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.

The Dark Brotherhood, Part 1 (Innocence Lost to Sanctuary) (Katnys)

[Canon violation disclaimer: The Dark Brotherhood questline was one of the primary motivations for my second playthrough.  I therefore needed to balance my eagerness to complete this line with my dedication to authentic role-playing.  In order to achieve this balance, I decided to imagine that when Ulfric gave Balgruuf's axe to Katnys, he told her to hold off on delivering it until he gave the order as a way to maximize the Stormcloaks' readiness in case Whiterun sided with the Empire after all.  This change to the canon allowed Katnys some "breathing room" to complete the Dark Brotherhood quests while maintaining the Civil War as a priority.]

While waiting for Ulfric's order to deliver the axe to Whiterun, Katnys and Jenassa decided to explore Windhelm -- the Gray Quarter in particular.  It was during this "hiatus" that they encountered Grimvar Cruel-Sea and Idesa Sadri discussing the Aretino child, which reminded Katnys to follow up on the rumor she had heard at the Sleeping Giant.  Now that she had some time to kill, she decided to investigate.

Even for someone so young, Katnys had seen a lot, so the sight of Aventus performing the Black Sacrament did not phase her much.  When she heard the orphan's story, however, her nonchalance became a kind of vengeful pity.  Katnys remembered all too well the abuse she suffered at the Imperial orphanage in Anvil, so she gladly borrowed the mantle of the Dark Brotherhood in order to exact some vicarious justice for her and her late sister.  After seeing Grelod's outrageous behavior for herself, Katnys waited for nightfall (no need to traumatize the kids any more than they already had), snuck back into Honorhall, then woke Grelod up; she wanted the hag to be fully awake when she killed her.  Katnys used her Serpent Stone power to paralyze Grelod before driving an arrow in her gut and leaving her for Constance to clean up.  Being able to tell Aventus that his nightmare was finally over gave Katnys a modicum of peace...for a little while anyway.

Shortly after killing Grelod, Katnys received a note from a courier which, if she hadn't been so caught up in both the Civil War and her own orphanage memories, she should have expected.  In fact, the Dark Brotherhood had been in the back of her mind since Riverwood.  From her parents' stories, she knew the Dark Brotherhood, like the Morag Tong, took their kills very seriously, and didn't look kindly on "poachers." 

The next morning, after she and Jenassa spent another night in Candlehearth Hall, Katnys woke up alone and groggy on the floor of an abandoned shack.  The mysterious figure questioning her -- her "host," apparently -- reminded her a bit of Jenassa in the way she spoke so matter-of-factly about killing.  Finally faced with a genuine member of the Dark Brotherhood, Katnys knew she was at a disadvantage, so she listened to Astrid's offer: kill one of the anonymous captives or else...but which one?

Katnys interview Fultheim first.  He reminded her of the kind of mercenary she sometimes encountered with the Alik'r: fighting other men's battles in order to keep food on the table.  By his own admission, he had done some underhanded and cowardly deeds, but was that worth killing?  Next came Alea, the shrew whom Katnys eventually wanted to put out of earshot, but not to death.  Vasha the Khajiit, however, was a different story.  While she could care less about his criminal activities, one phrase he uttered stopped her cold:

Guess which phrase.

After their parents' death, Katnys and Prym encountered more than their share of "defilers of daughters," both in and out of the orphanage.  Normally, she would have shot him right then and there, but having him tied up and helpless like that, she decided to get up close and personal with her dagger.  She wanted him to feel it.

As good as Katnys felt about executing the Khajiit sexual predator, she felt even better when Astrid invited her to join the Brotherhood.  While she had certainly fantasized about assassinating her way through the Imperial Legion, she had not really expected to join the ancient band of killers, nor had she anticipated the stirrings aroused by Astrid's talk of family.  As soon as she left the shack, she rejoined Jenassa, explained where she had been (though Jenassa seemed relatively unfazed by Katnys's disappearance -- her trust in Katnys was sometimes unsettling), and together they traveled to Falkreath.

When they reached the Sanctuary, Katnys was a little put off by the fact that Jenassa was not permitted to enter.  While she understood that she, not Jenassa, had been invited, she had begun to think of Jenassa more and more as her own family.  Still, Jenassa was willing to wait outside while Katnys got to know the Brotherhood.

