Under normal circumstances - all mortals, upon death, have their souls taken up into the Mundus' built-in spirit-processing-facility, the Dreamsleeve. There, they are stripped clean of memories, karma, food stains, in preparation for re-implantation in a new body.

It's a universal destination that every culture/race interprets differently, of course.

But how?

Altmer - ???

Dunmer - ???

Bosmer - ???

Orsimer - ???

Nords - Sovngarde: Ersatz Valhalla, basically.

Redguards - The Far Shore?

Bretons - ???

Imperials - ???

Khajiit - ???

Argonians - ???

From the Infernal City:

Imperials believe they go to Aetherius. Can't come up with a reference right now.

I think it's more accurate to say the Yokudans want to go to the The Far Shores, but dying is not the way. That just means you failed. Redguards, by in large, are quite Imperialized.

As for the dunmer...they seem to die, go somewhere, and help their ancestors should they be called upon.

The redguards treat the Far Shores as an area where you go to avoid being eaten by Satakal.

How did you come to that conclusion?

In Redgaurd Hayle's soul went to the far shores.

http://www.imperial-library.info/content/using-dwemer-observatory

It seems that the dunmer believe that they go to Oblivion after death:
"This shrine is called the Waiting Door, and represents the door to Oblivion." -http://www.imperial-library.info/content/morrowind-ancestors-and-dunmer
The "Waiting Door" is a shrine that they use to communicate with their ancestors.

Altmer - The goal of all Altmer is to "shed" their mortal existences and escape Mundus. I'm making a guess, but I assume they believe in reincarnation along with Ancestor Worship like all Mer.

Dunmer - Tribunal Dunmer believe that they should become living Gods like the Almsivi. If not, they go to the Halls of Azura in Oblivion.

Bosmer - No idea. I assume they become one with the forest plant life which would partly explain their aversion to harming Valenwood's flora.

Orsimer - My best guess; they go to Malacath's Realm.

Nords - Sovngarde: Ersatz Valhalla, basically.

Redguards - The Far Shore or Imperial beliefs. From what I've heard, the Redguard also strive to escape Mundus.

Bretons - Depends on their standing. Higherborn Bretons probably believe something similar to Altmer ideas, while lower born believe what Imperials believe.

Imperials - They believe you go to Aetherius after death.

Khajiit - No idea but it probably is tied with Azura and the Moons.

Argonians - Become with the Hist I guess.

I think that the Dunmer have a pretty good way of going about it at the core that's doused in too much frippery and racism to really hit on it. Since Time would be different for the dead, of course they wuld still maintain a little of their original consciousness for long enough to be summoned as guardians and bound back to Nirn.

Actually, I have a question about afterlives that entail specific gods, like Sovngarde. I wonder if, perhaps, the gods might "pluck" a soul of a follower from the group? I don't know why, but it just never quite sat with me that an afterlife catered to a specific god would be under the same rules as the much more vague "you go to Aetherius" or "you go Somewhere and get bound to serve your descendants as supernatural muscle over your own grave goods."

I'm fairly certain ghosts aren't actually the same as the souls of the dead: they're more like after-images. However, I can't think of any evidence for this. I might just be mixing up TES and the nWoD, but this would fit in better with the dreamsleeve reincarnation business.

Anyway, another question: does anyone know how race and reincarnation interact? Do mer reincarnate as mer? Men as men? Were there a bunch of Khajiit souls just lying around, or does splitting off as a race limit your reincarnation pool? Does anything touch on this?

You have a giant bowl of souls, all with clean slates. Can you tell the difference between one molecule of water from another in a giant bowl of water? As much as the mer from Summerset would abhor to say, it's likely someone was an altmer, then become a nord, then became an orc, and etc.

Thanks for answering!

Dunmer have it good. No recycling for them.

No, they get recycled too. It's just that they believe they're summoning great granny, when it reality, they're just practicing necromancy and calling it 'holy.'