The Complete History and Lore of the Elder Scrolls

Daedra

 Daedric Princes, sometimes called Daedra Lords or The Old Gods by the Reachmen in the province of Skyrim) are the most powerful of the species of Daedra and as such are most commonly worshipped as gods by mortals out of all the types of Daedra. Whilst Daedra can manifest as a man or woman, most take a strictly male or female appearance, they are genderless in actuality. The exceptions to this are Boethiah and Mephala. All of these higher Daedra Lords are called "Princes." All in all, there are sixteen commonly known Daedric Princes. A seventeenth Prince is known as Jyggalag. This Jyggalag was expanded upon in the Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles DLC. He is the original form of the Prince Sheogorath. Every Daedric Prince has their own plane of Oblivion, as discussed in the "Realms" chapter.

 Daedric Princes are the et'Ada who did not participate in the creation of Mundus. Rather, they created worlds out of themselves in Oblivion, or The Void.

Throughout the Elder Scrolls games, Daedric Princes have interacted with and have played a major role in the storylines and storylines of DLCs. Mortals often associate their conception of morality from the Aedra that created them, and as Daedric Princes had no part in the creation of the mortal realm, they are said to have an incomprehensible concept of morality. Because of this, scholars suggest that Daedra cannot truly be "evil" because they are acting on their own concept of morality. However, a number of Daedric Princes have consistently inflicted harm upon the residents of Nirn. These Daedra that have been dubbed mostly if not completely evil are Mehrunes Dagon, Peryite, and Vaermina. Daedra that have been named mostly if not completely good are Meridia and Azura.

 Mortals brokering deals with the Daedric Princes are not unheard of. These dealings often end with the Prince the mortal is consorting with to be benefited as opposed to the mortal gaining something in return. We see this with Clavicus Vile, Vuhon, and Ezhmaar Sul when they made a deal and created the machine, The Ingenium. This kept the Ministry of Truth afloat, but used the souls of the dead to keep it running. Eventually, they ran out of souls to use, and they instead turned to making living sacrifices to use their souls to power the Ingenium. Eventually, Sul's wife was about to be sacrifices, but Sul tried to save her, resulting in the destruction of the Ingenium. This interference caused the Ministry of Truth to fall to the Earth, destroying the city of Vivec, and the tremors caused the Red Mountain to erupt, blanketing much of Vvardenfell and mainland Morrowind in a thick layer of ash.

We see this again with Sheogorath and Ravate. "'Lord Sheogorath, I would gladly drive a thousand men mad in your name if you would but grant me the greater magical powers.' Fortunately for Ravate, Sheogorath was in a playful mood. He proposed a game. 'I will grant your wish, if you are still sane in three days. During that time, I will do my utmost to drive you mad. It shall be great fun.'" - Myths of Sheogorath, found in Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles DLC and Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. This game ends in Ravate convincing himself everything was a tool of Sheogorath designed to drive him crazy. Sheogorath admits he did nothing and Ravate drove himself insane.

Every Daedra Lord has a physical, metaphysical, or state of being they govern over. The very wide range of things that can be ruled over by these Princes has embellished quite a cult following for each Daedric Prince. These worshippers view the Daedric Princes they worship as gods. So followers of Azura view her as a god, and followers of Sheogorath view him as a god, et cetera. This happens in reaction or in spite of the teachings of the Nine Divines. Some Daedra Lords have no concern for their followers' well-being and even harm them for their own gain. There are also some Daedric Princes that care about their followers and reward and protect them religiously.

The Daedric Princes are Azura, Boethiah, Clavicus Vile, Hermaeus Mora, Hircine, Jyggalag, Malacath, Mehrunes Dagon, Mephala, Meridia, Molag Bal, Namira, Nocturnal, Peryite, Sanguine, Sheogorath, and Vaermina.