Just how much is known about them? Could they be considered passably intelligent (passably, not possibly -- passably as in, say, capable of learning crude speech given many years)? Can I be given any sources on them? Thanks in advance ^^

Dreugh is an anagram for enigmatic. You can check and tell me it isn't, but a Dreugh would be able to see that it works. That's how enigmatic they are.

So they're even worse off than the Akaviri races? Ouch. ;-;

I was mainly asking because I'm planning on making a dreugh-based surprise for players of my WIP Morrowind quest mod. ...But I wanna make sure it's lore-friendly, you know.

They're rather like the Akaviri races in that they're largely unexplored except for a collection of throwaway references, which often conflict. This is not my subject, but we have reason to belief that they have transformational life cycles, and may have once had a highly advanced civilization. But we really know very little. (My post above would refer better to the nature of the Dwemer, who are nebulous in more than our understanding of them. I meant to add something of substance to it, but got distracted.)

Do you have any evidence for the advanced civilization bit? I know the transformations come from the Land Dreugh (I'd also like a reference for the name of the transformation the dreugh undergo while becoming land deugh, if you have that) but the civilization thing's a new one on me.

Like I said, it's not my subject. In this case I don't know where the sources are.

Well, thanks I suppose ^^

I guess I'll wait for someone else who is better informed on the subject. <<

Karvinasim

http://www.imperial-library.info/fsg/dumbkidarticle1.shtml, but it was written before Oblivion came out.

And one for the civilization too ^^ Thanks a bunch.

"May the holder of the fourth key know the heart thereby: the Mundex Terrene was once ruled over solely by the tyrant dreugh-kings, each to their own dominion, and borderwars fought between their slave oceans. They were akin to the time-totems of old, yet evil, and full of mockery and profane powers. No one that lived did so outside of the sufferance of the dreughs." - http://www.imperial-library.info/obbooks/mythic_dawn_commentaries.shtml#4

Alright, I have enough now that I think I understand what I need to. ^^

Thanks everyone ^^

Keep in mind though the commentaries also seem to be a parallel to the Allesian slave rebellion.

Didn't Vivec form once an alliance with a "King of the Dreugh" to help repel invaders in Morrowind? Them being governed by a king capable of aggreeing to an alliance with elves would mean they are somewhat intelligent and civilized.

there's also something about the dreugh god called ruddyman

A form taken by Molag Bal, accourding to Vivec's Sermons. Whatever that means.

His original state of existence....I think...

The Ruddy Man was a god/chieftan of the dreughs, who was a form of Molag Bal, but not his original form. I believe Sermon 28 sheds a little light on this relationship and alludes to the role of a dreugh civilization. Basically yes, the dreughs are intelligent, they were civilized, and currently completely hostile in most (if not all) TES games.

EDIT: After reading Sermon 28 again, it seems like the Ruddy Man was nothing more than a set of Dreugh-skin armor possessed by Molag Bal. This skin, called the Ruddy Man, would be worn by a mortal (first by a Velothi child, then by a shaman of the House of Troubles) and then the mortal would be transformed physically by the skin into a dreugh-like monster chieftan. Molag Bal simply possessed the skin and acted through it (later leaving it after its second appearance with the shaman).

You misunderstood me. I was fully aware what a "form of Molag Bal" means in the literal sense. The thing is, however, that you shouldn't take the Sermons literally. Most of it are metaphors, or paraphrases.