Whilst looking at the timeline of the Elder Scrolls series, it occurred to me that technology doesn't seem to progress at all. I do understand that some races are more technologically advanced (most notably the Dwemer) and that magic significantly alters the need for technological development. Is the answer that simple or are there more complex, possibly divine reasons for the lack of technological development?

The only other non-Dwemer advances in technology occur in obscure sources talking about space travel.

Simply put, nobody dreams of the steam-engine.

Technological advancement is one of those things that, in the main series, reasonably doesn't advance very much (remember that: A. Arena through oblivion all take place during a portion of a single man's life-time, and B. tamriel is a pre-industrial society) , and in the lore, isn't very often talked about. There are a couple instances where do see talk of tech advancement though. The book "history of lock picking" details the advancements in lock design, while other books give hints of a simpler time, technologically speaking. (such as the dwemer being the first users of heavy armor, or Pelinal's armor being the stuff of science fiction to the Alessian rebels)

It's really quite difficult to simulate an accurate progression of technology in a fictional world, theres so many things to consider and because this is a world full of magic with its richly diverse bag of races it becomes infinitely more difficult. Stagnation of technology can be explained (though it is often used in many fantasys) as a product of a magically rich environment, the more you can do with magic, the less technology needs to be developed. I view magic as a complete and total (limited only by the user and quantity of magic) ability to control the natural world, whereas technology is more akin to a crutch, limited in its ability to fully control the natural world.

Your problem is you are applying our standards on Earth to their standards in Tamriel. The two don't have to correlate whatsoever.

We may see advancement as something entirely different to them. Let's not forget they have magic and Gods that are actively involved in their lives- so that alone would change the way people think.

Also, a lot of people who ask this question seem to forget the fact that human history has gone hundreds of years without any sort of real technological progress. Look at the Dark Ages.

Not completely related, but technology is like a watered down magic. Accessable to everyone, but is overall weaker. I could imagine that if someone could produce technology on a somewhat mass producable scale, magic could be forgotten about. Since not everyone is capable of magic, I could see technology rising if someone comes across schematics from a dwemer ruin. And why not? Would you rather have 5 gifted healers, or 15 people trained in medical equipment?

Of course, I don't want TES to go all Red Dead Redemption on us, with the death of magic. Just an observation. Whoever killed off the Dwemer did the right thing.

That's only true of the Western world, and only just barely. Advances were being made in maritime technology, construction (those huge Gothic cathedrals were built then, and not from previous tech), philosophy, basically everything. The "Dark Ages" aren't even a valid historical era: they're simply any span of time from which little records exist.

You're debating semantics. You know what I meant.

If I were to tell a story where the first episode is set in Ancient Rome and the second episode takes place thousands of years later in Medieval England people would be asking the same question; "LOL Y DONT THEY HAVE TECH????"

That's the point I was making. Technology doesn't always move forward in all aspects.

Why need technology when magic?

Yah, sorry about that. I just have this knee-jerk thing with the Dark Ages.

But even still, the history of Tamriel is at least four thousand years long, opposed to the thousand or so of post-collapse Europe. I would expect them to have at least rudimentary steam engines, really. I mean, they have fire traps that run on soul gems, their windmills and water wheels display a knowledge of fluid movement being made to do work, and no one has thought to combine these?

It's cool.


Maybe they haven't? How are we to really know? The Dwemer seem to have steam engines.

Like I said earlier these people exist in a different universe. Their perception of technology would be alien to ours so we can't tell.

Also there are some things that aren't lore consistent that Bethesda have their hands tied with. It might make sense in the lore adding mechanical things but if Bethesda did that can you imagine the outcry? It would be horrendous.

Which is where the obscure texts and hidden lore comes in, to give us time-traveling terminators, spaceships, moon colonies, dragon/tree battles in space, etc, without getting in the way of the sword-and-sorcery style of the games.

I assume that many people can't use magic in TES universe (or won't) so some 'pioneers' in technological advancement should exist. Also it seems that technology fused with magic has huge potential (case in point the Dwemer) so is therefore worth exploring and studying.

I also understand that magic is studied by some in a scientific way, so it would be natural to assume that such people have developed ideas on how to make the layman's life better. An industrialisation of some basic raw materials and processes seem natural and would be of huge advantage to anyone who could harness the power of such technology. Magic (to my knowledge) is unable to do things on an industrial scale.

I also think a TES game with the industrialisation of the Empire would be very interesting, but there's my inner steampunk talking.


I do doubt that the Tamrielic Empire is in the dark ages as the Empire seems to have been prospering both culturally (with its complex political systems and copious amount of historians, writers etc.) and militarily (the Empire covering Tamriel). I do understand that during the long presence of the Empire in Tamriel there have been huge civil wars and rebellions but this is not unlike any long standing empire in the real world. Also if we look into the history of the late Roman empire it is not unlike the Empire of TES and the Late Roman empire had come a long way from being simple Etruscan settlers.


I do agree with this and one can simply argue that we can't compare our own world to the world of TES. But I personally would then like to see advances in some sort of field in the TES universe, unless someone can argue that even this is an overstatment.

Actually, after playing through the Thieve's Guildquestlines, playing through the Mage's Guild questlines, and standing over a sleeping Ulfric as an Imperial Legion Officer in full ebony plate brandishing an ominous red blade that I had just paraded through the entire palace, I'm willing to accept that all Tamrielans are utter imbeciles and any person even carrying genes that imply the merest potential of somewhat normal intelligence long ago ascended.

In a fantastical/science-fiction world such as the TES world where magic is prevalent, there is no need for technological advancement. You could perhaps note some sort of advancement however with more obscure stuff have shown space travel and memospore communication and various dreamsleeve communications.

How so? The Empire has the better part of a continent to feed and food conjuration spells are nowhere in sight (and even if they were, would your average peasant have access to them?). If the games are any indication, then there are plenty of subsistence farmers, but there's still numerous cities to feed, to say nothing of the Legion. So, there would seem to be a motivation for large-scale agriculture, which tends to lead to technological advancements in the name of efficiency.

And yet, there doesn't appear to be a single horse-drawn plough in the entirety of Tamriel. Odd.

I completely agree though I had more a problem with the lack of good infrastructure in the Empire. How could world conquering legions work without a reliable way to travel?

I would think that is due to laziness/not willing to put the time in rather than a lack of technological advancement. Technology in a fantasy/sci-fi universe such as TES is not as it is in our own world due to presence of magic and other fantastical/science fiction concepts. You can track magic advancement however. The schools are forever being reformed. For instance, in Skyrim there is no Mysticism school (however, we can presume this a game mechanic rather than a piece of lore). But you cannot compare or criticize a lack of advancement in comparison to our own world as it is literally nothing like ours. And I think you can see a very clear difference in technology used by the Atmoran Nedes and the 4th Era Imperials, and with Ayleid technology juxtaposed next to modern Altmer sun-birds, made of solidified sunlight with trebuchets that fire pure aetheric fire...


Imperial roads (I wouldn't use Oblivion as an account honestly, I mean, look at the Imperial City...). And an amazing navy. Also mages can generally help with travelling, for instance I remember reading somewhere that Imperial battlemages made water for the soldiers to drink or something along those lines. And for mages, don't forget magical teleportation, and don't forget other various foreign methods of transportation, such as Silt Strider etc.

And,
They're not necessarily 'dead', and Kragenac is responsible for it, so they sort of eradicated themselves.