how do you think the mythic dawn operated outside of cyrodiil? im pretty sure they were supposed to be activate in every province, so what did they do to influence non-imperial societies?
you asked a great question that really intrigues me! i've spent a few days considering this, and i hope i've come up with a satisfying answer.
as a preface, i don't think the mythic dawn was a particularly large cult. secrecy and exclusivity was its modus operandi (as mankar camoran claims, "my words found no purchase until i became hidden"), and it would have been difficult to keep a secret with thousands of members. that being said, considering how many diverse peoples supposedly banded together to drive out what straggling cultists remained after mankar's downfall, it seems that the mythic dawn was seeded across tamriel, or at least fear of their presence was widespread.
firstly, i'm sure that there were people who genuinely believed in mankar camoran's cosmology. his assertion that nirn is another plane of oblivion and that the aedra were traitors who ruled over it unjustly could make sense to a person who values the objective reality and immediacy of the daedra over the empire's invisible "divines" who seem to do nothing. many would be glad to aid mehrunes dagon in reclaiming the realm that has been stolen from his brother lorkhan, and be rewarded with a place in dagon's brilliant new dawn. additionally, there are plenty of cults devoted to dagon in other aspects, and some syncretism may have occurred.
the largest draw of the mythic dawn is likely not religious, however, but political. mankar claims descent from the camoran usurper and lauds him in his commentaries on the mysterium xarxes. it's fair to say that members of the camoran dynasty may see the cyrodiilic empire as an ancient enemy. it was the empire that stripped them of their power, reduced them to figureheads, and gave independence to their treethanes to ensure that valenwood could never again rally under a camoran ruler. the camoran dynasty's struggle against their destroyers continues in mankar's "long duel with the septims".
despite the brutality of the camoran usurper, many saw him as a savior who would free them from a weak, failing, decadent empire. even for those who are unimpressed by mankar's purported lineage, as the septim legacy crumbles and the empire falls into despair, promises of liberty, free will, and a new age may resonate with its suffering people.
(side note: mankar's birthdate is commonly given as 3E 267 in accordance with the story of his birth described in the book the refugees, which is incompatible with tar-meena's statement that the commentaries emerged during the reign of tiber septim. the refugees is a work of fiction and i'm more inclined to believe the word of a mages guild scholar, so i think mankar is very old indeed. of course, references to the camoran usurper's exploits in the iliac bay were probably added to later revisions of the commentaries.)
lastly, the mythic dawn wins members through good old fashioned cult tactics. mankar is a charismatic leader who relates to his followers on a personal level, calling them brothers and sisters and inviting them to share freely with him in his paradise. he assures the reader of the commentaries that even he was once pitiful and ignorant, but he was saved, and he can save them, too. members of the mythic dawn are instilled with the belief that they are "chosen", that they are more worthy than other mortals.
this strategy would be less useful for people located clear across tamriel with no ability to travel to the mythic dawn's base in cyrodiil or meet mankar camoran. still, making people feel special is a surefire way to gain sympathizers no matter where they are.
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