Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-26177830-20150401044533/@comment-121511-20150401195920

The sources that deal with the deeper metaphysics behind The Elder Scrolls are usually out-of-game sources: The Imperial Library is a good source for them, if you can wade through it. More complex metaphysical concepts aren't directly explored in the games as the games are meant to appeal to a large audience, and these concepts can be very difficult to wrap one's head around at times. A good source to research and ask questions among scholars who've spent a great deal of time learning about the universe is the r/teslore subreddit, and I visit it from time to time.

That said, Anu and Padomay of this Dream are non-sentient forces/concepts/laws of Stasis and Change, as are their essences Anuiel and Sithis. The Godhead of this Dream, however, was the Anu of the previous Dream, where Anu and Padomay were sentient beings: it is largely assumed that the Anuad is a seeping through of that previous Dream as a half-remembered memory recorded as creation myth, although it is only true until the point of Nir's death. Rather than create Nirn, Anu instead attempted to escape his grief, and became the Dreamer of the present Aurbis.

As for CHIM, the only beings confirmed to have achieved it have been Vivec and Talos, though this does not mean they are necessarily the only ones. Notably, however, it seems only mortals can achieve CHIM, and indeed it is assumed that the Daedric Princes know of it but cannot attain it.

On Alduin, he is the Nordic Aspect of the Original Time Aedroth Aka, shed from the oldest Aspect Aka-Tusk. The Original Eight died in the process of Creation, and due to mythopoeic forces (how mortal beliefs shed new Aspect-Gods from their corpses), every culture's beliefs regarding them create new Gods that are independent of one another. The various "cultural interpretations" of the Time Dragon are not simply different names, they are different Gods. Alduin is not Akatosh is not Auriel is not Alkosh, so on and so forth.

However, Alduin is far from the most powerful deity in the Aurbis: he is simply charged with the turning of the Kalpas, ending one world so that a new one may take its place. The consequences of an unending Kalpa are not known, but it is implied that they are dire: Alduin is a slave to his role, thus why he tries desperately to escape it in playing King over mortals. Further, the Kalpic Cycle only resets Mundus, and thus Oblivion and Aetherius are unaffected by it. As for what the most powerful deity in the Aurbis is? Michael Kirkbride, who is largely responsible for a majority of the series' deeper metaphysical concepts, has stated that it is Talos: he sustains Creation in place of the Heart of Lorkhan, and holds back the turning of the Kalpas.

As for the All-Maker, again, a more direct analogue would be Anu. There is a clear dichotomy in the All-Maker and the Adversary that harkens back to the overarching dichotomy between Anu and Padomay.