Wth? How is it that a soul gem can be a turret? I never payed any mind to it until now, but seriously, wth???

Magic.

This.

What sense does it make to be a talking lizard that can shoot bolts of lightning from his fingertips? Thats right, its a fantasy game. Probably should have made it like a dwemer device powered by soul gems, but its not that crazy.

I wondered the same thing. Dwemer automatons like the Centurions and Spiders seem to use the "energy" of the soul in the gem, and possibly the "intelligence" as well. They're machines/artifacts that operate with a purpose and seem to be capable of making basic decisions, kind of like a turret deciding you don't belong somewhere right before it fires on you. From what I've seen in the game, soulgems can give artifacts they're attached to a sort of AI. The turrets you mentioned seem to fit this way of thinking using energy and some kind of IFF. But, that's just how I looked at it. Another reason I enjoyed Skyrim, it gives you a lot to look at and think about as you play.

Yeah, it makes sense for the machines but the turrets are just stone pillars with a floating soul gem. I do not comprehend this...

its not the gem per say its the way it is positioned inside a magic fabrication (the pedestal and probably the runes and ethereal fabric that you can't see) that's why its "off" when you knock it down

In a fantasy series where there's spaceships, moon colonies, and even immense power once a video game character learns they are in a video game(that's how one acquires CHIM, I think)... Yeah. Turrets make plenty of sense.

the soul gem or the pedistal the soul gem is on is enchanted to cast a spell when it detects someone who isnt the enchanter or someone or a group of people the enchanter specifies are allowed into an area and it draws magicka from the soul gem to cast said spell.

And yet people are still obsessed with realism in Skyrim. Realism got thrown out the window when they developed Arena.

For all my disappointments with Skyrim, turrets are not among them.

they're magical traps and they don't feel out of place at all to me.

I don't know... but they make a bit more sense than the 'Welkynd Stones' in Oblivion... objects of great something-or-other-cal value that the Ayleids would use as glorified street lighting... you'd wander into a dungeon, knock them off their poles with an arrow, and then go sell them at a shop. In comparaison the whole soul-gem as I.E.D. thing seems quite plausible.

Why can a staff shoot lightning bolts? A soul gem is basically a reservoir of magicka that comes from a contained soul. Using this magicka, the soul gem can provide enchantments or cast spells.

Spaceships and Moon Colonies? CHIM? Sure your talking about Skyrim? I think your getting your hyperbole mixed up.

If you want reality, why are you even in Skyrim?

No offense bro, but have you been hitting the sugar lately?
What moon colony are you talking about?

I don't care for reality, I was wondering how in the reality of Elder Scrolls***... is this possible.

The lore says that. It's a bit more obscure, though, I think... I need to stop posting on these forums when I'm tired...