The Imperial Library

Description

Dark Brotherhood is governed by Night Mother and the Black Hand; one Listener and four Speakers. The Night Mother has very close relationship with Sithis. She is the voice of Sithis. She listens the prayer from a potential client in a ritual called Black Sacrament. She forwards the information to the Listener once per week, via The Lucky Old Lady, a statue in Bravil. The Listener, in turn forwards this information to the four Speakers. One of the Speakers then will make a contact with the client. After the term and price was agreed, a member of the Black Brotherhood performs the execution.

Shrine of Sithis

"Know this. Every Dark Brother and Sister is a child of Sithis. He whom we call Sithis has many other names. Chaos. Doom. Discord. Sithis is the Void. We of the Dark Brotherhood serve the Night Mother, who is the bride of Sithis. The Night Mother rules her children with a terrible Black Hand. The Black Hand is the ruling body of the Dark Brotherhood. It is made up of one Listener and Four Speakers. Four fingers and a thumb, if you will. As a member of the Dark Brotherhood, you must abide by the Five Tenets. They are the laws that guide and protect us."
-Lucien Lachance, Speaker.

The Fire Tenets is a set of rules that must be abided by most of the members of the Dark Brotherhood. However, the ranks of Silencer and above are not restricted by the Five Tenets. The Five Tenets 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.

The Wrath of Sithis is a wraith-like spirit that will confront the tenets-breaker assassin in his sleep. If the assassin could defeat the spirit, he will be accepted again in the guild. However, if he broke the tenets three times, he will be exiled forever, never again had chance to rejoin the guild, although he could defeat the Wrath of Sithis.

The door to the Sanctuary

One of the headquarters of the Dark Brotherhood is in one of the abandoned houses of Cheydinhal. In the basement of this house, a strange door will prevent anyone other than member of the Dark Botherhood to enter the Sanctuary (as the Dark Brother or Sister called). The Sanctuary can also be entered from an abandoned well near the house. The Count Andel Indarys of Cheydinhal knows about this secret but he chooses to keep silence, apparently the lobby of the Dark Brotherhood to the count is effective.

The province of Black Marsh has a native Assassin Guild. This guild is connected one way or another with the Dark Brotherhood, unlike Morag Tong of Morrowind, which is the bitter enemy of Dark Brotherhood. This Assassin Guild is in the employment of the ruling body of the province. When an Argonian born under Shadow constellation, he or she will be trained as assassin and automatically becomes the member of the Black Marsh Assassin Guild. Some continue his career as a full member of the Dark Brotherhood.

"In the Argonian homeland of Black Marsh, those born under the sign of the Shadow are taken at birth and presented to the Dark Brotherhood. A Shadowscale hatchling is trained in the arts of stealth and assassination, and lives a life in service to the mighty kingdom of Argonia. Any Shadowscale who lives to come of age is accepted into the Dark Brotherhood as a full member of the family. So it was with myself, and Ocheeva."
-Teinaava, Eliminator.

Dark Brotherhood also accepts vampires as a Dark Brother or Dark Sister. However, in 3E 421, some of the vampires within the guild, formed a group called the Crimson Scars and plan to end the rule of the non-vampire Black Hand. They will then put vampires as the members of the Black Hand. Their plan was thwarted; the members of the vampiric group were slaughtered in their sleep. The leader of the group, Greywyn, was managed to escape the massacre. There is no news about this faction of the guild ever since. However, one of the vampires was still in the service of the Dark Brotherhood as an Executioner long after the incident with the Crimson Scars. His name is Vicente Valtieri, he lived in the Cheydinhal Sanctuary.

The Story So Far

The Dark Brotherhood faced a difficult time during the end of the third era. The guild had to face multiple threats, from external and internal. The external problem was mainly from the Imperial authorities under the lead of Adamus Phillida. But this external problem was not as terrible as the internal one. There was a traitor in the Dark Brotherhood.

