Is it true that they isolated themselves, or is it rather that the only traces of them that we see today are those ruins that are mostly underground? Omissions do not prove a lack of anything but the omission

Why did they isolate themselves from the rest of society?

Isn't the reason they isolated themselves from society obvious? They were different. They thought on a higher level than all the other races. The other races were like cavemen to them.

One of the new Dwemer books in Skyrim does mention that they favored underground construction, which I'm assuming is a difference in the attitudes of the Rourken and the geography of Skyrim (better rock allows for more stable structures, and building underground is better for insulation against the cold).

Judging by the size of all of these underground cities planted everywhere you would think Skyrim once had more Dwemer than Nords.

Curiously I have not come across any mention of interactions between Nords and Dwemer in Skyrim. If they once cooexisted in such plentiful numbers with huge fortresses all over the surface dominating all the Nord settlements you think they would have more of a visible history in the province.

Still, what is the purpose of their mines? Surly, they didn't live in half of those we find. They all seem to have some sort of goal to accomplish.

I always figured it was a symbol of their disrespect for the gods. All the other races build towards the heavens, but the dwemer moves in their own direction.

Isn't Markarth supposed to be the closest thing we have to an intact Dwemeri city?

As far as I remember, it came smack out of the blue. Though, I bet it was a way for Bethesda to have falmer, and explain why they're goblins now.

I believe the wiggle room came when Beth, also, made it so that the differeing dwemer clans (areas) had some different quirks. In addition, I guess Hasphat Antabolis's quote also allowed some wiggle room, as he does mention the Dwemer, in Sul's writings, were nothing more than romantacized crap, while the real dwemer were just...out there.

The Dwemer appear in these tales as creatures of fable and light fantasy, but in general they are "just like us". They come across as a bit eccentric, perhaps, but certainly there is nothing fearsome or dangerous about them. Compare these to the Dwemer of early Redguard legend: a mysterious, powerful race, capable of bending the very laws of nature to their will; vanished but perhaps not gone. Or the Dwemer portrayed in the most ancient Nord sagas: fearsome warriors, tainted by blasphemous religious practices, who used their profane mechanisms to drive the Nords from Morrowind. Marobar Sul's Dwemer were much more amenable to the spirit of the time, which saw humans as the pinnacle of creation and the other races as unenlightened barbarians or imperfect, lesser versions of humans eager for tutelage. Ancient Tales falls firmly in the latter camp, which does much to explain its enduring hold on the popular imagination. Marobar Sul's Dwemer are so much more comfortable, so much friendlier, so much more familiar, than the real Dwemer, whose truly mysterious nature we are only beginning to understand. The public prefers the light, trivial version of this vanished race. And from what I have learned in my years of studying the Dwemer, I have some sympathy for that preference. As the following essays will show, the Dwemer were, to our modern eyes, a remarkably unlikeable people in many ways.

Yes, don't get me wrong, I'm not disagreeing with you.

As far as I remember, it came smack out of the blue. Though, I bet it was a way for Bethesda to have falmer, and explain why they're goblins now.

I do, however, find it interesting how the falmer literally evolved into monsters. It's a shame they don't look even the slightest like their original form.

I always figured it was a symbol of their disrespect for the gods. All the other races build towards the heavens, but the dwemer moves in their own direction.

Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were being sarcastic.

In Skyrim that works, 'cause Kyne is so important to the Nords, but other than that TES is remarkably free of the sky/heaven, earth/hell archetype. To my knowledge. After all, Oblivion is up, too. The difference is towers - the Dwemer did that, too, but differently than everyone else. Naturally.