Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-62.31.43.199-20131118141224/@comment-24590102-20140313004022

Hi Contributor 62 and welcome, however belated  :)

I'm not sure that the Dwemer are extinct. But I think if they were available for comment, their point of view, regarding the more powerful entities in the Elder Scrolls Universe, would remain largely unchanged. Don't forget, they treated the heart of Lorchan as little more than a machine part and, to what end, the commentators of the time would not have been technology-savvy enough to grasp. It could have been anything from mass teleportation device, to a spaceship or even a humble robot wherewith to terrorise their enemies. But I think that their insular focus on technology suggests that their culture tended to look beyond the narrow view of allies and enemies and see a larger picture of alternative territories - which would explain why they dug out these very secure underground fortresses of theirs instead of going out and conquering their enemies (as opposed to defeating them in battle then proceeding to return underground and largely ignore the surfacers). Maybe I'm missing something here, but that's how I see the Dwemer based on the clues left lying around.

As for the Snow Elves, well, they seem to have a history and I'd wager that Vyrthur was part and party to the generation of Snow Elves who entered into an alliance with the Nedes that they never intended to honour. I find it doubtful that any desire to possess of the Eye of Magnus had anything to do with the Night of Tears because, if it did, it would have made the Nedes indispensible to the Falmer as a people who could unearth and unlock the benefits of more such artefacts. Rather, I think that it was more that the Falmer took on the alliance with the concealed expectation that the Nedes would find conditions too harsh and depart their lands and, when that did not happen...

So, in the absence of any acknowledgement of some of the key problems in the decision to launch the attack now known as the Night of Tears, I'd be inclined to be particularly cautious of what Vyrthur and his offsider have to say about things - even things they seem to feel strongly about. Don't forget, it requires culturally ingrained tolerance of deception to consider violation of the white flag and attacks on allies even remotely acceptable - and this is where I get the idea that the Snow Elves are, culturally speaking, particularly sophisticated deceivers and never to be trusted in anything they say or do.