Fun Fact/Theory: Varen might very well be the first "DC emperor"

HoneyBunBadgers

Varen is not DC, he never was. Varen started his rebellion because he could not stand that the reach emperor allowed daedra worship and made it legal. Varen being a follower the divines called up arms to overthrow the reachmen line of emperors and restore the empire under Imperial rule, as this was unacceptable to legalize daedra worship. Varen's rebellion was only consisted of imperials from colovia as well as the tharns from nibenay and some of the imperial military that defected to varen's rebellion no other outside help from factions outside of Cyrodiil. Varen did not have help from the daggerfall covenant and is not associated with them at all.
The daggerfall covenant on the other hand, allows daedra worship under high king emeric, for example he allows pariah abbey, an Azura temple with Azura cultists to live close to wayrest the capital of the daggerfall covenant and even acknowledges their presence and see's them as peaceful while letting them stay there without issue because they give charity. Also, the orcs who are apart of the daggerfall covenant worship malacath who is a daedra. Varen would never allow this being such a faithful follower of the 8 divines and even started a rebellion because of the legalization of deadra worship.
In conclusion, Varen was not apart of any of the 3 alliances (DC,AD,EP) or received help from them. He was an independent rebellion uprising that sought to overthrow the reachmen line of emperors and re-establish an Imperial dynasty on the ruby throne and abolish daedra worship again. The daggerfall covenant liked what Varen was doing with his rebellion and goals, but was not associated with him. A similar example: In ESO, the dragonguard in southern elsweyr are technically operating in dominion land at the end of the storyline, but are not associated with the dominion or apart of it's military. The dominion like that the dragonguard are defending elsweyr and its civilians, but the dragonguard are not part of the dominion military and the dominion can't claim that the dragonguard is theirs. Sai Sahan's Dragonguard is independent of the 3 alliances just like Varen's rebellion is independent of the 3 alliances.

ealdwin

HoneyBunBadgers wrote: »

The daggerfall covenant on the other hand, allows daedra worship under high king emeric, for example he allows pariah abbey, an Azura temple with Azura cultists to live close to wayrest the capital of the daggerfall covenant and even acknowledges their presence and see's them as peaceful while letting them stay there without issue because they give charity. Also, the orcs who are apart of the daggerfall covenant worship malacath who is a daedra.

This might be picky, but technically, since King Kurog is a Trinimac worshiper, and he's the one that entered into a treaty with High King Emeric, the DC has more to do with the Trinimac worshipping element than the Malacath element. But, when you're trying to create an alliance to return to the economic prosperity of the Reman Empire, you aren't going to be too picky about who each individual orc worships.

And this is more personal opinion, but Pariah Abbey was a mistake. Not in a "Wayrest shouldn't have allowed that place" kind of mistake. No, more of a "What the **** were the developers thinking" mistake. I mean, it's an abbey sitting in smack middle of the county of Menevia, which as a kingdom in TES II: Daggerfall had Dibella as it's patron deity. Not to mention, the Temple of Dibella in TES II had its own knightly order, the Order of the Lily. Dibella Temple with Knighty Order fighting off the Daedric intrusions of Vaermina was right there in front of the devs, and they decided to go with the odd injection of an Azura cult. What? Why? It quite frankly doesn't make sense. (rant over)