I'm surprised at how tradition-bound you guys all seem. Why should the old ways be upheld?
Everything was going well until Cicero showed up. In fact, the Night Mother is truly to blame for all of the Dark Brotherhood's misfortunes.
Think about it:
- She drove poor Cicero insane by ignoring him. His loyalty to her later resulted in his attacking Astrid. (And me mercy-killing him to end his pitiful existence)
- Then, by proclaiming you Listener and undermining Astrid's leadership, she created discord in the family, and sowed the seeds of distrust that resulted in the destruction of the sanctuary.
In the end, Astrid was killed, as well as many of those loyal to her, and the Dark Brotherhood was bolstered by the death of the emperor and reorganized as the Night Mother saw fit.
Truly, the Night Mother is the most skilled assassin of all -- she managed to get the leader of an elite band of assassins killed as well as the emperor -- and she didn't lift a single finger.
I believe that the Night Mother is the Dark Brotherhood's worst enemy. She allowed and encouraged the Purification in Oblivion, knowing it would serve no purpose, and she engineered the sanctuary's destruction in Skyrim. Just as she killed her children to gain her status, she kills them still to keep the Brotherhood running as she likes it.
And I choose not to be a pawn in her games. True-Death to the Night Mother, I say! Let one with better programming skills than I create a mod that lets me sink her coffin into the Sea of Ghosts, or feed the fetid remains of her corpse to a pack of rabid saber-cats! I want revenge for my killed brothers and sisters!