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Lore Discussion: Pelinal Whitestrake

  • Member
    July 26, 2017

    That he took the name "Pelinal" was passing strange, no matter his later sobriquets, which were many. That was an Elvish name, and Pelinal was a scourge on that race, and not much given to irony. Pelinal was much too grim for that; even in youth he wore white hair, and trouble followed him. Perhaps his enemies named Pelinal of their own in their tongue, but that is doubtful, for it means "glorious knight", and he was neither to them. Certainly, many others added to that name during his days in Tamriel: he was Pelinal the Whitestrake because of his left hand, made of a killing light; he was Pelinal the Bloody, for he [drank] it in victory; he was Pelinal Insurgent, because he gave the crusades a face; he was Pelinal In Triumph, as the words eventually became synonymous, and men-at-arms gave thanks to the Eight when they saw his banner coming through war; he was Pelinal the Blamer, for he was quick to admonish those allies of his that favored tactics that ran counter to his, that is, sword-theory; and he was Pelinal the Third, though whether this was because some said he was a god guiser, who had incarnated twice before already, or that, simpler, he was the third vision given to Perrif, anon Alessia, in her prayers of liberation before he walked among the quarters of rebellion, is unknown. ~ The Song of Pelinal

    His names were many, his deeds legendary, and if he was a god-guiser then it's best not to ask him (for once Plontinu, who favored the short sword, said it, and that night he was smothered by moths). In honour of the holy rage brought about by the Midyear Mayhem event, Patriarch, Teineva, and I thought it might be fun to talk about The Star-Made Knight. It's also an excuse to analyse the Song of Pelinal, for if there is a greater and more epic book than this in any of the games, I haven't read it!

    Go on, treat yourself and re-read passages as awesome as...

    "Umaril was laid low, the angel face of his helm dented into an ugliness which made Pelinal laugh, [and his] unfeathered wings broken off with sword strokes delivered while Pelinal stood [frothing]... above him insulting his ancestry and anyone else that took ship from Old Ehlnofey..."

    So who is The Divine Crusader? What does it mean to be arrayed in "armour from the future time"? Will he and has he returned again as "fox animal or light"? Was he a hero, or villain from your pov?

    New lore blasphemously has it that he may have been Al-Esh's lover. What would Morihaus say to that assertion?

    And to this the bull became shy, for he was a bull, and he felt his form too ugly for the Parvania at all times, especially when she disrobed for him. He snorted, though, and shook his nose-hoop into the light of the Secunda moon and said, "She is like this shine on my nose-hoop here: an accident sometimes, but whenever I move my head at night, she is there. And so you know what you ask is impossible."

  • July 26, 2017
    Alessia was a sloot, she liked it rough and from all sides :D But let me tell you, that is the appeal. Back then she wasn't a saint, she wasn't a legend, she was a Slave-Queen. I have no doubt she ate a whole lot of dick. As for Pelinal, I'm trying to look at him the same way. The man behind the legend. Who was he back then? A butcher, a killing machine reveling in the blood of elves and for that reason alone he was elevated on the pedestal of legend as we know him today. For one side he was a hero and for the other he was a demon. And he was quite possibly insane, right? So this is my appeal about these "standing stones" of the Imperial culture. Not the whole thing about Shezzarine, Dragonborn and Akatosh, just the fact they were ultimately human.
  • Member
    July 26, 2017

    The Lorc of Flowers said: Alessia was a sloot, she liked it rough and from all sides :D But let me tell you, that is the appeal. Back then she wasn't a saint, she wasn't a legend, she was a Slave-Queen. I have no doubt she ate a whole lot of dick. As for Pelinal, I'm trying to look at him the same way. The man behind the legend. Who was he back then? A butcher, a killing machine reveling in the blood of elves and for that reason alone he was elevated on the pedestal of legend as we know him today. For one side he was a hero and for the other he was a demon. And he was quite possibly insane, right? So this is my appeal about these "standing stones" of the Imperial culture. Not the whole thing about Shezzarine, Dragonborn and Akatosh, just the fact they were ultimately human.

    If that sentence wasn't so damned funny I would be fuming at your blasphemy :D This is El-Estia, have some respect! That said, yeah... lots of munching on the Ayleid's feathered shafts.

    Ok, so you're stripping away the myth of the Song to reveal a mortal man beneath. I like that approach. First, you mention his madness so that makes now a perfect opportunity to examine the relevant passage for the record:

    [And it is] said that he emerged into the world like a Padomaic, that is, borne by Sithis and all the forces of change therein. Still others, like Fifd of New Teed, say that beneath the Pelinal's star-armor was a chest that gaped open to show no heart, only a red rage shaped diamond-fashion, singing like a mindless dragon, and that this was proof that he was a myth-echo, and that where he trod were shapes of the first urging. Pelinal cared for none of this and killed any who would speak god-logic, except for fair Perrif, who he said, "enacts, rather than talks, as language without exertion is dead witness." When those soldiers who heard him say this stared blankly, he laughed and swung his sword, running into the rain of Kyne to slaughter their Ayleid captives, screaming, "O Aka, for our shared madness I do this! I watch you watching me watching back! Umaril dares call us out, for that is how we made him!" [And it was during] these fits of anger and nonsense that Pelinal would fall into the Madness, where whole swaths of lands were devoured in divine rampage to become Void, and Alessia would have to pray to the Gods for their succor, and they would reach down as one mind and soothe the Whitestrake until he no longer had the will to kill the earth in whole. And Garid of the men-of-ge once saw such a Madness from afar and maneuvered, after it had abated, to drink together with Pelinal, and he asked what such an affliction felt like, to which Pelinal could only answer, "Like when the dream no longer needs its dreamer."

