But it takes a considerable amount of time to develop firearms, magic already has an assortment of powerful spells.

Well, actually..
The Imperial Inner Council used to communicate with each other via a dreemsleeve inversion.. (The internet.)
Imperial battlemages function very much like tanks..

Magic very much takes the place of technology in Tamriel, and as I have pointed out in my previous post, sometimes surpasses our own capabilities.

No it does not. We'd be talking early firearms, hand cannons or large unweildy muzzleloaded beasts. These had to be carefuly made, maintained, and took proper training to use. Even modern handguns require proper training and upkeep to use and keep in working order.

bcs is exactly right.
This is an interesting point because it`s almost exactly the argument people in the old days used against the use of guns, insisting that the old sword, lances and archers were best.
It never stopped gunnes taking off once people realised how easy it was to use them.

The only logical reason why there is no innovation is because people are prevented from doing it by the gids of their world and the Dwemer vanishing is a stark warning to all never to dare try it again.

I think the magic replaced technology argument holds more water the more universal magic use is. If everyone is capable of casting spells with no drawback, then there is little reason to have technology.

I'm not sure what lore says though; is it a situation where magic is prevalent and easily attainable by all, or is it a rare talent sought after by the few that are able to withstand the mental and spiritual dangers of casting?

The dwarves weren't punished for creating tech....though some of the other races seem to believe that is the case they really only got into trouble when they tried to make their own god. I'm pretty sure trying to put together a god...one that they seemed to think would or could replace the existing ones is what got them their one way ticket to extinction.

Also humans ARE experimenting with tech, just not on the same scale as they are with magic....because magic has been shown time and again to be the go to source for raw power. Whereas tech is easily broken or flawed to begin with most of the humans in the TES world still don't even really understand dwarven construction or how their machines work.There seems to be SOME progress but overall the few who are intelligent enough to make their own equipment tend to be more interested in figuring out what the dwarves did to make their stuff work.....and usually end up dead in the process(Usually killed by one of the constructs they're so interested in)

Until there are human or even elven inventors who decide to create their own work rather than copying what the dwarves did already we won't see much technological growth mostly because even after hundreds of years they still don't understand how most of it works.

Its like music.
Anyone can learn to play an instrument, but only a few are good enough to work in an orchestra, and even less are superstars on the violin.

Unlikely. As I have understtod it all can cast the novice and apprentice spells with little training, but few are gifted enough to master the art. Since so few are gifted naturally with magic many rather learn the ways of the warrior or stealth than develop the basic magic skills. Which again would result in not developing firearms.

Lots of good points here. Until there is a real need for it there may never be a renaissance in Tamriel. There's also the current system in place that has more to loose in shaking up the status quo than it would gain by invention. Lords, mages, and gods alike.

Things like gunpowder may be inert in a world where you can cure gonorrhea by eating hawk feathers.

How long has Tamriel been around? Some of these eras are very short, such as the last one. How long was the stone age, bronze, iron, etc. ? The ancient greeks had steam power, but to them it was a toy. Slave power made steam power unnecessary. Necessity is the mother of invention. If they don't have a need, they won't address it. Some of these inventions may have already been created, but sit collecting dust because there is no need for them...or people are afraid of them. Until there is a shortage of magic users, technology will be on the back burner. Until the aedra and daedra stop pulling the strings, technology will be on the back burner.

From what lore I`ve read (in Morrowind) no one knows why the Dwarves vanished. Some say it was due to some technologicaly they created that backfired on them, others that the gods got angry with their obstinacy in trying to be like gods. For all we know, they teleported themselves onto another planet by mistake!

There are people studying the Dwemer and their stuff, but I`ve not seen anyone try to use anything of theirs except their swords and armour.

I think the real test would come if someone actually REPLICATED or MADE a technological advancement? would the gods then notice and suddenly clamp down on them? Or let them do it?

Of course, this is alll supposition in story. In truth its up to Bethesda writer`s to decide. i would hope that they would make it so the gods are preventing technology from taking hold as it makes the most sense.

You're contradicting yourself in your own post. If only few are gifted with magic, it would make much more sense to develop weapons that are kind of like magic but much easier to use and available to everyone. That is, guns.

Not everyone is magically inclined. If firearms could be produced for the "masses" or something similar, I could see a shift happening.

staffs take the place of guns imo, don't need much magical training to use them, and the magic is in the staff not the person.

I see the aedra and the deadra trying to control it, before letting it loose. I'm starting to think that the gods probably do keep things the way they are. They locked away the oghma infinium.

Spellcasting might require years of training, but anyone can use staves and other enchanted items to some extent. I think guns could be seen kinda like electric cars in the real world. There isn't a lot of inventive to work with guns and develop them to the point where they'd be competitive with enchantments unless there's some kind of soul gem shortage.

Few are gifted, all can learn. Havelock1000 points out that since there is no necessity there will be no development which means no firearms because there is no need for it. Also that most of the people capable of inventing new things such as firearms are trained in magic also lowers the chances.

At the end of the day I don't care how many reasons there are for technological advancement in TES, I want one of the last medievel fantasy series to stay in that technological stage.

If you want higher tech, like guns and what not, you TES to be like CoD....Jokes aside, magic, the divine, and the princes are enough.

Because skyrim is full of unwashed barbarians who only want to bash heads with clubs

Who's to say the other more urban societies on nirn haven't embraced technology ?

THIS.

Also, the Dwemer "robots" were not electronic they were based on ancient magic.

But Nirn is not Earth as said above. This means there is no periodic table and sulphur and charcoal do not exist, thus no gunpowder. That is the way you have to look at it. This can be applied to things like petrol, circuit boards etc.

Anyway there have been some advancements... carriages maybe? Magic has definitely improved, new potions have been discovered... there has been innovation just not in the scientific sense.

That is like arguing that well, we have swords and they kill pretty well, so why bother inventing bows and arrows?

Even without "necessity", inventions happen. And to claim there is no "necessity" in combat - a situation where your own like is at stake - is preposterous. Nobody wants to die. Everyone will try and find a way to not get killed. Eliminating threat from far away is one of the best ways of doing that. And guns are best are killing at a distance. That's why we're not using bows and crossbows anymore.

Even if magic was available to everyone and very easy to learn, people would still invent guns - because, in the possible scenario you run out of Magicka, it's better to be a mage with a gun.


I also don't want guns in TES. But saying there are no guns because "magic" is just silly and makes little sense.

How about simply assuming there's no way to make gunpowder? Let's say there's no sulfur, potassium or nitrate on Nirn. There, problem solved.

ACtually, there is charcoal

Yes but it is the players choice to fill in the gaps. In my game the chemical elements for major technological advancement (including gunpowder) would not exist.

Not really, as they do have gunpowder.