Taliesin Hiraeth

Taliesin Hiraeth, often called Tally by those closest to him, is the exiled prince of Durley and a central figure of Rusted Sorrow. Born bearing The Core, he spent his youth hidden and subjected to nightly abuse by his father, King Sarke, who sought to beat the power out of him. He eventually fled his homeland and took to wandering under the pretext of seeking a cure for the Hamsarian blight, traveling in the company of Varith and Leiren.

Taliesin is the son of Sarke—the commoner who led the overthrow of Gaerin's tyrant and renamed the nation Durley—and Zun, a human orphan raised by the Hamsarian counsel and trained as a formidable warrior. Zun served as the counsel's contact during the uprising and was instrumental in securing Hamsarian support for Sarke's cause.

Taliesin was born bearing The Core. According to Bryndall, this was kept hidden by the counsel, with only Zun aware of it at the time.

Despite — or because of — The Core, Sarke subjected Taliesin to nightly abuse in an attempt to drive the power out of him. Taliesin eventually escaped Durley as a young man, heading toward Shone. He was drawn there in part by a single warm childhood memory: Prince Cylar had once found him hiding in the palace gardens during a state visit, mistook him for a gardener's hand on account of his bruises, and simply played with him until his father called him away.

Taliesin is a vessel of The Core. When triggered — most dramatically when harvesters attempted to immolate him outside Dunmouth — his skin shifts into a deep, constellation-like purple and a black mist pours from his pores. The Core consumes surrounding akibon, weakening anyone drawing on it nearby. Contact with his transformed state dissolves flesh entirely. He cannot invoke it at will, and the aftermath leaves him physically devastated — vomiting blood and bile, barely able to stand.

See Varith. A sharp-tongued traveling companion who cultivated a habit of lying about “having only heard of” places he clearly knew well. Unknown to Taliesin, Varith had visited Dunmouth before and quietly questioned Bryndall on multiple occasions, trying to uncover the truth of Taliesin's past. He was killed in a cave ambush west of Dunmouth.

See Leiren. Taliesin's lover. Skilled enough with a blade to draw and strike in a single motion on waking, she bears a brand on her wrist that Taliesin knows better than to ask about. She came to know of Taliesin through contract reports rather than from him directly, and recognized his royal identity long before he admitted it — mouthing the word prince at him across a tavern table in Dunmouth. She was killed in the same ambush that claimed Varith.

At Varith's suggestion of warm beds and honeyed mead, the three companions traveled to Dunmouth, where they were tracked into the surrounding forest by three Steelbrites — Rex, Gil, and Nar — acting on a kill contract signed by Prince Cylar of Shone. Cornered in a small cave, Varith was stabbed through the leg and Leiren was killed. Taliesin's Core activated and he slew all three Steelbrites, though Rex survived long enough to crawl to a nearby stream. Taliesin spent the following day digging shallow graves for his friends with his bare hands.

Returning to Dunmouth, Taliesin was taken in by Bryndall, the town's master gryfalconer, who revealed his past as Bryndock — the man whose blade killed Gaerin's king and who fought alongside Sarke during the founding of Durley. Bryndall shared what he knew of Taliesin's birth and The Core before dying of a wound sustained defending his daughter Seren from harvesters.

Honoring Bryndall's final wish, Taliesin agrees to travel with Seren and Lysandra — who had initially sought his life — toward Ormstormyard, intending to slip into Shone and confront Cylar.

• Sarke — Father; King of Durley; abuser
• Zun — Mother; Hamsarian warrior; ally of Sarke during the overthrow of Gaerin
• Leiren — Lover (deceased)
• Varith — Close friend and traveling companion (deceased)
• Bryndall — Guardian figure; former ally of Sarke (deceased)
• Seren — Bryndall's daughter; traveling companion
• Lysandra — Reluctant ally; Rex's grieving companion
• Cylar — Prince of Shone; architect of the kill contract; boyhood acquaintance

• The Core
• Durley
• Hamsarian blight
• Steelbrites
• Akibon
• Dunmouth