Dwemer

from the elder scrolls game skyrim.

the dwemer are also called dwarves. (also referred to as the “deep-elves,” “deep folk,” “deep ones,” or the “people of the deep”) were an ancient, “lost race” of mer who were remnants of the early aldmer, and lived primarily in the region of dwemereth.

the dwemer were an advanced race and civilization, and were far ahead of other races and civilizations in terms of government, society, technology, architecture, stonework and city-planning. they were well known for their revolutionary developments and achievements in technology, engineering, crafting methods, metalwork, stonework, architecture and city-planning, science, mathematics and magic, as well as their skills in engineering, crafting, metalwork, stonework, city-planning and the academic arts (science, mathematics and magic).

they are an ancient steampunk race that vanished off the plane of planet nirn during the 1st. era.
probably the defining aspect of the dwemer was their use of the heart of lorkhan. according to legend, after lorkhan tricked or convinced the aedra to create the mortal realm, they tore out his divine heart and threw it down to nirn, to be hidden forever. meanwhile, tensions began to flare between the chimer and dwemer once again. when kagrenac—the chief tonal architect of the dwemer—prompted the discovery of a mythological artifact known as the heart of lorkhan by the dwemer, deep in the mountains’ bowels. when the chimer discovered this, they believed that the dwemer were mocking and disgracing their cultural beliefs, and as a result, a second battle of red mountain erupted in 1e 700. kagrenac devised a set of tools: sunder, keening, and wraithguard, to manipulate the heart to instill divinity to his people, in order to make them immortal, but the spell backfired and caused all known dwemer to vanish, similarly in the form of a dragon break, leading to their mysterious disappearance. ~elder scrolls wikia