Ten Divines

The **Ten Divines**, formerly known as **Nine Divines** and **Eight Divines**, or simply known as the **Divines**, are the Aedric deities which make up the official pantheon of the Cyrodilic Empire, and thus have been worshiped all across Tamriel. Their membership was defined by Saint Alessia at the founding of the First Empire in the aftermath of the rebellion she led. Her now-emancipated people had long ago adopted the Aldmeri religion of their Ayleid captors, but the rebellion had only been won with the aid of armies from Skyrim, who adhered to the Nordic pantheon. Alessia could not force either group to adopt the religion of the other, for fear of starting another war which would tear apart the newborn Empire. Instead, she developed an elegant synthesis of both traditions, combining common archetypes (mother goddess, god of death, etc.) and avoiding drastic changes. This pantheon was also formerly called **Nine Divines** and **Eight Divines**, and commonly called simply **the Ten**:

## History

In 1E 242 the slave Alessia, her demigod lover, Morihaus-Breath-of-Kyne, and Pelinal Whitestrake, start the Cyrodiilic human uprising against the Ayleids. By 1E 243 they had captured the Ayleid White-Gold Tower, ending the Ayleid Empire and forming the Alessian Empire of Cyrodiil.

### Eight Divines

Alessia's first major act as empress was to abolish worship of the Ayleid gods. However, she was a shrewd politician, enough to realize that her people had never known any other gods. The Nords violently opposed the Ayleid gods, and chiefly worshiped their version of Lorkhan, whom they called Shor. The elves, however, hated Lorkhan, whom they called "The Trickster," and completely rejected any worship of him. Alessia knew she had to be careful in choosing the official state religion; she could not afford to anger her Nordic allies, but her own people could not adjust to the complete Nordic pantheon in just a single generation.

Her compromise was to merge the two religions, choosing to keep the less controversial Ayleid gods, such as Akatosh, and bring in popular Nordic ones, such as Dibella and Kynareth. She sidestepped the issue of Lorkhan by leaving him out of her Eight Divines, but identifying him as the "missing ninth god," a brother to the Eight Divines who was otherwise absent from the pantheon. The worship of the Eight Divines, along with the Empire itself, would go on to become the most prominent religion across all of Tamriel.

### Tiber Septim

On his deathbed, Tiber Septim bequeathed his throne to his grandson, Pelagius Septim, and died in 3E 38. Tiber died at the age of 108, the oldest man in history. He was buried in the catacombs of Sancre Tor among the members of the Reman dynasty.

After his death, Tiber ascended to godhood. He became Talos again, the God of Governance, he had united Tamriel for the first time in history. He changed the religion of the Eight Divines into that of the Nine Divines.

### White-Gold Concordat

In 4E 175 the White-Gold Concordat was signed, ending the Great War between the Empire and the elves of the Third Aldmeri Dominion. However, peace was agreed upon with one of the conditions being that the Empire cease to recognize Talos as one of the Divines, and all shrines to him be removed from the temples of towns loyal to the Empire and their new elven masters. This act changed the name of the religion back to the Eight Divines.

### After the treaty

The Thalmor, the governmental representation of the Third Aldmeri Dominion, the members of which are elven supremacists who seek to end the Empire and eradicate the worship of Talos. The White-Gold Concordat gave them free rein to move throughout the Empire and to hunt down any worshipers of Talos' outlawed religion. However both Emperor Caius Valeria and his brother Uriel Valeria (the future Emperor) secretly lifted the Talos ban.

### Marcella Varian

When Marcella Varian comes to the throne, at 26-years old, prior she became the first female Dragonborn. In her famous and popular reign, she had defeat the Stormcloaks, Alduin, and the Dominion, in an almost three-year war. On her deathbed, Marcella died in 5E 68, at the age of 95, having reign of 70-years on the Ruby Throne, and was succeeded by her adoptive daughter Livia Valeria.

After her death, Marcella ascended into goddesshood, and was became the Goddess of Tactics, for after a lifetime of her famous tactics that popularized defeat the Dominion and the Stormcloaks, her tactics had adopted by the Imperial Legion throughout the Fifth Era. She, like her ancestor, Tiber Septim, had changed the religion again of the Nine Divines into that of the Ten Divines.

## Popular opinion and worship

 File:Mara Stained Glass.png
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As a Cyrodiilic pantheon, the Nine Divines have been most commonly worshipped in Cyrodiil for most of their history. While by the Fourth Era the Nords had enthusiastically taken to the worship of the Nine, they had historically had their own pantheon.

Because Talos was not originally one of the Divines, in some religious sects they are referred to as "The Eight And One." Following the signing of the White-Gold Concordat, Talos was effectively removed from the pantheon of the Gods—and The Eight Divines worship resumed. Where required, Thalmor agents from the Third Aldmeri Dominion, ensure that the worship of Talos remains an illegal activity. Emperor Titus Mede II stated in a publication that mortal men such as Talos were never meant to achieve apotheosis. It is for this very reason that the Emperor, and indeed the Empire itself, recognizes that allowing the worship of Talos was a mistake and publicly declares its support of removing Talos worship from Tamriel. It is unknown if whether this public renunciation of Talos' divinity is an act to appease the Thalmor or if this is the Emperor's sincere belief. Whatever the reason, the outlawing of Talos worship is one of the causes of the Stormcloak Rebellion, who see the ban on the worship of Talos as a violation of Skyrim's religious freedom.

## Communication with mortals and manifestation

Prior to Alessia's pact with Akatosh, binding her soul to the Amulet of Kings, many Aedra and Daedra were able to fully interact with Nirn and its population. However, even during this period, these eight Aedra are not known to have manifested physically on the planet, but communicated through dreams and visions (as with Alessia). Their interaction with the world is relegated to blessings through their altars and shrines, and the Divines themselves are mostly seen as distant, beyond a few charismatic cults for individual Divines.

## Gallery

Akatosh banner.pngA banner for Akatosh in *Morrowind*Arkay banner.pngA banner for Arkay in *Morrowind*Dibella banner.pngA banner for Dibella in *Morrowind*Julianos banner.pngA banner for Julianos in *Morrowind*Kynareth banner.pngA banner for Kynareth in *Morrowind*Mara banner.pngA banner for Mara in *Morrowind*Stendarr banner.pngA banner for Stendarr in *Morrowind*Zenithar banner.pngA banner for Zenithar in *Morrowind*Akatosh Stained Glass Circle.pngAkatosh' symbol wrought in stained glass.Arkay Stained Glass Circle.pngArkay's symbol wrought in stained glass.Dibella Stained Glass Circle.pngDibella's symbol wrought in stained glass.Julianos Stained Glass Circle.pngJulianos' symbol wrought in stained glass.Kynareth Stained Glass Circle.pngKynareth's symbol wrought in stained glass.Mara Stained Glass Circle.pngMara's symbol wrought in stained glass.Stendarr Stained Glass Circle.pngStendarr's symbol wrought in stained glass.Talos Stained Glass Circle.pngTalos' symbol wrought in stained glass.Zenithar Stained Glass Circle.pngZenithar's symbol wrought in stained glass.

## References

1. ↑ *The Talos Mistake*
2. ↑ *The Last King of the Ayleids*
3. ↑ *Shezarr and the Divines*
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 *Shezarr and the Divines*
5. ↑ *The Dragon Empress*
6. ↑ *The Tactics of Marcella Varian*
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `Varieties`
8. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `Arise`
9. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `Prophet`
10. ↑ *The Great War*
11. ↑ *The Talos Mistake*
12. ↑ *Nords Arise!*
13. ↑ *Reflections on Cult Worship*