I would argue that the experience of gaming, immersing ourselves in another world, is mystical, transcendent, and very cool, in its highest form.
Obviously the average player bashing quicksave and typing "tgm" doesn't represent this, and it does cheapen the idea to associate it with that, but at its highest, what we do when we play these games is a very CHIM-like experience.
I'm not eloquent enough to make this argument, though

In my eyes, it's not demeaning to associate CHIM with just playing games, because these aren't just games. In fact, it demeans the games to demand that the metaphysics presented in them must be something separate and higher that don't relate to the game itself at all.

CHIM is an in-universe enlightenment, which is possibly the most important distinction. You're not in-character when you start up the CS or use a console code. Saying the CS is CHIM is like saying the GM in a tabletop RPG is an actual story character.

Wait what?!

I didn't understand a single thing in this thread xD

Is there like a UESP or another TES Wiki's article about it? This thing sounds super interesting but you probably have previous knowledge about it so you understand it xD
Is this Mantling even taken from the TES world? where or when is it talked about? You said there are 6 ways and that Mantling is the fourth, 6 ways to do what and what are the other 5?

Cheers,
Magico

The best possible thing you could do for yourself is to simply visit http://www.imperial-library.info/ and read every single text there. It may take months or years of reading just one or two a day. Don't expect to have all the answers even then. The stories jumble together and sometimes contradict one another.

Because Tamrielic history is written much like our own - different sources, very mortal authors with bias...sometimes Divine authors like Vivec with just as much bias and a dark agenda.

Find the common elements. The points where various myths overlap. The truth is hidden in those places where different circles intersect.

And for the love of sweet Shor don't overlook the Obscure Texts. There's just as much truth there or maybe more.

Read every single text just to find out about mantling? And the other ways?

Really? :S

Hey, a lot of us pretty much read everything related to mythology, ascension, and so on.

Visit imperial library and search mantling. That's a start.

Mantling isn't just one separate things of universe. It's tied to bigger picture. Much like reading book of history, however local and small scale that history is it's good idea to tell more global history along side it so that reader can understand context of local history, why it shaped to be what it became. To understand small picture is to possess knowledge about wider picture. Or something.

Alright!

And so my journey begins

I think that's well put.

@Magico

Here is the help I think you needed...at least as far as I know

Mantling appears to be one of the ways mortals can transcend their limitations to become gods. The way I understand it, if your life experience leads you to perform acts typically associated with a given deity, you can become like that deity.

How this works in practice baffles me but that is the theory. That is how Tiber Septim is supposed to have become a divine.


There are also other ways of transcending mortal limitations as well. This effort is a core element of the TES universe.

So there are the Mantella and the Heart of Lorkhan as well no? Weren't they used to make Numidium and Akulakhan Gods?

Those guys are just being elitist; don't read every text if you just want to know about Mantling. What will The Real Barenziah or even the Seven Fights of the Aldugadda teach you about mantling? Just visit the How To Be a Lore Buff thread and look under the metaphysics. If anything else intersts you look under that thread for the skeleton and search the word at the Imperial Library.

Alternatively, it could be the same reason I choose to put certain books on display at my job and leave others on the browsing shelves. We like good fiction and it makes us happy to see other people enjoying it as well, and since TES is awesome it would just be a good idea, mantling or no, to read them all.

No, he's right. If your recommendation for how to learn about a particular subject is "go read all the books," you're not actually making a recommendation and shouldn't be. I've been meaning to make an actually helpful post in this thread but haven't had the time.

The thing is (at least in this particular case) that as each new revelation is... well, revealed, new questions arise. New questions with answers just another book away. I mean, it is true that I could right this second link to individual books about mantling. Really, I could. TIL is open in the next tab to the right. I just think that it would be easier for all concerned to just start at Daggerfall's Brief History of the Empire and keep running down the list until you've reached Zeph's TES Treasury Volume III. Any questions after that are the kind that need discussion explicitly.

Yeah, you know, because "Ius, Animal God" is going to answer so many questions. :rolleyes: