Baldur’s Gate 3 Fan Poems: The Emperor

(Warning: Spoilers, darling. Also, mildly lurid. Read no further if you want neither.)

The Emperor

by C. S. E. Cooney

the emperor is slick as silk
vein-purple, exposed, ascended
the emperor is vulnerable, sinewy
he is unblinking, ready for me

the emperor knows he is beautiful
the emperor thinks I am beautiful
in this nowhere-sea of buoyant gravity
broken moons, osseous chips of divinity

where the emperor is, is starlight
when the emperor speaks, is velvet
when the emperor rises, I rise to meet him
lean in, caress him, he doesn’t expect me

what we share, you might share too
this connection: phrenic, electric
his manipulation, my capitulation
you yet may unravel, if you ask the right questions

it is a matter, only, of open-mindedness
it is a matter, just, of mind-wipèdness
it is a matter of splendor and predator teeth
of appendages, flexible and erotic

you who know–yes you–you know what I mean
how we sleep, and how we dream
how spent, how unrelenting, how consuming this thing
all in hushed secrecy, all-in consent

in secrecy, until our rotting curtain rips
and our spending outspills, the dream dispelled
no, do not turn away: distrustful, betrayed
the emperor could yet love us all

he could yet love us all
bodymindsoul
if only we just
let him
in

---

What I wrote later about this poem on Instagram:

Just posted this poem on my blog at csecooney.com, LOL. I put ONLY the title on the first page here, in case you’re not into spoilers, or, you know, the mildly naughty bits. I mean… IT’S A FAN POEM! FOR BALDUR’S GATE 3!!!

Swipe if you wanna.

Jeez, the last fan poem I wrote in love-letter form was after I read BEOWULF. I wrote “Love Song to Beowulf” because that book definitely fell into the THIS BOOK IS SO HOT I HAVE TO WRITE IT A POEM category.

This time, in Baldur’s Gate 3, it was the EMPEROR, of all characters, who got me. THE EMPEROR! WHAT???

…Though I could literally write poems about ALL the Baldur’s Gate 3 main party characters… AHEM most notably, about Karlach and Halsin, so there. And I may yet. I MAY YET. I haven’t finished playing the game yet!

Poor poets. What do we do when we’re so strung out on our first video games as adults that we turn to poetry to VENT OUR WHATEVER?

I mean, the last video game I played with either Atari’s Frogger in the late 80’s, or maybe Oregon Trail, or maybe Where in the World is Carmen Sandiago?

People. You know this already, but. VIDEO GAMES HAVE COME A LONG WAY.

That’s all. Who knows? I might be embarrassed about this tomorrow.

…nah.

Later, in comments:

We save-scummed the interaction, because we wanted to see what would happen, but didn’t actually think our character would go through with it. Still, in some alternate timeline, they DID. But then we wiped the interaction out of existence… JUST LIKE HE WOULD HAVE DONE! WHO’S THE EMPEROR NOW???