Dark Brotherhood

"I told him you can't stop the Dark Brotherhood. Never could."

- Emperor Titus Mede II

The Dark Brotherhood was a renowned and infamous faction of assassins that was spread across all of Tamriel. Working as both a business and a cult, the Brotherhood was feared across Tamriel. Many knew of its existence, but those who knew tolerated them, in fear of meeting their own demise.

Founding
The Dark Brotherhood originally sprung from a religious order called the Morag Tong, whom worshipped the Daedric Prince Mephala. Mephala encouraged the Morag Tong to ritual murders. At this time the Order was discarded as obscure cultists due to the lack of leader in their group. This was all to change with the coming of the Night Mother. The Night Mother was the supposed lover and partner of Sithis. It was widely believed that the Night Mother is the source for the doctrine of how the Morag Tong, and eventually, the Dark Brotherhood worked as a group. Some actually thought the Night Mother is the Daedric Prince Mephala, in the form of a mortal Dunmer women.

Some time after 2E 324, the last living Night Mother lived in Bravil. Sithis "" her five children, who she then killed, so their souls could go to the Dread Father. The act was considered too cruel and she was killed and her house burned. Thirty years later, an unnamed man heard voices in his head, not from Sithis, but the Night Mother herself. He became the first of many listeners to come.

Third Era
During the events of Warp in the West, the Dark Brotherhood was active across Tamriel. Their existence was accepted, and widely ignored. During this time, the Dark Brotherhood worshiped the Daedric Prince Mephala as their leader, not Sithis. This was probably caused by the still recent split from the Morag Tong.

In Morrowind during the late Third Era the Dark Brotherhood headquarters were located not far from the city of Mournhold. Interestingly enough their local leader called herself a Night Mother and was known as Severa Magia - an Imperial living in Ald Sotha.

Oblivion Crisis
During the Oblivion Crisis, the Dark Brotherhood was infamous and very well-known throughout Cyrodiil and the rest of Tamriel. Within Cyrodiil, the Brotherhood was situated in Cheydinhal, and the Cheydinhal Sanctuary, respectively.

During this time, the Listener, the highest-ranking member of the Dark Brotherhood aside from the Night Mother herself, was Ungolim, a wood elf who lived in the town of Bravil. The Listener heard the words of the Night Mother and, from her lips, the Listener received assassination requests in the form of prayers by potential employers, marking how contracts were initiated and fulfilled. Each night he would visit the statue of the Lucky Lady. Unknown to all but the Listener and select members of the Black Hand, the statue of the Lucky Lady was actually the entrance to the Night Mother's Crypt.

Recession


Ever since the Oblivion Crisis, the Brotherhood had been fighting for survival. They had lost virtually all influence within Tamriel and have resorted to doing petty murders within Skyrim.

Dragon Crisis
At the beginning of the Dragon Crisis, the Dark Brotherhood was led by Astrid. Under her leadership the Five Tenets were discarded, breaking with the traditions and culture of the previous two eras when the Brotherhood was operated as a cult as well as a business. The Dark Brotherhood in Skyrim was reduced to a single sanctuary, located just outside of Falkreath. The Night Mother's coffin travels with The Night Mother's Keeper, an eccentric jester named Cicero.

Purpose
The Dark Brotherhood had always been an organization with the purpose of assassination and professional killing. They were the harbingers of death and executors of silent, covert assassinations. Besides working in the field of assassinations, the organization itself was a clandestine operations group. The Brotherhood's divine purpose however, was to serve The Dread Lord and go by what he desires, and they achieved this through the word of the Night Mother.

During some assassinations, the Order's leaders and assassins took several concise, lengthy steps to complete an assassination attempt. For example, during the Fourth Era, when the Dark Brotherhood attempted the assassination of Emperor Titus Mede II, they went through many phases in order to complete the assignment, which included the assassination of Vittoria Vici, Gaius Maro, and even the Emperor's personal chef, the Gourmet.

Influence
Throughout the second and third eras, the mention of the Dark Brotherhood would cause both Men and Mer to shudder where they stood. With multiple sanctuaries across Tamriel, and trained, hardened assassins within each. Commoners and Noblemen alike feared and loathed them.

The Brotherhood had influence on every level, in every Province of Tamriel. Their ongoing feud with the Morag Tong meant Morrowind is highly contested and the two factions waged war on each other, attempting to eliminate members of the opposing group.

During the events of Dragon Crisis, the Brotherhood's influence had dropped dramatically; their influence on Tamriel was all but non-existent after the multiple raids on Sanctuaries on the 5th of Last Seed in 4E 188, by corsairs. It was unknown how many, if any outside Skyrim survived the raids; be them destroyed, or ordered closed by the Black Hand. It was thought that during the Fourth Era, the Dark Brotherhood's influence was on the rise again, with guidance from their Night Mother, in the far north of Skyrim.

Religion
"Hail Sithis."

- Dark Brotherhood Members

The religion of the Dark Brotherhood focused on the worship of Sithis. Sithis, (the Dread Lord or the Dread Father), was the representation of the Void.

