you know how theres dunmer, bosmer, altmer. so than in morrowind your introduced to chimer, what the dunmer are descended from. you also have dwemmer, the died out but still elven race. if you count the falmer from BM, thats 6 different elves. Plus, if you count what the orcs were changed from, thats seven, because it is written in a book (either "The Pig Children" or "The True Nature of Orcs" or something) they were once elves, making 7. So is that Seven different types or just Three? i forget, but i thought there might be one more...if so enlighten me...

Uh, this belongs in one of the Morrowind sections. The debates forum is for off-topic debates, stuff like politics, etc.

:oops: oops :oops: :oops: sorry i didnt see, and im a little stupid sometimes...if you can move it, do so please. :oops: :oops:


ya know what, im a stupid :ranting:

So far we have:

Altmer
Bosmer
Chimer
Dunmer
Dwemer
Falmer
Orsimir

hmmm....
I can't think of any others.
I forgot two...
Ayleids. Wild Elves.
Maormer. Tropical Elves. http://til.gamingsource.co.uk/pge/wildregions.shtml

i thought the dwemer were dwarves hence "the disappearance of the dwarves"?

from my understanding, any race that has a name with the suffix 'mer' is elvein. plus, from reading books that you find, (actually reading them, not just for the occasional bonus) you understand that there are more than just three, like how orcs are orsimer. but to me it doesnt make since how the number of races per distinction is unbalanced. 3 groups of beast races, one a pig one a lizzard and one a cat, even though the pig is actually an elf that doesnt count, and the cat can sometimes look elven. there are Four races of men, redgaurds nords imperials brettons. and only 3 playable elves, not counting orcs? how is that balanced? its too bad that you cant be more......but theres allways room to dream!(and also the tes cs if you cant)

They bypassed the limited lifespan of men by making the Nerevarine immortal (in dialogue, no spell or anything). The immortality was only longevity, actually- life forever, barring accidents.

Otherwise, they would have had a several-decade old human, which would not fit in.

As ShinJiOh said, the dwemer were dwarfs right? not elves. Why do the people of morrowind call the dwarfs dwemer? Thats so stupid and unnecesarry (cant spell that one )

"Dwarves" is the name given to the Dwemer by their friendly giant neighbours millenia ago. Then everoneelse called them the "Dwarves" or "Dwemer"
Simply put.

well, i think it was not very right of the chimer to drive out the dwemmer, to be at war with them. it was the dwemmer's land orriginally. and then you her all the native dunmer, chimer evolutions, talk about how it used to be rasdayn, "Their land", when it was the dwemmer's all along. wich makes me think that the native dunmer are hipocrits. never have sympathised with the native dunmer at all, unless you count completeing MW main quest. (but this isnt the thread for that particular detail). it would be awesome if you could have more of a selection of character races, be all of the elven nations, but it would skew the history of the game and make the plot run thin.

(oh, bty, is this necessarily off topic? its mainly about the number of elven races, but it could be about elves in general in the game)

No, they are not. In Nirn (the mortal world basically) there is no such thing as dwarves, at least not as we know them in D&D and most fantasy books. As Stormscape said, the Dwemer where named Dwarves by the now extinct Giants. The Giants were 3 or 4 meters (9 or 12 feet) tall, when they met the Dwemer they realized that they where very similar to each other, so the Giants befriended the Dwemer and called them Dwarves because of their small relative size. In reality a Dwemer is about the size of a Breton or Imperial; shorter than an Altmer, Nord, Orc, or Dunmer; and taller than a Redguard or Bosmer.

Dwemer means: Deep, or smart folk.

Now, if someone could make a race of Dwemer based on the ghosts in the ruins, I just might have something to go on with Part 2 of Chronicles...
hmm....
*imagines what the Orsimir looked like*

Have you seen an orc? That is what the Orsimer (not Orsimir) look like. As a matter of fact, Orcs are Orsimer.

No, I mean before Boethiah ate Malacath...

when men tried to translate the word dwemer into their language in was originally in elvin (i think) and in elvin it meant "deep folk" but ppl from teh west thought mistranslated deep as "short", so "short folk" hence dwarve

It actually means "Deep Ones"

deep ones, could that relate to the fact that they were always deep underground?
i can see the short part, but i dont get the deep part

well, there are 6 in my opinion

bosmer
dunmer
altmer
falmer
aeylids
dwemer

and then theres

orcs
bretons
nords
imperials
khajiit
argonians


just goto TIL if you want to know more.

