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

[Skagens]

Magic and faith are different but they are somewhat tied together. When Magnus and the other et'Ada fled to Aetherius, they tore holes through Oblivion which made it possible for magic to flow to our world. Magnus created the sun and the other et'Ada created the stars. At least that's how the story goes so we might as well stick with that being the case. Being religious is not a requirement to be a magic user but magic has a large place in religion. Which is also why the majority of the most powerful magic users come from cultures where religion is prominent, the dunmer for example. (Neloth is very powerful in terms of magic but I highly doubt he's religious. He's just a díck).

 

I just realized their magic might not have been in the form of spells or conjurations but more focused on enchanting. There are several dwemer artifacts with quite powerful enchantments but no dwemer scrolls or tomes that we know of. It might also be the case they were using magic to further their advancements in technology and general understand of the universe and the gods, but eh. Of course I'm just speculating.

[Deleted40837770User]

Magic and faith are different but they are somewhat tied together. When Magnus and the other et'Ada fled to Aetherius, they tore holes through Oblivion which made it possible for magic to flow to our world. Magnus created the sun and the other et'Ada created the stars. At least that's how the story goes so we might as well stick with that being the case. Being religious is not a requirement to be a magic user but magic has a large place in religion. Which is also why the majority of the most powerful magic users come from cultures where religion is prominent, the dunmer for example. (Neloth is very powerful in terms of magic but I highly doubt he's religious. He's just a díck).

 

I just realized their magic might not have been in the form of spells or conjurations but more focused on enchanting. There are several dwemer artifacts with quite powerful enchantments but no dwemer scrolls or tomes that we know of. It might also be the case they were using magic to further their advancements in technology and general understand of the universe and the gods, but eh. Of course I'm just speculating.

they would need too had knowledge in alterations and mysticism due too being able too trap souls but they used magic mostly too power their machines

[HeyYou]

Was it ever determined just WHEN the dwemer disappeared? So little is know about that event......

 

I wonder if they KNEW they were going, and took their written materials with them? Given the VAST amount of engineering knowledge they had, I find it difficult to believe that they simply passed it all down by word of mouth...... They almost HAD to have had some form of written knowledge......

[Deleted40837770User]

Was it ever determined just WHEN the dwemer disappeared? So little is know about that event......

 

I wonder if they KNEW they were going, and took their written materials with them? Given the VAST amount of engineering knowledge they had, I find it difficult to believe that they simply passed it all down by word of mouth...... They almost HAD to have had some form of written knowledge......

during 2nd era ore before during the battle of red mountain

[HeyYou]

So it's been a while, and likely most of what we know is legend, or rumor. And since there aren't any Dwemer around to chat with, likely we will never know what really happened to them. :) Unless they come back.... Wouldn't THAT be interesting. :D

[Skagens]

I wonder if they KNEW they were going, and took their written materials with them? Given the VAST amount of engineering knowledge they had, I find it difficult to believe that they simply passed it all down by word of mouth...... They almost HAD to have had some form of written knowledge......

 

I don't think they anticipated their entire race would vanish but if we assume they did, is it plausible to assume they were all like: "lol go for it Kagrenac #yolo"? The dwemer did a lot of infighting before their disappearance so it wouldn't make a lot of sense. We also know they had an ability known as "The Calling" where they were able to communicate with each other telepathically over vast distances, so they might've just shared their collective knowledge among themselves. Not sure how good memory they had but hey, it's one theory.

 

they would need too had knowledge in alterations and mysticism due too being able too trap souls but they used magic mostly too power their machines

 

I wouldn't say you need knowledge in mysticism and alteration to harness souls. Since we don't know what kind of magic they were using they might've found other means to extract and use souls.

[HeyYou]

Well, there were the Aetherium wars in 1E 220 or so.... but, the Dwemer didn't disappear until some 475 years later. (around 1E 700) And before that, all the clans had been called together, in some common purpose.... (1E 668) So, who knows that the political state was like when they disappeared....

[TheVampireDante]

 

Not sure how good memory they had but hey, it's one theory.

 

For the most part I doubt it mattered if one or two forgot something, since they could likely just "relearn" it from someone else. Their alternative for knowledge storing seems to have been the Lexicon's, which I'd guess where used for information unsafe to have running around in your head for various reasons, either being too much to make sense of at once, too dangerous to have in your head, or just unknown material from an outside source (possibly like the Elderscroll/lexicon section in Skyrim's MQ).

 

 

I just realized their magic might not have been in the form of spells or conjurations but more focused on enchanting. There are several dwemer artifacts with quite powerful enchantments but no dwemer scrolls or tomes that we know of. It might also be the case they were using magic to further their advancements in technology and general understand of the universe and the gods, but eh. Of course I'm just speculating.

 

Possible, likely seen magic use as a tool rather than attack/defense methods.

 

Fire spells could trigger furnaces, be used to heat metal and experimentation ingredients, or just for disposal of trash/failed workings.

Frost/ice - cooling systems, preservative measures or just damage control (fires put out, hazard spills could just be frozen and cleaned up)

Shock spells to power systems and such.

 

Other forms of magic would have been put to use in whatever way they felt was most productive.

 

Coupled with the above about their knowledge sharing abilities, they wouldn't really need spell tomes or scrolls for the most part if they could transfer the spell casting ability in a similar manner.

[Skagens]

For the most part I doubt it mattered if one or two forgot something, since they could likely just "relearn" it from someone else. Their alternative for knowledge storing seems to have been the Lexicon's, which I'd guess where used for information unsafe to have running around in your head for various reasons, either being too much to make sense of at once, too dangerous to have in your head, or just unknown material from an outside source (possibly like the Elderscroll/lexicon section in Skyrim's MQ).

 

Oh yeah, I had completely forgotten about the lexicon. Watches-The-Roots even stated the lexicon stores the accumulated knowledge of the dwemer, so instead of keeping mass amounts of tomes and scrolls, they just stored everything in cubes and/or other devices. Storing the knowledge in something only they knew how to access/open also ensured their knowledge wouldn't get into the hands of the other races. The dwemer were a crafty bunch.

 

Possible, likely seen magic use as a tool rather than attack/defense methods.

 

Fire spells could trigger furnaces, be used to heat metal and experimentation ingredients, or just for disposal of trash/failed workings.

Frost/ice - cooling systems, preservative measures or just damage control (fires put out, hazard spills could just be frozen and cleaned up)

Shock spells to power systems and such.

 

Other forms of magic would have been put to use in whatever way they felt was most productive.

 

Coupled with the above about their knowledge sharing abilities, they wouldn't really need spell tomes or scrolls for the most part if they could transfer the spell casting ability in a similar manner.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Edited August 2, 2017 by Skagens

[Harbringe]

Ok wait a minute just thought of something. These lexicons could they be thought of as a digital storage device , except in some mechanical sense that they figured out. And if so might it be by this mechanical device that they are drawing on those energies that we think of as being magical. So all their devices operated by this mech/digi programming. But to the Gods they were hacking the natural order of things so to speak and it was this offfence that caused them to go too far and destroy themselves. Basically they figured out how to cheat the system and it went kablueii.