The Daedra Shrine

The Elvish word "Aedra" means "Our Ancestors", while the Elvish word "Daedra" means "Not our Ancestors". Aedra have the power of creation. Daedra, on the other hand, can not create. They can only change.

Creation of The Aedra and Daedra

In the beginning, there is a void known as Sithis. The Aldmer called the void "Anu". Anu and Padomay (is - is not) are part of the void. The interplay of Anu and Padomay created the Aurbis. It is the Gray Center between is and is not of Anu and Padomay. It contains realms of Aetherius and Oblivion, and other less structured forms. The Aldmer see the Aurbis as Anuiel, the soul of Anu the void.

At first the Aurbis was turbulent and things do not last, this is because Anuiel was using Sithis to ponder himself in every possibility. In any case, from Anuiel and Sithis sprang the et'Ada, or the Original Spirits. The et'Ada did not align to anything yet, they moved towards the light or the dark, and then returned in the opposite direction without their own notice, dissolving when they hit the perfect gray again. The first et'Ada were new and they often made mistakes, for there was hardly time to practice being things before. So most things ended quickly or were not good or gave up on themselves. This was a violent time.

Akatosh (or known as Auriel by the Aldmer) one of the et'Ada, discovered how to avoid this process or was given the knowledge by Anuiel. The knowledge is time. Soon the et'Ada filled the Aurbis until the Aurbis was full and separated in two groups. Those who align to Anu reside in Aetherius and those who align to Padomay reside in Oblivion.

Lorkhan who aligned to Padomay but prefers the state of Sithis rather then the separation. Lorkhan brought a concept of a world, of becoming mothers and fathers, of being responsible, and making great sacrifices, but with no guarantee of success to all of the et'Ada. The et'Ada were split in to two factions. One faction was excited and immediately started the project. Magnus (et'Ada of Magic) participated as the architect on the creation of the world. Kynareth (et'Ada of Air) provided the space for the world in the void. Akatosh, Y'ffre, Zenithar, Julianos and many others were part of this faction that is now known as the Aedra. The other faction of et'Ada who did not want to participate on the project is now known as the Daedra.

Then, the Mortal Realm or Mundus was created, being a mix of both Anu and Padomay aligned et'Ada, and it is close to Sithis. (After all, things are born, procreate and die again over and over again without ever really getting anything that lasts forever). The process of creation was painful and left most of the Aedra weak, no longer young, strong, and powerful, as they had been from the beginning of days. As their aspects began to die off, many of the Aedra vanished completely.

The remaining Aedra realized that they were tricked, but it was too late. Magnus decided to abandon the project and left to Aetherius. The rest of the Aedra came together in the Adamantine Tower and conducted a meeting. Yet, the meeting was unfruitful. Most of the Aedra left, went back to Aetherius following Magnus. Some were decided to stay in order to preserve what they had done. This group transformed themselves into Ehlnofey (the Earthbones). Y'ffre was among this group, he was the first to transform to Ehlnofey and then Laws of Nature was established. The last eight Aedra (Akatosh, Julianos, Arkay, Mara, Dibella, Zenithar, Stendarr and Kynareth) exist as the gods.

According to the Aldmeri legend, there was a great war between Auriel (Akatosh) and Lorkhan. Auriel's greatest knight, Trinimac knocked down Lorkhan and took his Heart. Lorkhan was said to be dead. But when Trinimac and Auriel wanted to destroy the Heart, it laughed at them and said, "This Heart is the heart of the world, for one was made to satisfy the other." So Auriel fastened the Heart to an arrow and cast it from the Adamantine Tower. The Heart landed on the eastern part of Tamriel and a great Volcano formed, Volcano now known as Vvardenfell.

The Daedra are still strong and "incorruptible." They created the Daedric Realms in the Oblivion, with all the inhabitants, the lesser Daedra. The Daedra were pleased of what they had done, but sometime they looked with envy over the Mortal Realm. They found that the ambitions and the passions of mortals are sometime entertaining and beyond their expectation. The actions and thoughts of mortals are different than the minions they created. Thus do the Daedra court and seduce certain amusing specimens of the Mortal Races, especially the passionate and powerful. It was also another satisfaction for the Daedra to steal or corrupt anything that Aedra has created.

After Magnus left, the Mundus was stabilized and Aldmeri history began. This was the end of the Dawn Era and the start of the Merethic Era (ME2500).

Banishment

Daedra cannot be killed. They can only be banished back into Oblivion. To banish a Daedra, their mortal body must be destroyed. The banished Daedra will return to It's Daedric Realm of origin, but It's personality slightly changes, along with It's protonymic. Usually the protonymic is extended with neonymic; obviously this means that a Daedra cannot be banished with the same protonymic twice.

Daedric Appearance

Daedra are thought to be neither male or female. It is said that Daedra can change their gender at will. For example, Boethiah is recorded as a female in Daggerfall and Battlespire, but in Morrowind, Boethiah appears as a male. Mephala is said to be female in Daggerfall, but in Morrowind, Mephala is recorded to be both male and female.