Obviously, to those of us who keep up with the lore, the Tribunal will always exist. Once they ascended, their immortal selves moved outside of time and they will always be.

But I've always ascertained that most NPCs know about as much religious lore as you and I know. Which is to say, probably, not a ton. My original Morrowind character knew squat about TES religion (as did I when I started) and was on a mad crusade to destroy the "heretical" Tribunal. And she did, including smashing Vivec to paste with a warhammer.

I understand that this is my personal "dragon break", and I understand that gods are forever (in their own way), but in a very real sense the Tribunal was shattered when the Nerevarine completed the prophecy. So who, now, will the Dunmer worship? The Tribunal is still a valid option, but clearly as tme goes on (if you believe the Love Letter), believing-in and loving the Tribunal will become less popular. Will Dunmer turn to the Imperial gods? Even after the Emire has also been shattered? Or will they turn to the Daedra?

While I want your general opinions on this, I also have a specific reason for asking. And that's my "new" character I've been thinking about playing. This character is an ex-ordinator who wants only to make the Nerevarine and the Empire who delivered her suffer for destroying the Dunmer way of life. Sure, this ex-Ordinator loves Vivec but I think he may turn to Daedra worship in his blind hatred and lust for revenge. Basically, I want to explore the "dark" side of Oblivion after having played through as a tried-and-true worshipper of the Nine. What would be a good Daedra for an angry Dunmer to seek aid from? Hircine has a certain lurk-in-the-woods-and-hunt-your-prey appeal, but turning to the Five Corners seems delightfully bent. What do you think?

Daedra worship again. Mephala, Boethiah and Azura, and the 4 Corners will witness a increase in their congregations. Good for them.

Where is the evidence that the Tribunal lost anything except temporal, profane power?

The Dunmer will continue to worship their gods on a personal level. Without the doctrine and dogma of a potent Temple, it will more and more resemble the old faith and practices of the Velothi.

On either side, there will be extremes of traditionalism and modernity, practicing zealous denial or turning to foreign cults.

a lot of this at first.

remember, after the evnts of th tribunal, very few peopl believd ou whn ou informed thm that ALM and SEHT was dead. in fact, thye cursed and spat at you. now VEHK disappered. there gods are gone, but thyd rather not believe it. it may take a few genrations before the populace, especially the Indoril and Dres and Redoran, that there gods are dead.

And then there's the obvious observation that real world religions seem to be going strong without continual divine reinforcement.

true, but we aint supossed to talk aboot that....

The High Priests in the Temple will make sure that people continue to believe in the Tribunal. They will claim that the rumors about AlmSiVi being dead are not true, that the three gods merely transcended to a higher level of existence, from where they watch Morrowind, and communicate with a few chosen individuals in the Temple.

If the Nervarine insists on his gruesome fabrication that the gods are actually dead, they will kill him and spread a rumour that he went on a mysterious expedition to Akavir.

And then there's the surge in interest in the Imperial pantheon after the Avatar of Akatosh presented itself. The Tribunal is nowhere to be seen, and the Imperials had a giant firey dragon come outta nowhere and save their hides. Where was the Tribunal when Ald'ruhn was sacked?

Although thankfully, Cosades was sitting in Skyrim when he wrote, "Interest in our shrine had increased tenfold..."

Because all of Morrowind saw the big fiery dragon easily, huh.

A former Tribunal priest in Cyrodiil mentioned a "collapse" of the Tribunal Temple.

Of course, now all of the statues of Sheogorath need to be changed.

Watching how the people of Ald'Ruhn got punished for their lack of belief in AlmSiVi.

The lesson to be learned from Ald'Ruhn's fall is, obviously, that the Dunmer need to have stronger faith in the Tribunal, so that they will forgive the populace and help them next time.

Ka-Ching.

Ka-Boom, you mean.

tht is quite a win-win. youd make a fiend of a Tribunal Priest...

Actually, I think that letter from Cosades was written while he was in Kragenmoor. I'll look it up at TIL just to be certain.



