So I have started a new character who is a Bosmer, and read up on Bosmer lore a bit, so i could role play better. I have seen several people comment how happy they were to get Namira's ring so they could roleplay Bosmer cannibalism. But reading the lore, I think Bosmer cannibalism is very, very different from Namira's crowd, and I don't think a Green Pact Bosmer would want anything to do with Namira and her rite.

1. The Bosmer Green Pact is actually all about respecting nature and the natural order. Yes, they practice cannibalism -- but as part of an overall respect for Yffre, for the Valenwood and all living things, and even for their slain enemies. It seems to be more about being in harmony with the ways of nature, almost a kind of ecosystem management and flesh recycling practice.

Namira's crowd, on the other hand, is all about what is unnatural and revolting, and wallowing in that.

2. The Bosmer are strongly advised against deception -- it is part of their religion and creation story and ethos. They are thieves, but they are not liars.

Namira's crowd decieves and enchants folks to feast on them as living sacrifice. A real Green Pact Bosmer would have nothing to do with it.

3. I think the Bosmer would actually find all these nord tombs and the fixation on corpses pretty abhorrent, and would want nothing to do with it. It is one thing to consume the flesh of a fallen enemy as a animal in nature would do out of respect for the whole of nature. In a Bosmer mindset, it actually makes a kind of sense.

It is entirely a different thing to entomb corpses, and then go find tombs to dig up and eat. It is also entirely different to trick and ensnare people so you can feed on them.

So I am thinking Bosmer cannibalism is very different from Namira cannibalism, and a Bosmer who really practiced the Green Pact would still have nothing to do with Namira and her bunch.

What do you all think?

It's obviously very different, but it's the only way to aquire the ability. I'll Met by Moonlight offers a means of mainting the ability to feed without having to wear the ring. But even that has mixed results. Sometimes feeding is still possible without the ring and sometimes not. I haven't been able to nail down what triggers it to work or not work.

In any event, when I do Nimara's quest i put it behind me as a necessary step to the build.

If you use mods, iNeed mod has a setting for cannibalism, for wood elves or followers of Namira. So it is possible without the ring, if you mod.

But I am more interested in the values and worldview behind the act, than just the ability to do it.

Seems to me that from a Bosmer worldview, cannibalism is not really an unnatrual or heinous act at all. And I think the Bosmer would view Namira's version with disdain, as a perversion of nature, rather than another instance of what they already do, and would not actually participate in it. So if a person is really trying to play Green Pact Bosmer, I am not so sure that the Namira quest is a really acceptable way of doing it.