The Sword's Edge

Issue 24: 9th February, 2018 - In Ferro Veritas

With all the special weekends over the last 4 weeks - activity in Nine Swords has been fantastic. We had so many of our members taking advantage of the Double Shard weekend, the No-Limits weekend and this last weekend the double AP weekend that there has not been a shortage in things going on.  Some days there were just not enough hours in the day, and it highlighted that we should likely schedule things with longer gaps in between so no-one gets held up for our following scheduled runs!  This weekend we have also got the +25% Empowerment XP Weekend - If you are not logged in already, where are you?!

In addition to that, Durendal has promoted 3 new leaders into our Nine Swords leadership team. It has been wonderful to welcome Phanth, Shin and Ghostchilde to our leadership team - and to see them all settle so quickly into their roles. Phanth (and Shin) allowed me to interview them for this months issue, and Ghostchilde has also shared her plans for our Recruitment division.  

Just because so much has happened already in the first month of the year does not mean that February will be quiet. There are so many plans being made, and discussions being had -- if you want to get involved Swords, you just have to jump in! All members are encouraged and welcome to in fact. 

We hope you enjoy this issue of The Sword's Edge ~ Katelin

Interview with...

I chatted with Phanth, one of our new PvE leaders this month -

Katelin: Hi Phanth, thank you for chatting with me! You joined us in October 2015. Looking back on your time in the cabal so far, do you have a favourite memory?

Phanth: I was in a different time zone before 2017, so I didn't get to do a whole lot with the cabal. But my favorite memories have always been raiding Lairs or teaming up with cabal members for scenario. I wasn't going for a healtank build, but it was accidentally discovered that I could survive long enough if the dps was great in one of the Lairs when Ghostchilde thought Cherrie was healing and vis-versa.

Katelin: What do you most enjoy doing when you are not online and spending time in Secret World Legends?

Phanth: In the spring and summer, gardening. Probably inspired by the gardening from the game Fallout. Most other times I spend with family.

Katelin: How about in game? What is your favourite thing to do.. except from teaming together with as many of our cabal members as you can *winks* because that is a given!

Phanth: Besides Lairs, Dungeons, and Regionals....I suppose I also like scenario.

Katelin: You were very recently appointed leader of the PVE division together with Shin. Congratulations again!! What are your plans for Zweihänder in the immediate future? How about long term plans?

Phanth: There are many evils in the secret world; we aim to put an end to them all! And, we will continue to provide opportunities for members to hone their skills in preparation for future threats. Long term, we would like to have division members and/or leaders throughout the world, so they can also enjoy the fun in their time-zone.

Katelin: Any advice for people new to level 50, or who are almost reaching it who are still undecided when choosing a role and maybe shy to try endgame content?

Phanth: Don't be scared of the Lairs! They're the best place to pickup free signets and level up the gears. Once you have all the abilities you want for your dps/survival build, start looking at abilities and weapons for tanks or heals. Once you have all that, start asking to practice those roles.

Katelin: Is there anything you would like to see happening more often in the Cabal?

Phanth: We're moving at a decent pace, perhaps even better than TSW if I may say so. It would be awesome to decide on a matching outfit, or maybe just a jacket during one of the raids!

Katelin: If someone would ask you why they should join Nine Swords what would you tell them?

Phanth: If you're looking for a cabal with friendly folks and down-to-earth members, you've found the right cabal! We're always and welling to help you take full enjoyment of what swl has to offer.

Katelin: Thank you so much for chatting with me, Phanth! 

Hopes and dreams for our Recruitment division

Ghostchild was promoted to Leader of our Recruitment division this last month. As we find it so important in our cabal to keep actively recruiting, I asked her to share her goals for the division.

Where are we going and how did I get in this handbasket?

When I joined Nine Swords, I didn’t realize how exclusively Euro-zone the cabal was. In my time zone, the only regular players were myself and Gebbeth. . . that’s it. I seriously thought about leaving to find a US based cabal with players in my time zone but was having too much fun on those rare occasions when my schedule DID match up with the rest of Nine Swords. When I saw Katelin’s post about becoming a recruiter, I decided the only way I was going to get players in my time zone was if I recruited them myself.

When Katelin and the others offered me leadership of Hook Swords Division, I was honored and a little overwhelmed. I’d joined this cabal as a rank noob (and still carry that whiff of noobishness) and now I’m in a position of leadership and responsibility over people who have been playing this game non-stop since TSW beta. I still feel very tentative sometimes, but the leadership team has been great about teaching me the ropes and making me feel welcome.