The first thing she learned was that the Brotherhood clearly lived up to its name.  The Stormcloaks were men and women bound tight by shared beliefs and a common goal, but the Brotherhood acted like a real family -- laughing, teasing, sharing as her own family had done while they lived among the Redguards.  Even Nazir's initial surliness felt familar and avuncular.  She loved this band of misfits and freaks almost immediately and wanted to please them -- anything to stay within the warm embrace of this Brotherhood. 

So, without hesitation, she accepted her first contract.

Civil War, Part 1 (Katnys)

Reconnecting with the Alik’r in Whiterun really helped Katnys place the whole “Dovahkiin” thing in its proper perspective.  Being Dragonborn was only of value to the degree it could help her take down the Empire that had abandoned Hammerfell, betrayed her parents, and killed her sister; the Greybeards and all of their “Way of the Voice” business could wait.  Right now, she needed to get to Windhelm and join up with the Stormcloaks.

Upon arriving in the capitol of Eastmarch, Katnys and Jenassa were treated to the sight of two Nords (Rolff Stone-Fist and Angrenor Once-Honored) harassing a Dunmer woman (Survaris Atheron).  At first, she was too dumbstruck to intervene; while her parents had often talked of their life in Windhelm, actually seeing one of her own as a.) an established citizen of Skyrim and b.) a victim of racism was a little too much to process all at once. 

The welcome wagon

Eventually, she pulled her wits together and beat some respect into Rolff (not that it lasted -- she would later encounter him drunkenly shouting in the Grey Quarter), then made her way to the Palace of the Kings for her audience with Ulfric.

Having lived most of her life outside of Skyrim, Katnys had been unnaware of Ulfric before the events at Helgen, so she approached him with neither awe nor ire.  She cared little for the intricacies of Nord politics, and even less about Talos, so she expected to express her desire to join the rebellion, grab her bow, and start killing Imperials.  But when Ulfric began talking about missing his father's funeral and about the obligation he had to the men in his command -- those who fell and those who still fought for him -- she found herself moved far more than she had anticipated.  Surely, a man who cared so deeply for his brothers-in-arms deserved her respect.  She still had no strong feelings about Talos, but her hated of the Empire only grew as she listened to Ulfric's story.  Therefore, when Galmar asked her why an elf would join the Stormcloaks,  she could proudly exclaim her thirst for Legionnaire blood.

The first task -- killing an ice wraith -- seemed like a pointless Nord test of courage, but she had grown used to that kind of requirement among the Alik'r.  Looking for the Jagged Crown felt silly as well, but once she got a chance to pick off some Imperial soldiers, Katnys finally felt like she was on the right path.  Under Ulfric's leadership, the Stormcloaks would drive the Empire out of Skyrim and, who knows, perhaps out of existence entirely.

It was this last thought -- that Ulfric might be the one to bring down the Empire -- that allowed Katnys to stomach the racism she encountered from certain residents of Windhelm.  Sure, one beggar and the town drunk (whom everyone tolerates because he's Galmar's brother) liked to toss epithets around, but that kind of impotent bigotry did little to dampen her spirits as she explored the Gray Quarter; after all, it was hard to be upset when she was in her parents' adopted hometown, surrounded by more Dunmer than she had even seen in one place.  In fact, even as she and Jenassa sipped Argonian Bloodwine and listened to Ambarys Rendar complain of the Nords' maltreatment of the Dark Elves, she couldn't help but think that some of these Windhelm Dunmer lacked perspective.  Sure, the Gray Quarter was a bit of a dump, and some of the Nords were less than hospitable, but what did Ambarys and his ilk expect?  From her time with the Alik'r, Katnys well understood that mercy and kinship are not the same.  The Alik'r took her and Prim in -- fed them, protected them, shared knowledge with them -- but they were never really part of the clan...and why should they be?  They weren't Redguards, after all.  People prefer their own kin, their own kind, and there's nothing wrong with that.  You can be generous to a stranger, but you only really love your own. 

It is precisely that generosity -- the kind shown by the Alik'r to the Evyrdene girls -- that Katnys saw in the Nords.  After the Red Mountain erupted, the High King of Skyrim gave entire portions of Solstheim to the Dunmer refugees, and the Jarl of Windhelm opened the Snow Quarter to them.  The Nords' magnanimity, however, was that of a powerful ally, not an adopted family.  The Sons and Daughters of Skyrim have helped the refugees of Morrowind, and that is enough.  For a Dunmer like Ambarys to expect the Nords to treat him like one of their own was not only foolish, but borderline ungrateful in Katnys's eyes.  It is natural to favor one's own, even as it is valorous to help an ally.

