaks in Philadelphia, and given title as Baron of the BwB, and nicknamed, "The Three-Fisted" - I knew that it was worth taking the step of forming the BwB and helping connect George with some of his biggest and most passionate fans.

Now, years later and after numerous conventions and get-togethers, the BwB is still growing, and still representing strong. As more and more fans flock to this amazing series, the BwB will be there to help answer questions, create avenues to meet, and build an ardent fan-base, an advocacy of all informative resources and meeting places which honor George and his work. The BwB would not exist if Ran and Linda had never created such a strong community for its fans. The BwB would not exist without these fans and friends, and it most certainly would not exist without the warmth and support of both George and Parris, who have always been accommodating and understanding of this passion of ours!