Mathieu Bellamont, who has a grudge against the Dark Brotherhood and the Night Mother, had managed to infiltrate the guild. He continued the path in his assassin career until he eventually became a member of the Black Hand, a Speaker. He noticed a new member of the guild who was recently accepted into the guild by Lucien Lachance (one of the Speakers), to be a perfect tool for his vengeance.

The Black Hand smells the traitor in the family but they could not pinpoint the traitor. They suspected that one members of the Cheydinhal Sanctuary is the traitor. The new Assassin then was tasked by Lucien Lachance to kill everyone in the Sanctuary, a process called the Purification.

"The Dark Brotherhood is an ancient organization. We have survived for millenia. Sometimes, to ensure that survival, drastic measures are required. The Purification is one of the most extreme measures we are forced to carry out. Indeed, it has only been carried out twice. Before now, that is. The Five Tenets are the laws that guide and protect us. But, sometimes, even they must be broken to protect the sanctity of our beliefs. With a Purification, we cleanse the Dark Brotherhood of mistrust and treachery. Those who are slain are offered to Sithis as a symbol of fealty."
-Lucien Lachance, Speaker.

The Purification is a drastic method by the guild to clean itself; it was performed twice before in the history of the guild. Unfortunately the Purification failed to clean the guild. Mathieu Bellamont still lived as he was no longer in the Cheydinhal Sanctuary - been promoted to a Speaker.

The new Assassin is then promoted to be a Silencer, a special assassin of the Speaker. The Speaker then gives assassination instruction in the form of a letter called Dead Drop. Lucien Lachance asked the new Silencer to find the first Dead Drop and perform the execution.

"The Black Hand is the Dark Brotherhood's ruling council. That hand consists of four Speakers and one Listener. Four fingers and a thumb, as it were. This you already know. What is not commonly known among our family members is that the Black Hand employs a few... additional numbers. As every hand has fingers, does not every finger have a nail? A claw? A talon? Every finger of the hand, every Speaker, has such a nail. These are the Silencers. Each Speaker employs his or her own private assassin, to extend their reach and strike forth as necessary."
-Lucien Lachance, Speaker.

Mathieu Bellamont knew this; he replaced Lucien Lachance's Dead Drops with his own - with other Silencers, Speakers and the Listener as the targets. The Silencer unknowingly killed the members of the Black Hand and eventually the Listener himself was slain. The remaining Black Hand knew this and blamed everything to Lucien Lachance. Lachance was hunted as the traitor.

Lachance was eventually managed to confront the Silencer in Bravil, but it was too late, the Listener has been slain. Lachance then tasked the Silencer to uncover the traitor by following the next Dead Drop in Anvil. The Silencer found the traitor room, and retrieved the traitor's diary. But still, he could not find a name. When he went to the hiding place of Lucien Lachance, shockingly Lachance had been slain by the remaining members of the Black Hand. Arquen, one of the Black Hand, approached the Silencer and told him that they should continue to Bravil and consult with Night Mother. She believed that the Dark Brotherhood was saved; the traitor had been killed.

In the Tomb of the Night Mother, under The Lucky Old Lady, the Night Mother explained everything, and Lucien Lachance is not the traitor. It was the moment when Mathieu Bellamont showed his true nature. He killed the remaining Black Hand and tried to kill the Night Mother. Mathieu Bellamont's blade could not scratch to Night Mother's ethereal body. Frustated, he turned to the Silencer. Eventually the madness of Mathieu Bellamont was ended by the Silencer's blade.

Night Mother stated that she knew perfectly that Mathieu Bellamont was the traitor, even before the whole event was started. She chose not to reveal it, and let the Silencer fulfilled his destiny, although it was chaotic and bloodied. It is the way of Sithis. The Night Mother then appointed the Silencer to be the new Listener, and Arquen the remaining Black Hand to remain as the Speaker. The Dark Brotherhood will be rebuilt a new on top this bloodied event.