In fact, this history of Nord generosity throws a harsh light on the duplicity of the Empire.  Even as the Nords were opening their borders during the Red Year, the East Empire Company was pulling up stakes to avoid the ash.  The events of the Great War further demonstrated that the Empire exists solely for the benefit of Cyrodiil -- which would be fine if the Empire consisted only of Cyrodiil.  The Emperor had no problem abandoning Hammerfell to the Dominion, and then slapped Skyrim in the face by agreeing to the Concordat.  While the Nords might call you names and start a fight with you, they will also open their homes and keep their promises.  The Empire, on the other hand, calls you "citizen" while it sells you to your enemy.  Tamriel would be better served by an alliance of strong, independent nations than this shame of an Empire.  The Dominion would never be able to stand up against the cunning of Cyrodiil, the brawn of Skyrim, the skill of Hammerfell, and the sorcery of High Rock acting in concert as equals, rather than as thralls to a dying Empire.

Now that she held Balgruuf's axe, Katnys was poised to speed that process along.

QuizUp: Skyrim

Just wanted to let everyone know that my Skyrim questions went live on QuizUp this morning!  If you have not already done so, download this app!  It's a lot of fun, and now it's just that much better.  Be sure to thank me when you reach Dragonborn status!

Second Anniversary Update

I’ve been playing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for about two years now, and while I’ve documented most of my thoughts on the moral aspect of the game on this blog, I find that every so often an issue will come up that, while interesting, does not really belong in a typical post.  Here are a few of those developments:

QuizUp

In case you haven’t heard of it yet, QuizUp is the trivia game app that is currently distracting most of my students on their school-issued iPads.  I began playing myself when a student challenged me publicly in Word Definitions; how could I not pick up that gauntlet?  Anyway, I noticed that the developers were inviting players to contribute content to the game, and seeing how there was no Skyrim category, I offered to write the questions for them.  The good folks at PlainVanilla accepted, and I spent the better part of my vacation creating the quiz.  I have submitted the questions, and according to QuizUp, the Skyrim category should be live in a few weeks.  I’ll post again when it’s up and running.

Dishonored

If you read last year’s update, you’ll recall that when my son began playing, he adopted a different type of character with a different moral profile from mine, which led to some really entertaining arguments between us.  Since that time, he has played Skyrim less frequently, preferring to invest his screen time in Minecraft. This Christmas, while Santa brought him a good lot of Minecraft merchandise, my son bought me Dishonored.  I had not really expressed a desire for the game, although I did say some months ago that it looked like something I’d enjoy, owning to its opportunities for moral agency.

Those of you who have played Dishonored know that, while it does offer some binary choices (takedown or assassination?), it is not as robust from either a moral or a role-playing perspective; this statement is not a criticism, but rather an observation – I am really enjoying the game so far.  What I find funny, though, is that when my son observes me play, he spends most of the time making fun of my non-lethal playstyle, even going so far as to reiterate his previous “it’s just a game” argument from the East Empire Warehouse debate.  What follows is an approximate transcript of the exchange that followed:

Me: “So, if it’s just a game, why do you care how I’m playing it?”

Him: “Because it’s annoying to watch you restart every time you have to kill a guard so that you can play the ‘moral’ way.”

Me: “Look, the guards think I assassinated the Empress, so I can’t really kill them for doing their jobs.  In their heads, they’re fighting the villain of the story.  If it bothers you that much, don’t watch.  Besides, you know how I play; I’ll finish playing this way, then play a more lethal way, just like I’m doing in Skyrim.  I’m interested in different playstyles.”

Him: “Yeah, but which style do you always do first?  Which one do you care about more?”

Boom.  He had me dead to rights.  If I’m being honest, I do care most about the first playthrough – the one that most closely reflects my own worldview.  While this might be irritating for my son (who, I think, actually enjoys watching me play so that he can needle me about everything I’m doing “wrong”), it is even more troubling for me.  If I accept that my first playthough is usually the one that I’m the most invested in, what does it say that, even though I took down or sleep-darted everyone in Dr. Galvani’s house, I still let the rats out of the pantry, know full well that they would devour the sleeping guards?

The Continuing Adventures of Katnys Evyrdene

I’ve slacked a bit in posting about my second playthrough (see QuizUp above), but I will pick it up again soon.  The posts on the Civil War and the Dark Brotherhood will likely be substantial, given that they are the primary raison d'être for this character.  I appreciate those of you who have been commenting on this second moral profile, and if I haven’t responded to your individual comments, I will get to them very soon.

Thanks!

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.