The clockwork city. Very facinating piece right ther but I cannot find much material on it. So I have a few theories in my head but I wanna ask a few questions.
1. What exactly is the clockwork city?
2. What was the purpose behind the clockwork city creation?
3. What became the purpose of the clockwork city?
4. Is the clockwork city still standing?

And the last question that pertains more to sortha sil but still pertains to the city.
5. Did sortha sil study the dwermers work and does the city use any of their theories?

From an MK AMA on the IRC:

In short? Stay tuned.

Wat. If a god couldn't figure it out...

Sotha Sil didn't create the city himself?

That's not what MK said, just that he never figured it out.

Like what if Richard Dreyfus never discovered he was building Devil's Tower http://tpscifi.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/kitchen-mound.jpg. (I think that scene's from after he found out the mashed potatoes were Devil's Tower.)

The Clockwork City was Sotha Sil, and Sotha Sil's greatest Mystery was himself. I don't think he was capable of understanding it.

Consider these words of Vivec:

"[Seht] is a machine and the mouth of a machine. His only mystery is an invitation to elaborate further."

"Seht [is] the mechanism that allows the transformation of the world."

"Seht is the ending."

You seeing what I'm seeing? Seht's importance is yet to come.

Stay tuned.

I like the theory that Sil was working on his own Brass God, with the Clockwork City being his own realization of the concept rather the giant time stompy automaton.

Yes. But the stompy death-robot isn't what's important here, it's why the Numidium was built that's interesting.

Oh agreed. I was more pointing out that the Clockwork City (if it is another crack at Numidium) is a totally different realization then being stompy-stomp-stomp.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAkZT_4vL_Y

But really, Sil probably couldn't explain what he was doing himself if he was still alive. Maybe we'll get the answer someday.

He's gonna be in C0DA.

Just sayin'.

So its still a mystery, the whole thing I'm guessing.
I was under the impression it coulda been a lot of things. One of the rasons why I asked if he studied dwermer stuff was wondering if the entire city was basically a version of one of tbeir soul filled mechanical robots. Or if it was his version of the stompy robot. Or if it was something he created to survive the kalpa to push his knowledge and existence further into the next kalpa. Etc etc ideas that form when thinking about a subject I don't know much about.

Also don't flame me, but what exactly is a C0da?

Michael Kirkbride's current project. MK is a former developer from the Morrowind days, and occasionally posts new texts to clarify and deepen our understanding of Tamriel. Lately he's been hinting at something called C0DA, which will apparently bring back a load of fan favorites and answer some question/pose new ones.

U know when reading that qoute, in my head I first thought of Vivec....but I'm actually thinking Fyr now.

Edit-nah my quess goes back to vivec since he comes back in the 5th age.

The Clockwork city is Sotha Sil's oracle on creation. And probably also his playground. Considering all the trauma the region of Morrowind faced, I kinda doubt it's still standing. But then again, if there are still Dwemer ruins on Solstheim, why not?