Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-27712123-20170227080532/@comment-31396746-20170327235426

Well lets look at their history:

A group of Altmer leave the isles led by the prophet Veloth.

They end up as the daedra worshipping Chimer.

A daedra changes their entire species into the dunmer after three of the chimer turn themselves into gods.

Daedra-worship is not too highly thought of in the isles so thats not helping.

Becoming gods is a sensitive topic to the Altmer as they believe their immortality was stolen so they were probably salty about how the tribunal became gods but not them.

60% of Morrowind is unihabitable wasteland and nothing is similar to the summerset isles or even valenwood. The Dunmer have a dramatically different biology, having the dark skin, average height and red eyes. Whereas the Altmer are very picky about preserving the looks of their ancestrors the Aldmer.

Dunmeri culture is dramatically different. Being split between Houses and Ashlanders. Whereas the Altmer follow a single monarch. So when you think about it the Altmer and Dunmer have very VERY little in common. Pretty much just the fact that they're Mer. There's also the fact the Thalmor way of life would not sit well in Morrowind where the Dunmer embrace being completely divided and hating each other whereas the Thalmor prefer that everyone bows down to one and you disobey, you die. (OK maybe House Indoril would be fine).