The Brotherhood of Old

[TomTesoro]

The Brotherhood of Old

A Dark Brotherhood quest mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Release Thread - Open Beta Out Now

 

Betrayed by your own sister, the fate of the Dark Brotherhood rests upon the edge of a knife. As the Listener to the Night Mother, your mind has been plagued with troubling dreams as of a late. Among these dreams, a set of instructions, you are to end a family line that could destroy the Brotherhood forever. Buried deeper within those dreams, therein lies hope for the future.

You begin to rebuild the Brotherhood, adding in many assassins from all walks of life. Locked away within one of these acolytes, flows the blood of a Legendary Speaker from days passed. The secrets within their blood will change the Brotherhood forever.
As you mold this descendant into a weapon, the Brotherhood becomes respected throughout the land once more. But with this respect comes fear, and with that fear many come out of the woods to destroy the Brotherhood. A recently disbanded guild has reformed, deadlier than ever. And an old but unknown enemy has resurfaced, and between the two guilds they are dedicated to wiping out every trace of the Brotherhood.

The Brotherhood of Old is a new quest mod for Skyrim, taking place after "Hail Sithis" in the Dark Brotherhood Quest. This 170 page screenplay will take you all across the land of Skyrim, as you try and rebuild the Brotherhood and strengthen it against future attacks. How will you deal with these new Brothers and Sisters? Will you be heartless and cold, doing only what is good for the Brotherhood as a whole? Will you be silent or cryptic, letting others fill in the gaps? Will you take the straightforward path, or will you put in a little extra effort and be rewarded proportionally? Will the Brotherhood fail under you, or will you make Sithis proud?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWHLAy2GgeI

Press Releases (Screenshots):

September 2, 2016

June 1, 2016

June 23, 2014

May 6, 2013

We are hosted at The Assimilation Lab now. You can find the project there, and interact with us better there.

Edited February 10, 2018 by TomTesoro

[ALittleBird]

Looks great, keeping an eye on this one. The Dark Brotherhood is pathetic as an organization, yes :)

[BlackCompany]

An idea - The Story:

 

I no longer think humble assassination quests, isolated and of no consequence, will suffice for the DB this time round. I believe that, without heavily scripted "twists" assassination missions grow stale. This is especially true if they are but one-off, isolated missions without wider consequences in the world.

 

For this reason, I believe the DB needs an enemy, this time round. A nemesis, if you will. Batman is nothing without Joker, or some arch-nemesis, to give him purpose. The DB in Oblivion had Phillida for much of the game. He was a common-cause rallying cry against which the entire DB could rally. Skyrim's DB seems to lack this touch, and as such they are little more than a band of over-acted killers with poor dialogue and voice acting living in a cave with a Werewolf who has hard on for Abraham Whistler from Blade.

 

The DB needs a nemesis, an enemy. Someone who understands their incredibly fragile position and wants to crush them for good and all. Someone who can benefit from the annihilation of not only the DB, but perhaps of Sithis and the Night Mother themselves. This entity/organization/individual needs to be powerful in the extreme, dark and utterly without remorse. They must be dedicated to annihilating the DB, and yet be reasonable in their motivations, at least to themselves. Believable, in other words.

 

And you must kill them. Not all at once, of course - their might is too great for that. No, you must destroy them in the manner to which you are best suited. One by one, from the shadows, you must take them apart - before they do the same to the Brotherhood.

 

And they must try. That is key. They must hunt you, the player, and your family. They must attack you even as you attack them. At times this private war must risk spilling over into the "day time" world out of sheer ferocity and blood thirst.

 

Perhaps the one who hunts you is a remoreseless captain of the Imperial Legion or Stormcloaks. Perhaps a Jarl with a bloated sense of justice. Perhaps its a powerful magus or Lich, looking to eliminate the Dark Brotherhood and drain the power from the Night Mother and thus draw Sithis himself out into confrontation.

 

Perhaps...but I don't think so.

 

No, I think that, in its most desperate hour, the greatest enemy the Dark Brotherhood has ever known has returned at long last.

