Thieves Guild

In Cyrodiil, the Thieves' Guild works a lot more secretly than in other parts of Tamriel, due to extensive pressure from the Imperial Watch, whose increased scrutiny many secret organizations had to endure after the assassination of Emperor Uriel Septim IV. Its existence is officially denied by Imperial officials, although the Imperial Watch set out to destroy the Guild in the Imperial City by capturing its leader, known as the Gray Fox, who is believed to be a non-human who has existed for over 300 years. It is purely a fictitious legend designed to negate all others, and make the Gray Fox appear superior.

Because of this pressure, there are only two ways to locate the Guild. The first and most risky is to quite simply be arrested and imprisoned for whatever reason. It is possible that during incarceration the thief will be able to contact fellow thieves imprisoned with him. If not, eventually one will be contacted regardless, handed a note directing them to the location of the guild test.

The easier and less risky way of locating the guild is done by extensive questioning of beggars which reveals that somewhere on the Imperial City Waterfront there is a place where one of the Guild's two Doyen (lieutenants for the Gray Fox) may be interested in taking on new members if, that is, they are able to pass a small test. Tests are almost always done solo although there have been instances when they were competitive. Once the test is complete the Thief is declared a member although they are not permitted to engage in official Guild activities until a certain amount of money has been donated to the Guild's coffers. This is done through selling stolen property to one of the Guild's five Fence who are scattered across Cyrodiil but only revealed when a thief reached a certain standing within the Guild. After a set amount is sold to the first fence then the Thief will begin being invited to perform organized Guild thefts.

The Three Rules
There are but three rules for followers of the Gray Fox.


 * First, never steal from another member of the Guild.
 * Second, never kill anyone on the job. This is not the Dark Brotherhood. Animals and monsters can be slain if necessary.
 * Third, don't steal from the poor. The peasants and beggars are under the personal protection of the Gray Fox, particularly in the Imperial City Waterfront.

Breaking any of the three rules means expulsion from the Thieves' Guild. If you commit murder, you must pay the blood price to rejoin the guild. Blood price is for each person slain. You can pay any of the Guild Doyen.

Hierarchy
The Doyen are the hands and eyes of the guildmaster. The player takes orders from them. He/she gets their favors from them. They can pay off the Imperial judges to remove the player's crimes for only half the usual fine.

The guildmaster is the Gray Fox. Guildmembers don't talk about him in public. When they do, they disavow his existence, and pass him off as a simple myth.

Skyrim
The thieves guild also has a presence in Skyrim, although it has fallen on hard times.

To join the thieves guild in Skyrim, speak with Brynjolf in the center of Riften (inside the market place). He will give you a task of stealing a ring and planting it on a Dark Elf to frame that person.

When a member of the thieve's guild, you can pay off your bounty for a flat rate of around 200 gold, regardless of your actual bounty, if a guard comes up to you. You will be given the option to say that you are with the guild and you can then pay off the guard and your bounty will be gone. This is similar to Oblivion where you could pay off a bounty by talking to Doyen. Like Oblivion, you get to keep your stolen goods.

Appearances

 * The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
 * The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
 * The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
 * The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim