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Description
Thieves Guild is a guild of thieves and ruffians. They banded together to protect, help and resolve conflict among themselves. The guild is led by a mysterious person, called the Gray Fox. It is rumored that the Gray Fox is immortal. At 3E 433, he has led the Thieves Guild for more than 300 years.
On the day-by-day job, the Gray Fox is helped by a number of guild stewards or better known as Doyen. It is said that the Doyen are the hands and eyes of Gray Fox. Among their jobs are managing the recruitment, dispatching a member on a quest or mission, negotiation with a customer, and even negotiating with authority for reducing a person's fines and bounty. In Cyrodiil, the current Doyen are Armand Christophe (Redguard, Cat Burglar) and S'krivva (Khajiit, Shadowfoot).
For running its business, the Thieves Guild does not have an official guild house, however in the Imperial City, Armand Christophe usually can be found at midnight in the Garden of Dareloth in the Waterfront District of the Imperial City. While Skrivva has her own schedule and moves from one place to another.
In Cyrodiil, the Thieves Guild has three rules that must be obeyed by each member of the guild:
- Never steal from another member of the guild.
- Never kill anyone on the job.
- Do not steal from the poor.
Breaking any of the three rules means expulsion from the Thieves Guild. If a member committed a murder, he must pay the blood price to the guild Doyen in order to rejoin the guild. Blood price is for each person slain.
The third rule protects the peasants and the beggars. There is a good relation between the guild and the beggar. The guild and its guildmaster, the Gray Fox, protect the beggars and the poor from authority and other factions. In turn, the guild receives a great benefit. The beggars become the eyes and ears of the guild. The beggars in each town gather information and become spies for the Thieves Guild.
"To this day, it is said that if you really want to know something, go ask the beggars. They have eyes and ears throughout the cities. They know all the little secrets of the daily lives of it's citizens."
- Beggar Prince
The Thieves Guild has trader almost in each city that accepts the stolen goods. This trader is called the fence. The fence trades the stolen goods for the benefit of the guild and the particular member. Each member in his career in the guild must collect a certain amount of stolen goods in order to advance in rank.
The known fences are:
- Ongar the World-Weary (Nord, Bandit, Bruma)
- Dar Jee (Argonian, Prowler, Leyawiin)
- Luciana Galena (Breton, Cat Burglar, Bravil)
- Orrin (Redguard, Shadowfoot, Anvil)
- Fathis Ules (Dunmer, Master Thief, Imperial City).
The Story So Far
The Thieves Guild faced a trouble time when Hieronymus Lex led the Imperial Watch as its Captain. Hieronymus Lex had a personal vendetta against the Thieves Guild and the Gray Fox. Hieronymus Lex did lots of attempt to capture members of the Thieves Guild, including uncover the secret of the Gray Fox. One of the attempts was infiltrate the Thieves Guild, but Armand Christophe knew this. With the help of new Footpad, Armand Christophe managed to force Hieronymus Lex to pull back his agent, without any blood spilled.
After some works, the new Footpad was promoted to Prowler, and at this time Hieronymus Lex launches his desperate action against the Thieves Guild. He pulled all the Imperial Watch throughout the Imperial City, and he tasked them to scour the Waterfront District, searching for the Gray Fox. Armand Christophe was put to house arrest and the whole Thieves Guild's business was shut down. Methredhel, another new member of the guild coordinated the retaliation.
She launched a crime spree. The Prowler who previously helped Armand Cristophe, and another four members of the guild were tasked by Methredhel to go to each corner of the Imperial City and steal important items from important factions or persons. The Prowler was tasked to infiltrate the Arcane University and stole Hrormir's Icestaff. Methredhel's plan worked, these crime spree caused major unrest in the Imperial City.
Eventually, Raminus Polus, the Arcane University Steward, sent his Dremora to deliver a message to Hieronymus Lex. He demanded that Hieronymus Lex's vendetta against Gray Fox should be ended and all the guards to be returned to their daily routine and post. The Captain had no choices and hesitantly agreed. The Thieves Guild won this time. In the end the Prowler once again was promoted to Cat Burglar.
Upon visiting Skrivva again, the Cat Burglar was assigned to a mission to locate the Cat Burglar Theranis. He had not reported after his assignment in Skingard to recover a book titled The Lost Histories of Tamriel. The Gray Fox himself needed the book for some obscure reason.
The CatBurglar went to Skingard and found that Theranis had been detained by the local authorities. After a further searching and infiltrating the Skingard dungeon, the Cat Burglar uncovered that Theranis was killed by a vampire who lived in the dungeon and somehow had connection with the authorities. In the vampire's lair, the Cat Burglar rescued Amusei, an Argonian freelance thief. A deal with Amusei let the Cat Burglar to eventually located and found the book. Skrivva both sad and happy, to hear the aftermath of the mission. Further, she gave another important mission to the Cat Burglar, the elimination of Hieronymus Lex.
The Captain had been a major obstacle for the Thieves Guild. The Gray Fox, via his Doyen, Skrivva assigned the Cat Burglar to eliminate the Captain. However, as the rule of the Thieves Guild, no assassination is allowed. Perhaps coincidentally, the Countess of Anvil, Millona Umbranox, was searching for a new captain for her guards. The Cat Burglar was given mission in order to make Countess Millona Umbranox to choose Hieronymus Lex as her new captain. After some necessary forgery and bribing, the mission was successful. Hieronymus Lex himself was shocked to hear of his transfer to Anvil, and he realized that the Thieves Guild, and the Gray Fox, has finally won the battle.
