This is a rather specific question:but did the ancient Chimer actually have metallurgy? While dunmer in the timeline of TES3 certainly seem to, there are no metal items that are specifically referred to as Dunmeri. Rather, all metallic weapons and armor appear to be in western styles. Further, as far as I can tell most Ashlanders actually use chitin for weapons. This has given me the impression that the original Velothi settlers at the very least only rarely used metallic tools and may in fact have not possessed knowledge of metallurgy.

However I may be over looking something obvious, so wanted to check with other lore nerds.

I believe it was just mostly animal hides. Look towards the ashlanders, and notice how they pretty much wear chitin gear and weapons. Bonemold and Indoril armor would also classify as an animal based armor, since it's pretty much just resin and bug parts.

Even some of the nords will mention offhand that they had access to metallic weapons and armor while the chimer were sitting with the hides of animals. It also explains the big lack of ebony armor till late, most likely an imperial influence that caused its construction.

*in-character, as Francois the half-elf Breton*

Francois' journal entry on Dark Elf armor styles

I spent some time in Vvardenfell district, during my studies for the War College. While my primary area of study during those few years revolved around my studies as an apprentice Apothecary collecting ingredients and studying their magical properties, I did have an occasion to study the various armor styles of Morrowind. The books at Vivec City's grand library were of tremendous help (I lament the loss of that grand library), however I was able to actually interact with many of the natives during that stint and examine the armor up close.

The grand majority of the Velothi armor styles are composed of either animal hide or more commonly, lamented insect shell. The modern Dunmer who retain the most of the ancient customs are the nomadic Ashlanders. They favor a style of armor widely referred to as Chitin in the star-wounded East. This is most commonly created from the bleached and polished shells of a variety of the large insect species inhabiting the island. A few of them wear a type of mock-leather, usually made from the skin of their herd animals known as Netch. There are two varieties, with the boiled variety being the more resilient but the more expensive. These armor pieces differed somewhat from the more traditional Colovian and Nordic leather armor suits, which are more common in the Legions and the War College. I'll admit that the Ashlander method of armor smithing creates armors which, while not the most durable in all of Tamriel nonetheless do their job very well. I trained in these native light armors as part of my education.

As for the heavier varieties of armor from Morrowind, one of the more common styles one would have seen in Morrowind before Red Year was the Bonemold armor suits. These suits of medium weight armor were used extensively by the Great Houses, with the exception of Indoril which favored their own heavier style which I'll cover later. Made from similar material as Chitin, this armor actually was crafted by grinding the insect shell into pulp, and molding it into thick, reinforced armor pieces with the use of resin. In some cases, smiths would employ wizards to help keep the temperature just so-so for this delicate process. The result is a fine suit of armor which had several variations throughout the province, and which could withstand all but the heaviest of blows. Another, much more rare set of armor is Dreugh armor. The hunters and craftsmen of Morrowind discovered expensive techniques to convert the hide of these deadly creatures into some of the finest armor you'll ever see. Unfortunately, only a few smiths mastered this technique. I only saw a piece or two up close and I don't believe I ever met anyone who had seen a full set.

Indoril armor is one of the finest examples of armor from Morrowind. One of the Battlemages I studied the arts of combat with was good friends with an Ordinator from Vivec City. This order of holy knights treat their armor with a nearly religious reverence, as they believe the mask is molded after a great Chimeri culture hero. The basic design of the armor is, again, crushed insect shell with resin. The armor contains a thin layer of gold on top, which probably goes a long way towards contributing to its expensiveness and rarity. The skirt appears to be made from chainmail, although I wasn't able to examine it up close so I can't say if it was steel or Ebony. This armor is unusually durable to be made from the same substance as Chitin and Bonemold. I heard rumors that the armor is blessed by high ranking Temple priests, and that some rare sets which I wasn't personally able to encounter may have been personally blessed by the goddess Almalexia. If this were true, those armor pieces would have contained very powerful enchantments. I lament the loss to such artifacts to Argonian hands very deeply, and hope that the more enlightened among their people understand the value in retaining such relics for magical study.

