Gangs and Syndicates of Tamriel: High Rock, The Gangs of Northpoint-by-the-Sea

Gangs and Syndicates of Tamriel: High Rock, The Gangs of Northpoint-by-the-Sea

by Wolfgang of Northpoint, 4e199

High Rock has always been a place of conflict, both political and martial. In the time before the Miracle of Peace and the reign of High King Emeric, a dozen and more petty kingdoms waged war on each other and the borders writhed like snakes. Petty kings made alliances that lasted only a year, or a month, a week, days or hours. It was a dark time, filled with more war than High Rock would see so far. The dozen and more petty kingdoms and city-states were always limited to their levies and those who were smart enough sought out the help of local covens, as we Bretons have always had a talent for Magic that set us apart from our barbaric Nordic cousins to our East. These days of war would attract adventurers of many types, opportunistic bands seeking to earn their gold on the plight of the land. Many mercenary Free Companies can trace their lineage back to the early years of perpetual war that bled High Rock for years and years. The Imperial Fighters Guild has always done their best at regulating small bands of freelance mercenaries, but High Rock and anywhere else where there are those who would seek to spill blood without the meddling of the Imperials look to the bandit clans and street gangs of High Rock and many other port towns.

It is an easy mistake in our modern time to think that the line between outlaw and mercenary had always had such a well-defined line between them. As mentioned before, the Fighters Guild was created to put laws and regulations in place for those seeking to hire mercenaries and as an establishment meant to harbor those adventurous and rough youths before they could turn to adventuring or more illicit ventures. The fifth sons and daughters of nobles and adventurous children of the merchant class has always found a place in the Guild where they have a positive place to put all their mean and rough energy into and also serve the Empire in their own way if the Legion wasn’t something for them. Of course, there have always been groups that attract those who were never born into money or for those who the Fighters Guild found too willing to go to their weapons before using their words. Many such persons find themselves in the dock-district and street gangs of places like Northpoint and Daggerfall and even played a role in the sacking of Wayrest and have found their place in the Pirate-Republic of the same name, a place regarded like a pustule on the otherwise beautiful land of High Rock.

These dock-district and street gangs have always been at odds with the Thieves Guild and the local authorities and royal families. These gangs engage in anything from extortion to thievery, horse theft, blackmail, and some even receive payment from figures rumored to reside in the higher courts of the nobility and royalty in exchange for paid murder. There are a number of different gangs in the different cities, and in this installment, we will be focusing on the gangs of Northpoint. These gangs run amok on the dock districts of Old Northpoint by the shore and many murders can be attributed in their war with the different street gangs of Northpoint-on-the-Hill, as it is called by many Northpointers.

The dock-district and street gangs of Old Northpoint, or Northpoint-by-the-Sea, are of primarily Nordic or Nordo-Bretonnic descent, a mixture of blood common in the lower rungs of society away from the Merchant Class and Nobility and Royalty. In order of the size of membership and control of territory from greatest to smallest are The Named Men who hail from Knifepoint Alley and the Fat Purse and Chiptooth Taverns; there is also the Black Dogs from the Tall-Sail Docks, the Gaptooth Grin Tavern and Hally Jean’s Brewery & Tavern; another is the Torn-Flag Brethren from the Mainway around the city’s main gate and the Royalblood Tavern. These three gangs have an unsteady truce between them and a shared sense of loyalty, as most all of them are Nords or Breton mutts that are looked down upon by the more upper-class gangs of Northpoint-on-the-Hill. Each of these gangs have their own ways of identifying each other and hold strict codes of honor as befitting of Nords so as to become bonded in loyalty.

The Named Men

The Named Men are the most powerful of the gangs, who get most of their money from the profits of the Fat Purse and Chiptooth taverns, which they also run as brothels for sailors returning from long voyages. They started out in Knifepoint Alley and were the first to band together for protection during the early Fourth Era, as the upper-class gangs that have since been pushed out and moved to Northpoint-on-the-Hill would constantly harass the Nordic communities and extort Nordic business owners, among more heinous acts of intimidation. It came to a head when much later, after the formation of the Black Dogs and the Torn-Flag Brethren, the upper-class gangs that once owned most of the territory in Northpoint-by-the-Sea rioted in the streets against Nords hoping to escape both the quickly-beginning Civil War at the divide between East and West Skyrim and fleeing from Thalmor Justiciars. The Named Men, the Black Dogs and the Torn-Flag Brethren formed their truce that is still mostly in effect today, and engaged in a series of vandalisms, beatings and murders against the upper-class gangs, since named the Night of Red Gutters for the bodies laid openly and throats cut to bleed into the street gutters.

