Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-26228374-20150321040919/@comment-121511-20150321053926

It's a more complicated answer than you would expect, but that's a general trend with Elder Scrolls lore. It's superficially straightforward and incredibly complex deeper in, at times being difficult to comprehend even.

First, understand that the term Aedra refers to those Eight et'Ada who either chose or were tricked by Lorkhan to give part of themselves in the Creation of Nirn. It was not their power that they gave, however: it was their agency. In the act of Creation, the Aedra essentially became dormant, and thus terms such as dead or comatose are used to describe them: they're not wholly accurate, but they're the best shorthand terms that can be used without going into too much detail. This rendered the Eight susceptible to a phenomenon known as mythopoeia, which is how mortal belief affects the divine. Thus, due to mythopoeic forces, the various cultural "interpretations" of the Gods are not simply names for the same deity, but separate deities entirely each with their own agency and their own personality in accordance with the beliefs of their worshipers.

While all of the Eight have had Aspects shed from their corpses, the most notable is Aka, the Time Dragon: his aspects include Aka-Tusk, Auriel, Alduin, Alkosh, Akatosh, and others. Keep in mind, as per mythopoeic forces, these are not simply names for the "one" Time Dragon, as they are distinct from Aka, who is for all intents and purposes dead, sleeping, comatose. They are all separate Time Dragons, and indeed have interacted with one another and conspired against one another on numerous occasions. Akatosh is somewhat unique among them, as he was not shed from Aka as per traditional mythopoeia: rather, he was "artificially" created by an Alessian sect known as the Marukhati Selectives, who danced upon a Tower to the Music of the Aurbis in order to create a new God, adding Mannish ideas to the Time Dragon. Thus was born Akatosh, Patron God of the Empire, and in the moment of his birth he rewrote his own history (as Gods of Time are wont to do), such that he both always existed, and was head of the Aspects of Aka. This is why Dragons and even Alduin himself refer to Akatosh as Father, even in spite of the fact that Alduin himself preceded Akatosh. The origins of Dragons themselves are unknown, as they are not Aspects, but are certainly shards of Aka; it is entirely possible that they arise from Dragon Breaks, that they are the result of mythopoeia fracturing Aka as it sheds new Aspects, or that they were created by Aspects for certain purposes. It has been speculated that male Dragons were created by Alduin in order to help him eat the world, just as female Dragons, or Jills, were created (perhaps by Auriel?) to mend Time-Wounds.

However, it is also a fact that the Aspects themselves have grown rather decidedly silent by the Fourth Era. In earlier Eras, it was commonplace for Aspects or their progeny (such as Pelinal Whitestrake and Morihaus Breath-of-Kyne) to walk among their worshipers, and indeed historical records abound regarding the exploits of Aedric Gods and Daedric Princes. However, mythopoeia is in itself a shackle: it renders Aspects dependent on the beliefs of mortals. While no concrete answer has been given, it's largely speculated that the relative silence of the Gods in modern times is a result of their own being rendered comatose, as a result of the waning of mortal belief: keep in mind that by the 4th Era, many in Tamriel either believe the Gods work indirectly, do not have very strong faith in the Gods, or even believe the Gods have abandoned Nirn or never even existed at all.