About > KTEB
In the beginning…
Once upon a time there was a video game character named Kurtis Trent, a playable character in the controversial Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness, who later on in the game worked alongside the always independent Lara Croft. Overall, it seemed as though fans of the series didn’t quite like having to play Kurtis or even have him included in the story, and saw him as an unwelcome intrusion. But the truth is that Kurtis had (and still has) many fans from all over the world. Nevertheless, his fans didn’t have an easy time sharing their enthusiasm for Kurtis in other Tomb Raider forums, and, as a consequence of this, the KTEB was born.
…shit happened
It all started in the (in)famous Tomb Raider Forums. Angel of Darkness was available in the stores and most Tomb Raider fans had already played it. Back in 2003 there was a small group of forum members who were seeking other people who shared a love for Kurtis Trent and the game itself, but instead found a good amount of hatred and disrespect towards this little group of AoD fans. Due to moderating powers being incorrectly attributed to people incapable of staying neutral, several AoD fans were permanently banned from the forums when all they were trying to do was defend themselves from the insults and criticism.
That sucks… What did you do then?
As a resolution, two AoD fans, Jordy and Pete, decided to create a private Kurtis fan club away from all the hatred. Jordy named it the Kurtis Trent Estrogen Brigade and, along with Pete and other members, she created and ran a sort of newsletter. Apart from the Tomb Raider Forums, Jordy also recruited other Kurtis fans from LCO. It was a nice start but members were unable to communicate directly with each other, so Doona decided it was time they had their own forum to exchange opinions and share their passion for the game and, of course, Kurtis. At the time, the purchase of a hosting service was impossible, so she resolved to get a free account at Proboards.
That sounds nice, right…?
We called our new home The Sanitarium and we have kept that name for our forum ever since. Once the Sani members were settled in their new home, they encountered some problems which ended with the boards being shut down. Basically it was because of a minor disagreement with a Tomb Raider fanfiction author and their not allowing any constructive criticism of their written work in spite of asking for honest feedback. This disagreement gradually escalated until the author took out their anger on our attempts to help their writing improve by reporting us to the Proboards staff, greatly exaggerating a slight rule breach which resulted in the deletion of the boards.
Man, some bitches…
Not only once, but three times these attacks occurred, so in the end we had to be very cautious about what was posted in the boards (the majority of which was unrelated to this author), in order to avoid providing any reason for the forum to be deleted again. After surviving on the quiet for a while, we were temporarily hosted over at thesani.mistur.net (now dead) before finally securing an official home at our current forum.
What about now?
The KTEB now live happily and undisturbed — most of the time — in their permanent and luxurious home mansion.
