About the Author

Hector of the Black Height is a late-13th century Scotsman. Taught to read by monks on the sacred isle of Iona, he also learned to wield a shovel and a sword. He once saw William Wallace, at a distance, in a dark hall and remarked on the Wallace's large hair. Hector is notorious for wearing tartan blankets belted around his waist; many say he is fashionable while others accuse him of being an anachronism, whatever that is.

Since discovering the Known World, Hector has had far too much fun. He was made a Master of the Laurel for Bardic Arts by Ronin and Katya of the Middle, a Master of the Pelican by Osis I and Valthjona of the Middle and a Serjeant of the Red Company of the Middle by Berus and Marion of Ealdormere. He knows the secret handshake of the Order of the Tortoise of the Barony of Thescorre in Aethelmearc. Hector lives in the Royal City of Eoforwic within the Barony of Septentria. His apprentice Ragnheithr became the new Kingdom of Ealdormere's first Mistress of the Laurel, which made him feel a little older but very, very proud. Hector is the father of a SCAdian toddler.

Hector has fought in every Pennsic War since Pennsic XV. He was disaster services co-ordinator for Pennsics XXIV through XXVII. He was "the co-autocrat to be named later" of Pennsic XXIV. He was bard to the Courts of David I and Roak II of Ealdormere, very briefly bard of the Middle Kingdom, and Chief Engineer of the Middle Kingdom to Comar I. He was first Constable (a martial staff officer to the Coronet) of Ealdormere, Dean of the Northern War College, and a General of the Army of the Middle at Pennsic XXIII under Duke Talymar gan y Llwynn. Hector's SCA verse and essays have been published in Tournaments Illuminated and in a variety of newsletters in Ealdormere. He has taught sessions at the Royal University of the Middle, the University of the Western East Kingdom At Thescorre, the Northern War College and the "Forward Into The Past" Collegium.

Arthur McLean is a Canadian civil servant. Educated at the University of Toronto, in his copious spare time he is a Military Engineer officer in Canada's Army Reserve, a 1993 graduate of the Canadian Land Forces Command and Staff College's "Militia Command and Staff Course". He holds the Canadian Forces Decoration for 12 or more years' service (a.k.a. "12 years of undetected crime"). His poetry has been published in "Ubique", Journal of the Canadian Military Engineers. Most importantly, he is Calum's dad.