Dark Brotherhood

The Dark Brotherhood is an organization of professional assassins on Tamriel. Their history dates all the way back to the Second Era, when the Night Mother was wed to Sithis, and founded the Dark Brotherhood.

Purpose
The Dark Brotherhood has always been an organization with the purpose of assassination and killing. 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.

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. The Tenets were later abandoned during the Fourth Era.

There are five tenets in all, and they are as follows:


 * Tenet 1: Never dishonor the Night Mother. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.
 * Tenet 2: Never betray the Dark Brotherhood or its secrets. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.
 * Tenet 3: Never disobey or refuse to carry out an order from a Dark Brotherhood superior. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.
 * Tenet 4: Never steal the possessions of a Dark Brother or Dark Sister. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.
 * Tenet 5: Never kill a Dark Brother or Dark Sister. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

Contacting
To contact the Dark Brotherhood as a means of having someone murder for themselves, one must perform the Black Sacrament. This ritual includes, 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."

Once done, the one who performed the ritual will be met by a Brotherhood representative.

History
The Dark Brotherhood are a renowned and infamous faction that spreads across all of Tamriel. The Brotherhood is both a business and a cult. Even though they are feared by the rich and poor alike, they are tolerated by most, and those that don't have a toleration soon learn why most do.

Second Era
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, in an unknown year of the Second Era.

The Morag Tong are worshippers 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. Their ways of spreading influence changed though, with the rise of the Night Mother.

The Night Mother was the supposed lover and partner of Sithis. It is widely believed that the Night Mother is the source for the doctrine of how the Morag Tong, and eventually, the way the Dark Brotherhood work as a group.

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 has said to 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 on the wall 'MORAG TONG', with the victim's blood.

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

Third Era
"Have you not heard of the Dark Brotherhood? Of the remorseless guild of paid assassins and homicidal cutthroats? Join us and you'll find the Dark Brotherhood all that and so much more. We are more than anything a union of like minded individuals."

- Lucien Lachance

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 hears the words of the Night Mother and from her lips the prayers of employers are heard and contracts found anf fullfilled. Each night he would visit the statue of the Lucky Lady. Unknown to all but the Listner and select members of the Black Hand, the statue of the Lucky Lady was actually the entrance to the Night Mother's Crypt.

The Hero of Kvatch officially entered the Brotherhood after killing Rufio, who Claudius Arcadia had targeted in the Black Sacrament, likely as revenge for killing an unnamed woman.

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

The leader of the Brotherhood is Astrid. Under her new command, the Brotherhood has stopped following the Five Tenets. Thus, they no longer conduct the cult and business as was previously done for two eras. The Brotherhood is situated in an isolated sanctuary outside Falkreath.

An eccentric jester, by the name of Cicero, was traveling through the roads of Skyrim. He was bringing the Night Mother's coffin from the city of Bravil in Cyrodiil, to the sanctuary near Falkreath.

The Night Mother's coffin was recently held under the statue of the Lucky Lady in Bravil, within the Night Mother's crypt. The wagon Cicero was using to transport the coffin broke down near Loreius Farm.

Ranks
Ranks within the Dark Brotherhood have changed with each entry in the series.


 * 1) Apprentice
 * 2) Journeyman
 * 3) Operator
 * 4) Slayer
 * 5) Executioner
 * 6) Punisher
 * 7) Terminator
 * 8) Assassin
 * 9) Dark Brother
 * 10) Master Assassin


 * 1) Apprentice
 * 2) Journeyman
 * 3) Operator
 * 4) Wetboy
 * 5) Executioner
 * 6) Punisher
 * 7) Terminator
 * 8) Assassin
 * 9) Dark Brother
 * 10) Master Assassin


 * 1) Murderer
 * 2) Slayer
 * 3) Eliminator
 * 4) Assassin
 * 5) Executioner
 * 6) Silencer
 * 7) Speaker
 * 8) Listener

Scholarly works

 * Brothers of Darkness
 * Sacred Witness
 * Sithis
 * Fire and Darkness
 * The Five Tenets

Newspapers

 * Night Mother Rituals!

Journals

 * A Kiss, Sweet Mother
 * Cicero's Journal