I've been wondering what sort of belief do the altmer hold? i know they despise lorkhan for what happened to the aedra but does that mean they worship the gods in the imperial cult's pantheon.

In theory they worship the same gods. They just use different names for them.
Scroll down this link to find out more: http://www.imperial-library.info/races/high_elf.shtml

And here is the Altmer Creation Myth, fresh from the Monomyth: http://www.imperial-library.info/mwbooks/monomyth.shtml

Some gods of the Cyrodiilic pantheon are derived from the elven pantheon.

Another good source on Aldmeri beliefs is the http://www.imperial-library.info/obscure_text/vehk_teaching.shtml#6 section of Vehk's Teachings...

Indeed, the Imperial pantheon is more Meric than Mannish.

Whether they worship the same gods as Men depends how you view the Aedra.

The Cyrodiilic creation myth aka 'Shezarr's Song' suggests a view that the Nine are seperate entities to the 'Elven' gods. This is perhaps an old view motivated by anti-Elven sentiment from previous ages and doesn't truly reflect current Imperial theology, but I don't know that for sure. I would guess that the Imperial Cult would at the very least make a show of syncretizing the 'Elven' Aedra with the Nine Divines, and I wouldn't be surprised if this was their sincerely held theology.

Interestingly the Altmer don't seem to deny the commonality between the Aedra and the Nine, or the Nordic aspects either. Certainly an ultra-Conservative and xenophobic race like the Altmer aren't going to embrace the pantheons of Men, but I do think they would recognize that the same basic spirits were being worshipped, though presumably the humans are seen as worshipping them in a pathetically simplistic and misconceived manner :rolleyes:.

Not all the same gods seem to feature in the Meri and Mannish pantheons (I'm not counting ancestral god-heros here). For example, there is no Meri Julianos noted in the 'Varities of Faith' pantheons, though perhaps that doesn't mean he is absent, just perhaps unimportant or fused with another. Likewise, most Mannish pantheons don't feature Y'ffre or Xarxes. I am not sure why some feature across the board and some do not.

Which race can claim to be nearest to the truth when it comes to their worship of the Aedra? Perhaps they each have a fragment of the truth, or perhaps the truth itself is fragmented with the Aedra having multiple aspects, each as 'real' as the others. Personally I think the latter.

Universal gods speak to universal characteristics of mortals. Where did those characteristics come from if not from the gods that created the world, with its gift limbs and donors? Then the denizens of Nirn reflect their legacies back on their constructed deities, giving them new life that affirms those characteristics. It's a feedback loop.

Sure, I get that. It was more the ones that are absent that puzzle me rather than the universal ones.

The Nords also blame the Lorkhan's death on Elven Giants. And yet, some Elven gods are the gods of Man and vice versa. But then, when last most of these gods walked, it was the Dawn Era, in which time was a hazy thing. With that in mind, trying to pin down who was on whose side during a time when time itself wasn't fixed a futile endeavour, as some (or all) very well could have been on all of them.

Oblivion

"I understand Daedra worship has become extremely prevalent on the Summerset Isle."

Muthsera, here are two Forum Scholar Guild articles by Polycarp that I believe will satiate your thirst for an answer:

http://www.imperial-library.info/fsg/polycarparticle1.shtml - Dicusses Tamrielic Religion in the point of view of Altmer, from the Heart of Lorkhan, the Daedric worshipping to the Aedric worshipping of the Imperial Cult.

and

http://www.imperial-library.info/fsg/polycarparticle2.shtml - This is an anolysis of the Imperial Cult, Men, and Lorkhan, from an Altmeri perspective.


I hope this helps.


Yours in the Scrolls,


___The Word Merchant of Julianos

I finally got around to reading Polycarp's work. Two things stood out to me.

The less important is Polycarp's assertion that the Dark Brotherhood worships Mehrunes Dagon. This is the first place I've seen this (not that I am in any way a fully read lore scholar), and what I have read seems to contradict this. Where did this come from?

The more important is the following. Allessia seems to have been assisted by one Pelinel Whitesdrake, who, by all descriptions I've seen, seems to be an aspect of Lorkhan. According to Polycarp, the Aedra of today are in service of Shor, and not Auri-El (with Akatosh having been fully severed from his Anuic nature). However, when the Divine Crusader was accepting followers, among them was... was he Altmer or Bosmer? At any rate, he joined under the assumption that Auri-El and Akatosh are one and the same.

All this does not fit together. Is Akatosh Auriel, or not? Does the Divine Crusader bear the mantle of Pelinel, therefore Shor, therefore Lorkhan? If so, what has he to do with Akatosh, and what does Akatosh have to do with Auri-El? Does this Altmer Polycarp even know what he's talking, or is this yet another example of the Altmer attempting to tie everything into their own story?

He was a Bosmer, and he said that in Valenwood, Akatosh is known as Auri-El.

In Morrowind Carecalmo, a worshipper of Mehrunes Dagon was aiding the Dark Brotherhood. You deliver an ultimatum to him. After that you kill the Dark Brotherhood leader, Severa Magia. She's camping in the Shrine of Ald Sotha.

I reckon that Polycarp concluded that the Dark Brotherhood is worshiping Mehrunes Dagon because they're on such friendly terms though it's also possible that Carecalmo set them up in one of the shrines to Mehrunes.

From what I remember, the worshippers of Mehrunes Dagon were granting asylum to the Dark Brotherhood on Vvardenfell.

I take it you are referring to: "We also know that the present Aedra being worshipped are false gods who came to power in service of Shor." from anolysis on the Aedra. Which seems to be nothing but more of the 'Marakuthi have become the Aedra' hogwash that was in vogue for a while.

Anyway, you shouldn't confuse the Knights of the Nine and the Divine Crusader with Pellinal himself. They were formed after Pellinal was gone and you can't really expect them to share the same views after a good four thousand years.



Ofcourse he is. Though I can't quite find where you are getting the idea from that he's not.