Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-24489208-20131009163102/@comment-1255618-20190329004206

Actually, the Dwemer are not Velothi, because they were already in Morrowind when the Chimer got there. We don't really know where the dwarves came from originally.

As for the Cantemiric Velothi, my thinking is that they are in fact a group of Chimer rather than a separate race, the difference being that they settled in Black Marsh rather than Morrowind; they would have had contact with the rest of the Chimer too, since Morrowind borders Black Marsh.

They were probably distinguishable because they may have had their own separate government, since Black Marsh is more isolated due to existing in a densely jungled swampland. That being said, even if they weren't a separate race originally it is at least possible they may have become separate depending upon whether or not they were affected by the "curse" of the Dunmer, because if they weren't then they would have remained Chimer rather than Dunmer.