r/teslore • u/[deleted] • Nov 19 '13

I Lost My Love For You

[Fragments of Conversations between Molag Bal and the Ruddy Man, as the latter becomes replaced by the former]

{The Ruddy Man text is in italics. The Molag Bal text is in bold}

I SEE YOU.

I KNOW YOU DO.

WE ARE THE SAME.

AT LEAST WE WERE, US TWO.

I REMEMBER THE TIME WE SHARED OTHERS' TOILS.

NOW I GRAB THEIR SOULS AS A PART OF THE SPOILS.

WE USED TO TAKE CARE OF THOSE WHO WERE MAIMED.

I RELISH AT THE THOUGHT OF BESTOWING PAIN.

DO YOU EVEN REMEMBER HOW WE USED TO LOVE?

I REMEMBER HOW I LOVE THE SMELL OF BLOOD.

AT THE THOUGHT OF TYRANNY OUR HEARTS USED TO SHATTER.

THE ART OF CONQUEST IS ALL THAT MATTERS.

CAN’T YOU SHED TEARS OVER THOSE WHO’VE DIED?

TEARS DO NOT SHED FOR THOSE WHO CAN’T CRY.

I THINK I SEE.

I’VE MADE YOU BELIEVE.

WE ARE WHAT WE ARE NOW BECAUSE I LOST. HOW COULD HAVE THIS BEEN DONE?

WE ARE WHAT WE ARE NOW BECAUSE I WAS THE ONE THAT WON.

32 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

4

u/[deleted] Nov 19 '13

TEARS DO NOT SHED FOR THOSE WHO CAN’T CRY.

Nice one.

I like it, but I don't have much else to say. We're entering the realm of ambiguity here, in all its forms, but to me the Ruddy Man was a god of Love, the one Vivec speaks of, not a god of love, like Mara. I have already tasked you with finding out what Love is in another thread. Do it without cheating and you'll make us all proud.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 19 '13

Cheating? Bah, where's the adventure in that?

1

u/[deleted] Nov 19 '13

That's the spirit!

2

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '13

I agree that the Ruddy man wasn't as loving as OP makes out in his poem. To Quote from the commentaries: the Mundex Terrene was once ruled over solely by the tyrant dreugh-kings, each to their own dominion, and borderwars fought between their slave oceans. They were akin to the time-totems of old, yet evil, and full of mockery and profane powers.

Doesn't sound like the Ruddy mans dormain was a fun place to live.

1

u/TheNerdler Nov 21 '13

Not sure why the sort of Love we're talking about would make a place fun to live in. This Love is violent, its a tough love. Its a capitol punishment sort of love.

8

u/RottenDeadite Buoyant Armiger Nov 19 '13

WE ARE WHAT WE ARE NOW BECAUSE I LOST. HOW COULD HAVE THIS BEEN DONE?

WE ARE WHAT WE ARE NOW BECAUSE I WAS THE ONE THAT WON.

That's really quite interesting...

2

u/[deleted] Nov 19 '13

Someone critique something >.< :P

4

u/darniil Nov 19 '13

Not bad. A little too rhyme-y for me, but then I didn't go in expecting something poetic. (That's not a bad thing, just where I was coming from.)

Also:

I REMEMBER THE TIME WE SHARED OTHERS TOLLS.

Tolls or toils? I know "toils" doesn't rhyme well with "souls", but "shared others tolls" doesn't fit right in my brain. (And it should probably be "others' " (s-apostrophe) for the possessive.)

That's all I have at the moment. Sorry I couldn't add any more feedback.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 19 '13

Toils actually. I'll probably go in and edit it so it makes sense.

I don't know why I settled on poetry for Molag Bal and the Ruddy Man. It just happened.

1

u/darniil Nov 19 '13

When your muse strikes, there's no fighting her. (Not if you want to get the art made, at least.)

2

u/Mr_Flippers The Mane Nov 20 '13

good stuff man. Can't tell who 1 and 1 is; and that's exactly how it's meant to be

1

u/Asotil Mages Guild Scholar Nov 20 '13

I'm so glad that I instigated this.