Thieves Guild

The Thieves' Guild is a fictional association of petty thieves and criminals in the Elder Scrolls series.

The Guild in Tamriel
The Thieves' Guild has spread across Tamriel and established branches in most of the provinces. However, it is not known if these branches even communicate with each other, as the Guild's methods differ heavily from province to province. Mostly, the Thieves' Guild restricts its actions to avoid bloodshed and not to rob the downtrodden or those who cannot really afford it. However, they are not like Robin Hood, and do not aim to help the poor by any means, and only sometimes do they engage in symbolic actions to mitigate generally poor publicity. In Morrowind the local guild steward, Gentleman Jim Stacey, has resurrected an old society, the Bal Molagmer, who see it as their duty to help the poor.

The Guild does not have guild halls like other factions, at least until the end of the Theves' Guild plotline, but has its own cornerclubs, storehouses and buildings where membership can meet with general privacy. It has some influence in official matters, and can "clean" its members' crimes for a payment from them.

In the past, prostitution and drugs were a major part of Thieves' Guild business, but this has been downplayed recently with the intent of improving public perception and enhancing (slightly) unofficial relations with the Temple of the Nine and the so-called moral segment. In development terms, Bethesda Softworks minimized this aspect due to the game series' attracting a more mainstream audience after Daggerfall and beginning with Morrowind, since which these criminal aspects have been shown to be the province of other, less (subjectively) wholesome groups with whom the player may not typically associate.

Morrowind
On Vvardenfall, in the province of Morrowind, the Guild is run by Gentleman Jim Stacey, in Vivec. There are cornerclubs in nearly every city where local members of the Guild meet and plan their actions. Near the end of the Third Era, the Vvardenfell guild chapter is endangered to be destroyed by the Fighters' Guild which has been infiltrated by the Camonna Tong crime syndicate.

Cyrodiil
In Cyrodiil, the Thieves' Guild works a lot more secretly than in other parts of Tamriel, due to extensive pressure from the Imperial Watch. 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.

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 (though being imprisoned for cold-blooded murder is more likely to attract the attention of the Dark Brotherhood, and getting imprisoned would be best to do on the two sides of the coin quest, where it is required.). 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 Doyens (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 Fences 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.