Aeylids ive never heard of, but are they in that book "The Wild Elves"?


if they exist, and you include all the elves past and present, there are at least nine

1.aldmer
2.chimer
3.altmer
4.dunmer
5.bosmer
6.dwemmer
7.falmer
8.aeylids
9.Orsimer(Which are Orcs, read more books like "The true nature of orcs" and "The pig children" etc.)

and that pretty much sums it up.

before i read your post(i think it was at 2:30 last night), Cmac, i looked it up in that book and they exist. so, yes. there are now nine elves. but why couldnt they have a good name with the suffix -mer in it? seems like they are shunned or something.

Tamriel is much like the Eurasia and Africa continents. Highelves being from Asia(specially Japan's islands.), Imperials being from the Greek-Roman area, Nords and Bretons are fairly obvious, being Scandinavians and Celtics, respectively. Khajiit and Argonians are very difficult to place, but they seem sort of South America-ish.

Anyway. My point is that Tamriel isn't the whole world. There are most likely races out there that are not even known to the inhabitants of Tamriel.

Altho that has nothing to do with this thread's subject directly, so I will post something ontopic and clearify.

In many books it talks about the 'man' and 'mer' races. Thus, in fact, there are three elven 'species.' The Dunmer came from imigrated chimer. They adapted and were no longer the Chimer, but now the Dunmer. Same thing with the Orcs, as far as I can figure - altho I thought that Molag had something to do with twisting elves into Orcs?

So, over all, disregarding timelines, any name that begins with 'mer' can be called an elven 'type' and counted. Otherwise it's time biased. Currently there are, to my knowledge, only the Aeylids(Wild Elves), Dunmer, Bosmer, and Altmer.

In the practical game(active races that you find) there are only three elven types. In game theory(meaning the entire Elder Scrolls universe concept), there could be more then simply what is available knowledge on Morrowind and in this game.

well, this being the lore section, it has to do with game theory. hope that clears your misconception.

I've done some digging, and I found a few more things:

Ayleid (Wild Elves)s – these reclusive mer are reputed to inhabit the wild areas of every region of Tamriel. They isolate themselves from all other races, even Altmer, preferring to maintain an exclusively Ayleidic, traditional culture that is removed from and alien to the mainstream of Tamriel.

Imga – the Ape Men of Valenwood. Aspiring to be more like mer, they often shave their fur, wear Altmeri clothing and even adopt superior attitudes towards men and other beast races.

Falmer (Snow or Ice Elves) – these legendary mer are reputed to have once inhabited the cold wastes of northern Tamriel. They feature in Nord folklore, but there are no modern accounts of them and they are widely believed to be now extinct. One myth holds that they were exterminated by the Nords of Skyrim, during the reign of King Vrage the Gifted (ca.1E230), while another suggests that the last of the Falmer were killed by the Nords of Solstheim.

Tsaesci – the Akaviri Serpent Folk credited with having eaten all of the Akaviri men and attempting to eat all of the Akaviri Dragons. During the First and Second Eras, Tsaesci were quite accepted in Tamriel and, for a substantial part of the Second Era, they controlled the Empire.

Ehlnofey – believed by many to be one of the earliest mortal races upon Nirn and ancestors of both men and mer. However, Ehlnofey can be translated as ‘Earth Bones’ and, as such, the term is often used to describe the mythic foundations of the mortal plane itself, created by a sacrificial transition which certain immortals reputedly undertook during the Dawn Era. Altmer specifically revere these immortals as Aedra, that is, ‘our ancestors’.

Kamal – the Snow Demons of Akavir that thaw out each year and attempt to overrun the Tang Mo. In the past, they have also attempted to invade Tamriel.

Ka Po’ Tun – the Tiger Folk of Akavir. The last of the Akaviri Dragons were destroyed long ago, during a war between the now Ka Po’ Tun and the Tsaesci. Now the Tiger Folk seek to become Dragons; their leader, Tosh Raka, has reputedly succeeded and is now the largest Dragon on Nirn.

Sload – a slug-like race despised by all of Tamriel for unleashing the Thrassian Plague which wiped out most of the inhabitants of Tamriel (ca.1E2200). Their homeland of Thras was subsequently sunk by a united Tamrielic armada and it was believed all had been killed, but some remain. They are slow and deliberate creatures with a very high aptitude for magic and a particular interest in necromancy.