EDIT: Yep,

http://www.imperial-library.info/obscure_text/cosades_letter.shtml

That would be believable... if it weren't the Redorans, rivaled in their loyalty to the Tribunal only by the Indorils.

According to the Psijic's, the Tribunal may go on to rule in Oblivion "Primarily, it is easy to grasp the necessity both of endowing good men with great power and making powerful men good. We recognize the multiple threats that a strong tyrant represents -- breeds cruelty which feeds the Daedra Boethiah and hatred which feeds the Daedra Vaernima; if he should die having performed a particularly malevolent act, he may go to rule in Oblivion..." By this, Almalexia at least will go on to Oblivion. So, Deardra worship may indeed become prevolant, but as the Psijic's religion is widely unkown, it is an unlikely outcome, and thereafore this post is completly useless.

I don't know if that would apply to deities such as the Tribunal (at least not to Almalexia, who is the only one who died doing a malevolent deed); you can't necessarily BECOME a Daedra (barring the CoC, who SHEOG himself doubted he could become a Daedra).

This is supported nothing more than by my opinions on pieces of lore, but I feel that, if they didn't "return" to Aetherius as Vehk will/did, then perhaps they just went into the Dreamsleeve. That being said, they were technically gods: mortals having faith in them still gives them power.

That makes it REAL easy to not do anything and claim credit.

Which is exactly why the Tribunal was so disappointed in their loss of faith. Losing the faith of the Telvanni wouldn't have meant so much skin off their noses, because the Telvanni never were very religious to begin with. But to see the faith of one of their most stalwart groups of followers become shaky - that made the gods angry.

Also, in their infinite wisdom, the gods of course knew that sending a sign to the Telvanni wouldn't have much effect on the. That's why they sent a sign to the *Redoran* instead, because here's still hope for the much needed resurgence of faith. AlmSiVi allowed the Ald'Ruhn temple to be destroyed, to send the Redoran the message: Do you really really want to live without us, without AlmSiVi's care and protectoion? See how dangerous it is.

Too bad for them that that contradict one of the most important parts of te Tribunal doctrine: that they are living gods, who exist on Nirn to help their people.
I see a reformation coming.


They'll hear about it. It's not like such a thing will go unnoticed.



Those poor souls. What we really learn, is that true Tribunal worship lies within the use of Imperial gold, not with being religious and keeping the old traditions alive.



Politics. Everything can be changed, history is what you make of it.
I heard, that since http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Ienas_Sarandas_%28person%29 joined the Ald'Ruhn temple, all they did was endulge in profane and earthly behaviour. Because, we all know what kind of man he was.

The Avatar of Akatosh appearing briefly wasn't much compared to the what happened with to Chimer and the Dwemer.

The Dunmer have reminders everyday of what happened at Red Mountain, so I doubt this tale from the east is going to do anything at all.

Does nobody here remember that Vivec had some very specific instructions he was going to give the Temple? His intention was that the Temple should return to Ancestor and "good daedra" worship, demoting the Tribunal to the level of "saints and heroes" rather than gods. Although, come to think of it, I've never actually finished Tribunal (I've been working on it lately), so I suppose maybe he never got around to it.

Also, I'm pretty well convinced, at this point, that this "They are gods, they always were gods, and they always will be gods" thing was, in the end, little more than a deception. Mind you, it was a very powerful deception, backed up by the Heart of Lorkhan as it was, and thus able to fool even existence, itself (or whatever). But with the link to the heart shattered, I think even that can change.

According to Oblivion's rumors, it seems that many Dunmer began to turn to the Bad Daedra, but many others seem to be turning to the Imperial Cult, as well. I'd be willing to bet there are some young nobles running off to the Ashlands (against their parents' will) seeking some kind of spiritual rejuvenation, as well.

He might of intended it, but he really didn't work hard to make it happen, and he probably hurt the chances. I'd say the Dunmer would have a hard time worshipping Daedra again, after the whole invasion and the Trial of Vivec. Especially since Winged Twilights were at Ald'Ruhn.


According to Oblivion's rumours, everyone was turning to Daedra, it seems.

Does anyone know what religion Helseth adheres to, by the way? That seems like an important point.