Lore:On Dwarven Dynastors

Book Information
Seen In:	Elder Scrolls Online (Markarth)

On Dwarven Dynastors

by Raynor Vanos, Scholar of Dwemer Antiquities

Research notes on colossal beetle-like Dwemer constructs

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Most amateur explorers will boast about seeing a Dwemer machine of some kind or another at some point during their travels. These tales invariably feature Dwarven Spiders or Spheres and follow the same predictable formula: an animuculus springs from the wall and starts swinging, claws akimbo. The truth is that these stories barely scratch the surface of Dwemer craftsmanship. A wealth of Dwarven machines trudge and skitter in the deepest ruins. I daresay we have discovered only a fraction of their mechanical servants!

Take the Dynastor, for instance. While I've never seen one of these giants in person, I've found several partial depictions. It's difficult to gauge the size with certainty based only on these renderings, but I'd wager they stand taller than a Dwarven Centurion and rival a Gold Coast trade wagon in length. Like other animunculi, it appears to mimic organic shapes—in this case, a horned behemoth-shalk. What I find most intriguing is the central machinery.

If I understand these schematics correctly, the Dynastor served as a carriage of sorts. Several Dwarven Spheres were housed in the central carapace. At the appropriate time, they would spring from a concealed chute and presumably operate in tandem to defeat whatever foe they encountered. The machinery seems dizzyingly complex, even by Dwarven standards.

This all begs the question: Why did the Dwemer create such a machine? It seems clear to me that unlike other Dwarven servitors, the Dynastor was expressly created for warfare. The truth is we still know very little about the battles that raged beneath the surface of Tamriel prior to the eruption of Red Mountain. Even larger machines may still wander the ruins in search of Dumac's enemies. Hopefully, we can delve ever deeper and unravel even more of these ancient mysteries!