For example, in Teron you're told that the Imperial Guards are planning to take over, like, now. If you're playing as a Guard, you see it happening. If you're playing as a merchant or assassin, you're trying to prevent it. If you leave Teron early (as in without getting involved in the events), they proceed without you, as it should be.
Like people have pointed out, AoD is a bit different from most CRPGs. Here's my read of what you've done:
You made a character, obeyed all the requests of Feng, then joined up with the nobles in Teron and completed the handful of quests they give out to loremasters (bandit and mine, maybe gave him the fake ring, right?). Then you immediately went to Maadoran to follow up on finding the temple, completely bypassing the whole power struggle thing.
This is what you could have done in Teron before leaving:
(spoilers for people who haven't played before)
Return to the inn and obtain the remaining items from the person you met during the initial mission.
Refuse to commit murder for Feng. Make friends with the new loremaster that you spared, or be a jerk and have him pay you back with metallurgy.
Cross the Teron noble family by using your lore to fix the mine, and join the royalty in Maadoran.
Join the IG and do their quests.
Join the MG and do their quests.
Join the TG and do their quests.
Join the AG and do their quests.
Swear allegiance to the Teron nobility and help them in their powerstruggle (can you do this as loremaster?)
Go annoy the bums in the tower and find the jellyfish.
Go catch the pick pocket and eat the kebab of strength.
Let the villagers into Teron, do the quest about retrieving the gold or be mean to them.
Throw rocks at the cultist.
Go look at Miltiades goods and then STAB HIM IN THE FACE I HATE YOU MILTIADES. Or team up with him; all of these quests I'm listing have a bunch of different resolutions.
Beat up the mean gang members.
Beat up the thief and her friends. Or don't; I think you can save her from a life of petty crime if you're with the thieves' guild.
Trick the lady and get the gems.
Look at the items in the fancy man's home. I don't know if you can do anything there, but I think you ought to be able to.
Walk around naked and beat on the weakling guards.
Speak to the alchemist and learn alchemy.
Learn crafting.
Try sneaking into the Teron noble compound. Probably get killed, hope you are stealthy.
Trick the merchant outside the inn and take his gold or items.
Does the old guy in the graveyard give you a quest involving cassius? I don't remember, might be just additional lore/dialogue options.
There might be a few more things, it's been a while since I last played. I'm waiting for the next city to be implemented. These options can be mixed and matched, they have multiple different ways of being resolved, they cannot all be done in one playthrough, and they will affect Maadoran and later stages of the game in major ways. You would need to play at least 4 times to get a anything approaching a handle on the general storyline as a loremaster in Teron, and you'd still have plenty more surprises waiting on your 5th playthrough.