Dwemer oil : The Elder Scrolls Series Discussion

» Wed May 02, 2012 7:57 pm

Does anyone know if there is a purpose to Dwemer Oil besides for another alchemy ingredient? Maybe it helps to keep the constructs working. Any sources that mention it?

» Wed May 02, 2012 7:36 pm

Nope. Just an ingredient.

» Wed May 02, 2012 5:35 pm

It's for Dwemer spring break.

» Wed May 02, 2012 11:15 pm

Fool's ebony.

» Wed May 02, 2012 4:32 pm

It's for Dwemer spring break.

lol

» Wed May 02, 2012 10:12 pm

Liquid Earthbones.

» Wed May 02, 2012 11:14 pm

Liquid Earthbones.

So it's just water?

» Wed May 02, 2012 2:56 pm

So it's just water?

Fossilized Ancestor Fuel

» Wed May 02, 2012 2:21 pm

lubricant

» Wed May 02, 2012 9:16 am

Fossilized Ancestor Fuel

How did I not get that? Wow...

» Wed May 02, 2012 9:48 am

Dwemer secretions...

No no, "what happened to the dwarf women?"

» Wed May 02, 2012 3:58 pm

Dwemer secretions...

No no, "what happened to the dwarf women?"

Yagrum was a women.

You just couldn't tell under all that corprus and beard.

» Wed May 02, 2012 9:56 pm

That wasn't corprus. That was a baby.

» Wed May 02, 2012 7:06 pm

You're both wrong; that was another Dwemer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO1kKemcwYk.

» Wed May 02, 2012 11:15 am

What I want to know is how the constructs seem to have been relatively well-maintained in the absence of their masters. Are the Falmer intelligent enough to (or otherwise have need to) work on them?

» Wed May 02, 2012 7:54 pm

What I want to know is how the constructs seem to have been relatively well-maintained in the absence of their masters. Are the Falmer intelligent enough to (or otherwise have need to) work on them?

Certainly not. The animunculi in Morrowind and Stros M'kai remained perfectly functional with no Falmer present, nor do I believe the Falmer have any more of an idea of how Dwemer machinery works than anyone else.

» Wed May 02, 2012 1:19 pm

lubricant

Not just for Animunculi anymore.

What I want to know is how the constructs seem to have been relatively well-maintained in the absence of their masters. Are the Falmer intelligent enough to (or otherwise have need to) work on them?

Autonomous repair. You break it, Arachnobots fix it.

» Wed May 02, 2012 1:14 pm

The best answer I've run across in Morrowind or Skyrim is that the automata still function for the same reason there are still dwemer ruins, armor, and weapons; they built things in defiance of the Earthbones, or at least with the manipulation of said laws. The dwemer considered the concept of Entropy and said 'Nyeh, that doesn't seem worth it,' and turned it on its head. So until someone or substantial geological activity actively breaks something, it will endure.

» Wed May 02, 2012 7:56 am

So they defy the Earthbones... not earthquakes?

» Wed May 02, 2012 8:48 am

Autonomous repair. You break it, Arachnobots fix it.

yh. We can see the spider looking worker bots maintaining everything

» Wed May 02, 2012 5:33 pm

Not just for Animunculi anymore.

Autonomous repair. You break it, Arachnobots fix it.

As Pratchett pointed out in 'Strata', who repairs the gears of the repair robots that repair the repair robots?
Entropy always wins.

» Wed May 02, 2012 9:25 am

As Pratchett pointed out in 'Strata', who repairs the gears of the repair robots that repair the repair robots?
Entropy always wins.

the other repair robots?

i doubt they all break down at the same time

» Wed May 02, 2012 7:43 am

the other repair robots?

i doubt they all break down at the same time

You should read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strata_%28novel%29

I did when I was eight. It was my first Pratchett novel.
Blew my mind.

Meanwhile, even with the repair robots repairing the repair robots at full time you would eventually run out of differential gears or electron coherers, simply because there is no-one to repair the repair robots that repair the repair robots so the gathering robots can be repaired, so the constructing robots can be repaired, to make any.
You cant beat entropy and Malthus always wins.

» Wed May 02, 2012 4:27 pm

As Pratchett pointed out in 'Strata', who repairs the gears of the repair robots that repair the repair robots?
Entropy always wins.

Entropy always wins eventually*. The Dwemer system just hasn't broken down yet.

*In the context of "macroscopic systems always tend toward 'disorder' without inputs of energy". 'Cause more fundamentally, entropy is just a description of the world's tendency toward the most highly probable states of existence, and is therefore 'winning' all the time, even when the Dwemer were alive and tweaking the inputs to influence the nature of the most highly probable state. If, of course, entropy is even applicable to TES... which it probably is not.

» Wed May 02, 2012 11:35 am

Entropy always wins eventually*. The Dwemer system just hasn't broken down yet.

*In the context of "macroscopic systems always tend toward 'disorder' without inputs of energy". 'Cause more fundamentally, entropy is just a description of the world's tendency toward the most highly probable states of existence, and is therefore 'winning' all the time, even when the Dwemer were alive and tweaking the inputs to influence the nature of the most highly probable state. If, of course, entropy is even applicable to TES... which it probably is not.

Yes, true.
But we can agree then that Dwemer structures will not be everlasting?
I think Skyrim and Morrowind showed such, with damage to the strongholds (seemingly) beyond the capabilities of the automatons to repair.
A few times in Skyrim I have snuck across a spider hacking at a collapsed wall, perhaps it is trying to repair?

In any case, the existence of disrepair and collapse points towards discord, or possibly Padomay, being on the winning side.