Edit: Found out the race, it was the Snake People. We could have a discussion continuing on the topic I suppose.

Im pretty sure it was the Tsaesci. read "mysterious Akavir". too lazy to give a link...

Edit: awwww :sadvaultboy:

My understanding is that it was humans. Akivir is those 4 races now, but once upon a time it was mainly humans.

It was the snake people, however they were regular humanoids. The "snake" metaphor was used to describe their movements and characteristics. Many of them rose to power after pledging their devotion to Talos and the Empire.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

But didn't the Snake people "eat" all the humans?

So far as I know, the only race from Akavir that the people in Tamriel have ever come into contact with are the Tsaecei (spelling?), the Snake People. The fact that their armour is humanoid might play into pure gameplay issues, or they might have been humanoid from the waste down - I'm not positive.

People in Tamriel haven't encountered the other races (with the exception of one of the demons, which was defeated by Almalexia and the Underking, I believe). I'm interested to see what's going to come of the Tiger People, and their leader Tosh'Raka, the Tiger Dragon, who supposedly wants to invade Tamriel once he's done with the rest of Akavir.

Is there some temporal confusion?

The ultimate fate of the humans seems irrelevant to their past. Only to their present.