In Oblivion each of the Nine Divines were fundamentally all the same, you could go to a chapel to heal herself and receive your choice of attribute boost.
In real world religions, to receive your divine blessings you are usually required to follow that religions doctrines.

So maybe for Skyrim (or a mod) each of the Nine Divines could have their own doctrines, (1 or 2) rules and 'suggested playstyles' that you could follow to receive blessings of increasing magnitude the more devoted you are. Some suggested doctrines (I'm not that experienced with TES Religions):

• Don't Eat Meat
  
• Don't Eat Pork
  
• Don't Murder
  
• Don't draw blood
  
• Don't used bladed weapons
  
• Don't carry much gold/donate it to the church
  
• Don't use weapons
  
• Don't work on a Sunday/visit the church often
  
• Don't bribe anyone
  
• Don't wear armor

Maybe each of the divines could have 1 or 2 of their own 'themed' rules with rewards beneficial to different playstyles.

I guess they could have guilds based on religion.

Would be awesome to be kicked out if you break one of the minor rule's as well If the player first accept an religion or cult it should be very serious

The Nine Divine is not a real world religion. It's not about a bunch of restrictions on life, for the most part. Look at the monks of Weynon Priory for example, who worship Akatosh, they were Blades; warriors.

What I'm suggested is that you choose to worship one or more of the nines, and each of them have one or two rules that you follow to some extent to determine how much of a blessing you get.

I'd run that through the Thaumaturgy skill. If you want the blessing of that divine, you abide by their rules. Then make the eight divines conflict on their rules. Or is it nine now, maybe it doesn't matter about nine in Skyrim?

I suppose that makes sense. Living the life as the aedra desires. Hopefully they give you greater...perhaps more permanent blessings/rewards. Joining guilds that associate with each/a few deities sounds like fun.

I would like to to point out what this list means

• Don't go into combat
  
• Don't kill anything even rats
  
• Let someone kill you if they start a fight
  
• Don't have any fun
  
• Don't play Skyrim because the in-game religion says not to

Makes a whole lot of sense to put in a game doesn't it?

My reading of the OP is that he's suggesting that each of the nine Divines would have restrictions based around ONE of the suggested themes - not all of them, which would obviously be impossible.

I actually quite like the basic concept here. If allying with one Divine meant that you could only make 'honour' kills i.e those who attack you first, then that would be quite an interesting quest. It might open up creative ways to get the job done if you are sent on a simple assassination quest, for example. Instead of just killing the guy, you've got to persuade someone else to do it, or provoke them into attacking you.

Similarly, restrictions on type of weapon that can be used, restrictions on magic, restrictions on infamy and so on - it would make sense to have those as part of choosing to worship a particular deity.

Not drawing blood or not killing anyone is simply impossible for a game built around combat. But adhering to set rules for a religion, such as not commiting murder (meaning not attacking first) for specific perks would make for an interesting addition

I think it could be cool - I probably wouldn't adhere to any for a while though, but after I've had the game for ages and I'm getting really into the RP aspect, then this type of thing could be fun.

Urgh.. please don't encourage one of the most disgusting aspects of the real world to corrupt what will almost certainly be my favourite game this decade... :confused:

Uhm, I don't know if you noticed but previous Elder Scrolls games had religion?

It's not as if the OP is suggesting something that hasn't been a part of Elder Scrolls since forever. He's simply suggesting a more immersive implementation...

I read this thread and had a small idea. How about, if you continue to devote yourself to one specific Divine, you will start to gain Favour with that Divine. Getting higher favour could unlock special rewards or abilities and whatnot.

That could be cool. Like, Stendarr is the god of mercy so you could gain favor by allowing enemies to surrender and lose it for killing a fleeing enemy. Maybe they could also have preferred items you could offer that they would like more than gold, for example the Julianos temple might want donated books. Zenithar might like items that you made yourself through crafting. Arkay temple could accept black soul gems (so they can destroy them).

Your examples are perhaps a bit too extreme. But the idea is pretty good :thumbsup:. It would bring more life to the feeling of religion in Skyrim.

In Daggerfall you could join a temple to a specific Divine (or something to that extent)

If this is implemented and kynareth doesn't make you not kill wildlife somethings wrong.

The Nine Divine did require you to be in good moral standing. If you had murdered or stolen, you couldn't receive their blessings until you had made amends (paid off your bounty).

Yeah, I'm happy to accept 'the Gods' as an aspect of a fantasy game. But what he's suggesting could actually interfere with the gameplay.

Not eating pork for any reasons other than ethical is already ridiculous in the real world, why bring that into the game? lol

(The idea isn't completely bad, my response was overly critical based on my natural revulsion for the conditional ritualistic and primitive dogma involved in religion)

While the list seems a little silly, I would like to make a certain point worth mentioning: In OB, if you committed murder or theft, you generally had to earn the forgiveness of the Nine Divines by doing good works to get your fame back up, so it kind of already does that. But I guess some small things could be used--like, for Kynareth, don't needlessly kill an animal (in other words, don't kill an animal that isn't trying to kill you...) And I like the idea of joining some kind of sect to receive bonuses, if you will--but nothing too drastic

And maybe many of these factions could be full to the brim with people who don't follow all these strictures and are just there for convenience, or to be part of a particular social group that just happens to all follow that particular Divine, or maybe that Divine's faction is full of corrupt priests preying on their followers while publically denouncing the very actions they indulge in. Perhaps some could have lots of "casual followers," who claim to be adherents but in reality the extent of their devotion is turning up to weekly services and "going through the motions" for the after-service meal.

It might be interesting if it worked more along the lines of a covenant.

In Oblivion, you went in and got a blessing that lasted for a limited time.

What if, instead, you went to one of the Divines, like Dibella, and vowed not to do certain things. In return, you'd receive Dibella's blessing for as long as you keep your vow. If you break it, you have to do something to make amends, then you can re-assert your vow and get the blessing back.

I think this is the nice version of what I was trying to say...

I believe the Alessian Doctrines were the only religious party that had dietary restrictions, what with being animistic. They were stamped out in the First Era. As for having legit clergy and Divine Laws in Skyrim, I say that would be ten different kinds of awesome. It would give the world more believability. Morrowind had it, with the Tribunal Temple. That was a fleshed out, and interesting part of the game world. Oblivion was sadly lacking in an interesting religious side, despite being set in the Imperial Province which has seen so much divine intervention. The Temple District only had ONE temple, and not even one dedicated to any of the Nine Divines.

Now, of course, Skyrim has different gods (sorta...) and that could add a whole 'nother layer, with religious conflict playing a part in the game. Followers of Shor would give quests to mess with followers of Akatosh, ect ect.

Having in-game religions and them being join-able factions would add a lot to roleplaying a truly religious character. A follower of Dibella would do...y'know...things. A follower of Stendarr could act like Judge Dredd, or be merciful towards defeated foes. And these religious factions would clash with each other, like they did in Daggerfall.

Personally, I think it's a wonderful idea, but it needs to be thought out more.