    In terms of myth, we can see the clear connection between the space god and the time god. The Shezarrine Pelinal being the avatar of the space god, Shezarr/ Lorkhan/Shor, calling out to his twin like he's Andy Williams making Music to Watch Girls By. The "O Aka, for our shared madness I do this" line is reminiscent of Eat the Dreamer, everyone's favourite piece of meta-madness:

    The Aedroth Aka, who goes by so many names as to perhaps already suggest what I'm about to commit to memospore, is completely insane. His mind broke when his "perch from Eternity allowed the day" and we of all the Aurbis live on through its fragments, ensnared in the temporal writings and erasures of the acausal whim that he begat by saying "I AM". In the aetheric thunder of self-applause that followed (nay, rippled until convention, that is, amnesia), is it any wonder that the Time God would hate the same-twin on the other end of the aurbrilical cord, the Space God? That any Creation would become so utterly dangerous because of that singular fear of a singular word's addition: "I AM NOT"?

    But it's as you say, this is all mythology. One that could have become fact or been fact all along, or just simply exagerated with time to give the emerging Imperial race a sense of cultural identity. If we strip away the layers we're left with a homicidal maniac who loves his nephew. Good to have on your side in a fight, not so good to face him in battle.

    Also, you mention "standing stones." Is that also a reference to the standing stones too? In terms of them just being mortal pillars, i agree, that it does make them them compelling. Like any figure deified, he started giving out loaves and fishes to a handful of peasants, two thousand years later the fucker can levitate.

     

  • July 26, 2017
    What was the sentence MK said? Tell the god's story, tell the farmer's story and then listen to what the dog has to say? This is precisely the example. It is a myth, but there's always an ounce of truth in every story right? It's like...I'm not saying I don't believe the myth, but I'm also not saying I believe it either, you know? Which is why I find it so compelling because there is a truth behind a truth and we know the truth is subjective. Like...let's find an Ayleid and ask him how it all went down, right? And isn't it interesting how Shezzarine and Dragonborn in most cases get drawn to each other? And Alessia eating whole lot of dick...well, she had to keep her army "straight" somehow, didn't she? :D
  • July 26, 2017

    Oh, I have no grounds of proof, but I think Morihause, Pelinal, and Alessia slept with each other and Pelly was definitely more than just an uncle to Morihaus. Achilles had both wife and male lover. Yes, that is Greek culture and we're talking Tamriel, but much of lore is based on actual cultural references and to me, Song of Pelinal reads in many ways like a good old-fashioned Homeric Epic. 

  • July 26, 2017

    By the way, easy brownie points to Paws for giving me something yummy to wake up to. I raise my morning coffee to you two. I love a good sex talk in the morning. :P

  • Member
    July 26, 2017

    Man, ESO is seriously bringing out the canon erotica with each new content. :P

    So Pelinal, yeah. This guy is like the most complicated character of complicated complications. Guy's a hero, an ax-crazy blood knight, and a cyborg from the future (if you believe MK's work) all at once. I haven't really gotten into the whole Shezzarine connection, but when I read through The Song of Pelinal, I can see some metaphysical references. 

    Padomay, Change, and Madness. Those three words are what I could think off whenever I read The Song of Pelinal. 

    P.S. Has anyone been noticing a trend here in Elder Scrolls between Queens and multiple lovers?

     

  • July 26, 2017

    KaiserSoSay said:

    P.S. Has anyone been noticing a trend here in Elder Scrolls between Queens and multiple lovers?

    *puts on innocent face*

    No. Where did you hear that? :O

    :D

  • Member
    July 26, 2017

    The Lorc of Flowers said: Alessia was a sloot, she liked it rough and from all sides :D But let me tell you, that is the appeal. Back then she wasn't a saint, she wasn't a legend, she was a Slave-Queen. I have no doubt she ate a whole lot of dick. As for Pelinal, I'm trying to look at him the same way. The man behind the legend. Who was he back then? A butcher, a killing machine reveling in the blood of elves and for that reason alone he was elevated on the pedestal of legend as we know him today. For one side he was a hero and for the other he was a demon. And he was quite possibly insane, right? So this is my appeal about these "standing stones" of the Imperial culture. Not the whole thing about Shezzarine, Dragonborn and Akatosh, just the fact they were ultimately human.
    So she had threeways with our battle-boner bull and our Star-Made Knight? Damn, now I wanna write a fic about that. Are sex fics allowed here? 

  • July 26, 2017

    Chris said:

    The Lorc of Flowers said: Alessia was a sloot, she liked it rough and from all sides :D But let me tell you, that is the appeal. Back then she wasn't a saint, she wasn't a legend, she was a Slave-Queen. I have no doubt she ate a whole lot of dick. As for Pelinal, I'm trying to look at him the same way. The man behind the legend. Who was he back then? A butcher, a killing machine reveling in the blood of elves and for that reason alone he was elevated on the pedestal of legend as we know him today. For one side he was a hero and for the other he was a demon. And he was quite possibly insane, right? So this is my appeal about these "standing stones" of the Imperial culture. Not the whole thing about Shezzarine, Dragonborn and Akatosh, just the fact they were ultimately human.
    So she had threeways with our battle-boner bull and our Star-Made Knight? Damn, now I wanna write a fic about that. Are sex fics allowed here? 

    Don't worry, Phil, got you covered. Just continue to read Straag. :P