Taliesin is a legendary Mage from Cymru, the land mortals know as Wales.
Overview[]
Wales has a long history of poets and bards, and Taliesin is a major one. He came from Urien's court in Rheged. Somewhere during the span of 500-15 CE, he became the King of the Principality of Powys and co-ruler of the Principality of Dyfed with Caerna. It is said he wove a great freehold from a single strand of his blond hair; his name means "shining brow," you know. He also had a daughter named Rhonwen by a union with a fae woman.
Death & the Llyn Brianne[]
Sometime shortly before 888 CE, the Unseelie prince Carniog of Glamorgan sent a sluagh assassin to strike Taliesin with a slow fae poison. The courtiers at Powis caught the assassin and turned her in to a slug, too late to save Taliesin.
In 888 CE, a mage named Abernaeron came to him. The two had talked before and the man trusted him. It seems that the mage had discovered the Llyn Brianne on the slopes of Mount Snowdon with the help of the ghille dhu.
With Carniog's poison taking effect, Taliesin's end lay before him. He could have used the magic of Brianne to save himself, perhaps, but he wished that its power should serve his kingdom, not himself. So he appointed the ghille dhu official stewards of the pool, and a worthy task he set Abernaeron: how best to use Brianne's magick. And while the wizard studied and thought and planned, Taliesin withered away.
His daughter, Rhonwen of the golden hair and fine grey eyes, fell in love with Abernaeron at first sight, as the tale would have it, and Taliesin blessed their union with almost his last breath. He died in 891 and, though Caerna schemed to take control of the principality, she had made enemies, by the very act of her scheming, perhaps. No throne would these enemies allow her; instead, they clamored for Rhonwen to take the throne.
References[]
- CTD. Isle of the Mighty, pp. 133-138,155.