The Sword's Edge

Issue 25: 9th March, 2018 - In Ferro Veritas

Welcome to this month’s issue of The Sword’s Edge. February was another busy month, so busy we even forgot to get our usual heart filled loved up banner screenshot taken for the front page of the website. That said – IP levels have been increasing at staggering rates, and lots more members have been signing up for our scheduled events and coming along to the ad-hoc run things going on in-game.

Even though we have so much going on – we of course want to improve on this! There are areas within the cabal that we see have less activity ... where before in TSW, it was thriving for us. The focus in Nine Swords has shifted quite a lot recently towards PvE – but that does not mean we have not been thinking about all the other things that our members have previously enjoyed doing. To help us pinpoint areas we can work on – a new Call to Arms is being released tomorrow. You can read about how to get involved further on in this issue.

February also appears to have kept up on Januarys record recruiting. A massive thank you has to be said to Ghostchilde and Cherrie who are without a doubt a force to be reckoned with. Their recruitment efforts, along with all of you looking out for potential new recruits while you are running teams with members outside of the cabal is very appreciated. It is wonderful to log in and have company, any time of day.

Anyway, cuppa and biccies at the ready time to get stuck into this month's issue ~ Katelin

Call to Arms – take 3!

All members of Nine Swords - we want to invite you to take part in a survey. It is the Nine Swords Call to Arms (take 3... because it is now the 3rd time we are running this!). The survey will focus on events in the cabal and will enable us to gain feedback from you as to how we as a cabal can provide opportunities for improving your experience via cabal events. The survey is being championed by our academy members AiryFairy and Acheronian. But this time – it has already been supported by so many of you too. I asked in our cabal message of the day for members to help us have a pot of Container Keys for prizes for a prize draw, and you did not let me down!

So – here is how it will work.

We would like to involve everyone in the cabal activities that are scheduled or spontaneous. Therefore, we set up this Call to Arms to know where you are in the game, what you like or dislike about it and 9S and to get your suggestions for the future in our cabal.

As a member of Nine Swords when you fill in the survey, you will be automatically placed into a prize draw (assuming we can match up your name in the survey with your name in game or on our website). Every member of Nine Swords can submit the survey 1 time and this will automatically award you a Purple Container key just for taking part! At the end of the survey, all names will then be put into a draw and our first 5 out the hat will gain a share of the remaining keys. What more incentive could you need?! The survey will be released tomorrow on the 10th of March and will run through to the end of the month. We will then create an overview of the results for next month’s newsletter in April.

Don't be shy, fill it out and help us to help you!!

SWL in the real world

This issue’s highlight is the zmei (singular zmeu), the ogres of the Carpathian Fangs.

 

The zmei of the Secret World are portrayed quite differently from their real-world versions: far from being lumbering chthonic brutes, the zmeu of Romanian folklore takes the far more familiar form of a flying, fire-breathing dragon. Indeed, it has been suggested that ‘zmeu’ derives from the Slavic word for ‘snake’ (which, coincidentally, is also ‘zmei’) — not to mention the etymological similarity with the zmej, an actual dragon of Slavic myth.

The reasons behind Funcom’s depiction of the zmeu can probably be traced back to nuances in its name, as well as its traditional behavioral traits.

Both ‘zmeu’ and ‘zmei’ share roots with the Slavic word for ‘earth’ (snakes, after all, being creatures close to the earth), a connection given further credence by the studies of linguist Sorin Paliga. From this alone it can be seen how turning zmei into chthonic beasts makes an odd kind of sense — and two further points justify the choice. Firstly, just as Buzzing entries state, the zmei of folklore had powers of shapeshifting; zmei have been depicted transforming into men, animals and even wisp-like flying flames. Why their SWL versions would choose ogre forms after Filth infection is unclear but far from implausible. Secondly, zmei are described as dwelling in dark places, which their vanquishers must descend into; this is easily interpreted as the darkness of a subterranean lair.

In addition, the Romanian zmeu is also notorious for its greed. Stories often depict it stealing items and individuals of high value, including beautiful maidens — a particular brand of greed it shares with the giants and ogres of Western European folklore, who are wont to practice bride kidnapping. The Zmeu lore entries in SWL contain a line of the well-known “fee-fi-fo-fum” rhyme from the English folktale of Jack and the Beanstalk, referencing this connection.

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

Nine Swords is Recruiting!

Nine Swords is always looking for new members. Even on days where we have lots of people logged in and it feels busy - we know that in online communities that there can be a fluctuation in people’s time available and when they can log into an online game. But recruitment in our cabal is not just what our recruiters do. Every single member in our cabal contributes to recruitment when they log in and uphold the friendly attitude that epitomises what we stand for as a cabal.

Each time you team with people outside the cabal and they see a friendly person. Well, you could influence them enough for them to consider applying to join us.

Our creative members

I would like to give a shout out to two incredibly creative members this month. As I already said in this issue, Nine Swords is a cabal with broad interests even if the focus in game seems to be increasingly PvE orientated. Therefore, putting a spotlight on these members and ensuring more people get to enjoy their work is something I think is very important –

DigitalWraith

Up until recently, only our members that were active on Twitter were likely aware of DigitalWraith’s artwork – however, since the new Secret World Legends forums were released, a thread popped up and it made me very happy to see these amazing pieces of awesomeness shared further! If you have not seen DigitalWraiths artwork before – then you are in for a treat! Head on over to this thread here in the Secret World Forums, or via Twitter – or even Tumblr.

Raishana

Raishana, aka Dawnfury in our forums started sharing some amazing creative writing with us before even joining Nine Swords. Since joining this last week – the chapters in the story have continued. Definitely not something to miss! You can read the released chapters of "The Rising Apocalypse" in our Coffee Bar forum area.

What's in a name?

This month I approached Agita and Lucky-Man to ask why they chose the names they did:

Agita

I've tried to recall why I chose my nick to be Agita. I do remember that first time I used was when I played Anarchy Online (also from Funcom). I've tried to make some unique and simple name. I couldn't fully reproduce my way of thinking... but I used a mixture of the English or Latin word agitation and female name Agata (Agatha)... which was very important for me ... at that time. *winks*

Lucky-Man

The thing is I never used a nickname before. In all the games I played I was Helias (my real name) or Helianna (my daughter's name) but when I got to character creation in SWL I saw that First and Last name were required also. So I had to be creative and thought what the hell I will use a nickname for once. When I am not playing games I am watching either movies or tv-series (over 80 tv series collection). So I opened my series folder and started browsing to get an idea for a name. Since I am a big fun of Marvel series (daredevil, jessica jones, Stan Lee's Lucky Man ) I thought is a good idea to tribute mr Stan Lee. And there you have it http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4800878/ That's how I got my name!