The "Knights of the White Lady" (KWL or KotWL) is a kinship on the Landroval server for Lord of the Rings Online. It is a group of mature (18+) individuals who enjoy being in a friendly and close-knit environment, a place where people of all backgrounds and sexual orientations can feel at home.

Background

KWL is LOTRO's largest and best-organized LGBT-friendly kinship. It does not limit recruitment to LGBT people, but the kinship aggressively enforces an environment that is supportive of them. The kinship does not emphasize a play style such as "roleplaying" or otherwise, but is accepting of all play styles.

Founded on April 11, 2007, the kinship is named in honor of Éowyn, White Lady of Rohan. We chose her as a role model because of the way she rode to battle pretending to be a man, and had to later "come out" as a woman before defeating the Witch-King of Angmar.*

The kinship's founder was Calafalas, an elf hunter. He was joined by Faern, a dwarf guardian, and Lallo, a hobbit minstrel, in organizing the kinship into its current form. Calafalas served as guildmaster for over two years before retiring on May 31, 2009. He assumed the title of Guildmaster Emeritus and remained involved in KWL's leadership. Lorenius succeeded Calafalas as the kinship's second Guildmaster. With the introduction of F2P, Lorenius stepped down to devote more time to his studies and act as our Foreign Relations Officer with LGBT guilds in other games. Calafalas has once again stepped up to lead the Knights of the White Lady in the period of growth heralded by the switch to a F2P model.

KWL is governed by a Council, which votes on various issues and advises the Guildmaster on matters of policy.

Pride Parade

In June of 2009, the first annual Pride Celebration: Festival of the White Lady was held in Bree. It was organized by Toot and was a success. The idea was to reintroduce KWL as part of the Landroval server community and promote community awareness and advocate for a safe place for everyone to have fun regardless of orientation. This will be a regular event during Pride Month in the United States and we look forward to growing and sharing this event with the entire community. Our first Festival Theme was Pride Musical History and featured fireworks, pie, ale, music and dancing. Music included I Will Survive, Come to my Window, and It's Raining Men.

The 2010 Festival of the White Lady, again held in June, had a special theme: Gaga Middle-Earth. Before the rest of the world had even heard of her, The Knights of the White Lady brought her "Little Monsters" to Middle-Earth. Musical selections included Bad Romance, Paparazzi and Poker Face.

In 2011 The Knights of the White Lady brought a circus to Middle Earth: Cirque De La Dame Blanche. Surpise! Our most outrageous costumes and synchronized marching appeared again in June. Music included La Vie en Rose, Barnum and Bailey's March and Britney's "Circus."

The 2012 June parade honored the women of Middle Earth and our matriarch: Eowyn's Faire Pride Parade (Gurl Power). Music included Firework, Sisters (Are Doin' it for Themselves) and Stronger.

Alliance

KWL has an especially close relationship with The Palantiri kinship, and the two have formed a close alliance. Through The Palantiri, KWL was also allied with the Blades of Anarion until it folded and joined with The Palantiri. The homepage of the alliance can be found here.

Housing

The Kinship has a home at the 1 High Road mansion in the Highdore neighborhood of the Bree-land Homesteads. KWL uses the home for monthly meetings and storing items. Kin members are encouraged to use the kinhouse to play in the ominous pool and to socialize between meetings.

Events

While we are not a raiding kinship per se, KWL has various events that are hosted by its members or allies. This includes a weekly Knight's Night on Thursday, where groups run events that members need for game advancement. Other major runs are hosted by various members, officers and even recruits. We use the Calendar on our kinship website to coordinate these events.

We have instituted an All-Kin Auction at the in-game Auction House. These are held on the same weekends when we hold our monthy Kin Meeting running from Friday through Sunday. All items are only posted at cost.

Knaves of the Wight Lady

Many of our members play regularly in the Ettenmoors. For those who play creepside, there is a KWL tribe: the Knaves of the Wight Lady. The tribe is led by Puptrippz, a non-Council officer. Entry into the Knaves requires that you're already at least a recruit in the Knights, and creeps follow the same kinship rules as freeps. See Admission, below.

Tithe

Knights of the White Lady used to collect a tithe of 30s per month from each member (not character). This was used to pay for the kinhouse, a donated deluxe house and has also been used to donate money to members whose accounts were hacked. With the change to F2P we decided to experiment with retiring the tithe and allowing members to pay the upkeeps and pitch in as they could. This has worked quite well for us (and has made our treasurer's job much easier). 

Membership

Council Members

• Calafalas, Guildmaster
• Jasani, Secretary
• Faern, Treasurer
• Herbegar, Kinship Ambassador
• Toot, Special Events Coordinator and Band Leader
• Anfahr, Officer-At-Large
• Gilhilde, Deed & Events Coordinator
• Venuil, Public Relations
• Lorenius, Guildmaster Emeritus (retired)

Admission

SPECIAL NOTE: Like most guilds we have been evaluating our admission process since Free to Play went live. However our primary goal of providing a safe place for Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transgenders and our Straight Friends a safe place to play Lord of the Rings Online has remained.

KWL has become quite selective in its admission process. On the one hand, it recognizes its role as a refuge for LGBT people who may have encountered trouble with homophobia or heterosexism in other kinships. On the other hand, the kinship's leadership strongly believes in fostering a close environment among its members, which becomes more difficult as the kinship becomes larger.

Anyone interested in the kinship is encouraged to contact a Council member. KWL does require that you be age 18 or older and have at least one character at or above level 15.

Applicants are asked to submit responses to a series of questions, which are then used in evaluating whether to admit the candidate. Newly admitted members are considered probationary recruits for the first 60 days while the kinship gauges whether a good fit exists between the new member and the kinship. Permanent members are asked to group with, get to know, and ultimately sponsor the recruits seeking membership. Recruits need four current members to sponsor them plus a final vote from the Council before being granted permanent membership.

Lore Footnote

• Disclaimer: the founders of KWL looked back on Eowyn's heroism at the end of the War of the Ring as inspiration at the beginning of the Kinship. As players though, we are aware that the events that inspired us, haven't happened yet in the context of the game's storyline.

External Links

• The kinship website of the Knights of the White Lady
• Forums post
• The Photobucket album for the Knights of the White Lady