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Seriously, you're looking to deeply into it. Beth is essentially making it up as they go along. All of your questions will earn you a: "I don't know?" or some speculation until then.
If I were to make a random guess, the Iliac Bay region has been conquered by the Thalmor. The Thalmor, having a more lenient attitude toward magic, eventually crushed the old cultural stigmata against magic and magisters.

But if you just can't imagine things changing over two-hundred years, take a look at the world around us. The population was estimated to be at one-billion, the world still had plenty of totally wild and unexplored places in it, and technologies that we simply can't go without today didn't exist. Things have changed in Nirn, and this will be reflected on the races that inhibit it. Let's take the Dunmer for an example of this. They were essentially genocided between games, this probably led to the majority of the survivors being the elite of society, the magisters. Many of the foot soldiers were likely killed. This means that most of the Dunmer descendants would be gaining their parent's more magically potent genes. The skills they would be taught would more likely be focused on the magical schools.

There was one Redguard in Oblivion who worked at a certain Mages Guild (dang, I shoulda searched!) he may have went North and spread magic amongst his students and fellow Redguards....
I'm really interested to find out the logical explanations here...

Yes, Lore can always be Trashed. (The infernal City)LOL. Um ok, where was I, Oh, Yeah. So If We just have faith in Bethesda To deliver A Kickass Game to *Invest* our lives in. We wont have to worry, About --"Oh, No!! my High elf sucks at sneaking!!! T_T"-- A character is good at what *you* do good. Bethesda will Deliver. We will conquer/steal/assasinate/cast/cook/forge/concuct/battle. We are Dovakiin.

I'm always good on the table, baby.

But if anything, this thread has pointed out the need for these forums to have a general notice that says: "All questions can't truly by answered until Skyrim is released."

here is my est guess
Red guards, 200 years was enough for us to stop huting witchs and or magic,
impreals, why would impreald get a boost in a place they are hated so much and are cunretly not in power?
Dark elfs, there armys where destoyed my guess is they have not to them back up

etc
and again dont belive these till games out

Meh, I am just mad that Nords don't get their awesome ice spell, and Woad ): Battlecry is so worthless, though I guess it will be fun to scare dragons away...heh.

You do have to remember though, all weve is are pre-alpha builds of the game, so a lot of the stuff may have just been placeholder.

I look at this from a slightly different angle.

The Dunmer had the five Great Houses as of Morrowind, which each had their own focus and influence. In the 200+ years since then you have:

The Red Year, which hurt all the Houses.
The fall of the Tribunal, which devastated House Indoril.
The Oblivion Crisis, which devastated House Redoran.
The Argonian invasion, which devastated House Dres.

So the two prominent Houses are now Hlaalu and Telvanni, and thus the shift of cultural influence toward thievery and magic.

Keep in mind that in Morrowind & Oblivion, the starting attributes are "genetic" (i.e. based on race and gender), but the skill bonuses were largely cultural.

As for the other changes, I'm glad to see a little more diversification within the races. In-game you'd find Nord casters, Altmer thieves, and Bosmer warriors; but the racial bonuses were so skewed that I doubt many players ever bother trying to play one.

That's essentially how I looked at it, except you put more thought into what you wrote. However, the idea is essentially the same: Something changes, the race changes with the event.

I guess this is just one of the things that goes with the game being set way ahead to where we left off. Of course, that's assuming that these stats are true. However, if the dev team did alter the races with similar thoughts in mind, I think we should all take a second to consider how much attention to detail that takes.

Well the red gaurds may not frown apon magic, outside of hammerfall, and imperials probably changed in the past 200 years and dont use speech much, plus humans in cold will tend to use heavier clothing. So imperial bonous in heavy armor makes some what sense

The Dunmeri population may of not liked the Imperial occupiers, but you missed an important detail. Remember, the Dunmer were essentially resigned to their role. While relations weren't great between the races, they weren't bad enough to cause an armed uprising (not counting Dagoth Ur). The Imperials are diplomats by nature, and I feel safe in my claim when I say that diplomacy has failed. So I'll offer a few more explanations for the changes.

1) The Skyrim natives don't have a high opinion of the Imperials, virtually destroying any benefit they may receive from their ability to argue, debate, etc.. Making the ability entirely latent
2) The Imperials present in Skyrim are mostly soldiers, priests, and battlemages. Face it, war hurts business relations. Imperial merchants may have fled, agents of the Imperial government are entirely pointless as

3) Finally, the Imperials would of been in the middle of several wars throughout the era, there combat abilities would become more important due to this.

Remember though, the Dunmer were kind of dicks to everyone. It's just the way the race is. Sure, the Dunmer may have a special place in their hearts for the Imperials, but that doesn't mean that they hated them more than the Nords. Maybe the dev team just didn't think of this until Skyrim.

By Akatosh... The Imperials have to realize they're in a bad spot when you don't argue who is the better ally, so much as who hates you the least.

Just have to respect the fact 200+ years have gone past and races live in a totally different environment.
Because of Skyrim's rugged highlands all races are more isolated from the rest of Tamriel, and maybe because of this there identity and traditions differ from other parts of Tamriel.