The only two armor styles which could be construed as being anywhere near "metallic" were Ebony and Glass. A low-ranking undergraduate such as myself, sadly, never encountered such armor sets. I understand that both were made from volcanic glass, and consisted of a light, flexible chain mail suit covered by light and malleable plates of Glass or Ebony. Again, I am unsure if this chain mail portion used metals native to Morrowind. I understand that Adamantium Armor existed as well, but this armor style was apparently either non-existant or very rare in Vvaradenfell District, and a bit more common on the mainland. Perhaps the chain mail portions of native Chimeri designs used Adamantium chain links? As part of my thesis on the art of potion making, I was allowed to study minute portions of each of these three substances, which yield powerful alchemical effects. If the difficulty I had in grinding Ebony ore to dust is any indication, then it must make the finest armor mortal hands can produce. The substance was literally harder to break down than diamonds.

Dwemer armor is heavy and metallic, but was used by a culture considered alien and heathen to Chimeri values, so we can't include it as an example except in contrast to Chimeri designs. It was everything Chimeri armor was not - bulky, heavy, inflexible. It was the practice of certain nobles and their retainers to wear such armor and use such weapons, probably as a status or culture symbol, but I personally found it highly impractical.

Conclusion: Based on my time spent with the Ashlanders, and historical records I briefly had access to in Vivec City, I believe that the Ashlander style of armor and weapon making most closely resembles the original Velothi followers who inhabited the island years ago. These people, due to religious and cultural beliefs, cast aside their former Aldmeri ways, including the metallic golden armor that their type once favored. (Some sets of this armor still exist and are favored by nobles, especially in Cyrodill, where it's simply called Elf Armor by the layman.) It was only later, once the Great House culture developed, that heavier styles such as Bonemold and Indoril began appearing. Traditionally, Dunmer from the East never wore suits of metal armor at all, possibly for religious and cultural beliefs and more practically because of the climate and landscape of Morrowind, and the war tactics favored by Dark Elves which include speed and efficiency. It is for those reasons that I can confidently state that Ashlander weapons and armor most closely match ancient Velothi weapons and armor.


A final, tragic foot note:

With the loss of Vvardenfell to Red Year, the value of some of the above mentioned armor sets has skyrocketed. It is obviously not possible at the moment for anyone to mine or export Ebony or Volcanic Glass from Red Mountain. In addition to this, many of the Dwemer ruins that dot the island were covered by magma flow, meaning that the Empire's trade on Dwemeri metals has come to an abrupt halt. Perhaps most tragically of all, most of the master-Smiths from Morrowind who were capable of crafting Netch Leather, Chitin, Bonemold, Indoril and Dreugh armor were either killed or displaced, and put into positions where the raw materials to construct such objects are no longer in reach. This scholar personally fears that these techniques, along with the Dunmer variations on Ebony, Glass and Adamantium armor crafting, may be lost within one short generation. Such a loss of culture would go un-noticed by the less cosmopolitan citizens of the Empire, but it brings a tear to my eye to even think about it.

It's probably because there were (and there is) only a few of metal sources in Morrowind, and most of them were occupied by Dwemers. So Velothi used more available materials; thus, they haven't metallurgy because they have no need in it.

That's one possible explanation, yes, but we don't know too much about what's on mainland Morrowind. We didn't see any iron mines in Vvardfenfell district. Good point. It may have been a game mechanic, though. Or like my friend Francois hypothesized, perhaps their move away from metal armors had a more spiritual significance. Not only would their wrong-minded (to them) Aldmeri ancestors have worn metal armors, but the hated Dwemer as well.

Another issue in the ashlanf would be the difficulty to get charcoal for smelting and smithing. There's very little in the way of wood in those areas, which hampers the practice of metallurgy.

Making glues and melting resins requires only litlle heath compared to smithing, those limited needs are more easily met in the ashlands.

Then there's the bulk and weight of the required tools - a smithy is a damn cumbersome load in a nomadic culture.