Do Altmer on Auridon follow Praxis?

Kashya_Vulano

I've seen nearly no amount of discussion on this, and I wanted to bring it a little more into the light to hopefully get an official answer, but at the very least, a better idea on the topic. When Summerset released, we got a ton of new information about Altmer and their culture, the way their society operates, and so on. But of all their societal features, we never got any information on whether the ideas of Praxis and Alaxon were also shared by the altmer in Auridon.

Auridon is the geographical buffer to Summerset, something that is explicitly mentioned in lore as a way to keep outsiders away from the sanctity of the Isles' mainland. Auridon receives the brunt of everything from foreigners to pirates, plagues, and invasions, and if we're going by the old 2014-era architecture, is just objectively more frontier-like than Summerset. Although Auridon Altmer can be just as snobbish as their Summerset counterparts, we don't see anywhere near the level of it that we do on Summerset. The question I have, though, is whether or not it's a simple oversight or a genuine difference in upbringing and culture. Given the ruggedness of Auridon, it may make sense that the altmer here don't or can't quite adhere to the same standards of Summerset altmer, but there's also nothing stating they don't follow it.

Throughout the entire Summerset chapter, and all post-chapter content, there's zero clarification (unless I've grossly overlooked something) on whether or not Auridon altmer hold themselves to the same cultural standards of Praxis that Summerset Altmer do. We don't see anything on Alaxon, calians, or anything of that sort in this regard, and there's been no post-chapter clarification to give us a yes-or-no answer. So, what does everyone else think?

PrinceShroob

Well, it's a bit of column A and a bit of column B. It's sort of the nature of the beast with a series with multiple releases--compare Dunmer in "The Real Barenziah" to Morrowind, for example.

You'd be surprised at what lore exists in the background during prewriting that never makes it into the game. For example, while we never get a full definition, the concept of oustering definitely existed when writing the base game: it's mentioned in the datamined dialogue from the original Dominion questline, in the Del's Claim loading screen, and there's an NPC who mentions it. So while it was never mentioned explicitly, it's possible that concepts like praxis and Alaxon were thought of for the base game, but just never made it into any dialogue or books. Heck, there's even mention in Bangkorai dialogue about Abnur Tharn searching for a weapon in Volenfell, and he is searching for a "demon weapon" with Tharayya's help in Elsweyr...

But I think it can also be explained by considering the culture of Auridon. There are a lot more foreigners, which probably dilutes traditional Altmer culture. And since it's diluted, it may be that there are a lot of Altmer from Summerset proper who've emigrated there to get away from things like the Divine Prosecution's role as "manners police." It's also very possible that many Altmer may simply not mention it--even Alaxon is confined to one NPC's dialogue in Summerset; it may be that it's so ubiquitous that there's no reason to discuss it between two Altmer.

Auridon being more cosmopolitan also retroactively shades some older lore, such as King Karoodil marrying Barenziah's daughter Morgiah--while controversial in Firsthold, an Altmer having a Dunmer queen would probably be absolutely unheard of in Alinor.