Dwemer, meaning "Deep Elves" or "People of the Deep"^[1], are a lost race of Mer that lived primarily in the region of Vvardenfell, Skyrim and Hammerfell. They are known for their craftsmanship and technological prowess.

Contents 1 Biology 2 History 3 Culture 3.1 Society 3.2 Architecture 3.3 Crafts 3.4 Technology 4 Dwemer Ruins and Blackreach 5 Notable Dwemer 6 Trivia 7 Sources 8 References 9 Appearances

BiologyEdit

The Dwemer are often referred to as "Dwarves" in western cultures, although they were no shorter than a human and the name seems to have been derived from a supposed encounter with giants who saw the Dwemer as short. They were a reclusive, independent race, dedicated to the principles of science, alchemy, and engineering. They did not die out; instead, the entire race, save one, vanished into thin air simultaneously all around Nirn.

Yagrum Bagarn was the only known remaining living Dwemer on Nirn. He resided in the Corprusarium deep beneath the island of Vvardenfell, in the Morrowind province of Tamriel. He had been infected by corprus, granting him eternal life, but constant pain. He was searching for clues to the whereabouts of his race when the Nerevarine discovered him.

HistoryEdit

Records of Dwemer activity dated back to before the First Era, most notably in the Vvardenfell region, Vvardenfell in Dwemeris meant "City of the Strong Shield", which had the highest concentration of Dwemer ruins of any land in Tamriel. Feuding between Chimer and Dwemer continued until the First Council, when the Dwemer and Chimer unite to expel the Nords from Morrowind. One clan of Dwemer, the Rourken Clan, refused to make peace with the Chimer, and their patriarch threw his ceremonial warhammer, Volendrung, across Tamriel, proclaiming that his clan would settle where it landed. Over time, they settled in modern-day Hammerfell, explaining that region's name, home of the Redguards.

Tensions began to flare between the Chimer and Dwemer once again. A great war erupted between them, eventually leading to the mysterious disappearance of the Dwemer during the Battle of Red Mountain. The difficulty was prompted by the discovery of a mythological artifact known as the Heart of Lorkhan by the Dwemer, deep in the mountains' bowels. The Chief Tonal Architect Kagrenac, their de facto religious leader, devised a set of tools, Sunder, Keening, and Wraithguard, to manipulate the Heart to instill divinity to his people, but the spell backfired and caused all known Dwemer to vanish. Varying accounts state that their connection to the heart was severed, although this seems unlikely. Other accounts suggest that Kagrenac used his Tools to release the Dwemer from the Mortal Plane, but this was even more implausible. Since 1E 668, no word had been heard of the Dwemer, with the notable exception of Yagrum Bagarn, who resided in the Corprusarium of Tel Fyr. Apparently, he was absent from the Mortal Plane at the time of the disappearance, visiting an Outer Realm, an alternate dimension. His three thousand years of exploration and five hundred years of investigation have yielded no leads on the presence of his people on Mundus or any other plane of existence currently known.

There are many mysteries among the Dwemer creations left behind. Mages Guild investigators had discovered that if one of the centurion spiders was taken away from Vvardenfell, it gradually became more sluggish, eventually going into a state of torpor. Even more curious was that upon return, the spider re-activated back to normal aggressive levels, as if sensing the presence of the Dwemer ruins. Due to Hammerfell's origins, the Dwemer robots reactivate in the lands of the Redguard as well.

Dwemer artifacts were highly prized throughout the Empire, although since they were technically the property of the Emperor under the charter of the Imperial Society of Architecture and Design as well as the Imperial Historical Society, the sale of them was illegal. This did not seem to stop artifacts from falling off the backs of wagons or otherwise disappearing into various collections. Dwemer weapons and armor were especially valued, renowned for their excellent craftsmanship and sturdy design. Dwarven blades were constructed by a series of folded Dwemer metal sheets which made these weapons very strong and the armor was polished so blades would simply slip on it, though this affect may have been worn away over the centuries. However, acquisition of these artifacts was extremely dangerous, because of the remote location of the ruins, and the multitude of aged and unreliable Dwemer machinery within, including the Steam Centurion and other automata, as well as sophisticated traps of which the Dwemer were particularly fond.

CultureEdit

Society Edit

The Dwemer were a reclusive Elven Clan who lived in Morrowind during the First Era. The Dwemer, in general, were powerful, and preferred the use of technology over magic.

