Akatosh exists, not solely because "Alessia said so", but because she said so so well, and the Marukhati did their dance to keep him around (in fact, if anything can TRULY be credited for Akatosh-as-friend-of-men, I'd hazard a guess that it WAS because they "broke him off" from Alduin, not just the "power of Imperial paradigm").

Again, with the exception of one source from Daggerfall, there are very few reasons to believe things are that flexible in TES, and even that had an entire "people" shaping the divine, not all the Backwoods Jim's wanting a Frog God to eat for dinner.

Edit: It should also be noted that the Daggerfall source also credits the "et'Adans" for the formation of the gods. Defining that with how we know et'Adans, it probably looked more like a kind of Convention (where, say, the world was planned out, and certain et'Ada chosen to give up portions of themselves to stabilize the Mundus, and the rest is history) than any kind of Ascension ritual.

Double Edit: I've done some more research on the topic. While I still feel that some over-estimate/over-stress the power of mythopoeia in the "common man's" life, it looks like I've also been underestimating it. Humble apologies for any misunderstandings.

Nah, don't apologize. Meddling in mythopoeia requires a huge edifice, a major mythic project, usually a Tower after some fashion. They're pretty much the sensory nerves leading into God's audio/visual cortices, and not something a shirtless Netchiman is going to have access to.

Wait Chim makes the person more powerful than the Gods?.... I thought it made them as powerful as the rest of the divine beings.

CHIM is more. A lot more. But it also takes away ambition and replaces it with all kinds of Love, making it pretty boring to think about, in terms of plot (/personal, not-serious opinion).

I always felt like CHIM didn't so much take away your ambition, so much as the ability to see and know everything made you realize the futility of ambition. You could destroy everything, but why? You have infinite power but no will to use it.

Honestly, though, my understanding of CHIM is tenuous at best. That's one of the things I love about TES lore -- no matter how much I read, i still have questions, many of them which can not be answered fully. Also, as to my previous post, I'm not saying that people can will things into godhood all willy-nilly. My intent was to state that belief in TES has a far larger effect on the way things are than the person I quoted was giving it credit for. That's all.



EDIT!: Removed a redundant portion of the last paragraph.

Please delete. Double post. Grar. >=-(

Sounds like a pretty important balancer to things like Alduin.

If you don't have the ambition to destroy, then perhaps you might see past yourself to support what already is-- or Tamriel currently.

If Vivec is CHIM, he could potentially play a very positive role, even in Skyrim, were he to be in the game.

It also seems like the Aedra may have a role with why the Dohvakin is appearing now, to stop Alduin from devouring everything.

Ideally, I figure that many factions that we haven't seen, and some that we have, have the opportunity to reveal themselves to the player in the upcoming game.

If one knows CHIM, then one would BE Alduin, and see no reason to stop yourself from eating yourself, since yourself wouldn't end up any worse for the ride. I secretly suspect Vivec is already working on the next stage of his journey, explaining why he's nowhere to be found (or, I guess, EVERYWHERE to be found... Bah, CHIM would be annoying to have).

Belief has power, but that power isn't infinite. You can believe-shape a god, but you can't believe-create a legion of gods. Note that the Nirnian laws of physics haven't changed in the past 200 years, unlike how the laws of physics were always changing in Mage.

This, pretty much.

CHIM seems to make one stop caring about the world, they're so far above it they're starting their own.

Talos seems different though, but its said he's unique.

If Alduin were a part of yourself, then that would not mean that you would not stop it- everyone has parts of them that they don't like, you can learn to change it. In the case of CHIM- who or what you are being the same as what is happening on Mundus/elsewhere, you might even be able to rouse other parts of yourself to stop that thing.

Example: Motivation beats out Laziness. Principles beat out un-desired base wants, etc. If you want to view the world as all a part of Vivec- there are constant inner struggles and turmoils and challanges that go on within each of us, even if in some people they are less noticeable. For that reason, I don't see that as a reason why he would not advocate change or favor a particular part of 'himself'.

From the recent letters:


If you have CHIM, then almost all motivation to stop him/it could be gone. Part of you might want to stop him, but at the exact same time, since you are Alduin, you would not, and another part might even want to help him. And, as we saw pre-Convention, being able to do everything at once basically means you do nothing.

Kinda reminds me of Johnny the Homocidal Maniac comic.

People in heaven have all knowledge and power yet knowing everything also means you know the consequences of using your power so they do nothing.

Everyone in Tamriel worships their ancestors because they are descended from gods. So you're really just venerating old spirits rather than creating new ones. But I like your last sentence.

This needs to be in skyrim :flamethrower:

There is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_burial in the old Germanic culture Skyrim is loosely based on... <_<