This is one of the things about this TES that I either forgot, or never found out. What is the belief in the afterlife like in TES?(assuming not becoming a ghost) What happens to mortals in TES world when they die?

Is the Dreamsleeve actually located anywhere? Like is it in Aetherius?

You mean this thread?
http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1000865&hl=Dreamsleeve

As far as I know their souls are recycled in the Dreamsleeve; you lose all your memories and are eventually reincarnated on Nirn. Kind of a depressing concept to me, that your "self" is lost.

The only known sources of Dreamsleeve (as soul-recycling system) knowlidge are Mysterium Xarexes heresy and obscure words of Nu-Mantia, isn't it? How is it correlates with soul summoning, Sovngarde, Soul Cairns, ancestor worshiping, spiritism, Old Ways, and so on? It seems to me that it is something wrong in Dreamsleeve concept.
May be I just don't understand something?

In addition to Yar-Yulme and Seti18's questions, if all souls are recycled and reincarnated, then doesn't that mean that every bandit, robber, spellsword.... NPC that I've killed in the game will come back? Why haven't the souls of every single king/queen, etc.... come back? And what is the wait time before they come back? How do they come back? Do they just magically spawn out of thin air?

In regard to Sovngarde and other understandings of an actual "afterlife": When you're in the dreamsleeve, you experience what you expect to experience.

Ancestor worship that actually tangibly has ancestors guarding or protecting the family's tombs and what-not: their spirits are bound to the world through necromantic means, and they don't go through the dreamsleeve while bound.

Soul summoning actually fits the concept of the dreamsleeve quite nicely; the undead spirits that attack on sight are driven quite mad because their very self is partially broken down by the dreamsleeve. Summons don't turn that madness upon the player because of the force-of-will/magickal-prowess of the player in controlling the summon.

Because the dreamsleeve recycles souls and throws them back as blank slates.

The only known sources of Dreamsleeve (as soul-recycling system) knowlidge are Mysterium Xarexes heresy and obscure words of Nu-Mantia, isn't it? How is it correlates with soul summoning, Sovngarde, Soul Cairns, ancestor worshiping, spiritism, Old Ways, and so on? It seems to me that it is something wrong in Dreamsleeve concept.
May be I just don't understand something?

As far as I know their souls are recycled in the Dreamsleeve; you lose all your memories and are eventually reincarnated on Nirn. Kind of a depressing concept to me, that your "self" is lost.

We've also been told that the soul goes to the alignment that it served in life, but others on the forum can explain that better than I can.

I think some spirits are forced to stay on the Mundus, whether through necromancy or because something's left unfinished (such as the Akaviri soldier you talk to in "Oblivion"). They seem to lose their sanity if enough time passes, though the Akaviri wasn't insane. (He was, however, unaware of how much time had passed and unaware that he was actually dead, if I remember right.)

That's not the point: I meen, that it is possible to communicate with souls in Sovngard, and it seems that souls are saved there in their primordial form. No memories or personality erased.

Again, I'm speaking not about mad spirits forced to guard clan tombs, but about ghosts who visit mortal world and speak with their descendants.

At least it is possible to summon spirit of certain person. And I'm not sure that gameplay aggresivity of summoned is sayng about its madness.

Then what is the difference between mortals and lesser deadra?

There was a book in MW with the theory that Oblivion is the afterlife, and Daedra lords powerful ancestors.

"For my gods and emperor" i think it's called.

Several possibillities. The only person we've supposedly had contact with from Sovngarde is http://www.imperial-library.info/mwbooks/bm_sovngarde.shtml, and that's the only "account" we've heard of. Who's to say it was a legitimate otherwordly contact or not, especially since that' the only one speaking of Sovngarde? We don't ever discover whether Ulfgar the Unending made it to Sovngarde or not.

1) Rolf the Long was contacted very early in his Sovngarde experience, meaning his soul wasn't yet broken down enough to exhibit noticeable problems.

2) Perhaps the dreamsleeve, while stripping identity from the soul, still temporarily preserves that sense of identity until the soul is sent back to Nirn. Rather how like dirt on clothes in a washing machine still remain in the washing machine until the clothes are removed. That would allow the soul to be purged, while the identity of the soul still perceives their hallucinogenic heaven-state in full identity, because their identity is still floating around for a while.

3) Perhaps the Sovngarde story is literally true, and that Nords can bind their souls to Shor like other mortals can bind their souls to Daedra, thus escaping the Dreamsleeve totally.
...
See 2) above for one possibility, but also realize there's the potential that most Dunmer who practice ancestor-worship are probably binding their souls to Azura, thus escaping the Dreamsleeve totally.

