[Steppes] In Memoriam: Don Alaric

[Rick Massey via Steppes]

On Monday the Steppes lost, to me, one of its brightest lights. Glen
Wilkerson, aka Don Alaric Greythorne of Glen Moor, exited the list field of
life among us. When I started playing in the SCA he was at every fighter
practice, helping to provide instruction to those of us who were starting
out. At my first event, Queen's Champion of A.S. XXIV, they gave us a
wonderful book called Rebecca's Renaissance, which contained his great essay
on the evolution of the battlefield rapier, one of my favorites from that
great source. His knowledge about arms and armaments was voluminous, and
though he was not effusive in his speech in most things getting him talking
about weaponry or military history was when you needed a chair, a large
tankard, and possibly a light source. To me he was one of the pillars of the
Steppes, one of the folks that made the barony mean something other than a
loose collection of people. Though some of them are still with us, like
Master Robin, others like HL Vashti and Don Alaric and Mistress Branwyn have
gone, and it's up to those of us who are still left to carry on their
example. So please, for those of you who knew him, remember his strength and
quiet presence and willingness to always be there like the strong oak tree
he was, and for those who don't know of him seek out those of us who did and
ask us to tell you of him. Because his is a life and a presence that needs
to be remembered, lest we lose one of the great things that makes the saying
true, there's no place like Steppes.

Ricordo di,
Herr Marcus il Volpè