Almost eleven years since its release, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is still one of the most iconic videogames to date.

Skyrim grants its players almost complete freedom, yet like many others, I find myself returning to one particular quest line again and again. Even in a fantastical world where dragons rule the skies, I am always called back to the seedy underbelly of Tamriel to tread the well-worn path of blood, guts, and betrayal: the Dark Brotherhood.

Though becoming an e-assassin may seem like old hat, Skyrim’s pitiful group of undeniably charming merry murderers deserves a revisit.

The Dark Brotherhood is an elite faction of assassins that appears in each of the five main Elder Scrolls games. Like everything else in the series, the Brotherhood’s lore has deep roots. NPCs whisper about a bloodthirsty group that lurks in the shadows, mercilessly slaughtering anyone unlucky enough to become a target.

Despite the rumors, the Dark Brotherhood is more than just a group of greedy contract killers, but a deeply religious and organized faction. Guided by their deity, the Dread Father Sithis, and his mummified bride, the Night Mother, the Brotherhood adheres to a strict moral code called The Five Tenets. Without these tenets, the Dark Brotherhood cannot exist—or at least, it shouldn’t.

The guild makes a strong first impression by unceremoniously kidnapping the Dragonborn (a feat in itself considering the player character is the most powerful person in Tamriel at this point in the game) and ordering them to execute one of the hooded victims knelt before them. After a satisfactory amount of blood has been shed, the Dragonborn is invited to join the legendary group of assassins.

[NOTE: To the Skyrim sticklers, no, this technically isn’t the beginning of the Dark Brotherhood quest line, but it’s the first time the player meets any of the members. Don’t come for me please.]

Upon entering the faction’s ramshackle headquarters, Falkreath Sanctuary, it becomes abundantly clear that the Dark Brotherhood is no longer the same powerful organization that struck fear into the hearts of Tamriel’s citizens in earlier installations of the series. Now, they’re the last of their kind.

In the 200 years between the events of the previous game, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and Skyrim, the Dark Brotherhood was almost entirely wiped out, leaving the few remaining members to unsuccessfully pick up the pieces. Under the guidance of their leader, Astrid, the members within Falkreath Sanctuary have turned their back on Sithis, the Night Mother, and The Five Tenets.

“In Skyrim, we delve into some of the cultural stuff, we deal with marginalized groups, so the stories all over the game were deeper as far as the struggles each faction had,” says Emil Pagliarulo, the game’s senior designer and writer. “The Dark Brotherhood in Oblivion [is] really powerful, so I wanted to look at the Dark Brotherhood like, ‘What can I do that’s totally different?’”

Despite being the complete opposite of its ever-popular predecessor, Skyrim’s Dark Brotherhood is still compelling for one simple reason: They make players feel like part of the family.

In a nation on the brink of civil war and plagued with racism and classism, the Dark Brotherhood sanctuary serves as a reprieve from the notion that Skyrim is only for the Nords. Though small, the Brotherhood is the most diverse faction in the game, where Nords, Redguards, Argonians, Dunmer, werewolves, and even a tiny, childlike vampire live in relative harmony. Their odd assortment welcomes the Dragonborn—no matter the player’s chosen race—with (mostly) open arms.

With more than 2,000 NPCs, Skyrim affords limited dialog for each character, making it difficult for players to form parasocial bonds with their in-game party members. Still I became hopelessly attached to the members of the Dark Brotherhood, which according to Pagliarulo, was by design.

“I did set out to make them likable,” Pagliarulo laughs. “It’s bang for buck, making what [characters] say really meaningful. You can walk by and there’s a conversation where they’re laughing together, and there’s a real sense of kinship as they’re sharing stories of their kills. They’re such a weird, diverse cast of characters that are bound together in this weird relationship.”

It’s a relationship that draws players in, too.

After a long day of adventuring atop my faithful steed, Shadowmere, I would return home to Falkreath Sanctuary to talk shop with the sassy and eternally youthful Babette. I sat with the loyal Veezara as he reminisced about his Shadowscale upbringing. I dutifully listened to the cranky Festus Krex and sharpened my blades with Nazir. I didn’t even mind spending time with the terrifying mummy of the Night Mother or her deranged caretaker, Cicero.

