Hey guys, I just wanted to announce what I plan to do in the new Year. Of course the lore-thing with the IC is going to be finished.. finally!
After that I will attack our lack of faction-questlines. I have already worked out a little system for that AND begun designing questlines for the IC - logical next step after the loreworks.. I hope I work at the right place with that, and I promise: at least the IC questlines will be VERY interesting
Why cant I simply use an Elder scroll to make my Clocks go slower?
I finally have some time to read through this properly. By the looks of it, my replies might get rather long, so I'm already posting the first one now to pace things out a little.
Analysis of religious structure:[spoiler]the Alessian Order is no more; the Temple of the One and such are only scattered relics of the order. As far as the Great Faiths are concerned -- and I'm surprised I haven't brought this up here already -- I think it's a Daggerfall reference.
In Daggerfall, each of the eight divines (of which Talos was not one; he and the Imperial race only came into existence in Bethesda's post-Daggerfall planning period) had their own church, and each church had an associated knightly order. They're all documented [url=http://www.imperial-library.info/content/nine-divines]here[/url].
So that's likely to be the situation in High Rock, though it might also just be outdated lore at this point. Oblivion (which in many ways made a return to Daggerfall lore) seems to have vaguely kept that model, though Cyrodiil's religious situation wasn't exactly fleshed out. I have no idea what direction Project Tamriel is going with this, which is something I intend to change sooner rather than later.
As far as the Imperial Cult of Talos Septim is concerned, it's easy to get mixed up. My interpretation is the following:
You have the Imperial Cult, which probably has a longer official name like Imperial Cult of the Nine Divines; a missionary arm of the Great Faiths, which are likely nine established churches devoted to each of the Nine Divines.
You have the Imperial Cult of Tiber Septim, which is an Imperial-sanctioned and probably controlled cult which probably acts as the church to Tiber Septim, and as such probably qualifies as the ninth of the 'Great Faiths'.
You have the Talos Cult, which is a non-sanctioned, underground cult which we should probably flesh out in future.
I mostly agree with your conclusion of an ecumenical union with the IC as a sub organisation, with the various faiths maintaining their own identity and general autonomy. That being said, I do think the existence of an Archbishop indicates some sort of -- probably very loose -- command structure. I rather assume the Archbishop exists as a sort of middleman between the Empire and the Great Faiths; basically an ambassador both of the Empire to the Great Faiths and of the Great Faiths to the Empire. ('Empire' probably meaning 'Elder Council' or perhaps 'Emperor' in this case).
The position of Archbishop was probably established by the Empire so that it could more easily communicate with and ideally control the Great Faiths, rather than having to negotiate with each of them individually. That being said, though, during times of trouble -- of which the Empire has had no shortage -- the loose union of the Great Faiths under the Archbishop might establish itself as a powerful faction around which the Empire needs to tread carefully.[/spoiler]
