Chimer

The Chimer are ancestors of the modern Dunmer, or Dark Elves. The Chimer clans followed the Prophet Veloth out of the ancestral Elven homelands in the southwest to settle in the lands now known as Morrowind.

Background
The Chimer were one of several races of Mer during the Merethic Era They are described as being "dynamic, ambitious, long-lived Elven clans devoted to fundamentalist ancestor worship." . At some point, they decided to leave their ancestral homelands and follow the Prophet Veloth.

Veloth's People
Veloth led his people "out of their ancestral homelands in the southwest to settle in the lands now known as Morrowind" There they encountered the Dwemer. ''The Chimer were, like the Dwemer, descendents of the Aldmer, and had followed their prophet Veloth across Tamriel from the west. Soon, they abandoned nomadic life and divided themselves into what were known as the Great Houses, tight-knit political clans that survive in Morrowind to this day. ''

Disputes with Dwemer
Eventually, the Dwemer and the Chimer ran into conflict, as stated in Before the Ages of Man: ''Despising the secular culture and profane practices of the Dwemer, the Chimer also coveted the lands and resources of the Dwemer, and for centuries provoked them with minor raids and territorial disputes. The Dwemer (Dwarves), free-thinking, reclusive Elven clans devoted to the secrets of science, engineering, and alchemy, established underground cities and communities in the mountain range (later the Velothi Mountains) separating modern Skyrim and Morrowind.''

While the Dwemer were an agnostic people, preferring reason to faith, the Chimer were staunch Daedra-worshippers, and considered the Dwemer's lack of belief an affront to their gods.

First Council
Owing to the threat posed by the Nordic Empire, an alliance was created between the Chimer and the Dwemer. (Incidentally, the events of this are the source of the main quest in The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind). The High Dwemer King Dumac, and the Chimer Hortator of the Great Houses, Nerevar Indoril were chosen to repel the Nordic invaders. They were able to successfully do this.

Red Mountain
The Tribunal betrayed Nerevar, and Azura, in her fury, turned the Chimer's skin dark, and their eyes Red. On this day, all Chimer became the Dunmer, or the "Cursed Ones".