One interesting side note, that during the forgery the Cat Burglar dealt with a strange person called The Stranger. No one knew the identity of this stranger, not even a name was known. And the Cat Burglar was promoted to Shadowfoot.
Then the new raised Shadowfoot began his career as the personal agent of the Gray Fox. The Gray Fox asked him to retrieve some obscure items, such as Savilla's Stone from a monastery known as the Temple of the Ancestor Moths, the final place for the retired blind Moth Priests from the Imperial City. When studying the Elder Scrolls, these Moth Priests are eventually blinded by searing power of the scrolls. When they are too old, the temple is the final place for them. However the priest are master of blind-fight, and most of them use katana or dai-katana. These retired Moth Priests are still useful in the retirement as they guard the Savilla's Stone, a stone that has scrying capability.
During the mission, the Shadowfoot recovered a strange note that recorded the information regarding the missing Cowl of Nocturnal. It is also recorded that whoever wears the cowl will lose his identity.
"Whosoever wears it shall be lost in the shadows. His true nature shall be unknown to all who meet him. His identity shall be struck from all records and histories. Memory will hide in the shadows, refusing to record the name of the owner to any who meet him. He shall be known by the cowl and only by the cowl."
Instructions: the Gray Cowl
Upon completing the mission, the Gray Fox responded when asked about the cowl, "I see. I suppose there is no hiding it from you. No hiding. What a joke! My whole life is hiding. Everything in that document is true. My identity cannot be known. In fact I just told you my true name twice, but I bet you don't remember it. You and I have even met before, when I was not wearing the cowl. To your clouded memory he and I are two different people. My own family doesn't even know me. I would give much to be rid of the Gray Cowl and its curse."
Further he explains more about Nocturnal, "She is the daedra lord of shadows. The Mistress of Mystery. The Saint of Suspicion. Thieves Guild members revere and respect her power and influence. We give her blessing with the phrase 'may shadow hide you.'"
Then the Gray Fox asked the Shadowfoot to procure the Arrow of Extrication from the Bravil's Court Wizard, Fathis Aren. Fathis Aren had a tower outside of Bravil. By the help of some beggars, the Shadowfoot got information of a tunnel that interconnect the Bravil Castle and Fathis Aren's tower. Braving the tunnel, the Shadowfoot eventually arrived in the tower, and finished the necessary job, procuring the Arrow of Extrication. However, the Shadowfoot could only find the arrow head, a key shaped arrow head. However, the Gray Fox was still excited retrieving the arrow head and he promoted the agent to Master Thief.
Further more, the Gray Fox tasked the new promoted Master Thief to retrieve the boots of Springheel Jak. A famous thief who had died for hundreds of years. His boots is known has capability to fortify the acrobatics skill of the person who equips the boots. It was known that Springheel Jak's descendant lived in the Imperial City. Infiltrating the house; the Master Thief eventually came face to face with Springheel Jak himself. The Springheel Jak was in fact a vampire, and he had lived for hundreds of years, disguising himself as his descendant. Unfortunately, this time the blood must be spilled; Springheel Jak was killed by the Master Thief. However the Gray Fox overlooked the incident and happily receiving the boots.
Then the Gray Fox summoned the Master Thief again for one last big heist. The Gray Fox tasked the Master Thief to infiltrate the Imperial Palace, enter the Imperial Library and steal one of the Elder Scrolls. All the obscure things procured by the Master Thief in fact are tools to help the Gray Fox and the Master Thief to steal one of the Elder Scrolls.
The Gray Fox gave the boots of Springheel Jak and the complete Arrow of Extrication. Then he gave special instructions for infiltrating the Imperial Palace. First the Master Thief must sneak the Imperial Watch in to the Imperial Palace Catacomb. There he had to activate the Glass of Time, in order to activate the old way. Then he should enter the old way from the Imperial City sewer. Then both boots of Springheel Jak and the Arrow of Extrication were necessary to open the way into the Imperial Library. Here he had to wait until a blind Moth Priest delivered the scroll. The blind priests would recognize the Master Thief as Celia Camoran, as long as the Master Thief did not speak. Apparently, this Celia Camoran's visit had been arranged by the Gray Fox.
After a long struggle and effort, eventually the Master Thief successfully procured the Elder Scroll. The Gray Fox was extremely excited receiving the Elder Scroll. And strangely, he gave his ring to the Master Thief, asked the Master Thief to go to Anvil, meet Countess Milona Umbranox and show the ring. Hearing this big heist, the Imperial City was shocked and disbelief that the Thieves Guild managed to steal the scroll. But for sure, the Thieves Guild's fame soared.
In Anvil, when the Countess saw the ring, she was surprised; as the ring is belonged to his missing husband, the Count Corvus Umbranox. Then suddenly the Stranger, that the Master Thief had met before, appeared and shouted, "By the power of the Elder Scrolls I name Emer Dareloth as the true thief of Nocturnal's Cowl." By chanted this words, the power of the Elder Scroll overruled the Nocturnal's curse, and Corvus Umbranox was once again known. The Countess was happy to see her missing husband but she also upset that his missing husband was the head and guildmaster of the Thieves Guild.
Then, Corvus Umbranox declared that he retired from the Thieves Guild and the promoted the Master Thief as the new guildmaster of the Thieves Guild, and in the same time wearing the name of the Gray Fox. But this time, the curse of Nocturnal was no longer applied. When the new Gray Fox arrived in the Garden of Dareloth, he found that the Thieves Guild now has guild house. And from that moment, he controls the guild of thieves from that guild house as the mysterious Gray Fox.