Across Morrowind you can see these daedric ruins full of worshippers and barbarians, but back when they weren't ruins... what would they be like?

It probably depends on the Daedroth in question.

I don't know if Morrowind was ever in a state where Daedra worship was completely uninhibited.

The interiors of the temples don't seem to have aged. It's still the same Lovecraftian architecture that shows the alien, nearly psychotic nature of the Daedra. No straight lines, all weird curves. Like Frank Gehry's architecture.

Aboveground, the temple complexes probably weren't a lot more elaborate than what we saw in "Morrowind". I can't picture the worshippers having gardens or fountains, for example.

Muthsera XxChaplainxX,

The land of the Dark Elves has gone through many changes over the years. To begin, there was once a branch of Aldmer that rebelled against their brethren, following their prophet, Veloth, on an odyssey to find a new homeland. Since they were now different from the Aldmer, they were called the "Chimer", or "changed elves". Once found, the Chimer named their new homeland after their prophet, and thus the Chimer lived in the land of Veloth.

It was during this period that the Chimer lived as the modern Ashlanders do, in tents and worshipping their ancestors until a Daedric Prince known as "Boet-hi-ah" taught the Chimer to "divide ye like your enemies, in Houses, and lay your laws in set sequence from the center, again like the enemy Corners of the House of Troubles... (http://www.imperial-library.info/mwbooks/lessons.shtml#10), which took the Chimer into the second phase of their religious state of being.

This second phase demonstrated a division between the people of Veloth. Some Chimer divided into "tight-knit political clans" known as "Great Houses" (http://www.imperial-library.info/pge3/morrowind.shtml) while others kept their nomadic, pre-House lifestyle (See http://www.imperial-library.info/mwbooks/zainsubanisnotes.shtml).

During the first and second phase of dark elf history, the Chimer had problems with another group of mer, the Dwemer, who called the land "Dwemereth" instead of "Veloth", and were out of place with a magical, mystical world, choosing instead a world of scientific principles. Two polar opposite ideas cannot mix well for long, so they fought. And they fought. And they fought....until the Nords attacked them both. The two peoples united under the Chimeri war-leader (called a "Hortator"), Indoril Neverar and the Dwemeri king Dumac and routed the Nords.

The Dwemer and Chimer were so glad to have achieved a temporary peace that they jointly created the a body to rule them both called "The First Council". (Some claim that the land was renamed "Resdayn" at this time, while others claim that Resdayn was the post-apotheosis name.) It didn't last long due certain information being leaked to the Chimer that the Dwemer were experimenting with the Heart of Lorkhan. The War of the First Council began, ending with the apotheosis of the Tribunal. I will not recite the multitude of theories surrounding the events of the Battle of Red Mountain, but those are found http://www.imperial-library.info/mwbooks/.

Upon the Tribunal's ascension, the volcano of Red Mountain erupted violently and the Chimer's skin turned ash-grey with red eyes. Sotha Sil calmed his hysterical people, claiming that their new appearance represented their new religious beginning under the guidance of the Tribunal. The Chimer now became known as the "Dunmer". (The land was either named Resdayn or Morrowind at this time. Some sources claim that "Morrowind" was only given as the land's name upon the Armistice between Vivec and Tiber Septim.) The Daedra that were worshipped before were still given a modicum of respect by being called the Tribunal's "Anticipations", but they were rarely directly worshipped thereafter. This becomes the third phase of dark elf religion.

The fourth phase deals with the state of religious affairs after the advent of the Nerevarine and death of two Tribunes (maybe three). To quote Vivec, "We may be honored no longer as gods, but as saints and heroes, and the Temple will return to the faith of our forefathers -- the worship of our ancestors and the three good daedra, Azura, Mephala, and Boethiah. The missions and traditions of the Temple must continue... but without its Living Gods."

So, yes, daedra worship was unfettered in the first and second phases. Daedra worship was watered down and restricted to the "Good Daedra" during the third phase. Finally, full-fledged worship of the Good Daedra seems to be the official state of things in Morrowind today, with ancestor worship being a respected part of each phase.

May the Light of JHUNAL guide and keep you, my friend, for I remain...


___The Word Merchant of Julianos