The Named Men held the most sway over the street-war, bribing the healers and priests of Nordic communities at the docks to turn away any full-blooded Breton, or persons more Breton than Nordic in their mixture. They also paid off the Captain of the Guard of the time, a position which is held by a family member of a prominent Named Man, Boris the Blood-Grin. The Time of Red Gutters, while being a name looked on with shame and anger by Bretons from Northern High Rock, has inspired many tavern songs still sung today by the Nords of High Rock. The Named Men are identified by red cloth worn tied around the forehead, the arms, legs or worn loose around the neck. Another way is to ask a man of the name he earned, or to show his blood, meaning Nordic heritage. A true Named Man will give only the name he’s earned. Names well respected by Named Men new and old, as well as even those outside of the Named Men are former leaders or prominent members known for their fighting or other such skills; names like that of past leader Fenris the Feared, Wygluf Oak-Arm, Vinghjalmr Fork-Tongue and Red-Hand Ned.

Men like these were good at what they did, whether it be killing like Red-Hand Ned, or lying like Vinghjalmr Fork-Tongue. One thing can be said of the Named Men though, as being the biggest gang, they have many that would seek to budge them. As is the case with one attempt that I was present for, it would seem that the remnants of the Dark Brotherhood in High Rock take payment from the Thieves Guild to try to relinquish the Named Men from their place in the governing offices of Northpoint, as the Named Men have always done their part through the use of local informants and their sway over the city guard to keep out the Thieves Guild and their ilk. Needless to say, Rigg the Stone-Skin lived up to his name, catching the assassin’s knife through his palm without so much as a wince before braining the man with a few blows with his big fists.

The Black Dogs

The Black Dogs were formed when Artur Black Dog was thrown out of the Named Men for breaking one of the core tenets. In a card game being played for septims, he stabbed Hundar the Giant three times in the neck for cheating instead of following the Named Men’s rules on the matter and challenging him to a duel. Artur had always had a temper, and it was the end of his membership in the Named Men. He started the Black Dogs with some of his followers, as well as some he’d picked up after his ejection from the gang. The Black Dogs would go on to control the Tall-Sail docks and the nearby Gaptooth Grin tavern would come into the ownership of Artur through less than legitimate means. Hally Jean’s Brewery & Tavern was owned by one of the gang members’ family and so a small cut of their profits came to the Black Dogs. Artur would not stop holding his grudge against the Named Men and their leader at the time, an old Nord named Einar the Blooded who’d known Fenris before he passed.

They had almost fought in a duel to the death more than once, but always Einar and Artur would call it off due to the counsel their trusted members would give them. During my time with the Black Dogs in their territory, it was at least three times where I heard rumors of a duel finally happening Artur and the Named Men’s new leader, Rigg the Stone-Skin, but for the eight days I was there nothing came of it. It was a more turbulent time in those days past before I had an interest in writing this book, with Nord spilling the blood of Nord while the city watch were arresting and sometimes executing known members of the gangs for sometimes heinous crimes. It was only when the upper-class gangs rioted during the influx of refugees to Northpoint and neighboring Jehanna that the Black Dogs decided to make their truce. Since then, only minimal squabbles have broken out, but no blood spilled. This is due mostly to the fact that the Named Men now hold a place of office of the city government of Old Northpoint and Northpoint-on-the-Hill, where my humble abode resides and where I have lived my entire life. The Named Men hold sway over much of Northpoint, but the Black Dogs still defiantly cling to their territory.