Aside from Sithis, all members of the Brotherhood revered their unholy matron, the Night Mother, who served as their source of contracts. Listeners and Keepers were intimately connected to the matron and would defend her with their lives (as in the cases of Cicero and Alisanne Dupre).

The Dark Brotherhood was also known to have worshipped Mephala during the earlier periods of their existence. This was most likely because of their split from the Morag Tong, a religious order who committed assassinations and murders in the name of Mephala. The Brotherhood split from them some time in the 2nd Era.

The Five Tenets
The Five Tenets are the rules and morals the Brotherhood strictly followed up to and during the Oblivion Crisis. If a member was to break or not follow one of the Tenets, they were threatened with expulsion from the Brotherhood or worse.

There are five tenets in all, and they are as follows: The Tenets were later abandoned during the Fourth Era.

Hierarchy
The Dark Brotherhood was an organized guild of assassins; they were composed of a governing body, along with several smaller sections and groups.

The Black Hand
The governing body of the Dark Brotherhood was called the Black Hand; it was composed of five members: four Speakers (Index, middle, ring and little fingers) and a Listener (thumb).

The Listener telepathically listened and received the commands from the Night Mother, and then the Listener would relay the commands to the four Speakers. The Speakers would then issue the commands and initiate the contracts to be completed by the Brotherhoods' assassins. Each Speaker also had their own personal assistants called Silencers.

Silencers could be deployed to complete contracts and eliminate any target(s) that they saw fit. The Silencers qualified as members of the Black Hand, but their existence was unbeknownst to the rest of the Dark Brotherhood.

Recruitment
"Welcome to the family."

- Lucien Lachance

As the Dark Brotherhood was a shadowy, mysterious organization of assassins with most of Tamriel and its people generally unbeknownst of the organization as a whole, the Brotherhoods' methods of recruiting were shadowy in nature and clouded in mystery. However, it was known that the Brotherhood did not just blindly accept new recruits and members; a person who wishes to join the Dark Brotherhood must display his or her skills in sneaking and assassination and must be noticed first.

When a person committed murder in cold/warm blood, a Speaker would approach the killer and ask them to join the Dark Brotherhood, and, if the offer was accepted, the killer would then be given a formal, organized contract with a specific target to kill.

For members of the Shadowscales, Argonians who were specifically selected if they were born under the sign of the Shadow, the training they underwent was mostly in part and in prerequisite for their transfer to the Dark Brotherhood.

The Dark Brotherhood had also been known to recruit through proxy. When a continuous string of murders is committed in cold blood and with no arrest, the Brotherhood initiates an investigation to discover what happened, find the killer and potentially recruit him or her.

Contacting
To contact the Dark Brotherhood as a means of having someone murdered for themselves, one must perform the Black Sacrament. This ritual included creating an effigy of the intended victim assembled of actual human body parts and then continuously stabbing with a dagger rubbed with the petals of the Nightshade flower.

The following plea must be whispered while stabbing the effigy:

"Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me, for the sins of the unworthy must be baptized in blood and fear."

The Night Mother then relayed the plea to a Listener, who in turn informed a Speaker to send an assassin to the client. Once the ritual was done, the one who performed it will be met by the Brotherhood representative.

Cheydinhal
"What is the color of night? Sanguine, my brother. Welcome home."

- Door to the Cheydinhal Sanctuary

The Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary in Cheydinhal was the primary headquarters of the Dark Brotherhood in Cyrodiil. Situated in the basement of an abandoned house beneath the surface in eastern Cheydinhal, the Sanctuary in Cheydinhal could also be accessed through a trap door in the well behind the house.

Within the Sanctuary itself, it contained five rooms: the main hall, the living quarters, the training room, Ocheeva's Room and Vicente's Room.

Bruma
"The Bruma Sanctuary may be gone, but my dearest brothers and sisters will live forever in my dreams, just as their souls live forever by the Dread Father's side."

- Cicero

The Dark Brotherhood had a sanctuary in Bruma. It was destroyed sometime before 4E 186, with everyone within the sanctuary being killed, with the exception of Cicero, who escaped and relocated to the Cheydinhal Sanctuary.

High Rock
The Brotherhood held one sanctuary in the province of High Rock, which was in Wayrest.

Wayrest
The Dark Brotherhood had a sanctuary in Wayrest, in High Rock. On the 27th of Sun's Height in 4E 188, Wayrest was under siege by corsairs, and eventually, the city was lost. On the 5th of Last Seed in 4E 188, the news that the Wayrest Sanctuary was destroyed by the corsairs.

Elsweyr
The Dark Brotherhood's sanctuary in Elsweyr was in the city of Corinth.

Corinth
On the 5th of Last Seed in 4E 188, as the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuaries across Tamriel were being destroyed and/or abandoned, as the Dark Brotherhood was collapsing and their entire world was crumbling all around them, the Black Hand ordered the closing of the Corinth Sanctuary.

Falkreath
"What is the music of life? Silence, my brother."

