I first began designing web pages a decade ago as a way to keep in touch with family and friends who had become separated by hundreds of miles. At first, I simply assembled a montage of photos to share special occasions and personal events. Everything from new friends to the inside of my apartment, I used the web to maintain a level of involvement with my family. I never really considered making anything for other people to see.
     Draccyning's Keep began as something of a photo album. In the summer of 1999, I finally received my first suit of reproduction Medieval armor, something that I had dreamt about my whole life. While waiting on it to be completed, I had scoured every corner of the world wide web, sifting through site after site, searching for just one good educational web page. The more that I had looked, however, the more frustrated I had become. Instead of discovering accuracy, I had become mired in fantasy; instead of detailed galleries, I had found only vague descriptions and obscure facsimiles.
     Anyone who has ever typed the word 'armor' into a search engine has no doubt received tens of thousands of results from all across the globe. Between professional armorers, historical re-enactors, theme restaurants, and even fantasy warriors, the collective pool is as infinite and innumerable as the grains of sand on the beach. The more sites that I browsed through, the more frustrated I became. What I saw was armor on a wooden rack or laid out on a floor. What I wanted were full-color images showing what was historically worn underneath and see how everything was fitted together. Finally, out of desperation, I decided to build the site myself based on the bits and pieces of arcana that I had discovered over the course of months and years of research. Thus Draccyning's Keep was born.
     I always envisioned my web site as a virtual castle or keep that is flanked by several massive towers, each holding a horde of information, dedicated to a different aspect of my life. Over time the Keep grew so large that I could no longer have it hosted on just one ISP user account. It became something more akin to a citadel than a mere castle. It was in 2005 when is why I finally made the decision to be my own personal server and host, and Draccyning's Keep became the very heart and soul of Paladin-Online.com. Within those virtual walls once laid a menagerie of different Web pages. Each site was unique and held some strong personal value to me. Colson Heritage was dedicated to my family genealogy; Paladin's Hall was my Avalon–my sanctuary; the Arming Pages demonstrated step-by-step how a fifteenth-century English man-at-arms would have been armed for combat on foot. There were also galleries of photographs taken from Renaissance festivals from South Texas to Wisconsin.
     The site has always been in a perpetual state of evolution, from its humble beginnings in the winter of 1996 to the the debut of what I am calling Lonnie version 3. Draccyning's Keep has now been divided into different sections, each specializing on one of my widely diverging intersts such as paintball, armour and international travel.

     During the long, lonely winter of 2006 I decided that life was too short for us not to doggedly pursue each and every dream that we have. My childhood dream that I have held on to for as long as I can remember is to have a real suit of armour. I considered a number of armourers across North America and Great Britain before deciding to commission my new harness through Éric Dubé of Armurerie du Duché in Quebec, Canada. It was a difficult decision that I based on the quality of previous armours in relation to their prices given. I received several quotes from other sources who promised great things, but I was not as impressed by their efforts on authentic reproductions. Some of the factors to consider are whether or not the pieces--especially helmets--are raised from a a single piece of metal or are welded together. The skill level required is significantly higher and thus reflected in the price.
     Once I made the initial deposit, there was no going back. I decided that I would like to have have a harness fashioned after that of Richard Beauchamp, the 13th Earl of Warwick. I even traveled to see his funeral effigy in Saint Mary’s Church in Warwickshire. I suppose you could call it my second pilgrimage. The Warwick harness is one of the more remarkable and unique suits of armour that I have ever seen. Although several armourers have attempted to copy the suit, I have yet to see an accurate reproduction. I have been completely amazed at the high level of skill Éric has displayed. Once he completed work on the gauntlets, which represented the final step, the entire harness was broken downa and packed into a large wooden crate. The entire package weighed over 120 pounds. The only thing longer than the 18-month long wait for the armour to be completed was the 119-hour wait for UPS to deliver the international shipment.