 The
center, peak, and ringmaster of our little circus tent is Master Saher
Faux, noted puppeteer and satirist. Master Saher was elevated
to the Companionate of the Laurel in 1995 for his research into the
little-explored art of medieval puppetry. A veteran of the US
Army, amateur military historian, and artist, Master Saher has had an
interest in puppetry that dates back to his high school years.
His senior project was a puppet film that both won him Artist of the
Year, and got him expelled from school. He was proud, his parents
were confused, and the principal was publicly embarrassed. What
more can an artist ask? This shot is somewhat out-of-date, taken
back when he was apprenticed to Roz, but hey, his expression says so
much, I simply had to publish it. |
 
- I, your humble guide, am Master William
McNaughton, formerly the senior apprentice to the House. Master
Saher was a young Laurel when he offered me an Apprenticeship, and I
shamelessly took advantage of his ignorance to secure a place for myself.
No longer an apprentice, I have been elevated to the Companionate of
the Laurel. My areas of study are woodworking
and performing arts, with occasional dabbling in metalwork. I
appear in the customary subtle, understated colors of our House. |
- The next apprentice was the one I call "the ambitious Apprentice."
Mistress
Clare De Estepa. Clare has shaken the dust of puppetude from
her dainty feet and reached the exalted and respect rank of Companion
of the Laurel. The bad news is that once you're a puppeteer, the
taint never actually leaves. We continue to pester Clare and Shaltar
with assorted puppet projects, and look forward to an extensive stable
of apprentices for the apprentice lease, loan, and exchange program.
Mistress Clare is an accomplished fiber artisan, with numerous articles,
papers, and projects to her credit. She also has a fine touch with a
propane torch, leading to successful work in both glass beads and metal
work. She made me the coolest set of tent stakes. Mistress
Clare is the one on the left with the flowers and pearls. You
can tell 'cause Sir Shaltar is conservative, and would never wear pearls
before five. |
|
- Lady Isabel joined us last Pennsic. Young and carefree, she
just likes to push puppets, although she has expressed an interest in
heavy combat. She is also a cook of some note. She claims to not possess
a flattering photograph. I'm going to have to stalk her like a
psychopath now to get a picture. |
|
|
|
- Next is Sir Shaltar of Nant-y-der-wyddn. Married to Mistress
Clare, Sir Shaltar has yet to be coerced behind the screen to push puppets
and mouth silly lines, but his masterful skills of cutting torch, arc
welder, and deft hand with a stake mallet and strong back have made
him a welcome neighbor and host on many occasions. |
| After our affiliates come our allies, and they are legion. These are folks who are formal members of other houses and have no formal attachment to the troupe, but for some reason keep turning up, and are most welcome. |
|
- Mistress Rosemounde of Mercia was, in ancient times, Master Saher's
Laurel, and sponsored him for elevation. She rarely performs as
a puppeteer, but on occasion, when we need someone to portray the Voice
of God, Roz will lend her law-school trained voice to the cause. |
|
- The Honorable Lord Tormod Dub Guhn is the largest ham this side of
Chicago. Tormod has been a professional actor, director, technical
director, and assorted other theatrical-type jobs. Tormod never
misses an opportunity to perform, and has been instrumental in many
a performance. He has interpreted dozens of scripts, and provides
the narrator for most of our shadow puppet plays. |
|
- Lord Leon Jeronimo Suarez is apprenticed to Mistress Rosemounde.
His primary area of interest is rapier combat, but he turns to with
a will when the time comes for rod puppet performances, and is most
welcome. |
|
- Lady Giovanna is a great help during Pennsic as puppeteer. She
is a dedicated rapier-wielder of some accomplishment, and a rod-puppeteer
of great talent. Her patience, dedication, and generosity have
kept the troupe moving when things were thin. |
|
- Branwen the Long Suffering is mother to Oisin. At this time
she is a beginning puppeteer but is showing great potential as a performing
audience, having demonstrated the primary trait: a lack of shame
in being associated with puppeteers. Everything else, we can fix.
When she's not working on puppets or herding her family she has a strong
interest in most aspects of the textile arts. |
|
- Oisin, son to Branwen, has provided that most important part of puppet
shows: the audience. But that's okay. We'll get more work
out of him when he's taller. He also excels at marketing, talking
up our troupe among his peers. In production he provides the function
of Best Boy and Grip. |
| Missing In Action Here I detail beloved puppeteers who wised up, or at least re-ordered priorities and faded away. So far nobody has actually thrown a belt back into Saher's face or burned our rod puppets, so all are both missed and welcome should they find time in their lives to return to the stage. |
|
- The second Apprentice to the house was Rosewitha. Rose and her
family were forced to emigrate to Calontir, as her husband Eochar is
a scholar, and had an opportunity to pursue a tenure-track position
out there. Alas, we hear from Rose rarely. In those days,
her interests were primarily research and literature. |
|
- Lady Anastasia Amalasuintha of Hyrnkeepe. Since
her start with us, Anastasia has gotten married, bought a Victorian
"fixer-upper" house, and gotten a minor case of SCA
burn-out. We see her from time to time, and anticipate the day
when her burn out will have been alleviated and her roof will no longer
be leaking, allowing us to see her more frequently. Anastasia's
expressed artistic areas are medieval societies, dancing, and drumming. |
|
- Eochar D'Alain has departed to Calontir with his wife Roswitha, and
we rarely hear from him anymore. During his tenure, though, lifted
many a barge, toted many a bale, and is sorely missed. Also a
writer, he was largely responsible for our most popular adult feature,
Elephant Sex, a parody of our night-time morality play, Elephant
Meat. |
|
- s Theodora Damaskena. Theo holds the distinction of being the
first Black Lantern to actually live out of town when she joined us.
Theo's interests are puppetry, and men. She is also a dancer |
|
- Raquelle d'Almorod is technically a Wild Rose, formally attached to
the household of Mistress Roz. We routinely borrow her, though.
She has a mighty work ethic, and is the strongest person I know, for
her size. Raquelle is quite petite, but can shift her own weight
in loaded puppet boxes while being held by her ankles. So we often
stuff her into tight spaces and make her re-arrange the load.
Raquelle's primary medieval interest is rapier combat. Her enthusiasm
and skill have earned her the fond nickname of "Fang." |
There are lots more folks that deserve mention here. Many of Roz's apprentices have been very helpful, as well as members of our barony. All have merit, and are only being snubbed because I'm being a lazy-butt and moving on to something else for a while. I blame Sesame Street for whittling down my attention span to less than ten minutes. Hopefully I'll get back to this document soon and round it out. |
|
First
is my lovely, delicate, internet-savvy wife, Lady Catherine Stewart.
She is a heavy combat warrior of some achievement. Unaccountably,
someone matching her description has also been seen behind the screens
at the Black Lantern Theater, bellowing "In comes I, the Eastrealm
Knight, the Eastrealm Knight am I" with all the aplomb of a veteran
puppeteer. Her performances are brilliant, particularly coming
from someone who claims to have "absolutely no talent at performing
arts."