Alright, if you have played The Elder Scrolls then chances are you know of the Dwemer, a race of men in mountains who essentially all disappeared in their steampunk phase while literally everything else was beating each other with big clubs, they were an impressive bunch. But that's not what I'm here to cover today, instead I have a theory.
Did the Dwemer just Zero-Sum?
Zero-Summing is what happens when you try to attain Godhood but fail to keep your individual personality, through a means called Chim. Both Vivec and Talos achieved Chim, and Talos became a recognized god, not too sure about the Elf. Perhaps the Dwemer tried to undergo Chim, failed and straight up ceased to exist?
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Don't think so.. with my basic understanding of Chim I don't see it. Wouldn't their history and all their things they made be erased from existence and memory? What I do know is they were TRYING to attain Godhood, and to do so they hoped to harness the power of the Heart of Lorkhan. Lorkhan, if memory serves correctly, was sent to our plane of existence by Sithis in order to take things back to the natural order (everything was meant to stay an endless void). Could be that Sithis punished them for their impudence. The power of Sithis stands above all else in the lore, through implication. Everything that ever was or will be came from the void. And everything will eventually return to it. The Dwarves played with fire and probably got burned.