- Door to Falkreath Sanctuary and Dragonborn

The Falkreath Sanctuary was the Brotherhood's Skyrim headquarters for the beginning of the Fourth Era. It was also the location of the Night Mother's Crypt for the earlier part of the Fourth Era.

The Falkreath Sanctuary was ransacked, and many of its occupants killed in 4E 201 by Penitus Oculatus agents. This was after the Dark Brotherhood attempted to assassinate the Emperor Titus Mede II.

Dawnstar
"What is life's greatest illusion? Innocence, my brother. Welcome home."

- Door to the Dawnstar Sanctuary and Dragonborn

The Dawnstar Sanctuary was one of the Dark Brotherhood sanctuaries in Skyrim; it was said to be one of the oldest of the Brotherhood's sanctuaries in Skyrim. By the Fourth Era, the sanctuary had been abandoned and had not been occupied for over a century.

After the destruction of the Falkreath Sanctuary, the Dawnstar sanctuary became the headquarters for the Dark Brotherhood in Skyrim. The sanctuary was then renovated and once again put to use. Delvin Mallory of the Thieves Guild helped in the restoration process. A torture chamber was added to the sanctuary, as was the Night Mother's Crypt.

Known Members
"Yet another child has prayed to their mother..."

- Night Mother


 * Night Mother (Head of the entire Dark Brotherhood)

Morrowind

 * Dandras Vules
 * Carecalmo
 * Durus Marius
 * Severa Magia - Night Mother
 * Tsrazami
 * Miun-Gei
 * Hrordis
 * Sovisa Adas
 * Movis Darys
 * Relas Arothan
 * Gulvilie Arinith

Cyrodiil

 * Alval Uvani
 * Antoinetta Marie
 * Arquen
 * Banus Alor
 * Belisarius Arius
 * Fafnir
 * Gogron gro-Bolmog
 * Havilstein Hoar-Blood
 * J'Ghasta
 * Lucien Lachance
 * M'raaj-Dar
 * Mathieu Bellamont
 * Ocheeva
 * Shaleez
 * Teinaava
 * Telaendril
 * Ungolim
 * Vicente Valtieri

Skyrim

 * Astrid
 * Nazir
 * Cicero
 * Babette
 * Gabriella
 * Festus Krex
 * Arnbjorn
 * Veezara

Morag Tong
The Dark Brotherhood was formed as the result of a split of the Morag Tong, a religious order that deals in some of the customs that the Brotherhood is infamous for. This split happened some time in the Second Era.

The Morag Tong were worshipers of Daedra, specifically Mephala. In the early years of the Morag Tong, the faction was disorganized, and thus, never committed murders or assassinations of high-value targets or people of importance. However, their ways of spreading influence changed with the rise of the Night Mother.

Murders would be done within the group because it was believed that with every murder, Mephala would become stronger. The murders of important people and powerful men were seen as what strengthens Mephala the most. This belief is said to have originated in 2E 324. In this year, the Potentate Versidue Shaie was murdered in his palace, which is in the present-day kingdom of Senchal in Elsweyr. The Night Mother wrote the words, 'MORAG TONG', on the wall with the victim's blood.

Unlike the Morag Tong, which was a religious cult, the Brotherhood serves as both a cult and a business. Thus, also having another difference with the Morag Tong.

Shadowscales


In Black Marsh, the homeland of the Argonian race, existed a group called the Shadowscales. They were highly trained assassins who were raised in the arts of stealth and assassinations from birth. One had to be born under the sign of the Shadow to become a Shadowscale.

During the events of, Veezara claimed he was the last remaining member of the Shadowscales. During the quest, The Cure For Madness, Veezara was injured by Cicero,  with Cicero's attack almost killing the last member of the Shadowscales.

Thieves Guild
"Oh ho. Now that's the Dark Brotherhood I know and love."

- Delvin Mallory

The Dark Brotherhood had a strong connection with the Thieves Guild, and despite their differences in purpose, ethics and ideas and policies, the Dark Brotherhood and the Thieves Guild have always had a good connection between each other. This is especially true with the Dark Brotherhood and the Thieves Guild in Skyrim. Delvin Mallory of the Thieves Guild and Astrid of the Dark Brotherhood in Skyrim have had a good relationship with each other in friendship and in business.

Trivia

 * Due to their scandalous yet unique type of work and purpose, the Dark Brotherhood was not included in and did not participate in the passing of the Guilds Act in 2E 321.
 * In the most of The Elder Scrolls series of games, ranks within the Dark Brotherhood have changed with each entry in the series. However, to note, each game has taken place in a different nation on Tamriel, so the Dark Brotherhood may have had a different organization depending on their main location.

Scholarly works

 * Brothers of Darkness
 * Fire and Darkness
 * The Night Mother's Truth
 * Sithis
 * The Five Tenets

Newspapers

 * Night Mother Rituals!

Journals

 * A Kiss, Sweet Mother
 * Cicero's Journal
 * Greywyn's Journal
 * Journal of Claudius Arcadia
 * Traitor's Diary