There is one sure way to tell a Black Dog apart from his surrounding citizens and apart from the members of other gangs. The Black Dogs have started to get a tattoo as in the fashion of sailors and other such parts of society. The tattoo depicts a black hound, curled in a circle in the Nordic style of art. In the center of the hound’s circle is a dagger through a card, symbolizing the event that started it for the Black Dogs, a symbol they hold with pride and will show it if asked by another member or a member of a rival gang as a boastful challenge. I was met by many shirtless numbers of them walking proudly when I strolled through their territory, guarded by two of their own to show that I was not to be trifled with. I dare say, I was mere seconds from pissing myself at the sight of some. On the whole, the Black Dogs are seen as the most violent of the three gangs, willing to escalate a situation and resolve it with violence rather than negotiate. They have accounted for many of the arrests for thievery, arson, extortion, mugging, assault and many of the executions for the crimes of murder and sex crimes.

The Torn-Flag Brethren

The Torn-Flag Brethren are a recent thing, and while I have lived in Northpoint-on-the-Hill and heard stories of these dock-district gangs, it was always the Torn-Flag Brethren that garnered the most interest from me when I sought to spend time and write of the trio of gangs that held some sway over Old Northpoint, the stomping grounds of many of my old Nordic friends. It was much to my surprise when I had gotten a letter from my old friend, Torbern, that invited me to stay with “him and his brethren” as he had it. It was then that I knew what he spoke of. I never held it against him that he would join the Torn-Flag Brethren, nor could I say he was too changed from those days we would see each other often. It was just a certain quality of him that I saw, quick fingers, eyes always glancing at others’ hands, watching. It was when the Torn-Flags I had been strolling with on my first day caught sight of a mugging happening by a member of what may have been the Black Dogs, that they chased him down and beat him when I knew that my friend had changed somewhat.

When I inquired as to why they beat the man instead of walking past, many gave answers telling of their strength and hatred for the other gangs and especially anyone who would break the truce. It was only when my friend answered my question much later that night as we readied ourselves to retire to our beds that I knew I had found an answer I could trust and a group of men who seemed not so bad as the others. He told me over our empty dinner plates and in the candlelight why they were so ready to do justice upon the lone Black Dog, “We are brethren, not just us Torn-Flags, but those who reside within our borders, who we live with. Many of our number came from Skyrim where Nord fixes to fight Nord over moot points and matters of such things as faith, where we are supposed to be the Sons of Skyrim as Talos always was, we instead cut each other’s throats. We will have none of it here. Not again. No more.”

It would seem the Torn-Flag Brethren are not near as territorially expansionist, aggressive or ill-willed as the other gangs. The Torn-Flag Brethren took their name from their late leader, Frithjolf Karlsson’s words, “Our land is torn, our flags are torn, but we leave together. We will not be torn.” Frithjolf was a veteran of the Great War who fought alongside Ulfric as a Senior Quaestor. He saw the change in Ulfric and viewed his actions in Markarth as nothing but bad. His nationalistic views would be the end of Skyrim, he took it, and he knew there would be a great reckoning. Before he could be raised in his Hold’s levies or pulled back into service to the Legion, he left Solitude with a host of loyal followers, many still alive and proudly proclaiming to be some of the original 15 of Frithjolf Karlsson’s Torn-Flag Brethren.

There are a few ways to tell a Torn-Flag Brother apart from the rest, and that is to tell him to fly his colors, at which he produces his piece of frayed cloth, a symbol of Talos always depicted and nothing more. I asked Torbern and his fellows to fly their colors and they proudly displayed theirs. Indeed, among the gangs of Old Northpoint, or Northpoint-by-the-Sea, as they call it, I have witnessed much. It still lies before me to bear witness to much more though. My travels will take me a short jaunt back up the road to Northpoint-on-the-Hill, back to my town and back to those men and women who shake their fists looking down on Northpoint-by-the-Sea and remember old hatreds. I wish Torbern luck and I wish an end to all this violence through all these years. I bear witness to it all, and it is an important duty. Torbern’s words speak now in my mind at times, and I wonder if it not be true and applicable to the whole of High Rock and Tamriel and that at least some men should stand for justice.

“Many of our number came from Skyrim where Nord fixes to fight Nord over moot points and matters of such things as faith, where we are supposed to be the Sons of Skyrim as Talos always was, we instead cut each other’s throats. We will have none of it here. Not again. No more.”