Brief Overview of the Dark Brotherhood of Tamriel

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Violet
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Brief Overview of the Dark Brotherhood of Tamriel

Post by Violet »

A brief overview of the DB.

The Dark Brotherhood is an eclectic assassin’s guild found throughout Tamriel, with the exception of Morrowind. The assassin’s guild pays tribute to Mephala, but is secular in general. The Dark Brotherhood’s structure can be looked at as webbed tiers of authority. The Night Mothers are those that run the networks of their designated regions of influence, such as the Iliac Bay, Strident Border, Nibenay, and the Greater Reach, and are of the Master Assassin class. Below them are the Plotters, or “Dark Plotters” as some may call them, these are typically a mix of Dark Brothers and Assassins, to use their official names, though not all Dark Brothers or Assassins are in charge of an individual Sanctuary. There are no grand leaders beyond the Night Mothers, as, officially, Mephala herself is the leader of the guild as a whole – if by title alone (or so it would seem to most of the guild). Typically, a Night Mother will only reveal herself to a member that has earned her favor by raising their rank and increasing their infamy amongst the guild.

The services available for faction members include weapon buying/selling and repair, training in stealth-based skills, lockpicking tools, enchanting, and the selling of potions and alchemical equipment and ingredients – often of the more deadly variety. The Dark Brotherhood is also home to a higher number of Scouts and Savants roaming their halls compared to most guilds, as one of an assassin’s greatest tools is information. Each network within the guild tends to operate with little regard for the others – save for when the contract is a particularly high priority target. The guild’s services tend to vary a bit between each network, as does the number of sanctuaries and goals; Though they all share a common goal – to expand protect the Brotherhood and its continued existence within the world. Some Brotherhood networks tend to incorporate other gods and spirits into their practices, whereas others ignore Mephala entirely and stay focused on the jobs at hand.

Sanctuaries can be found anywhere the Brotherhood can find shelter. Caves, Tombs, Taverns, Abandoned Houses, Tunnels, lone cabins in the forests and jungles, forgotten shrines, and collapsed mines are but a few of the many possibilities for a Dark Brotherhood hideout. One must ask for the location for other sanctuaries by a Dark Brotherhood Scout Plotter if they want to know the locations to the other sanctuaries within that network. In order to get the locations for a separate network, they typically must ask the Night Mother. This is to ensure that if one network falls, the others may still thrive.

Dark Brotherhood’s quests should reflect both their occupation as assassins and their eclectic nature. Very few quests in a given questline can get away with not killing something (it would be akin to a Thieves Guild quest not wanting you to pick a lock or bribe someone, or a Fighters Guild quest not wanting to beat something up). They have no central authority, so there should be a slight disconnect between each network – though this shouldn’t be the main focus of each quest. The bulk of the quests should be simple contracts, sometimes with a bit more flair, but with the same general end result. The biggest distinction between them and the Morag Tong – other than the uniformity of the MT vs the eccentricities of the DB – is that the Dark Brotherhood’s reputation is hindered by a guild member getting caught in the act, and thus weakens the guild’s revenue reliability. Thus, the Dark Brotherhood requires the player not only to kill the target, but also to make sure they don’t get caught in the act (if applicable), or else the reward will be very slim if anything. Common recurring themes for the contracts would be jealousy, tying up loose ends, power greediness, rivalries and feuds, extra legal political assassinations, and silencing those who stand in the client’s way. Bolstering the network, treachery, religious overlap, and covering up the trail of bodies leading to the sanctuaries would also be common themes.
The Brotherhood operates on very simple rules;

Rule 1: Don’t steal from or kill other members.
Rule 2: Don’t snitch.
Rule 3: Once a contract is taken, you can not reject it. A member must always carry out whatever contract they choose to take, and must try, try again until the contract is complete – no matter the difficulty.

A few of the Dark Brotherhood's networks are as followed:
The Iliac Bay. Night Mother location: Wayrest, in Elysana’s Court. Sanctuary locations: Sentinel, Daggerfall, Wayrest, Lainlyn.

Northpoint: Night Mother location: In an abandoned fortress, collapsed and buried in the side of a mountain, around

Shornhelm. Sanctuary locations: outside of Shornhelm, Northpoint

The Greater Reach: Night Mother location: Just outside of Farrun. Sanctuary locations: Farrun, Markarth Side, east of
Evermore, used to be in Karthwasten.

Obsidian Coast: Night Mother location: Haafingar, within the sewers. Sanctuary locations: Haafingar, Hjaalmarch, Solitude Forest.

White Valleys: Night Mother location: in a cave at the northern base of Snow-Throat. Northern base of Snow-Throat, Nimalten, Riften, used to be in Whiterun.

Nibenay: Night Mother location: ?

Strident River: Night Mother location: Arenthia, King Coman Thorimil’s Court. Sanctuary locations: Anvil, Arenthia, Kvatch, near Skingrad or Artemon.

Western Highlands: Night Mother location: Near Elinhir. Sanctuary locations: Elinhir, Near Chorrol.

Greater Heartlands: Night Mother location: Near Bravil. Sanctuary locations: Near Bravil

Imperial City: Night Mother location: Imperial Sewers

The Blue Divide: Night Mother location: Haset Hyarnai Region. Sanctuary locations: Outside Castle Hearthfire, Skywatch (foreign district), Haset Hyarnai Region, Ulunedai Isles.

Falinesti’s Path: Night Mother location: Near Archen. Sanctuary locations: Near Archen, Andawel, Ruins of Gilverdale.

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