warg_derpin_gdf wrote: »

1) I forget what the lore for origin(s) of Men is

They are either remnants/desecendents of the Wandering Ehlnofey, as the mer are remnants/descendents of the Old Ehlnofey, or they were made by the gods if you believe the Monomyth or the Altmeri creation myth.

warg_derpin_gdf wrote: »

2) (the main question) are Mer officially considered demi-human in any way or does their coming from Aedra completely set them apart?

It's more that men and mer share a common ancestor in the Ehlnofey, rather than mer being a subset of men. Also, the reason I'm using "man" here rather than "human" is because some sources do use the term "human" to refer to both men and mer.

warg_derpin_gdf wrote: »

Bonus crackers: why don't Bretons have a prefix anywhere lol.

They do, in a way. They have the unofficial one of "manmer", but I don't think that's actually anywhere in universe.

They don't have an official one because the "mer" terms are terms that the mer made themselves (it means "folk" in a merish language, either Aldmeris or Ehlnofex). The Bretons aren't "folk"(=mer) in the same way, because they're half and half. The term "breton" apparently comes from "beratu", which means "half" in Ehlnofex.

warg_derpin_gdf wrote: »

My main idea for supporting the fact that Mer are demi-human comes from Men and Mer being able to use magic.

The various cultures' ancestry doesn't affect their ability to use magic. Magic comes from Atherius, most particularly the hole that the god Magnus and his followers ripped in the fabric of Mundus when they ran away from the plane during its creation. The hole that Magnus left is the sun, the holes the rest of his followers left are the stars. Magic falls into Mundus through these holes.

warg_derpin_gdf wrote: »

I don't think there is anything Aedric regarding Khajiit and Argonians, so open forum to any ideas.

The Khajiit, according to their own myths, are descended from a group of Ehlnofey or proto-mer that could not settle their shape until Azurah helped them. If that's not true, they're from a strain of mer that were similarly unstable, and later became the Khajiit.

Argonians are lizards that the Hist manipulated and gave souls, manipulating their physical form at the same point. They're the only race that don't have any link to the Ehlnofey in their ancestry.

warg_derpin_gdf wrote: »

It's cool to speculate there is reason for the difference too, whether it became out of habits, necessities, environments, or ability over time.

We have a hint at reasons for this, and they're ideological. The Old Ehlnofey (precursors to the mer) want to preserve what came before,* while the Wandering Ehlnofey were defined by their seeking out new experiences.

*There are different sources that dis agree about whether "what came before" was a previous cycle of the world, or simply them having been Aedra before the world was created.

warg_derpin_gdf wrote: »

Now I definitely think to include dragons somehow; especially the shout ability, not to mention Elder Scroll use and Alduin.

Well, dragons are something else entirely. They're probably closer to the Ehlnofey than they are anything else. The closest I've come to explaining what they are in the rest of TES' system is fragments that emnated from Akatosh, and stayed that way. They didn't procreate, they were just made from portions of the Time God. Although there's not a lot that's clear on that, so please don't take my explanation here as certain. I could be horribly wrong, or missed something.

warg_derpin_gdf wrote: »

Khajiit origin gives me quite a laugh regarding the Chimer/Dunmer. I don't remember the specifics, but iirc they did what they had to but I guess at the time they could all just forget about about form manipulation ha ha ha.

Well, the change from Chimer to Dunmer wasn't voluntary, or to help them. So a little different from the Khajiit's experiences.

warg_derpin_gdf wrote: »

Argonian origin puts me at a loss because I can only look to magical flora for further insight. Couldn't it be reasoned that the Ehlnofey cultured magic amongst (amidst, about ? ) plants/crops and either directly or indirectly led to the Hist?

From what we can understand, the Hist come from somewhere beyond Mundus entirely. They're effectively aliens in the setting. The account in the Anuad that has the Ehlnofey coming from a previous version off the world also has the Hist coming from the same place:

The only survivors of the twelve worlds of Creation were the Ehlnofey and the Hist. The Ehlnofey are the ancestors of Mer and Men. The Hist are the trees of Argonia.

There are also other accounts from the Argonians themselves that tell a similar tale in a bit more of a convoluted way, that the Hist came from a previous world that has passed away.