The Dark Brotherhood, Part 2 (The First Contracts) (Katnys)

Joining the Dark Brotherhood marked a significant turning point for Katnys; although she felt a deep sisterhood with Jenassa, she hadn’t experienced a real family since the Empire abandoned the Evyrdenes to the Thalmor’s tender mercies.  The presence of a Dunmer and a Redguard in their ranks didn’t hurt, either.  While her interest in the Brotherhood started with daydreams of assassinating Imperial officials, she quickly realized that this family was going to help her heal one of her deepest wounds.

Therefore, when Nazir offered Katnys her first contracts, she was genuinely conflicted.  Until now, she had not killed anyone in whom she wasn't personally "invested." Slaughtering legionaries and Thalmor was a joy, and killing bandits was an act of self-preservation; even at Pinewatch, her preemptive strike, while brutal, was born out of fear.  Sticking Grelod while she was as helpless as the kids she tormented -- well, that just plain felt good.  And Vasha...if half of what he said was true, then he deserved his end. 

But if Katnys was being honest with herself, she had to admit that there was something...liberating about killing on Astrid's orders.  Ever since her parents died, Katnys had shouldered the burden of taking care of herself and her sister.  She made every decision -- leaving the orphanage, finding the Alik'r, going back to Windhelm.  It was that last decision that led to Prym's death.  She was ready to let someone else make the decisions for a while.  And now that the "someone else" was a Redguard who dressed and behaved just enough like an Alik'r, she could find a way to do anything that he asked.

Still, the first three contracts Nazir gave her were hard to stomach. True, these targets were nothing to her, but killing a random mine boss, a paranoid ex-miller, and a grief-deranged beggar without knowing the reason was going to be tough.  It was clear that she wasn't going to get explanations; she was going to have to trust her new family and do as they asked.

Katnys decided to start with the hardest one: Narfi.  Though she didn't encounter him when she passed through Ivarstead on her way to High Hrothgar, she had heard a few rumors about the simpleton who was searching for his sister, who had either abandoned him, died, or both.  With her gone, he was probably better off dead anyway.  Katnys decided that a quick bowshot from a distance would be the most humane exit for this poor bastard.

After Narfi, Ennodius Papius was not as difficult.  While not as pathetic as Narfi, Papius was just as miserable, endlessly jumping at shadows.  Killing him seemed almost merciful.

Beitild came last, and was the easiest target.  The business between her and her husband seemed like it was going to end in bloodshed anyway.  Killing her probably prevented innocent people from getting caught in the crossfire.

After she returned to the Sanctuary, Katnys collected her reward from the sardonic Redguard, then took some time to think.  Murder was becoming easier to justify with each contract, and she needed to decide if this was a good thing.

In My Time of Need (Katnys)

Regular readers will remember that In My Time of Need was the quest that initially prompted me to begin this blog.  The question at its center -- whom should you believe? -- is what transformed an entertaining video game into a moral sandbox for me.  As I pointed out earlier, I created Katnys as a moral agent who would choose differently from her predecessor, and this is one of the quests that I had in mind when I started thinking about alternate moral choices.  In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit to "stacking the deck" for this quest in order to ensure that choosing Kematu over Saadia made sense for this new PC.  The Alik'r feature prominently in Katnys's backstory in part because I wanted to give this moral agent who values relationships over principles a reason to not only side with Kematu, but also to care about the dilemma at hand.

When Katnys returned to Whiterun after the revelations at Kynesgrove and High Hrothgar, she sought out the Alik'r warriors whom she had seen arguing with the town guard.  Earlier, she had avoided them because she was too focused on the task at hand, but now she felt the need to reconnect with something familiar.  Although she did not know these particular Alik'r, she had heard the warriors with whom she and Prym lived talk of Kematu with pronounced respect.  She was therefore more than happy to help them track down their target.

Once she found Saadia, Katnys listened to her side of the story, which actually cemented her original decision.  Saadia, who has no idea who Katnys is in relation to the Alik'r, refers to them as cowardly assassins, which is a gross mischaracterization -- something only one who had spent time with them would know.  There were some other points to consider:

• Even beyond the "assassins" reference, Saadia's side of the story didn't ring true to Katnys's ears.  She knew first hand that Hammerfell resisted the Dominion on its own well after the Empire abandoned the province and acquiesced to the Thalmor.  Although there was no way she could know the details of the Second Treaty of Stros M'Kai, it was clear that the Dominion had sought terms while the Redguards were ready to fight to the bitter end.  It was therefore highly unlikely that a Redguard noblewoman would be pursued by her kinsmen for speaking out against the Dominion.
• Furthermore, the treaty stipulated the removal of all of the Dominion's forces from Hammerfell.  Who, therefore, would care if a Redguard noblewoman was speaking out against them?  It's not as though the Thalmor were roaming free as they were in Skyrim.
• The Alik'r wanted Katnys to help them capture Saadia, whereas Saadia wanted Katnys to kill Kematu.  The former is the request of men doing their job, whereas the latter is the request of someone who is comfortable betraying her own countrymen -- which is exactly what Saadia was accused of.
• Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, Katnys knew the Alik'r (if not these Alik'r), but she had no idea who Saadia was.  There was little chance she was going to trust a stranger over people she knew.

Still, Katnys wanted a little more insight into the situation; after all, when the Aldmeri Dominion is involved, there is always the possibility of deception and political intrigue.  She therefore followed up with the Alik'r prisoner in Dragonsreach, whose story confirmed her earlier suspicions.  Far from being a "hired gun," this warrior was a man of honor and loyalty, which seriously undermined the validity of Saadia's claims.  Katnys and Jenassa set out for Swindler's Den.

That Kematu had used bandits as cover neither surprised nor offended Katnys.  He had a job to do for his people, and the bandits provided necessary protection and camouflage.   As they meant nothing to him or to Hammerfell, they were expendable.  Furthermore, Kematu had no way of knowing who Katnys was and what her intentions were.  Had he really wished to kill her, he would not have stayed the hands of his men.  After her parley with Kematu, Katnys promised to deliver the traitor outside the Whiterun stables.  Kematu, true to his word, captured Saadia without violence; Katnys, for her part, was glad to have helped pay the Alik'r back, at least in some small way.

The Way of the Voice/A Blade in the Dark (Katnys)

After the rush of consuming the dragon’s soul and letting out her first shout, Katnys needed some answers, but she was eager to get to Windhelm to continue her personal war against the Empire.  This “dragonborn” stuff seemed like a lot of Nord nonsense that would only distract her from her mission, but she couldn’t deny what was happening to her.  

In the midst of this internal debate, a new thought dawned on Katnys: if she was going to take on the Empire, she would need all of the power she could muster.  She had a dedicated, like-minded follower in Jenassa, and was earning friends wherever she went, but what if all of that wasn’t enough?  Her skills, her allies, and her rage were strong, but could they alone make the Empire pay for its treachery?  Perhaps this “dovahkiin” business could provide the means for the destruction of the Empire.

With these thoughts in mind, Katnys and Jenassa reported back to Balgruuf, followed his directions to Ivarstead, and then climbed the 7000 steps to High Hrothgar.  While the Greybeards and their monastery were impressive enough, Katnys could never quite take their pious detachment seriously, and just wanted to get on with it.  After all, here was this group of men who possessed immense power, but remained secluded and aloof from the world around them.  Their homeland was under attack by both the Legion and the dragons, but they just wanted to meditate on their mountaintop.  Katnys resolved to jump through their hoops, learn what she needed to learn, and move on.

It therefore came as a profound disappointment when she found Delphine’s note instead of the Horn.  Once again, she would be forced to delay her trip to Windhelm and go down yet another rabbit hole.  As it turned out, however, she didn’t mind this detour quite so much.  Like Katnys, Delphine was a woman of guile and action, so following her to Kynesgrove seemed less pointless than delving into the Greybeards’ dusty dungeons.  Sure, Delphine tended to go on about the Dragonborn and all that, but if what she was saying about the Blades was true, then Katnys needed to be a part of that for two reasons: 1.) a cadre of dragonslayers would be a valuable tool, and 2.) if the Blades had, indeed, protected the Emperor before the Great War, Katnys needed to keep them from returning to that role.

All plotting aside, the encounter with Sahloknir and Alduin at Kynesgrove unsettled Katnys.  Once the shock of seeing Alduin again wore off, she had to wrap her mind around a few disconcerting facts:

• Alduin was raising dragons from the dead with his Thu’um, while Katnys could barely push people around with hers.  Had she bitten off more than she could chew?
• If Delphine was to be believed, the Thalmor were behind all of this, and now Katnys would have to infiltrate the Thalmor Embassy.  Ambushing a small group of Justiciars is one thing, but this might be more than she could handle.
• A few days ago, Katnys was a lone Dunmer just trying to spill some Imperial blood in memory of her sister. She now found herself in the middle of a civil war, a political conspiracy, and some kind of crazy prophesy – none of which she had in mind when she and Prym left Hammerfell.

