LE Make or break the Dark Brotherhood

[gahnzz]

I'm actually keen on this topic... especially from the Morag Tong concept. I dig the idea of competing with the Dark Brotherhood, especially with the Daedric influence as opposed to a Sithis-based group. I can provide dialogue and plot writing and voice acting - but my skills with scripts and coding are just in their infancy.

 

Watching this topic...

[RighthandofSithis]

Cheers gahnzz.

 

If this idea continues to gain support, I will start on the backgrounds myself and see if i can find some decent modders who are interested in this.

 

Everybody please stay tuned. I'm very excited about this.

 

EDIT: Screw it. Considering we've gotten 400 plus views on a section with over 300 pages, I think we have enough support.

 

The only guidelines I have for this is that I'd like it to be lore friendly, and I don't think it should be to long. We'll need to learn from the mistake of others. The DB Chronicles was far to long, and was never actually finished. However, A Brotherhood Renewed was not overly long, was released and was popular.

 

I think I'll start by writing up the lore of the Morag Tong and the Dark Brotherhood for all our story-writers to refer to.

 

And to any modders out there reading this thread. If you are interesting in this, please post here, telling us what you can do. We will need people able to create new cells for sancturies, people to write dialogue and voice actors, people who can write and apply new questlines to the game, people to model new armor and possibly weapons etc.

Edited December 30, 2011 by RighthandofSithis

[RighthandofSithis]

Here are my notes on the lore necessary for this mod.

 

The Morag Tong has the most information, as I could find more information on them and they are not as well known (only having appeared in one game a long time ago) the lore on the Dark Brotherhood's organisation I'm assuming is well known, and I didn't go into as much detail.

 

If anyone has more lore to add to this, please post it, as it is best to get this out of they way before we really get started.

 

(because it's not letting me upload my word document for some reason, I'm just copying and pasting it here. Feel free to copy and paste it to your own word document.)

 

 

 

Morag Tong:

Name means ‘foresters guild’

 

Are professional Assassins and are just as secretive with assassinations as the Dark Brotherhood (ie, just because they were legal in Morrowind, they still preferred secret murder, would prefer secrecy even more now) if not more so. Quote from Fire and Darkness:

 

“Evidence of the Morag Tong's expertise in assassination seems scarcely necessary. The few instances of someone escaping a murder attempt by them are always remarkable and rare, proving that they were and are patient, capable murderers who use their tools well. A fragment of a letter found among the effects of a well-known armorer has been sealed in our vaults for some time. It was likely penned by an unknown Tong assassin ordering weapons for his order, and offers some illumination into what they looked for in their blades, as well the mention of Vounoura, the island where the Tong sent its agents in retirement —

'I congratulate you on your artistry, and the balance and heft of your daggers. The knife blade is whisper thin, elegantly wrought, but inpractical [sic]. It must have a bolder edge, for arteries, when cut, have a tendencies to self seal, preventing adequate blood loss. I will be leaving Vounoura in two weeks time to inspect your new tools, hoping they will be more satisfactory.'”

 

Members carry writs of assassination (telling them who the target is) An example of a writ is at http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Honorable_Writ_of_Execution (the name of the target is top-center)

 

This will only be for show, to give the player the feeling of the Tong. It won’t have any legal use.

 

 

Rank system:

0. Associate

1. Blind Thrall

2. Thrall

3. White Thrall

4. Thinker

5. Brother

6. Knower

7. Master *

8. Exalted Master

9. Grandmaster *

(As taken from Morrowind) *known to distribute writs.

 

Are honourable (according to Dunmer tradition). They do not steal from or kill anybody not targeted by a writ (attacks on the DB and self-defence are an exception). If expelled, they themselves are targeted for execution. (In Pratice, the player will not be expelled if the murder someone not targeted by a writ [in case they wish to roleplay] but it will be mentioned)

 

To join, must pass an initiation, involves carrying out a writ.

 

Worship Mephala (deadric prince of lies, sex and murder) And consider their murders to be a matter of honor and religion (they are referred to as a cult). They do however still require payment for their services (large amounts of payment). Quote from The Brothers of Darkness

“…Mephala does grow stronger with every murder committed in her name, certain murders were better than others. Murders that came from hate pleased Mephala more than murders committed because of greed. Murders of great men and women pleased Mephala more than murders of relative unknowns.”

 

Grandmaster gives out ‘special duties’ involving attacking the Dark Brotherhood.

 

Originally dedicated to preserving peace in Morrowind by assassinating Great House* leaders (as hired by their enemies), however are now hired to kill anybody for enough gold (as they are obliged to play the role of the impartial middle man).