My primary goal is the same as it was when I accepted the recruiter position: fill the US time zone with regular players. Additionally, I’d now like to start filling the Australian time zone with some regular players, so that we have round-the-clock fun in 9Swords. The overall strategic goal of Hook Swords is to keep the entire cabal (in all zones) well stocked with active, friendly, happy players.

One thing I also plan to emphasize going forward, is a focus on retention. In my opinion, recruitment goes hand in hand with retention. With the constant turnover that’s characteristic of free-to-play games, we must make our new members feel welcome and valued, or they won’t stick around and keep playing. I feel part of the duties of a Hook Swords Division member must include making our new swords feel that we have not forgotten them now that we’ve gotten them to sign on. Being active and friendly in chat, noticing when a new member has logged in and greeting them by name, assisting with missions and answering questions—these are all things a Hook Swords member should be prepared to do when they join our division.

Sharpening the Blades - session 1 for 2018

At the end of January, Airyfairy and Acheronian held the first session of Sharpening the Blades for 2018. 

This initial session for the year was not very crowded - new faces to our cabal were missing, however a few of our longer term members were there. Not to miss out on an opportunity to chat - we used the time to discuss what might be the cause for people to not attend and what could be improved at our Sharpening the Blades sessions in the future in order to ensure we reach more newer people in our cabal.

Gaining feedback and comments is a continual process in Nine Swords, but the amount we get through Sharpening the Blades is usually the most interesting as it comes from people having completely fresh eyes to the cabal and what we are doing.

Areas that were identified in the Sharpening the Blades session where we could reach out to more members are:

• A new "Call to Arms" (A Nine Swords questionnaire on where you are in game, what you expect from the cabal and much more). More on this will follow in the forums, so keep an eye on the announcements there.
• Development of an "info-PM" for new members will be created in order to make them aware of some important sources of information, including the next Sharpening the Blades.

If you have any ideas about where we can improve and help our newer members settle easier into our cabal, please do get in touch! There is a thread here where you can share your comments.

SWL in the Real World

By TSE guest contributor: Cordelia “Cordite” Harper

This issue’s highlight is the link between the mythological sites of Agartha and Shambala.

Though these two places appear ingame as separate areas with diametrically different purposes, both stem from Tibetan mysticism and are conflated in many accounts.

The concept of a Hollow Earth can be found in folklore across the globe, as can that of a wondrous lost city, but the original form of the Agartha/Shambala legend combines both. The first Western adventurers in Tibet related tales of a secret underground kingdom, home to a highly enlightened people and connected to all the lands of the world via great tunnels — Gaia’s Bees and the zone portals would seem natural analogies here.

Joseph-Alexandre Saint-Yves (1842-1910), a French occultist who researched the legend, also wrote of this subterranean paradise as a repository of ages-old wisdom and fantastic technology unknown to the surface world — in other words, Third Age lore and tech. Unfortunately, a World Tree is not mentioned among these wonders; that is Funcom’s own mashup with an unrelated mythological motif.

The teachings of Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947) are of further interest. After a five-year expedition across Asia, this eminent Russian philosopher and mystic concluded that ‘Shambala’ is as much a state of being as a place; like the Buddhist concept of ‘pure lands’, Roerich’s Shambala is a spiritual utopia, and therefore not something one reaches by mere mountaineering or spelunking.

Here two other points may be noted. The first is that, if Shambala is also Agartha, and attainable only after long years of spiritual preparation, then it is easy to see where SWL’s injunction against ‘bringing the uninitiated into Agartha’ comes from.

The second is that Roerich was involved with Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration, and a driving force behind the placement of the Great Seal of the United States on the U.S dollar bill. It is more than likely that, in the world of SWL, he was with the Illuminati — and his theory a Blue attempt at discouraging mundane interest in locating Shambala.

Cordelia “Cordite” Harper
Twitter: @lilcordite
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Events in Nine Swords

Lots of fantastic events are held in the cabal - both scheduled runs and adhoc fun depending on who is logged into the game and interested in taking part in something. What has unfortunately been brought to our attention in a negative light though - is people not being on time for things that they have signed up for.  If you have signed up for a scheduled run, please do all you can to be on time and be logged in and ready to go. It is polite to your team mates not to keep them all waiting just for you. Of course, if something has happened in your real life and you cannot get logged in at the time - we understand! That is why we always aim to also have reserves in stand by.

If you would like to read or remind yourself of the Nine Swords Dungeon and Raid Etiquette you can do by following the link here.