Hammerfell.  It was that last thought that drove her back to Whiterun.  After returning the Horn to the Greybeards and enduring their pompous (though admittedly impressive) Dovahkiin ceremony, Katnys decided to return to Whiterun to talk to the Redguards she had seen hanging around the front gate.  Before, she had been in too much of a hurry to speak with them, but now that she needed some time to think, a conversation with some Alik’r warriors might help her regain her footing.

Second Playthrough: The Backstory of Katnyss Evyrdene

After about a year of playing Skyrim as Lothar, I started to think about playing a character who would make different decisions than I had made the first time through.  I really have to credit my son with sparking my interest in an alternate moral system; his eloquent and passionate defense of his decision to join the Stormcloaks got me to wondering if I could create a moral agent who would choose differently from Lothar in most of the major dichotomies offered by the game.

This was no easy task.  Lothar’s decisions reflected, for better or worse, my own moral profile, but I had no interest in creating an amoral, sociopathic, or evil character for the second playthrough; my project, after all, was to examine moral agency within the game, so I needed a character who would not simply do the opposite of what Lothar did, but rather one who would see the opposite decision as morally superior. 

Since Lothar was a lot like me (northern European/Nord male in a predominantly northern European/Nord society), I thought it best to use a markedly different character build in order to run a markedly different moral profile.  I found inspiration in Katniss Everdeen, heroine of The Hunger Games – a character who, at least at the beginning of the story, cares only for her family and friends and little for the larger moral or political issues around her.  For Katniss, family is the greatest good, and anything that does not serve to protect and provide for the family is to be ignored if possible or destroyed if necessary.  In order to maintain the connection to my fictional model, I created a Dunmer female specializing in Archery and Fire magic (not going to lie – I’m patting myself on the back for drawing a link between Catching Fire and Ancestor’s Wrath) named Katnyss Evyrdene.

As I did with Lothar, I wrote a backstory for Katnyss that would help explain her moral profile.  The difference was that this time, I was reverse-engineering a profile that would lead to contrary choices in the most contentious quests.  In other words, I needed to write a backstory that was not only consistent with the lore, but would also lead Katnyss to see enlisting with the Stormcloaks, siding with the Alik’r, joining the Dark Brotherhood, and so on as the morally correct decisions.  What follows is the actual chart I created before starting the second playthrough:

Year (4E)	Event
5	Red Mountain exodus
16	Solstheim granted to the Dunmer: Grandparents, former officials of House Sadras (minor house, mainly ashlander stock), become ebony miners
20	Refugees’ Rest: Grandparents move to Windhelm to become merchants
20-160	Parents born, live to adulthood  in Windhelm’s Grey Quarter; grandparents die natural deaths
160	Parents become Imperial scouts/spies because of loyalty to hospitable Nords and the High King, who is loyal to the Empire; sent to Hammerfell as “merchants” to monitor increased Thalmor activity
168/172	Katnyss/Prym born while parents are active in Hammerfell
171	Great War begins
175	Empire cedes Hammerfell, abandons the Evyrdenes, who stay on to assist the Redguards anyway
180	Parents killed by Thalmor before Treaty of Stros M’Kai
180	Katnyss and Prym taken in by friendly Alik’r Redguards, who decide that an Imperial orphanage might be better able to care for them than a group of nomadic warriors; sisters placed in Benrius Orphanage in Anvil (formerly Benrius Manor, a home of the Hero of Kvach)
185	Sisters subjected to repeated abuse at the Orphanage; Katnyss sneaks herself and Prym onto a boat in order to return to the Alik’r warriors, who are hard but honorable.  The Alik’r reluctantly accept them under very harsh conditions for Katnyss.
201	Katnyss decides to take Prym to Solstheim in order to better their fortunes and perhaps even return to Morrowind; caught by Imperials while crossing the border; Prym killed by Imperial soldier in the battle between Stormcloaks and the Imperial Legion

By taking advantage of Dunmer longevity, I was able to write a backstory for Katnyss that would create a hatred for the Empire as deep as her longing for family.  I also wanted her to be partial to the Redguards in general and the Alik’r in particular, and I wanted her to have respect for the Nords and their way of life, but not a sense of belonging with them.  Furthermore, I wanted her to have a claim to Solstheim, a fierce protectiveness toward orphans, and a disgust for those who prey on women.  Lastly, I wanted her to be able to do hard, even brutal things in order to do what needs to be done.  To be honest, I’m proud of the character I created and excited to watch her grapple with the game’s thornier dilemmas.

Her backstory set, I let Katnyss Evyrdene loose on Skyrim.