UESP Forums

Which was a more advanced race? Dwemer or Ayleid? Which race did you find cooler?
For me its the Dwemer because of their golden automations and the fact that their ruins are not infested with disease carrying zombies.

And were there no Ayleid rule at all in skyrim? Because there is no Ayleid ruin here

I'd guess the dwemer, based on how widespread their ruins are.

I want to say the ayleid were only in cyrodiil?

Ayelids were way cooler. I'm bored out of my mind walking around the Dwemer ruins.

Alyeids only lived in Cyrodiil. That's why they are called "Heart-Land High Elves." High Elves from the Heart-Land.

Dwmer are the most advance, no question.

The Ayleid only lived in Cyrodiil. It was their territory.

The Dwemer were far more advanced. Actually, they are more advanced than almost all civilizations in Tamriel.

We don't have many records about the Ayleid, but they were known for being cruel and ruthless; their slaves were not allowed to have names. Some say that they torturted their slaves for amusement; they burned thousands of slaves for some insect god they worshipped.

Now, the Dwemer, we don't have many records as well, but for the little we know, they were extremely intelligent. They were masters in engineering and the arcane arts. They had their share of cruelty as well; they gave shelter to the Snow Elves when they lost their war to the nords, but in exchange of that, the Snow Elves had to eat a toxic fungus that made them blind. After that, they enslaved the Snow Elves, that today are known as the Falmer.

The Dwemer were more advanced than mondern civilisations on Tamriel let alone Ayleid.

Aeyleids were more advanced in magic, they were the first race to use magic and their cities seem to utilize it for many uses that we would find mundane.

But other than that, since the Aeyleids would probably hav been only slightly better at magic than the dwemer, the Dwemer are more advanced by a mile.

Hissien wrote:Aeyleids were more advanced in magic, they were the first race to use magic and their cities seem to utilize it for many uses that we would find mundane.

But other than that, since the Aeyleids would probably hav been only slightly better at magic than the dwemer, the Dwemer are more advanced by a mile.

They were not the first to use magic, if they are I want to see the source. That is only the first recorded use. Thu'um, Psjics, Creation, these are the first uses of magic. They are the only race to store crystallized Aetherial energy, i.e. magic, though.

"Some of the first recorded uses of magic were by the Ayleids of the First Era. Through the salvaging of fallen fragments of Aetherius, they attained great arcane power, which they used to enslave the early Cyrodiils."
Taken from the lore page on magic.

Wiki says recorded. We wrote it that way for a reason. Also, Thu'um, it's older than the Alyeid race. So are the daedra. And many conflicts that use magic. Direnni Tower. Sorry, but the Alyeid weren't the first.

Since the Ayleids didn't manage to kill themselves in their brief existence on Tamriel, I'd say they were probably the superior breed.

Br3admax wrote:Wiki says recorded. We wrote it that way for a reason. Also, Thu'um, it's older than the Alyeid race. So are the daedra. And many conflicts that use magic. Direnni Tower. Sorry, but the Alyeid weren't the first.

Since I meant arcane magic, I wouldn't count the thu'um, also race implies the first mortal race, not daedra. Also if they weren't the first why wasn't it written as "one of the earlier users of magic were the Ayleid...." if they were one the first then they would probably have been before the dwemer no? Also I thought Direnni Tower was placed There by divine beings, not mortals. While I will certainly accept that the Ayleids were not the first race to use magic, I cannot think of anyone else who would have done so out of the known mortal races.

Hows I sposed to know that? You mean "Magicka?" That's different. Besides I think the Aldmer were the first, and than early man. Rember that Tsun said Atmorans appreciated the "Clever-Craft." I doubt they learned it from elves. There is a reason that Nords hate the Altmer, going back before the even came to Tamreil.

The Ayleids tried to preserve Mythic Era magic. Even if they weren't around back then, they certainly made use of powerful ancient magicks.

My two main problem with Ayleid ruin was
1) The visibility was poor. There was little light in many places (Intentional I suppose) that made treasure hunting that much more annoying. Many times I missed out on some chests because I didn't see them there
2) It was almost always infested with disease filled zombies. Every time I went to an ayleid ruin I caught a disease from fighting those things.

The traps and hidden doors were nice though and the crystals. That one pillar we had to open by hitting magical spells was awesome.

Dwemer I like because of the automation and the golden colour which makes it look like a golden city and lighting is good too. The machinery and stuff inside look real impressive

The Dwemer were more advanced as they possessed the knowledge that the rest of the races have yet to discover as well as having advanced tech. Such as Steam centurions, indoor heating(assuming that what the pipes are for as well as charging or recharging their automatons on). They also had some cities in Morrowind. I suspect the Nords probably did have a war with the dwemer and lost as i can't see both races leaving each other alone as the early nords were eager for war. I think.

The Alyieds were very powerful mages but apart from that, they were just as advanced as the rest of the races. Judging from what we've seen in Oblivion.

I'm not sure if the Nords would have bothered the Dwemer. We know the Nords and the Snow Elves waged war on each other, with the Snow Elves eventually seeking sanctuary with the Dwemer. Presumably because the Dwemer lived underground and the Nords left them alone. After all, would you go to all the bother of attacking a bunch of elves you never see, who incidentally make really dangerous automatons?

