Altmer or Dunmer. Which culture is more "advanced"?

kaisernick · June 2019

Well it was Altmer who founded the mages guild and (one can assume) that it was Altmer who founded the sigic order as well as the need to teleport it to another dimention.
Yes the clockwork city is similar to the Sigic island but in a comparasan i dont like to include it as it was created using stolen powers.
I think altmer are far more advanced in magic than the dunmer (and this is from a Dunmer lover)

robertbmilesb14_ESO · June 2019

It's a very subtle difference but is pretty much summed up with understanding some basic history in Architecture:

https://www.quora.com/Whats-the-difference-between-Gothic-and-Romanesque-architectures

Basically the Altmer are ahead by our terms over the Dunmer but not by much.

Medieval Era/Roman (Dunmer) vs Renaissance (Altmer)

We also know in this Era the most powerful mages are two Altmer (Our first main villain and the one who starts the Mage's Guild), there's allusions to other Altmer too. We know of one great Dunmer mage and the rest are comparable to Breton, Imperial, and Argonian mages. When someone speaks of the Telvanni, you have to remember that is the "elite" of the Dunmer and they are Multi-Racial anyhow. Other societies also have their Elites who compare, we meet a Nord Mage who would very well go toe-to-toe with any Telvanni Magister.

As to the feel of the Altmer and Dunmer which leads one to think the Dunmer are more advanced, it's probably the alieness.

One thing to keep in mind, the Tribunal kept out the Dark Anchors in ONE part of Morrowind. The Altmer did it on their own without such god-like intervention.

ArchMikem · June 2019

psychotrip wrote: »

josephus41198 wrote: »

Of course Altmer.
Even by ESO standards, the Altmer culture is sooo more advanced
look at the cities! the structures!
and then look at the cities on vvardenfell.
even vivec, which is the most beautiful city of the Dunmer, cant compare with Alinor.

Oh, and some dunmer live in tents.

Did you read the first post, where I explained just how much of an engineering feat vivec actually is? Beauty is aside the point. The irrigation and ventilation systems alone are astounding, and the materials used to make the city appear to be some sort of moldable concrete as opposed to stone bricks stacked on top of each other.

A loading screen for one of the Battlegrounds set on Vvardenfell said Vivec is actually made using Granite from mines around Red Mountain. Which is weird cause I didn't see anything in Vivec that looked like Granite. But yeah Dunmer also make use of Bonemold which is icky.