Dwemer

The Dwemer, also known as Dwarves, the Deep Folk, Deep Elves and the People of the Deep, were a race of Mer present in the Merethic and First Era. They were an advanced race and civilization, far ahead of others of their time. Well-known for their revolutionary developments and discoveries in technology, engineering, metalwork, stonework, architecture, city-planning, mathematics, magic, and the academic arts.

The Dwemer played big role in one of the greatest mysteries of Tamriel. In 1E 700, during the War of the First Council, the entirety of the Dwemer race disappeared, save an old Dwemer by the name of Yagrum Bagarn, who was not present on Mundus at the time, and disconnected from the Dwemer hive mind. Their disappearance is still, to this day, debated about: what exactly happened, did they disappear all at once?

History
Very little is known of their earliest years. It is known, however, there was a lot of conflicts with other races, as well as infighting.

Dawn Era
After the Creation Wars and the destruction of God Lorkhan, the Aedra that walked in Mundus, specifically Nirn, created the Old Ehnlofey, the ancestors of Mer. The Dwemer were one of the descendants of Ehnlofey, like all Mer.

At some point in time, the Tonal Architects started researching the divine powers of Ehnlofey, or the Earth Bones. Most of the Dwemer wanted to ascend to the same level of power the Gods had, including the ability of being immortal.

Merethic Era
In Late Merethic Era, the Dwemer established their colonies in Morrowind, together with Chimer, and in Velothi Mountains, on the border with Skyrim. Morrowind was then known as Resdayn. The Chimer and the Dwemer had many differences in their society and religion, which led to the conflicts between two races in upcoming centuries.

Aetherium Wars
Around the year 221 of First Era, the Dwemer discovered a new mineral while excavating in FalZhardum Din, or Blackreach. They named it Aetherium. An alliance was formed between four Dwemer cities, Bthar-Zel, Mzulft, Arkngthamz and Raldbthar. Arkngthamz was main control center and primary research facility. Mzulft was used as storage site and Raldbthar handled mining operations. It is unknown what role played Bthar-Zel. Aetherium was luminescent blue color and had natural, strong magical aura. The Dwemer had to create new forge to be able to work with Aetherium. Apart from having strong magical aura, Aetherium was harmonically volatile, meaning it had to be stored outdoors. Artifacts created of Aetherium were said to be extremely powerful. The forge was named the Aetherium Forge. The Aetherium Forge was built deep beneath the city of Bthalft, where Aetherium artifacts were crafted under precisely controlled conditions.

In a short amount of time, each of the four cities wanted the control over the Forge, starting the Aetherium Wars, in the heart of Dwemer empire. The war raged for decades and had severely weakened the Dwemer cities. High King Gellir of Skyrim decided this would be a good time to invade weakened Dwemer cities and take Skyrim for himself. He led his armies in campaign of rapid dominance. He conquered the land and took the Dwemer cities in just three years.

A century later, in 1E 324, the Dwemer empire recovered and reclaimed the territory they lost during the war. As there is no further evidence, it is suggested the Aetherium project was abandoned, the risk being to great and the location of the Aetherium Forge was lost, until the Fourth Era.

The First Council and Skyrim conquests
There was constant conflict between Chimer and Dwemer over technology, religion and other cultural differences. This continued until the formation of the First Council in 1E 416. Chimer and Dwemer united themselves to throw out the Nords from Morrowind. Not all Dwemer agreed to this unification. Rourken clan was one of them. Their patriarch threw his hammer, Volendrung, towards the sky, and where it landed, Rourken clan would settle. The hammer landed in "Volenfell", today's Hammerfell. While going to Volenfell, the Rourken clan encountered powerful mage, Shalidor, who fought against them. This would later be known as the Battle of Rourken-Shalidor. King Rourken used his shield, Spellbreaker, in this battle.

The First Council was hugely successful however and both sides benefited from each other. Combined forces of the Dwemer and Chimer threw out the Nords from Morrowind.

The War of the Crag
The War of the Crag was actually a slave rebellion. Enslaved Snow Elves turned against their Dwemer overlords because the Dwemer betrayed them. The war was going on for decades in the depths of Dwemer cities, with people on the surface completely unaware of the war. The war ended when Dwemer race mysteriously disappeared. The Snow Elves remained in their cities, roaming them ever since.

The War of the First Council
At some point in time, the Dwemer discovered a powerful artifact while excavating in the depths of Red Mountain. Kagrenac, Tonal Architect and High Priest of the Dwemer, identified this artifact as the Heart of Lorkhan, the Dead God that died during the Creation Wars. Kagrenac crafted three tools that would allow him to harvest the power contained within the Heart. These tools were Keening, Sunder and Wraithguard. He wanted to use the Heart to power Numidium, a giant construct that would serve the Dwemer as a God of sorts. The news of this got to the Great Houses of Morrowind and waged war against the Dwemer, with Nerevar being leader of Chimer and dwarf-king Dumac the leader of Dwemer. In 1E 668, the war erupted and the First Council collapsed.

Battle of the Red Mountain
In the 1E 700, Chimer attacked the Red Mountain. Nerevar went to the Red Mountain and battled dwarf-king Dumac. The two fought for some time, but eventually, Nerevar managed killed Dumac. Few moments later, Kagrenac used his Tools on the Heart and caused the whole race of Dwemer to mysteriously disappear. Nerevar was still seriously injured after his battle with Dumac. He held a counsel with his closest friends, Almalexia, Vivec and Sotha Sil (the Tribunal). He told Dagoth Ur, his closest friend, to guard the tools and the Heart until they get back. They decided to study and guard the Heart and the Tools alike, but to never use them for their own purposes. But then, Nerevar died. Almalexia, Vivec and Sotha Sil returned to Dagoth. Dagoth refused to hand over the Tools, and they started fighting. Dagoth managed to escape, but had to leave the Tools behind.

Second Era
During Tiber Septim's conquest of Tamriel, he took interest in Dwemer artifacts. Tiber ordered Amiel Richton to commence research on the Dwemer machinery found on Stros M'kai. He then appointed Erasmo to research the observatory and automatons within.

Richton attempted to escape the island from the Restless League uprising, using a Dwemer airship. However, Cyrus, Redguard hero and rebel, climbed on the airship and destroyed it, cutting the fragile cloth keeping the airship afloat.

Disappearance
There are many theories on the mysterious disappearance of the Dwemer, and the following are the most popular. Please note that they are completely speculative, and that none of them are canon, as of yet.