No I am just ignorant of machines existing in a world that doesn't have crossbows or advanced weaponry. Amazing.
The
world probably has crossbows, since they were already in Morrowind, over 200 years ago. The
game, however, doesn't include them, for gameplay reasons. (It won't make sense the Archery skill would improve crossbow damage and with fixed damage rates it would unbalance the game.)
But let's not turn this thread into a crossbow discussion. What I'm trying to say and what a lot of people overlook is that there is a difference between the
lore and the actual
game. Lore-wise the landmasses of the provinces are probably much larger than they appear in Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim. And not everything that is in the lore is in the game.