Even in a land as bleak as Skyrim, I found a home with the Dark Brotherhood.

As any of my households on The Sims would tell you, it hurts to be betrayed by family—even a virtual one.

After a failed assassination attempt on the Emperor of Tamriel, players are attacked by soldiers and informed that another assassin has sold them out to ensure the safety of the rest of the Brotherhood—a deal that the soldiers won’t honor.

The Dragonborn rushes to Falkreath Sanctuary, only to discover a grisly scene.

I am not ashamed to say that I wept. Seeing my assassin friends reduced to Skyrim's infamous floppy carcasses broke my heart, but learning that Astrid, the leader of the Dark Brotherhood, was the one who betrayed me and inadvertently led to the slaughter of my favorite characters twisted the knife even deeper. Even as I ended her life—barbecued and begging to be put out of her misery—I pitied her.

“It’s really a tale of overprotection,” Pagliarulo explains. “She’s trying to look out for her family and she goes too far, and it all blows up in her face.”

Though the majority of the Dark Brotherhood is dead, there is some consolation—the quest line isn’t over just yet.

The Dragonborn still has to kill the Emperor.

Despite being one of the most satisfying quests in Skyrim, players almost never got the chance to assassinate the most powerful man in Tamriel. Pagliarulo explains that he had toyed with the idea, but assumed that director Todd Howard wouldn’t be a fan of allowing players to kill the actual Emperor.

He and his team drafted a number of different ways to end the Dark Brotherhood quest line, including one where the Dread Father Sithis appeared in the sanctuary as a child and began wiping out characters with a plague. Still, Pagliarulo couldn’t stop thinking about the Emperor.

“I knew that Todd Howard would never let me kill the Emperor, so I just assumed it was going to have to be his body double. I went to him with the idea and he’s like, ‘No, that’s stupid. Just kill the Emperor,’” he laughs. “For obvious reasons, Todd is very protective of the lore. It just goes to show how much he appreciates the players’ experience and his trust in me and all the designers to pull it off.”

Like any popular gaming franchise, The Elder Scrolls receives its fair share of criticism. But it must be a good sign that players are still talking about Skyrim’s Dark Brotherhood quest line so many years after the game’s 2011 release (and rerelease, and rerelease, and rerelease).

“When Skyrim first came out, people were like, ‘Yeah, the Dark Brotherhood is pretty good—but not half as good as it was in Oblivion.’ I think the gameplay in Oblivion is stronger with some of the individual quests because there are more unique ways to kill folks, but I think the overall story in Skyrim for the Dark Brotherhood is better and a bit more complex.” Pagliarulo says. “I just thought, ‘I’ll let it sit and see if it will stand the test of time. I think people will appreciate the story there.’ As it turns out, a lot of them have, which has been really cool.”

For obvious reasons, I was too afraid to ask whether Pagliarulo sides with the Stormcloaks or the Imperials. Instead I asked what is perhaps an even more loaded question: Who is his favorite member of the Dark Brotherhood?

He gushes about Veezara for a moment (“Oh, God, I love him.”), then chuckles about the fact that Festus Krex is voiced by Jim Cummings, who was the voice of Winnie the Pooh for a number of years, before definitively settling on the nutty jester.

“Cicero is probably my favorite,” Pagliarulo says with a glint in his eye, knowing how much fans love (and love to hate) the character. “He’s inspired by an Edgar Allan Poe story, ‘Hop-Frog,’ about a jester and his love. They’re tortured by this king, and Hop-Frog gets his horrible revenge on the entire court and sets them all on fire. If you read Cicero’s journals, you realize that he was really a normal person. This ‘crazy jester’ thing is a persona he took on after he became crazy because of the Night Mother. For me it’s like, is there another person inside there? Who is that person, and will they ever get to come out again?”

For a guy who has spent so much time devising ways to brutally kill off his characters, Emil Pagliarulo seems pleased as punch to hear that I left Cicero alive at the end of the quest line. He doesn’t hold it against you if you did kill him, though.

“I just want to say thank you so much to the players for enjoying it,” he says. “It’s your game. Kill whoever you want. That’s what makes you a member of the Dark Brotherhood.”