 

The Night Mother is known to play a part in the Tong. The Night Mothers Truth states that she was a member of the Tong in Bravil before they were outlawed everywhere but in Morrowind (more on this later) However, Fire and Darkness states that she is the leader of the Tong. Quotes from Eno Hlaalu (Grandmaster of the Tong at the beginning of the game Morrowind) include giving praise to the Night Mother (This may be referring to Mephala). I believe this should be over looked and that the Tong does not give praise to the Night Mother (use Mephala instead).

 

 

The Dark Brotherhood:

They are a hated off-shot of the Morag Tong, having split from them in the Second Era.

 

Regarded as being more of a business than a religion (however, Oblivion and The Night Mother’s Truth show that they worship Sithis and the Night mother)

 

Lead by the Night Mother, then below her is the Black Hand (made up of four Speakers and one Listener [Four fingers and a Thumb]) The Black hand actually takes care of running the Brotherhood, Night Mother is contacted only when necessary) The Listener is only chosen by the Night mother when he/she has no successor, and she does not choose the Speakers.

 

The Listener is told who has committed the Black Sacrament and where they can be found. The Listener then tells this to a speaker who contacts the person/people and organise a contract. Similar to the Night Mother Forever quest.

 

Shadowscales were elite Argonian Assassins, however they no longer exist.

 

Whenever someone with legal authority investigates them, they use blackmail, bribery, coercion and murder to remain secret.

 

 

The Night Mother:

 

She is very mysterious and solid facts are hard to establish about her.

 

The Night Mother’s Truth is the most reliable source on her, as it is corroborated by events and dialogue in Oblivion.

 

The title Night Mother did originate from the Morag Tong. The rank meant she was a local leader.

 

The Night Mother (ie the one worshipped by the Brotherhood) was the leader of the Tong in Bravil before the Tong was outlawed. She had started to hear the voice of Sithis (in the same way the Listener hears her voice). He eventually came and made love to her, conceiving five children. When they were born the Night Mother killed them and as sacrifices to Sithis. She in turn was killed by the outraged people of Bravil. Later a man (his identity is unknown) started to hear her voice and was named the first Listener. He had founded the Dark Brotherhood so as to do business dealing with death and give souls to Sithis. The Dark brotherhood had interred the remains of the night Mother and her children beneath the site of her house (which is where the statue of the Lucky Old Lady in Bravil is/was).

 

In Morrowind however, the player is given a mission to kill the local Night Mother of the Dark Brotherhood, however, the rank never appears anywhere else. This is to be ignored.

 

 

Further sources:

If anyone needs to find more information on the Night Mother, the Dark brotherhood or the morag Tong, the sources below should provide it.

 

The Night Mother’s Truth

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:The_Night_Mother%27s_Truth

 

The Brothers of Darkness

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:The_Brothers_of_Darkness

 

Fire and Darkness: The Brotherhoods of Death

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Fire_and_Darkness

 

 

UESPWiki page on the Dark Brotherhood

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Dark_Brotherhood

 

UESPWiki page on the Morag Tong*

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Morag_Tong

 

*This states that Morag Tong agents have to reveal their murders to the authorities. This is not so.

 

 

Please avoid using anything from The Imperial Library, as that website does not use information from in game sources. The UESPWiki however exclusively uses in game sources.

[SunnyDayCloud]

Are there any other modding Idea like this? (I haven't checked) If so, I think we should get into contact with them. If a lot of people are thinking of doing this (or something similar) It would be best to get them all on the one mod.

 

I have been looking around for a mod that dose just this, expand the DB quest line to what it should be like.

 

I would be happy to write up some assassination quests for the mod but i dont have the skill to do much beyond that.

 

There is a few threads like this but none with this much attention or detail. here is the ones i found

 

http://www.thenexusforums.com/index.php?/topic/503230-dark-brotherhood-improvement/

 

http://www.thenexusforums.com/index.php?/topic/476347-mod-idea-dark-brotherhood-assassination-contracts/

 

this one is vaguely similar

http://www.thenexusforums.com/index.php?/topic/503918-dark-brotherhood-population/

 

Regarding the creation of story for this mod, some one should manage who is doing what so that multiple people dont end up making the same sections of the story. im willing to being writing, but i need to know where.

 

Sunny

Edited January 3, 2012 by SunnyDayCloud

[RighthandofSithis]

Hey Sunny.

 

It's nice to see you are interested in this. Anything you can do to help is work off the hands of others. (And if you think your new to this, I only started using mods mid way through 2011, yet alone created one.)

 

I'll put a post on the other threads to see if anyone on them is interested on working for this mod.