The madness does not justify the dreamsleeve. Rahter, the dreamsleeve justifies the madness.

The dreamsleeve is more or less a natural process for mortals, who get the anesthetic of their choice, so to speak. The Daedra are more aware of their journey through the dreamsleeve, and they fear it direly. It is not a natural process for them.

Is it Dreemsleve, or another similar process?

Several possibillities. The only person we've supposedly had contact with from Sovngarde is http://www.imperial-library.info/mwbooks/bm_sovngarde.shtml, and that's the only "account" we've heard of. Who's to say it was a legitimate otherwordly contact or not, especially since that' the only one speaking of Sovngarde? We don't ever discover whether Ulfgar the Unending made it to Sovngarde or not.

But even the encounter's true, there are other possibilities.
1) Rolf the Long was contacted very early in his Sovngarde experience, meaning his soul wasn't yet broken down enough to exhibit noticeable problems.
2) Perhaps the dreamsleeve, while stripping identity from the soul, still temporarily preserves that sense of identity until the soul is sent back to Nirn. Rather how like dirt on clothes in a washing machine still remain in the washing machine until the clothes are removed. That would allow the soul to be purged, while the identity of the soul still perceives their hallucinogenic heaven-state in full identity, because their identity is still floating around for a while.
3) Perhaps the Sovngarde story is literally true, and that Nords can bind their souls to Shor like other mortals can bind their souls to Daedra, thus escaping the Dreamsleeve totally.

The madness does not justify the dreamsleeve. Rahter, the dreamsleeve justifies the madness.

And again, what are the sources of Dreamsleeve theory?

Arkay is the God of the cycle of life and death. We're born from the dreamsleeve and return to it on death in an endless cycle that is always new.

Birth:


Mortals leave the dreaming-sleeve of birth, without any divinity (unmantled) safe for the symbiosis with the special divinity of Nirn (our mother, Mankar wan't to destroy Nirn).


This special divinity comes back in the intercept, Red Mountain (tower) holds Lorkhan's Heart (stone). Lorkhan's heart is also called the divine spark, our shared divinity. As such, we already much like the Daedra, we're separate parts of a larger divinity.

Death:

When people from different cultures all believe in an afterlife and all seem to get exactly what they expect, it is reasonable to assume that their experiences are influenced by their expectations. The Nords believe they go to a place called Sovngarde which can be translated as to a meaning that means as much as the Dreamsleeve, the sleep-enclosure. So we're already back the start.



This shouldn't be read as some Heaven and Hell afterlife were people who've done enough bad things end up in Oblivion. The AE literally is a connector and in the sermons it is often used as: "AYEM AE VEHK AE SETH", Almelexia and Vivec and Sotha Sil, Almsivi.

This connection is the soul. Normally, when a person is killed he experiences afterlife, when a Daedra is slain he experiences the void. A soul trap can force the soul to remain connected to a soulgem and a Necromancer can call back souls and force them to animate a body again.
Ghosts can return out of their free will if they have something that binds them, but often you'll see that they've already started to disintegrate and are starting to lose their memories and thoughts while they're being mangled and stripped from their identity in the dreamsleeve.

As I've already shown above, mortals are born from the dreamsleeve, it's their to their divinity so their allinged AE goes to Mundus and while the God planets of the Aedra are often interpreted as Aetherius, they are part of Mundus, they are the gift limbs.

It's also what allows Mankar Camoran to pick up his followers in his Paradise, they've given up Mundus ("destroy her forever") and become part of Mehrunes Dagon ("enter the demesne of Lord Dagon")

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For more:

http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=568807&st=0&p=8228887&#entry8228887
http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=104313
http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=557966

Similar topic:

http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=646953&st=0&p=9389259&hl=sovngarde%20dreamsleeve&#entry9389259

In addition what I didn't touch on here was the connection to aligned AE that the Loveletter mentions.

The Dreamsleeve is part of Mundus, but the lesser Daedra are bound to their Prince or to their own plane(t) orbiting the plane(t) of their Prince. This connection seems to be without the soft forgetfulness of the Dreamsleeve as each Daedra fears the experience (see: Spirit of the Daedra).

Now it's possible for someone to change this connection. In one of the dead-endings in Battlespire you could sell your soul to one of Mehrunes Captains, Umaril bartered his away with Meridia. Mankar suggests doing the same for Dagon.

