Studies on Vvardenfell Dwemeri Armor and Weapons

These are just my long-time thoughts on interesting designs seen on Vvardenfell Dwemeri items. We know Dwemer craftsmen favored functionality above else, but these items have many details that don’t seem to serve any functional purpose as they’re presented in Morrowind (the game), but what if they once actually did? Given that Dwemer were really advanced race and generally masters of all sciences, it would be only logical to assume their now seemingly primitive equipment was once something much greater.

On Weapons

First we should start our study by looking at this fine picture of all Dwemer weapons as shown in Morrowind:

We can see the designs are quite simple and functional, but they seem to have interesting details that don’t seem to serve any purpose on as how they were used in the Third Era.

Take the Dwemeri mace for example. It seems to look like it’s head was once rotating and it might have been powered saw of somesort. Was this even a weapon or was it actually a cutting tool for stonework or something? The battle axe seems to also have bit odd blade that appears to have had rotating mechanical functionality, but it is unlikely it was a saw of any sort.

Most interesting among them arguably is the halberd. The design is very unusual and looks like magical staff of sorts or a tuning fork. Infact I’d argue this might have been originally ranged weapon. Possibly electrical in nature. There is also a case of a unique halberd with electrical enchantments. They aren’t ranged though, but it could be just case of enchantment degradation. Alternatively, it might have also been simply a tuning fork for solid sounds.

However, warhammer, spear, swords and war axe are of more simple design and it is highly possible these were just simple weapons to begin with. The existence of screws on them might suggest some modularity or adjustability though.

Powered Armor?

Let’s look at pictures again, since it is important:

It can be clearly seen that Dwemer armor of Vvardenfell variety is quite mechanical and even robotic in design. It would be easy to assume it is simply parts of centurions as proposed by many sources. However, we have never seen such centurion and there is the case of “Chimarvamidium”, a book in series of Ancient Tales of the Dwemer. The series in question is notoriously fake, but contains few authentic tales and “Chimarvamidium” happens to be one of those. Tale of “Chimarvamidium” is particularly simple tale about strength and power of Dwemer, but it deals with a Dwemer literally becoming a centurion through the use armor. What if the armor in question was infact a centurion itself? A man (or mer) operable version as in powered armor, but the suit might have been also capable of operating idepentendely. It is notable that the book “Ruins of Kemel-Ze” also appears to feauture similiar armor-centurions, but they are never described in action on that text.

Alternatively, the armor is infact shell of an unknown centurion and “Chimarvamidium” just deals with a particularly strong Dwemer donning that shell.

Other interesting thing is the deal with “Chimarvamidium” name itself. Perhaps this was name for such centurions that could be operated by a man or mer, since “midium” exist also in word Numidium. Publisher’s notes seem to provide more basis for that hypothesis. Though, I remember reading theories that “midium” in Numidium translates to roughly to something like RL “Midi-Interface” and it would logical given that the world is actually music, but make this hypothesis less plausible and word “Chimarvamidium” even more mysterious.