Meridies stands firm this day, as one of her foundation stones has come home to final rest. Dylan ab Aneirin y Breuddwydiwr, Second Beacon Principal Herald of the Kingdom of Meridies, Principal of the Order of the Dreamstone, Master of the Laurel in the Society, and Baron of the Royal Court of Meridies has gone before us, as e’er was his wont, into the Undiscovered Country, there to take ease and counsel with Thomas the Wordsmith, of Castle Leviathan, and Francois DuVant, and Johannes the Black of the Athanor, and Knikolos Major of Salem-by-the-Sea, and Astrid Thorsbolt Snorrisdottir, called the Cheerful, and Lee Fribrand, and all the other good Meridian worthies who have crossed over into the forever Summerlands.

           Near Samhain in the Year of the Society X, before there was a Meridies, there was, in the several lands of the South Downs, a Harvest Fest, held in a mountain glade, and fixed as the meeting place in which Dylan of Wyvern’s Reach and Margala of Dovedale would meet with those who would have a hand in fashioning the mighty demesne of Meridies. Out of this meeting would rise the scions of Bryn Madoc, ever the stalwart eastern gate of the Realm, and birthing place of many who would serve Throne and Kingdom with unparalleled service and devotion.

           In the fullness of time, Bryn Madoc would become a Barony (in A.S. XV), and the first among those who would bear the title of the Companions of the Dreamstone would by Dylan, by this time, Aneirin’s son. In those same seasons, Dylan would receive from the hands of the first Beacon Principal Herald of Meridies, Taliesynne Nychymwrh yr Anghyfanned, the tabard, cloak, and estates of that high office. Dylan would serve as the Royal Voice for more than two years, and hold that dignity high in his esteem, that the office would be respected by all who witnessed his time therein. Dylan would have an active hand in the creation of the Order of the Burning Trumpet, and would be recognized as a Companion of that order in A.S. XVII. Likewise in those earlier days, Dylan would be received of a Grant of Arms from the Crown, and entrée into the Companionate of the Velvet Owl.

           Dylan would receive his Laurel medallion from the Crown of Meridies through the Viceregal representatives, the Baron and Baroness Bryn Madoc, in the year of the Society XX. In A.S. XXIII, Master Dylan would again stand and advise the Crown, this time as a Baron of the Royal Court. The final formal recognition of His Excellency’s gentility and great bearing would be his induction as the second Lord of the May by the Ladies of Bryn Madoc, bearing only that most important precedence of all, the “precedence of the heart”; this embrace would fall to him in the Spring of the newly minted year of the Society XXIV.

           In latter years, Master Dylan would be heraldic mentor, wise councilor to King and warrior, Baron and bard. His steadfast gaze ever fixed upon the road winding ever on and on, Dylan has now joined Hrothgar in the Hero’s Hall, horn of mead to hand, bright blue eye twinkling at the tale yet to tell, and waiting at that last great feast, when old friends are welcomed, with a firm, drawled, “What kept ye?”

           Keep the faith, old friend. We will be along in the appointed hour, and trust that you will hold places ready against that day.

AEdward of Glastonburh, called the Saxon

Memorial directory page
Obituary of Thomas Franklin Deitz
Tom Deitz on the Faerie Road, by Buck Marchinton
Hell-Hound in the High Hall, by AEdward
Some Words about Tom Deitz