 

And yes, I know we need to organise this. I've been doing my best, and have been considering myself currently as 'leading' this mod. But that hasn't been confirmed.

 

I'm thinking of getting an web page or something for this for a better place to coordinate our work on this. But as I can't design a web page, I think a Facebook group would work. Does anybody like this idea? I know that making a Facebook group may take a bit of trust for some people. (bearing in mind, if nobody responds to that question, I'll just make a Facebook group.)

 

After everything has been organised, and if nobody has any more lore to add to what I've written, we will start writing this.

Edited January 3, 2012 by RighthandofSithis

[SunnyDayCloud]

Hey Sunny.

 

It's nice to see you are interested in this. Anything you can do to help is work off the hands of others. (And if you think your new to this, I only started using mods mid way through 2011, yet alone created one.)

 

I'll put a post on the other threads to see if anyone on them is interested on working for this mod.

 

And yes, I know we need to organise this. I've been doing my best, and have been considering myself currently as 'leading' this mod. But that hasn't been confirmed.

 

I'm thinking of getting an web page or something for this for a better place to coordinate our work on this. But as I can't design a web page, I think a Facebook group would work. Does anybody like this idea? I know that making a Facebook group may take a bit of trust for some people. (bearing in mind, if nobody responds to that question, I'll just make a Facebook group.)

 

After everything has been organised, and if nobody has any more lore to add to what I've written, we will start writing this.

 

Hi RHoS,

 

i dont use FB so the idea dose not appeal to me, but we could make our own forum just for putting this mod together. i am the admin of one forum as is so i do have the skills to set it up (none being the amount required). that way we would be able to control and section out content easily and setup our own online chat rooms as well. all of this can be done for free, the only real issue is getting people from here to where ever the rest of the information is put together.

 

i am rather confident that if we get the story together then the experienced modders will join us.

 

the only thing i dont like about helping out with this mod is that it will ruin my experience of the mod itself since i will be familiar with the content before it exists, but hey at least it will be partially my content =)

 

Sunny

[csrgamer]

I know nothing of modding, but yes, we need this.

[RighthandofSithis]

Hey Sunny,

 

I thought that would be a problem, some people don't use Facebook. However, if you could create a forum, I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

I was thinking of just putting a post on this thread to inform people of where to go to create the mod or editing the original post and sending messages to the people who have commented on this mod.

 

To coordinate this mod, we would need someone to 'lead' the different components of this mod. At this stage, story writing is all we've gotten. I believe I could 'lead' the story writing component. But I don't want to just take control of this mod like I'm just being bossy.

 

And considering nobody has any changes to the lore nor has anybody made complaints about it, I believe people could start writing this mod. Off the top of my head, we will need to write up these aspects:

 

New characters- New NPCs such as Speakers/members of the Morag Tong etc will need to be given names at least some history and personality etc.

The Questline/Storyline- The story of the mod.

The Quests- This is separate to the Questline, but bound with it. This may require the completed questline to be able to do it. Some people may choose to do these at the same time (or at least the same person does the two). The Questline is the story as a whole, while the quests are what advance this story.

The New Sanctuaries/Morag Tong hideouts- Where are they. How are they hidden. Maybe a short description of them.

Side Assassinations- Assassinations that are just for fun, and are not part of the questline (Like what Nazir gives you).

Dialogue- This will eventually be needed. It will not be possible to do this until the quests and questlines have been completed.

 

That's all I can think of right now. If anybody can add more, please post here (I'll keep track of all this.)

 

If somebody takes an aspect, post what one you are doing so that its not done by two or more people.

 

Please try not to make this mod to big. As I said before. If we make it to big, it may not be finished.

 

And in my opinion, people want this mod to be finished as soon as possible. But I'd prefer anybody that takes up this mod to put themselves first. If you can't finish the aspect you have chosen, then tell me and give me what you've done. I'll give it someone else. If you have to put it off for whatever reasons, do so.

 

PS. A slight modification to the Dark Brotherhood Forever could be to put the targets in harder to reach places and make them more dangerous (ie Bandit/Forsworn Leaders, Imperial/Stormcloak Warlords etc)

[RighthandofSithis]

I'll take my aspect tomorrow. I'm to stuffed to be bothered today.

[SunnyDayCloud]

Hey guys,

 

Forum is up, there is only one section atm, we need to discuss what all i should add in etc

 

the link is http://bit.ly/sdbm1

sdbm as in skyrim dark brotherhood mod

 

I reccomend RHoS that you edit the starting post of this section to help direct people to the forum and get more attention.

 

Sunny =)