With regards to the poll, i think the Dwemer are better than the Ayleids. The Ayleids seemed to be all about preserving Arcane magicks, whilst the Dwemer were about progress and innovation. Don't get me wrong, there's value in knowing old techniques, but if you don't work on creating new techniques or improving on old techniques then eventually you will get stuck in a rut.

Just my tuppence worth.

The Nords and the Dwmer never got along. Never. Almost all established lore, even the Greybeards, says that.

this is a tough choice for me, i always liked the Aylieds, butthe dwemer were really good too

i'd say the dwemer were probably more advanced, but i still prefer Aylied Architecture over Dwemer

Br3admax wrote:The Nords and the Dwmer never got along. Never. Almost all established lore, even the Greybeards, says that.

Let's just say that the Nords never had peaceful relashionships with elves.

I don't think we can say for sure who used magic first. I mean, wich race in Tamriel, or even Mundus, used first. The Aedra and Daedra have been using it for time immemorial, and that's it.

The Ayleid may have been powerful wizards, but the Dwemer had knowledge on a lot of different things. Lots of knowledge, that is. They never focused only in magic.

According to lore, the Dwemer were able to telepathically communicate with each other over vast distances. Of course, through arcane-technology, they were able to accomplish such feats as translating an Elder Scroll, (apparently) utilize/contain one of Herma Mora's Black Books, among many others. They even provided the tools necessary to steal the divine essence from an extremely powerful god--though, that may have (allegedly) doomed them to instant-eradication from Mundus.

For such a powerful race, too, the Dwemer seemed to be able to maintain a general consensus--in comparison with the Ayleids who helped their own overthrow/extinction with constant infighting--meaning that they appear to have been able to maintain a significant social-strength/health, ergo being socially superior to nearly every other known race in existence (past and present).


As for as the Nords were concerned, they tried to conquer everyone/everything. The premise behind Lost to the Ages was that the Nords had actually sacked and conquered an entire Dwemer city (something not even the Chimer, at their peak, had come close to accomplishing--though the Nords had also conquered much of present-day Morrowind, with it much of Dwemer surface-territory, there is no other official indication that they had actually been able to take/hold Dwemer cities before this quest). But, the interactions almost always ended with the Dwemer using their machinations to beat back the Nordic hordes (often simply through the fear, alone, of the machinations themselves).

House of the Wolf wrote:According to lore, the Dwemer were able to telepathically communicate with each other over vast distances. Of course, through arcane-technology, they were able to accomplish such feats as translating an Elder Scroll, (apparently) utilize/contain one of Herma Mora's Black Books, among many others. They even provided the tools necessary to steal the divine essence from an extremely powerful god--though, that may have (allegedly) doomed them to instant-eradication from Mundus.

For such a powerful race, too, the Dwemer seemed to be able to maintain a general consensus--in comparison with the Ayleids who helped their own overthrow/extinction with constant infighting--meaning that they appear to have been able to maintain a significant social-strength/health, ergo being socially superior to nearly every other known race in existence (past and present).


As for as the Nords were concerned, they tried to conquer everyone/everything. The premise behind Lost to the Ages was that the Nords had actually sacked and conquered an entire Dwemer city (something not even the Chimer, at their peak, had come close to accomplishing--though the Nords had also conquered much of present-day Morrowind, with it much of Dwemer surface-territory, there is no other official indication that they had actually been able to take/hold Dwemer cities before this quest). But, the interactions almost always ended with the Dwemer using their machinations to beat back the Nordic hordes (often simply through the fear, alone, of the machinations themselves).

Looks like Nords don't get along with anybody I wish they would provide some more detail about how and why dwemer disappeared. The next TES online is a prequel so it might contain some more info

House of the Wolf wrote:For such a powerful race, too, the Dwemer seemed to be able to maintain a general consensus--in comparison with the Ayleids who helped their own overthrow/extinction with constant infighting--meaning that they appear to have been able to maintain a significant social-strength/health, ergo being socially superior to nearly every other known race in existence (past and present).

Definitely untrue. In Lost to the Ages, we learn that the Aetherium Wars led to a massive collapse of the Dwemer holdings in Skyrim, which in turn allowed for the Nordic invasion that you mentioned. The legendary Rourken clan is another example of unstable Dwemer politics - the entire clan left Morrowind and settled in desolate Volenfell simply to spite the First Council. Only House Dwemer of Morrowind seemed to have any kind of permanent alliance; all other Dwemer city-states appear to have been largely independent.

Hmm...whoops. For some reason, I thought the Aetherium Wars were part of their on-going conflict with the Falmer, but I see that I was confusing that with another conflict. But still, (it seems) they were still able to regain much of the ground they'd lost. And even though there was that instance of heavy in-fighting, and a particular clan packed their city and left for the West, it still was never enough to cause their eradication/overthrow--their controversial disappearance was attributed to their manipulation of Shor's Heart.

I wonder if Dwemers and Ayleids had any contact or clashes. That would be cool to see!