Tang Mo – the hugely diverse Monkey Folk of the Akaviri archipelago. They have always managed to resist becoming enslaved by the other dominant races of Akavir. They do not appear to be related to the Imga.

Adrian, the Tropical Elves are called Maormer. The Maormer, or Tropical Elves are a rare breed of Elf that live on the secluded island of Pyandonea. Far to the south of the Summerset Isles is the island kingdom of Pyandonea, home to the Maormer, a rare breed of tropical elf. It is covered mostly in dense rain forest, and is a playground for the southern water spirits. The Maormer almost never travel to Tamriel or visit their cousins at Summerset, for they were exiled from the latter kingdom in ancient times. They are known to possess a strange, chameleon-like skin, an involuntary process that is similar to the forest-coupling skills of the Bosmer. They also practice a powerful form of snake magic. With this, they have tamed the sea serpents of their island for use as steeds and warbeasts. The Maormer ruler is King Orgnum, a deathless wizard who is said to be the Serpent God of the Satakal.

I had no misconception, Breton Thief Oriana, I was merely covering all possible aspects of the question at hand.

Having discovered new information that pertains to this, I shall also make it of note.

All man and mer races are interchangably breedable, altho the child normally takes after the mother for thier racial 'traits'. Thus you would be left with a huge range of race possibilites.


Therefore I conclude it is impractical and impossible to determine the actual number of 'types' of elves there are.

Perhaps there is still Dwemer blood out there in a few Dunmer and they're actually half Dunmer and half Dwemer. What about that guy looking for the Falmer? Maybe he's not actually an Altmer. Game theory allows for alot of speculation.

Been doing your reading eh Cmac?

Was the speculation that Ricklings are related to Falmer just delusional?

acualy its quite simple. Dunmer Bosmer and altmer. Becouse they are the only one who is called elves.

does it really matter how many elves there are?

No, I just thought it would be an interesting point to ramble on and on about.

(>.< D*** N00B)

I think the quote "men and mer" is referring to men and elves, maybe just a cheap translation job at Bethesda? I read previously that the dai-katana was really a mistranslated japanese blade. I'm just going to pretend mer=elf when im playing the game, so it makes sense.

(off-topic, please don't hurt me)While on the discussion of races, what of the nords? I imagine men and elves could have came from the "earth bones" *forget the name* race. But the Nords are supposedly children of the sky, could they be another odd prophecy of a god? (Orcs and Dunmer both were morphed from pure divinity... i think). If this is too off topic than just ignore it

Hey, It's on topic now I suppose. I dunno, maybe they just like to call themselves "Children of the Sky". To the best of my knowledge, however, they are men. You wouldn't be able to tell because they are taller.

Nords ARE men. The Ehlnofey are ancestors of both man and mer, bus still exist themselves. It's like a partial evolution.

Nords DO consider themselves to be the children of the sky. They call Skyrim the Throat of the World, because it is where the sky exhaled on the land and formed them. They see themselves as eternal outsiders and invaders, and even when they conquer and rule another people; they feel no kinship with them.

The breath and the voice are the vital essence of a Nord. When they defeat great enemies they take their tongues as trophies. These are woven into ropes and can hold speech like an enchantment. The power of a Nord can be articulated into a shout, like the kiai of an Akaviri swordsman. The strongest of their warriors are called "Tongues." When the Nords attack a city, they take no siege engines or cavalry; the Tongues form in a wedge in front of the gatehouse, and draw in breath. When the leader lets it out in a kiai, the doors are blown in, and the axemen rush into the city. Shouts can be used to sharpen blades or to strike enemies. A common effect is the shout that knocks an enemy back, or the power of command. A strong Nord can instill bravery in men with his battle-cry, or stop a charging warrior with a roar. The greatest of the Nords can call to specific people over hundreds of miles, and can move by casting a shout, appearing where it lands.

The most powerful Nords cannot speak without causing destruction. They must go gagged, and communicate through a sign language and through scribing runes.
The further north you go into Skyrim, the more powerful and elemental the people become, and the less they require dwellings and shelters. Wind is fundamental to Skyrim and the Nords; those that live in the far wastes always carry a wind with them.

So they really evolved, and "children of the sky" it's just some odd catchphrase (or relating to homeland's location). So the orcs got a cool creation, as did the dark elves... The Nords just did boring evolution, and have odd myths.

I'm pretty sure there are seven in the ElserScroll seris.