THE ICE DRAGON

He met the Lady who was to be his wife,
Catalina de la Estrella, at Ice Dragon 2. As
she fondly recalls, “I scritched him and he followed
me home – what was I supposed to do?”
Their loving relationship produced a son,
Morgan, named both for Greg and Kathy’s
dear friend Morgan Elandris, and lasted from
that day to January 26, 2011, the day he passed
away.
With his wife, Dwarf continued to contribute
to the local group, the Kingdom, and the Society.
He acquired equipment that was needed
and was a behind-the-scenes work horse for
many years. He welcomed people into his
home to assist them in working on behalf of
the Barony. Looking through the Baronial history,
you can still see old Ice Dragon newsletters
and Domesdays marked ‘Dwarvin
Press’; where the Henschel sisters, Kunegunda
and Roswitha, then Ice Dragon editors,
playfully gave credit for the use of Dwarf’s
mimeograph machine. Kunegunda has since
gone on to be a successful writer for the Buffalo
News. Dwarf and Kat also hosted one of
the first meeting places of the Rhydderich
Hael choir and recorder ensemble led by
Arianna of Wynthrope.
Kat and Dwarf made the first Baronial Pavilion,
a brown and gold 15 foot tall at the center,
19 foot diameter round tent, in their 8 X 50
foot trailer home. That tent, one of the first of
the movement toward more historically accurate
tents at Pennsic, served as a meeting
place for the Barony and saw many meetings
of the War Council of the East when Morgan
Elandris was War Leader.
Our Dwarf, as with many dwarves, was
known for his facility with tools and fire. At
the Pennsic that featured Hurricane Danny as
an unwelcome guest, Dwarf’s fire was one of
the few in the entire encampment that would
stay lit. It did alarm the autocrat a bit as the
wind caused the flames to stream 8 to10 feet
or more to the side of the fire pit. The brown
and gold pavilion was noted as one of the very
few tents that did not drop in the storm: courtesy
of Dwarf-manufacture and technology.
Dwarf enjoyed the softer side of Society life.
In his intermittent forays into Mongol culture
he happily encouraged the art of belly dancing.
He also cultivated an appreciation of the
cooking and brewing arts, most notably where
the two met in happy harmony in raisins in
the bottom of the Glugg pot. While cleaning
in the kitchen after an event, Dwarf and
James O’Neill did the sensible thing and ate
all the left –over Glugg-soaked raisins, not realizing
they were quite high-test, and the two
were found later in the evening with Dwarf
attempting to put himself through the automatic
dishwasher and James tucked into a corner
singing ‘Lily Marlene’ into a Spangen
Helm because he liked the sound of the echo.
His friends will fondly recall his broadreaching
curiosity and willingness to experiment.
A number of old Society helmets can
attest to his work with James O’Neill to determine
the effect of real weapons on armor, as
can a junk vehicle one of the crew was going
to have hauled away. It is amazing the damage
a Pike-maul can do to a Chevette.
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