Greetings, I was kinda confused by the ending of the main story.
Meridia tells you that you need to experience the other alliance zones to understand who the real enemy is (I assume that's other daedric princes) and that she will conceal your true identity to other people.
But then Cadwell says you should touch the crystal in the Harborage if you want to find out how it would have played out if you washed up on a different shore.
My question is: Are these veteran zones supposed to be a "what if" kind of thing, meaning they never actually happen and you simply go through the journey that *could* happen if you washed up somewhere else, but have no actual impact OR are you really going through the zones in the real world as someone else (concealed by Meridia) and basically undermining the efforts of your original alliance and aiding the enemy for real?