Dwemer meaning "Deep Elves" are a lost race that lived primarily in the region of Vvardenfell. They were a reclusive, independent race, dedicated to the principles of science, alchemy, and engineering. They did not die out; instead, the entire race vanished out of thin air all at the same time around the world. Yagrum Bagarn is the only known remaining living Dwemer on Nirn. Yagrum Bagarn resides in the Corprusarium deep underneath the island of Vvardenfell, in the Morrowind province of Tamriel. He has Corprus, and so lives eternally in constant pain. He is searching for clues to the whereabouts of his race when you find him in TESIII: Morrowind. In the tribunal expansion pack of morrowind, there is also a quest that leads you meet a dwemer ghost whose name is Radac and can be found in Radac's Forge. This dwemer is largely not thought of due to the fact that he does not give any clues about the dwemer race and is not alive.
Records of Dwemer activity date back to before the First Era, most notably in the Vvardenfell region (Vvardenfell, in Dwemeris, means "City of the Strong Shield"), which has the highest concentration of Dwemer ruins of any land in Tamriel. Feuding between Chimer and Dwemer continued until the First Council, when the Dwemer and Chimer unite to expel the Nords from Morrowind. One clan of Dwemer, the Rourken, refused to make peace with the Chimer, and their patriarch threw his ceremonial warhammer, Volendrung, across Tamriel, proclaiming that his clan would settle where it landed. Eventually, they settled in modern-day Hammerfell (explaining that region's name), home of the Redguards.
Eventually, however, tensions developed between the Chimer and Dwemer once again. A great war erupted between them, eventually leading to the mysterious disappearance of the Dwemer during The Battle of Red Mountain. The difficulty was prompted by the discovery of a mythological artifact known as the Heart of Lorkhan by the Dwemer, deep in the mountains' bowels. The Chief Tonal Architect Kagrenac, their de facto religious leader, devised a set of tools (Sunder, Keening, and Wraithguard) to manipulate the Heart to instill divinity to his people, but the spell failed and caused all known Dwemer to vanish (Varying accounts state that their connection to the heart was severed, although this seems unlikely. Other accounts suggest that Kagrenac used his Tools to release the Dwemer from the Mortal Plane, but this is even more implausible). Since 1E 668, no word has been heard of the Dwemer, with the notable exception of Yagrum Bagarn, who resides in the Corprusarium of Tel Fyr. Apparently, he was absent from the Mortal Plane at the time of the disappearance, visiting an Outer Realm, an alternate dimension. His 3000 years of exploration and 500 years of investigation have yielded no leads on the presence of his people on Mundus or any other plane of existence currently known.
There are many mysteries among the Dwemer creations left behind. Mages Guild investigators have discovered that if one of the centurion spiders is taken away from Vvardenfell, it gradually becomes more sluggish, eventually going into a state of torpor. Even more curious is that upon return, the spider re-activates back to normal aggressive levels, as if sensing the presence of the Dwemer ruins. Strangely, the Dwemer robots reactivate in the lands of the Redguard also.
Dwemer artifacts are highly prized throughout the Empire, although since they are technically the property of the Emperor under the charter of the Imperial Society of Architecture and Design as well as the Imperial Historical Society, the sale of them is illegal. This does not seem to stop artifacts from falling off the backs of wagons or otherwise disappearing into various collections. Dwemer weapons and armour are especially valued, renowned for their excellent craftsmanship and sturdy design. However, acquisition of these artifacts is extremely dangerous, because of the remote location of the ruins, and the multitude of aged and no-longer reliable Dwemeri machinery within, including the Steam Centurion and other automata, as well as sophisticated traps of which the Dwemer were particularly fond.