Best thing I can see about it is this. You are completely aware of everything, but there is a constant gnawing and biting cold, all your sensations are removed, and it's complete blackness. Daedra who are in the service of a Prince typically have a means to get back relatively unharmed (look to SI as an example of this). Without some sort of binding point or a "Swim over here" sign, they're stuck until a prince finds use for them, they find a way out but is horrifically driven mad, or the prince turned off the "swim here" sign and they're stuck for quite some time, often as punishment most likely.

I invoke the awesome theories of past threads:

I can't understand a damn thing Proweler is saying in that quote. He writes like how the devs write, which is confusing. Can someone just use smaller words and say it in plain old english instead of sounding all verbose?

So, without special conditions, result may be the same as mortals, driven mad and changed personality?

No. You are keen-sighted, mortal. I MUST leap into the darkness for her. Seek my Mistress. Tell her that should she not return to rule her realm, I will have no safe return from Oblivion, and remind her of her oaths and obligations. So honorable a Mistress would never be foresworn of her vows...I implore you. You must do the deed. Take this Soul Dagger. If you strike true, you shall loosen my spirit, and darkness will swallow me. Into the Dagger I shall pour my hope and longings, which you must bear as a token to my Mistress, that she will know what I have done for her.

Jaciel Morgen: I have nothing more to say to you.

Sinder Velvin: I don't know exactly how to break this to you, but -- Well -- Maybe you have better take a look at this dagger. She said -- Deyanira -- That is --

Jaciel Morgen: Aaaaaa! She is gone! GONE! I should tear your beating heart out and force you to eat it in tiny bites, one wriggling, beating bite each century! I should flay the skin from your body and hurl your living carcass into the sea of my salty tears.

Sinder Velvin: She did it for you.

Jaciel Morgen: You, mortal -- No doom so slow, no pain so tearing --

Sinder Velvin: Nothing you do will bring her back. She'll be back in her own sweet time, from what I understand about you Daedra. And for all that sweet time you can think about how little you cared for her, and how lonely you'll be without her, and how much she was willing to do for you, when you wouldn't do anything but pout and snivel.

Jaciel Morgen: What you say -- Perhaps is true. Too fair. But... You BASTARD! You TRICKED her into this, to serve your own SELFISH ends!

Sinder Velvin: No. It was her idea. I haven't got her kind of vision. Or character. I admit. I'd lie like a rug to save my skin. But I haven't got the imagination to think of a thing like she did. And it would NEVER occur to me that she might do it of her own free will. In fact, I'm sorry. And ashamed. That I helped her to do this thing.

Jaciel Morgen: Perhaps I can understand. You are a mortal. And mortals see things differently. A mortal must never regret, never feel shame, for what it does to save its life.

Sinder Velvin: Normally I'd agree with you wholeheartedly. But that's not how I feel right now. Look. She isn't really dead, is she?

Jaciel Morgen: Daedra do not really die. Not as you know death. But we can sacrifice ourselves to Oblivion. As she did. Oblivion is existence and self-awareness without the ability to see, hear, or affect the world. For an immortal it is hell -- Unspeakable pain and horror -- Absolute loss. Eventually we do return. But not all return as they were. There is sickness. Madness. Change.

PC: What Wellspring? What do you mean?
Some captain person (SCP): The Wellspring of the Mazken. It's what links us to this Realm, where we return to the world from the Waters of Oblivion. If Syl helps Order sever that link... my kind will be annihilated. The realm will be lost to us. We must get to the Wellspring and stop them! I will follow your lead. The Wellspring is at the heart of Pinnacle Rock; follow the waters to reach it. I am yours to command, Your Grace.

PC: Tell me more about Pinnacle Rock.
SCP: Pinnacle Rock was given to us by our Lord Sheogorath as a sanctuary and place of restoration. It is our home. It is where our numbers are strengthened, and where we return to the realm from the Waters of Oblivion. What else would you ask of me?

PC: Tell me about these Chimes.
SCP: They are a key part of the ceremony for restoring fallen comrades. The ringing of the chimes is said to help call the souls back to Pinnacle Rock, guiding them to us, so they may return to our Lord's service. What else would you ask of me?Tell me about the Wellspring.
The Wellspring is a cynosure, a place where the Animus of lost Mazken can return to this realm from the Waters of Oblivion. The Darkness is a frightening place, even to us, and so our Lord has given us this beacon, a light to guide us back to Him. What else would you ask of me?