 

In their most desperate hour, the most dangerous enemy the Dark Brotherhood has ever known has finally returned. The one enemy who can match the DB stroke for stroke, kill for kill, is back at long last. outclassed and out-manned, the DB must struggle to eliminate the most dangerous foe they have ever known before their last remnant is destroyed forever - and Sithis and the Night Mother along with them...

 

Behold: The return of Mephala and The Morag Tong.

 

The Setup:

 

Mephala is back. She's pissed. And she's been gathering steam - and a new following. The Morag Tong is angry over the split and the perceived betrayal by the DB so long ago. No, weak and on the bring, the Morag Tong sees a chance to eliminate the splinter group. Forever.

 

One by one you must eliminate members of the Morag Tong. Some will be exposed and alone, searching the land of Skyrim for the last remnant of the DB. Find them in forts and ruins; camps and cities, as they search for safehold of their own and allies in their fight against you. Other will be safer, surrounded by guards in forts and dungeons. Even in cities, where they court the favor of Jarls and sleep in castle keeps, safe behind walls.

 

Some will require speech checks just to reach them. Others, backdoor entraces (see fort Greymoor west of Whiterun.)

 

 

During these quests Morag Tong hunters roam Skyrim. They can spawn on roads and even in dungeons, as they scour the land for the hidden remnants of the DB. Now and then upon returning to a Sanctuary during this "war" you will be attacked, or find dead DB/Morag Tong members in the aftermath of an attack. Don't make these random, however, as numbers need to be small, and carefully controlled, to remain believable.

 

The quests and consequences:

 

Choice is important here. Perhaps one of three finales:

 

1. Eliminate the Morag Tong

 

2. Join them - and destroy the DB forever (DB Radiant assassinations are just relabeled to Morag Tong, and so are the Sanctuaries.)

 

3. Reconcile the two. "Discover" the Night Mother legend was a misrepresentation of Mephala all along, and that Sithis was the name of the person who began this malpractice. The two "join forces" and Radiant assassinations continue for those interested.

 

 

Just some ideas. I can do some basic cluttering, but scripting I am still learning. Obviously willing to write, as well, if anyone needs inspiration. I love the DB, but I think there are right and wrong ways to do these quests, and simply adding more empty, isolated, Radiant killings would I think be a let down in the end. Skyrim has so much of this already.

[TomTesoro]

That's very interesting, I'll take that into consideration.

For the most part, this mod is about restoring the Dark Brotherhood, first and foremost. That's really the main focus. Perhaps down the line when things are building up and they're making a prominent name for themselves once again, then the Morag Tong could attack, after word of the Dark Brotherhood's uprising reaches wherever the hell they fled to after Vvardenfell went kaput.

 

I could definitely use your help fleshing out the story though. I've got a basic outline right now, but it's flimsy. It could use a writer's input. Though, let's make a point not to discuss these things in public areas, because then there will be no surprise.

As for cluttering, you'll have to show me any previous work you've done in that area.

 

Thanks for your interest.

[TomTesoro]

[Deleted for old content]

Edited May 29, 2016 by VincentLachance

[Rennn]

This is a great idea, I strongly support it, and I hope it flourishes. However, make sure you proof-read any dialogue and text in the mod itself. There were several errors in the description and while it doesn't matter for a synopsis or description, people will care in the mod itself. Edited March 25, 2012 by Rennn

[ALittleBird]

@BlackCompany Wow! I love your idea of the Morag Tong! Always liked them.

[TomTesoro]

Still looking for the following:

Writers to help flesh out the story, write quests, and stuff like that.

Scripters to script quests and implement 5 Tenets consequences; Wrath of Sithis, etc.

Level Designers for cluttering.

Someone with a vivid understanding of UV mapping and texturing.

AI Person/People to give the NPCs proper AI.

Edited May 29, 2016 by VincentLachance

[TomTesoro]

Holy cow, I've neglected this thread haven't I? Anyway, believe it or not, I am still working on this mod 4 years later. It's coming along. Just thought I would update the thread to reflect that.

[lepergnome]

I think we all agree Skyrim needs more Quest/Story mods like these. Its really a shame to see such good ideas and projects like these die, so please do try to give us an update more frequantly! For Skyrim (Story mods) !