Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-25059584-20140710153815/@comment-13446185-20140710183652

The Tribunal's tapping of the Heart gave them god like powers. However, Vivec gained the ability to use CHIM and apparently used it to rewrite history and make it so that the Tribunal were always three true gods that joined as one to create ALMSIVI.

So they are both Et'Ada and divine-like mortals.