What gives? I make a shadowscale style Argonian, enroll with the dark brotherhood, and this cocky little peice of garbage says "yeah... Uhhh.... I'm the last one...." I swear if there is ANYWAY I can get away with killing him, I will. I believe in killing the messenger.

So what happened to them?

read the in game books, that's what they're there for.

Not sure how to answer this in the non-spoiler forum. Suffice it to say, the Dark Brotherhood had a run of bad luck. A book in the game talks about them not having the funds to open up new training academies in Black Marsh, so I presume that the other ones just couldn't keep going as the noose was tightened. There may have been other reasons, but I forget.

Bethesda introduced us to Shadowscales in Oblivion and then they were like: http://static.lockerz.com/decalz/medium/image001328891609057ga60op.jpg

Good writing decision, Bethesda. I'm sure fans won't be frustrated with them leaving the lore scene as quickly as they came at all.

You really care about it that much? I think it works nicely with the Dark Brotherhood. The whole thing is falling apart - it doesn't make much sense for them to still have an academy full of assassins when they've lost so much. Especially an academy in one of the most isolated and secretive provinces ...

Yeah I'm with ya. I always wanted some kind of solid story/questline for the Shadowscales.

im sure he just means no more shadow scales being given to the brotherhood, no way will argonia stop training their best warriors/assassins (although they may be under a different name now). although i do agree, it is stupid writing them up and writing them off so quickly

I don't understand how the Dark Brotherhood lost footing in Black Marsh though. If the Shadowscales are trained by the Dark Brotherhood and work in service of the King of Black Marsh, you'd think that the Brotherhood would have safe haven there. Sorta like the Morag Tong, another group of assassins that got completely wiped out for Skyrim's whole "everything in the world svcks" storylines.

think since the brotherhood was falling apart the argonians were like we can do it better our selfs and cut ties.

Also, imagine the kerfuffle it would cause if it became outright knowledge (rather than quiet rumor) that the leadership of Black Marsh was using an illegal group of assassins to train their own operatives, and that they had an actual agreement with said assassins.

I often feel this is Bethesda's take on the lore. Hey girls (and guys) like lore!? Here!

Nice picture.

Wait wait so are shadowscales gone? Just like that with 2 games?

Yes

Without a DB presence in Black Marsh the shadowscales no longer operate like they used to do, the training program has been ended. However Shadowscales are also something different then just DB assassins. You need to meet certain requirements and I'm sure those Argonians still exist, just no longer as official DB shadowscales.

thats like a big f you from beth..

"Here are shadowscales, an elite reptile assassin...and now their gone because nobody would even miss them..."

I love tes but i just hate it when they do things like this =/

Its not really a big loss, they were mentioned a little bit in OB and now they're gone ... its not like they're saying Argonians don't exist.

Like how they destroyed great parts of Vvardenfell and then had Morrowind invaded? Or how they destroyed the Mages Guild? Or just the DB in general?

They do it a lot...

Yep.



It also doesn't make sense in that...Shadowscales are independent of the Dark Brotherhood. Dark Brotherhood =/= Shadowscale, so why should the troubles of the Dark Brotherhood fall back on the cultural concept of Shadowscales? You would think that if the Dark Brotherhood, the go-to organization for Shadowscales, was in trouble, then they'd simply find another group to send their Shadowscales to. Shadowscale is a cultural concept, and I fail to see why what's essentially a company should be able to impact a tradition; just find a different company?

The whole thing is as if the Khajiit decided they were gonna do away with the concept of the Mane because the Mages guild is no more. I'm sorry, what? The moons are still there, much like the sign of the shadow and it's month are still there. I don't see why an organization dissolving or having financial trouble should impact any of that.

I was hoping back with Oblivion that TES V would be set in Black Marshes but Bethesda didn't have the cojones to attempt it. They played it safe and stuck with the human lands... That bums me out, It's now 3 big things I miss.

• Spears
  
• Medium Armor
  
• Shadowscales

All of which were the Argonian bread and butter. These are the Mer who when Oblivion gates opened up in their lands, didn't wait for some B.S hero to show up, (like those pansy Imperials) They charged head first into the gates and didn't stop till the Dremora themselves disconected the sigil stoness for fear of being overrun and losing control of their realm! YEAH! Read the lore on the Black Marsh oblivion gate crisis - Hist trees knew they were going to be invaded called to Argonians to come home and taste the sap again and it evolved them into even greater badasses. Bigger, Stronger, Able to survive crazy weather (Heat of oblivion lands, Cold of Skyrim).

Because there really isn't an alternative, the Morag Tong is as good as gone and half the reason for that is the Argonians. It's likely that people are still born into Shadowscales but they no longer have the professional trainers and what not, so it can take some time to get everything back into a operational mode.

It's not really a case of two games, though surely? 200 years passed between Oblivion and Skyrim. A lot can happen in 200 years.

Which is a lame excuse, because that's probably exactly WHY they picked it. If they just put ridiculous time frames between games, they can do whatever the hell they want. They can say "ok TES VI is set 600 years after Skyrim. BTW the Orcs have evolved to have cheese wheels as feet. A lot can happen in 600 years."

That's an interesting concept.

Now I can only hope that Orcs will have cheese wheels for feet.

I can't say for certain, but it may be possible that the change in leadership in Black Marsh after the Oblivion crisis may have affected the Shadowscale operations (The agreement being with the previous King of Black Marsh). In one of Cicero's journals, the previous listener traveled to Black Marsh to see if it was possible about getting it up and running again. Sadly for us, she decided it was too costly.

I think a lot of you are overreacting....

IT is pretty clear why there are no more shadowscales and why the DB is falling appart.

First major problem of the fall of the DB => The listener of Bravil was killed!
No listener means no contracts or no contracts in the way the DB can't no longer hear the black sacrament.

And it was the listener of Bravil who orded the closure of the shadowscales of blackmarsh.
So that means that the shadowscales no longer exist as that group, but scattered.

Maybe they still operate as assasins for hire.

Evreything is cleary stated in Cicéro journal.
You can also find a book with how the DB works as an organisation (don't know the title) and it begins also with an intervieuw of the nightmother itself.(before she was a corpse of course).

argonians are not mer