The Dwemer who inhabited Stros M'kai were reliant on steam power. They lived in great half-subterranean buildings and created mechanical creatures known as Animunculi as well as other devices. According to many First Era scholars, the Dwemer were feared by the Dunmer, Nords, Redguards and perhaps even by the Gods. Some Dunmer scholars might say, in this respect, that the Dwemer were blasphemous. They challenged the power of the Et'Ada, the Aedra and Daedra, questioned their authority, and traveled into the Outer Realms of Aetherius and Oblivion. Many scholars agreed that those factors may have led to their demise.

Probably the defining aspect of the Dwemer was their use of the Heart of Lorkhan. According to legend, after Lorkhan tricked or convinced the Aedra to create the mortal realm, they tore out his divine heart and threw it down to Nirn, to be hidden forever. The Dwemer found this heart, researched its intricacies, and used its divine power to create many things. They created the blade and tuning fork Keening and the hammer Sunder, along with the Wraithguard, to tap the power of the Heart.

One of the things they built was a monstrous golem called Numidium, or the Brass God, which was designed to help them transcend the Grey Maybe, Nirn, the Mortal Realm by drawing power directly from the Heart. In other words, this golem was more than just a destructive force. It was an actual new God that the Dwemer had created from the substance of Lorkhan, the "Dead" God. After the Dwemer disappeared, Numidium made a reappearance in a weaker form when Tiber Septim used its power to conquer all of Tamriel and forge the Third Era.

Secondly, the last living Dwarf, Yagrum Bagarn, said that when the Dwemer disappeared he was in the "Outer Realms", and thus did not disappear with them. The Outer Realms referred to that which was outside of Nirn, whether it was Aetherius, Oblivion, or some other "location" in the Aurbis is unknown. At any rate, this shows us that at least some Dwemer had the ability to remove their bodies from the mortal Plane and travel beyond normal bounds, something like having an out of body experience and, perhaps, taking your body with you. This idea was backed up by Baladas Demnevanni, who said that the Dwemer had practiced "generations of ritualistic 'anti-creations'", which possibly contributed to their disappearance. It was unknown whether The Calling and those anti-creations were a natural or learned trait or whether they stemmed from some technology or from some use of the Heart.

ArchitectureEdit

Unlike the more controversial areas of dwarven scholarship, the construction of dwarven cities and relics are well-founded due to the plethora of samples taken from the ruins left behind.

Dwarven designs share a set of common principles that can be used to delineate patterns and methodologies that were important to their craftsmen.

Firstly, it's certain that Dwarven artisans favored stone, at least as far as their buildings were concerned. The vast majority of Dwarven architecture is found underground or carved out of mountains. It is possible, although only theoretically, that the dwarves first mastered masonry as a race quite early, and later examples of metalwork were added on to much earlier stone designs as the dwarves began to master more complex tools. Regardless, the foundation of all known dwarven ruins is built on stonework, and the structure of dwarven stonework is sharp, angular and intensely mathematical in nature.

Secondly, there are hundreds if not thousands of samples of Dwarven buildings made of precise square shapes, and far fewer examples of discretely rounded or curved stonework - this leads to the believe that early Dwarves favored trusted, well-calculated designs based on angled lines rather than riskier, more imprecise calculations based on arcs and curves. This comparatively simple tradition of stonecutting has nevertheless resulted in buildings that are as structurally sound in the Fourth Era, as they were hundreds of years ago.^[1]

CraftsEdit

Metalwork was the primary method used to make almost all dwarven crafts. However, more easily destructible materials such as clay, paper, and glass cannot be discounted from the scope of Dwarven craftsmanship.

Given the tendency of Dwarven design to favor the long-lasting over the fragile, it can safely be assumed that at the very least metal was a heavy preference. And the metal used in all so-far-discovered Dwarven relics is entirely unique to their culture.

No other race has replicated whatever process was used to create dwarven metal. Although it can be easily mistaken for bronze, it is most definitely a distinct type of metal of its own. The method of producing Dwarven metal has been lost to time as all attempts to imitate dwarven metal's exclusive properties have failed. The only method that has been successful is to melt down existing dwarven metallic scraps and start over from there.^[1]

TechnologyEdit

Dwarves created and manufactured on a very broad scale thousands of mechanical apparatuses of varying complexity. These constructs are refered to as Animunculi or automatons, and several can be found within ancient Dwemer ruins. The most simple of which was of the standard arachnid design used to ward off trespassers.

The design of the automatons themselves resemble a fusion of fantasy and steampunk designs, featuring gleaming brass cogs and gears.

