is it written somewhere how each daedric cult and each Church of [insert Aedra here] is organized? I mean actually organized, as hierarchical structures, buildings etc.? I'd like to know but apparently it's not specified, or I can't find it.

In daggerfall each nine divine had a temple and a knightly order, I wonder if that has changed as well?

Not that I know of. From what we see in Skyrim and Oblivion each church has her own high priest, in Morrowind with the cult of the nine you had a real leadership but that could have something to do with the fact that they were a minority religion seeking to convert people towards the nine.

The Daedra just appoint their own priests and name whomever they want as important, there doesn't seem to be a vatican like institution in the Empire.

thank you
I forgot about the morrowind Imperial Cult

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Imperial_Cult

and of course the tribunal temple

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Tribunal_Temple

I guess that, with the notable exception of talos, this still applies.

some people prefer doing stupid "wutfor" comments rather than doing something useful. ah well.

I think most Daedric cults are something like real-world cults. "Oh, Molag Bal spoke to me in a dream, and if we all drink this Kool-Aid, he'll bring us a spaceship and let us stay by his side for eternity!"

Or less suicidey, but essentially attracting worshippers out at the fringes of society.

The Nine are fairly boring, with the exception of Dibella, who seems to like her more adamant worshippers to practice general [censored]tiness. I wouldn't be surprised if her temple has some kind of sacred prostitution, although she seems to attract artists and the like as well... I guess it just depends on the denomination in question.

The pre-Nerevarine Tribunal Temple seems to be the most "magisterial" type of organized religion in Tamriel, with a well defined hierarchy of clergy and a strong sense of doctrine, ritual, and orthodoxy.

Many of the daedric cults, as noted by Jara above, are more like what we usaully call cults.

Azura's (and a few others') seems closer to a more moderate religion, though. Maybe something like the ancient "mystery religions" or gnostics. ("We, the chosen few, know the real truth.")

The Church of the Nine (or Eight-and-One, or Eight) seems very like the ancient Roman pagan religion. Official state sponsored ritual for the sake of receiving divine blessings on the empire, but not too worried about doctrine, and with not much real personal, emotional connection with their gods.

As for notable Daedric cults organization:

The Mythic Dawn had four ranks: Novitiate, Questing Knight, Chaplain and Master (presumably Mankar Camoran himself). Morag Tong's ones are here http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Morag_Tong. All the rest are pretty much too small to have multiple ranks and stuff instead of "one main dude, and a bunch of followers".

More like "Oh, Molag Bal spoke to me in a dream, and if we all drink this Kool-Aid-" and three hours later, every orifice in the room (including air-vents, doors, drains, and odd cracks-in-the-walls) is bleeding.

thanks everyone
Morag Tong is a religious association?

EDIT: where on the UESP are listes the Mythic Dawn ranks?

Let us never forget the scourge that was the Alessian Order and the Maruhkati Selective.

Well the Morag tong does kill for Mephala, so kind of. But I wouldn't really call them that entirely, their primary purpose is money based and executing writs.

I used the Commentaries on the Mysterium Xarxes, which says " Our Order is based on the principles of his mighty razor: Novitiate, Questing Knight, Chaplain, and Master.", which I interpreted as a heirachy.

right, Camoran's writing. I had forgot about them, ever since I got the original

Yeah they worship Mephala the same way the Dark Brotherhood worship Sithis.

well yeah but they're not a cult in the traditional sense.. they worship by doing what they do, rather than actually worshiping as per prayers

The aedric worship can be divided into many cults rather than there being one Church for each one or indeed all of them in Cyrodiil. Dibella in particular has several in the Imperial City, celebrating different aspects of her sphere. We aren't told much about these cults apart from that of the Ancestor Moth. In Daggerfall each of the eight divines had their own temple, but they were all copies of each other so I wouldn't put too much stock in them. Given how politically sectarian High Rock is, I find it difficult to believe that each divine has one monolithic temple which also exists in Hammerfell.
The Talos Cult has more fervour behind it than most, it used to be associated with the legion and it's currently persecuted, so that may well be more organised than the others, although I wouldn't expect it to be popular outside Cyrodiil and Skyrim.
I think the Morag Tong is religious at heart being "steeped in tradition", traditions which would go back to its Chimeri roots, but they don't seem to care if individual members don't show any piety, so long as they murder people as the're supposed to. There's an altar at the Vvardenfell headquarters but not at the guildhalls, which suggests that it isn't all just murder. That might be there purely for invoking Mephala as and when necessary.

I was sure the Akatosh Chantry would rule over the others, but apparently I am mistaken

I'm curious about religion as viewed by the redguard. I read somewhere in MK's writings that the redguard see mortality as a curse much as the Mer do. That made me wonder how they perceive the divines. Can someone point me to some sources?

I as I recall, that was only the dominant sect in Wayrest, Balfiera and Bergama. The first is possibly the most cosmopolitan city in High Rock, the second is ruled by High Elves and the third is a little fiefdom in the Alik'r Desert. The fact that Akatosh exists at all in the Breton pantheon (I'm not sure if Redguards still follow the Yokudan pantheon, but that hadn't been written at the time) is odd considering his strictly Imperial origins. I assume that Bretons don't actually have a universal pantheon; maybe some of them believe in near Elven ones and some have Nedic ones which have more in common with the Nordic and Reach pantheons.


Well there's http://www.imperial-library.info/content/varieties-faith-empire for a start if you didn't know.

Well, we really don't know, since all the games are so scaled-down. If Skyrim is supposed to have several times the population shown in game, then presumably all of its religious institutions would be several times more complicated. We just haven't seen what this is really supposed to be like.

True, they were very concerned about orthodoxy, but they didn't have nearly as great a sense of ritual, veneration of saints, and hierarchy as the Tribunal Temple.

there are no more details about the Alessian order and the Marukhati, right?

EDIT: Mythic Dawn also had Initiate and Acolyte as actual in-game ranks, that makes up 6.