Oblivion presents the Empire's official religion as an odd mix of medieval Catholicism and the Roman state cult, as least stylistically, so I always found it odd how there seems to be little in the way of ritual or hierarchy, I recall reading somewhere that they gather in the chapels of Sundas, but nothing beyond that save the odd Dragon-fire lighting. This made sense for games like Daggerfall, where the Empire was of the Holy Roman variety and largely powerless; but in the edifice-worshiping Pax Augusta sans pax type of Empire that we're presented with in Oblivion, it's a tad incongruous.

So is there some scant reference to a sort of Dragon-Pope in the lore somewhere?

The emperor is the Dragon-Pope

Oblivion did a dreadful job of depicting the Imperial Cult, in my opinion. One of its greatest short-comings in the way of lore/world.
I wish there'd been more to see.

I remember a quest in Morrowind that dealt briefly with a sort of revolutionary, cloak-and-dagger group of Talos cultists.

That sounds like Oblivion.

I thought the Morrowind and Oblivion portrayal were a bit contradictory. In MW they were a unified and fully backed force of the Empire, in Oblivion I can't even remember if they had their own quest lines before KotN. I can't speak to Daggerfall.


That was one of the last Legion Quests in Gnisis. Those were the days... :shakehead:

Neither can I. But man, wouldn't that be awesome?

In MW they were "arising" religion with foothold in only few places around the place while in Cyrodill they had their time to sat on their butt and be lazy, they were main religion of the area.

In MW Temple's attitude towards Nine Divines could also have given bit more energy to Cult's actions. I remember that Triune, ancestors and even Daedra were seen as much more active and helping force than absent Nine Divines. So maybe Cult tried to prove Temple and rest of Dunmer wrong.

That's a good way to explain it. Expats often uphold tradition of the old country much more than those who stayed behind.

Cyrodiil was a land of plenty for the Imperials since they controlled all other provinces. Imperials and other westerners were a minority in Morrowind and as such band together they often band together in institutions they know from the old country.

In a similar way, it is interesting how the Thieves Guild was 'allowed' by the Legion, even going as far as allowing them to run Inns near Legion enclaves like Sadrith Mora or Ebonheart.

In that way it seems more of a ploy from imperial government to protect Imperial and western-tamrielic populations from Dunmer run monopolies and institutions where people from the west weren't allowed. Something which obviously wasn't an issue in Cyrodiil. In fact, it seemed there weren't even glass ceilings for non-western non-imperial races in Cyrodiil.

That's because there is no Imperial Cult in the homeland, it's the official religion, silly. It's not like we're in some backwater country, where people worship ghosts.

Still,I think the religion should have been atleast slightly more grander in Cyrodiil,but I guess it could be explained by,after the destruction of Kvatch and chapel murders in KotN,people had less and less faith in the gods?

Religion was simply ignored. Cyrodiil was a land of a 1008 cults, not a one was represented.

Yeah the Imperial City was supposed to have cult gatherings on every street corner in previous lore. The Eight Divines and the Temple of the One were the most popular religions but Cyrodill is a very cosmopolitan and open-minded place.

And others have rightly pointed out that the Emperor, at least of the Septim line, traditionally also acted as a conduit between the mortal and Divine realms. Their Dragon Blood helps them see things other mortals can not, and to read portents in the heavens. In a lot of ways, especially talented Emperors like Uriel Septim are likely among the leading religious authorities in Cyrodill as well.

In Daggerfall they had sixteen factions for the divines, two per divine. They weren't unified, and often didn't like each other.

That's in the Iliac Bay, though. It's like a fandom up there: everyone hates everything. And it's been said here that in Morrowind the fact that it was not the primary religion made it into a unified missionary arm more than the full religion. Although I agree that in Oblivion it didn't get enough screen time to be the sort of obstructive corrupt, stagnant organization we were expecting. I mean, if you wanted to you could say that the proximity to the emperor and the opening of the gates caused a temporary cease-fire of the infighting factions, but that's more like a handwave than anything.