Most automatons contain a Soul Gem which is believed what brought these machines to life, but also somehow acts as a boiler due to the extreme energy held in them. In some automatons, such as the Dwarven Spider Guardian, the soul gems acts as a source of destruction magic, being able to atttack intruders with lightning.

The pinnacle of their genius was the creation of a device called a Lexicon that allowed them to read an Elder Scrolls without going mad or blind.

Lexicons were a Dwemer technology, constructed to contain knowledge. Septimus Signus comments that such combinations of machinery and magic were trademarks of the Dwemer.

Dwemer Ruins and BlackreachEdit

Dwemer ruins are dangerous to explore because of automatons (such as sphere guardians) and the Falmer. However all the ruins contain treasure, creating exploration parties and lone explorers. There is also the matter of Blackreach, a region that connects the ruins together, and possibly, the capital of the Dwarven kingdoms in Skyrim.

Notable DwemerEdit

• Bthuand Mzahnch - One of the Tonal Architects and author of "The Egg of Time." In it, Bthuand argued against the idea that tapping the power of Lorkhan's Heart was too dangerous. Some believed that using the Heart would have side effects, but the Tonal Architects argued that no unforeseen consequences could result from their work.
• Dumac - King of the Dwemer and friend of Indoril Nerevar. Dumac and Nerevar united their races to drive the Nords from Morrowind, then Dunmereth. They then renamed the land Resdayn and formed the First Council as a ruling body over the two races. Eventually, they warred on each other when Nerevar demanded that the Dwemer cease construction of the Numidium, which Dumac may or may not have known about. Also called Dumac Dwarfking or Dumac Dwarf-Orc by his enemies.
• Kagrenac - The Chief Tonal Architect or Shop Foremer of the Dwemer. Kagrenac was the primary Mer who worked on the Heart of Lorkhan. He created the original brass god, Numidium, as well as Keening, Sunder, and the Wraithguard. He was present at the Battle of Red Mountain, and, according to some stories, went to use the tools on the Heart at the last second before his race evaporated.
• Radac Stungnthumz - A Dwemer ghost that helped the Nerevarine reforge the Trueflame, the sword of Nerevar. Radac was originally a soldier that somehow knew about applying Pyroil tar on a blade in order to make it burning and deadly.
• Yagrum Bagarn - The last living Dwemer and one of Kagrenac's Tonal Architects. Bagarn was in the Outer Realms when the rest of his race disappeared, so he was unaffected by the event. He wandered Morrowind for many years searching for other Dwemer, to no avail. Eventually he caught Corprus and descended into madness for many years. He was later housed in the Corprusarium at Tel Fyr and was mostly conscious, though he did not have full control of his body or mind.

TriviaEdit

• The Dwemer draw inspiration from the mainstream interpretation of "Dwarves" in fantasy media. They are, in fact, the Dwarves of the Elder Scrolls series.
• Their outfits and appearance seem to draw inspiration from the Babylonians and ancient Greeks. Especially their beards.
• In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, while in the mind of Pelagius the 3rd, you can see a group of 3 humanoids dressed in full sets of dwarven armor, It is unknown if these beings are Dwemer or not.

SourcesEdit

• Pocket Guide to the Empire, First Edition
• The Battle of Red Mountain, and the Rise and Fall of the Tribunal
• Nerevar at Red Mountain
• Kagrenac's Tools
• The Real Nerevar
• The War of the First Council
• The Five Songs of King Wulfharth
• Sermon Zero of the Thirty-Six-and-Nine Sermons
• Chronicles of Nchuleft
• Antecedents of Dwemer Law
• Nchunak's Fire and Faith
• Secrets of Dwemer Animunculi
• Ruins of Kemel-Ze
• Ancient Tales of the Dwemer

ReferencesEdit

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Dwarves, v1

AppearancesEdit

• The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (First appearance)
  • The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal
  • The Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Mentioned only)
  • The Elder Scrolls IV: Knights of the Nine (Mentioned only)
  • The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles (Mentioned only)
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Races
Humans	Breton • Imperial • Kothringi • Nede • Nord • Orma • Redguard
Mer	Aldmer • Altmer • Ayleid • Bosmer • Chimer • Dunmer • Dwemer • Falmer • Left-Handed Elves • Maormer • Orsimer • Snow Elf
Beast	Argonian • Imga • Khajiit • Lilmothiit • Sload
Akaviri	Dragons • Ka Po' Tun • Kamal • Tang Mo • Tsaesci
Et'ada	Aedra • Daedra