Why is there no technological advancement in the Elder Scrolls universe?

[Gracinfields]

Doubt we will see much Dwemer ruins in TES 6 as it is rumored to occur in Valenwood which is the wood elf homeland. They are not allowed the use of wood from the forest, nor the flesh of the beasts.

[HeyYou]

Doubt we will see much Dwemer ruins in TES 6 as it is rumored to occur in Valenwood which is the wood elf homeland. They are not allowed the use of wood from the forest, nor the flesh of the beasts.

So they eat dead folks instead...... Yeah, there is an endearing quality...... :D

[Rethrain]

I suppose Magic also plays as a dampener on actual Science (Dwemer or otherwise). It's not completely critical to have it when you have that stuff swirling around and all the bright minds are at it. Unless they somehow relocate those resources to more..Empirical Sciences.

[JaYmZeE311074]

IT's WORSE THAN THAT IT'S PHYSICS JIM.

 

Their going backwards - I can't even walk up to a pedestal and create my own spells anymore.

 

In Oblivion I could make my own spells - 200 years later and they've forgotten, maybe it's because their too busy closing oblivion gates & fighting the bringer of the end times.

 

From my time playing Skyrim - I'd say it's all down to Papyrus and their inability to record or change anything - even the elder scrolls are screwed cause of rogue scripts and I'm guessing the elder scrolls are written on/in papyrus.

 

Or maybe their just lazy - or maybe their just like us and technological leaps are hidden from us because they'd remove the need for repeat purchases, jobs, drugs that only prolong life don't cure disease and we could be offski into exploring space because we'd be back to doing things because of our inherent curiousity as a species rather on the basis of whether something is profitable or not.

 

We've lost our way - anyway what was the question?

[Gracinfields]

Got a feeling that spell making was cut due to time constraints, as there is a working spell making mod for Skyrim, though it does require skse, and FISS. If you watch the game jam that Bethesda did internally there was a lot of working concepts made within a week but never made it to the game. Hopefully going to a new engine as well as taking more time, and going 64bit will help with the future game.

Edited July 21, 2016 by Gracinfields

[JaYmZeE311074]

I still maintain it's because the elder scrolls that contain how to make your own spells were written on/in Papyrus.

 

As for the 64-bit option - I really am allowing myself to hope here. Despite FO4's engine flaws its significantly more robust than Skyrim and what issues I'm having with FO4 are not script related - between that and the community is going out it's way to put frameworks in place to make everything as compatible and user friendly - plus I await the successor to the V1.9 merge scripts with bated breath - It's almost like the Holy Grail for gettin heavily modded games that are stable to the masses.

 

I can solve most problems when I can be arsed, but I still am gonna appreciate - no love - a tool that powerful.

[Vagrant0]

 

While much of this is true, you should remember that all has not been well in the land.

 

Magic, for the most part is something which was tightly controlled by guilds on the mainland and even more tightly controlled within the High Elf society. Those who worked within the rules of the mages guild were greatly hindered in terms of fields of research or practice unless they wanted to be kicked out and forced to fend for themselves in the wilderness. Those who worked outside the acceptable bounds of the rest of society were excluded, branded as heretics, or slated for genocide. It isn't that there were not people trying to advance magic.. it's just that most of them ended up dead or claimed by one of the Daedra. This is why, 200 years after Oblivion, magic as a foundation is limited to outlaws, court magicians who can barely cast a spell, and a crumbling college. The Mages guild that was active in Tamriel was destroyed by the Aldmeri, who then went on to either eliminate or control anyone else with talent in magic. Through the course of history, knowledge was lost and the only thing that remained was the damage caused by improper use of magic.

 

Technology is very similar. But what was originally stifled by easier magical alternatives lost its way even further with the century long wars and displacement that followed the Oblivion Crisis and eruption of Red Mountain. The loss of life that occurred in these events undoubtedly led to knowledge being lost and people being unable to invent or even maintain the mechanisms they had. But... We're also only seeing the far frozen reaches of Skyrim. Even in the golden age of the Empire, Skyrim was seen as a frigid backwater that was far removed from intellect and culture. In truth, if it was not involved in the processing and brewing of mead, it was probably not seen as a worthwhile pursuit in Nord culture... The rest of the world could be advancing quite quickly under the militaristic direction of the Aldmeri, but we wouldn't know about it since they're the "bad guys" who we're supposed to hate.

 

Oblivion took place shortly after Morrowind. So naturally there would not be any clear sign of technological advancement other that Cyrodil being more mundane and civilized than the ashlands. Daggerfall occurred several years before Morrowind, but was also done in a much simpler way graphically so things like technology were not presented in any way other than "vaguely middle-ages european" .

[MithrilSage]

this video is about the same question but with A Song of Ice and Fire. I think the explanation/opinions in the video can be applied in a similar way to TES world

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDdKmx0PW7s

Edited July 25, 2016 by MithrilSage

[Gracinfields]

Well, I can see progress to be made in Skyrim that would provide anti magic protection for troops, so as the Highly Magic centered Altmer suddenly can't decimate armies. So we could see more and more push in the field of magic if at all possible (Due to the defunct Mage Collages). Though I would say there would be a lack of Dragons post Skyrim MQ due to the Dragonborn, so air siege are not likely unless someone finds and rebuilds a bunch of Dwemer airships, or Levitation magic makes a sudden return.

 

Tech will push new Tactics, New Tactics will push new Tech.

 

If your enemy makes a weapon with a longer reach, you make a weapon with even longer reach, and a new combat style to defeat that new reach of his.

[Signette]

I don't think we'd have much technology if we had magic, like I certainly wouldn't need any tech when I can cast stuff, or ask someone kindly to...

 

But what if they start to develop tech and with this they piss off some giant Daedra Prince, who will emerge from the some outworld gate and start wrecking stuff around?

 

All in all looking for logic and sense in fantasy world might be rather fun to discuss, but it should retain LOTS of artificial limitations, which are absolutely illogical, but must keep lore bounds to maintain fanbase interest, which has absolutley nothing in common with being adequate.

Edited August 13, 2016 by Signette