My friend just told me that, in effect, tamriel is actually one of the planes of oblivion, and was also once ruled by a deadra lord thing.
is this right? I want to be able to correct him/not sound like a twat when talking about tamriel.
it's what the guys from the mythic dawn cult believe.
it's not clear if they're right or not. it is said that Mundus was the lorkhan plane before it tricked daedra to become part of it to make it alive. (and thus becoming aedra); and it is said that it was not unlike oblivion in appearance before the mundus was created (but not the oblivion plane, a plane like oblivion)
First of all, a semantic correction and crash course in the mythology. At first, the gods were et'Ada (which means "original spirit"). Then Lorkhan convinced them to create Mundus. One group of et'Ada didn't want anything to do with Creation and went to reside in Oblivion, they became the Daedra. The rest went on to build the world. When the spirits realised they would have to "die" to build the world, many fled back into Aetherius, making holes between it and Oblivion while fleeing (these holes are the stars, and it's the light of Aetherius that shines through them, the biggest hole - the sun - is the hole made by Magus, Architect of the Mundus and god of magic). These, who managed to escape, remained et'Ada. The last group, those who had to give part of themselves to build the world, became the Aedra. A handful of them remained as personified gods, like the Divines. This is why they are called Aedra ("our ancestors") and Daedra ("not our ancestor"), the Aedra are ancestors because everything in the whole world are made up of them, while the Daedra had nothing to do with creation.
Oblivion also isn't a plane, it's the void were the Daedric planes reside. Mundus lies in the middle of the universe, Oblivion surrounds it. They're separate, unlike how the IRL Earth is just a small part of space. Think of it as an egg floating in the middle of a bowl of water. Mundus is the egg, the water is Oblivion. While the egg lies within the water, they are completely separate things.
Secondly, no, Mankar Camoran was not right, at least not about this. Mundus and Daedric planes are completely different things metaphysically. Saying that Mundus is Lorkhan's Plane like Moonshadow is Azura's plane is like saying apples are the same thing as leaves because they both grow on trees.
You see, a Daedric plane is the Daedra Prince itself. There is no difference between them. Mundus, however, is made out of uncountable amounts of Aedric spirits. Everything in it is originally an Aedra, every person, animal, tree, rock, speck of dust, gas, drop of liquid, everyone and everything is an Aedra, not just the few worshipped as gods by the mortals. Mundus is the plane of those spirits, belonging to everything it it. They also serve completely different purposes. A Daedric plane is just the Daedric Prince, and in a way, it's static unless the Prince change. Mundus is the Grey Maybe, a chance for change, renewal, and difference. Lorkhan didn't trick the Aedra into becoming the Mundus because he was an arse, he did it because he had a vision of something greater than what they had before, a vision of Transcendence beyond what they know. That is the gift he gave to the Aedra, and as such everybody in the world, before they killed him, as they did not understand how they could achieve something greater through their (as it appeared to them) deaths. The Mundus was, to Lorkhan, the springboard the Aedra would use to Transcend. It is everything Daedra and et'Ada is not.
Sanguine's a bro. I still remember our antics together at that party in Leyawiin. Good times.
Sanguine is your bro the same way crack is the addict's best friend.