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The Secret World: Everything is True?
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
In his latest column devoted to Funcom's The Secret World, MMORPG.com Lead Writer Bill Murphy takes a look at the recently released trailer "Everything is True". The trailer featured some interesting tidbits of information based on some of the most virulent urban myths every created. Bill takes a look at some of those myths and wonders what they could mean to the game. Check it out!
But I’m guessing that the video is more about the sorts of enemies, locales, and supposed mysteries we’ll be helping to uncover in the game than any massive ARG in and of itself. Of course I could be wrong, but let’s suppose for a second that I’m not and try to decrypt a few of the trailers buzz-phrases and what they could mean for the game. For the ones I leave out or simply don’t have a clue on, please do step up and smack me on the head to correct me. I crave it.
Read more of Bill Murphy's The Secret World: Everything is True?
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Comments
Hmm honeslty, I thought the eleven missing days were just talking about some sort of mass blackout at the beginning of the dark awakening on earth or whatever the game's story will start from. Never thought about it having to do with some sort of ancient myth or anything, I guess that makes more sense.
If they manage to deliver good and fun gameplay paired with all this mythic and historic stuff and a 3-way world PvP ontop of all that then this game will be great actually.
All those references made in the video can be read about if you just google it and that's what Tornquist wants us to do actually to solve the riddles in the game. I find this approach quite interesting, and it definately helps to educate some people in the process
Lilith for example was Adams first wife in the garden of eden, and she was expelled after she decided not to be Adams slave, as she was made by god aswell and not out of a rib from Adam like Eva was afterwards.
So now Lilith straves around at night, according to the old jewish texts, seducing young men while asleep and killing babies.
Huh, on the 11 days are missing thing I thought they were talking about this:
http://www.genealogytoday.com/columns/everyday/030902.html
The beekeeper thing is interesting - I thought it was a reference to the "disappearing" bees phenomenon that was going on a few years back, but yours is a bit more plausible - especially considering this:
http://www.sanctuaryofsecrets.com/
When I saw The Hosts, the first thing I thought about was Werewolf from nWoD (New World of Darkness). There's an entity in that called the same thing that's like an animal spirit that merges with humans to create a were-animal (I don't remember the specifics, I decided nWoD sucked and stopped reading :-P).
I'm sure most of this stuff has probably been solved over at the main forums, but I tend to avoid them. The guys over there are way too sharp and rip through these things like they're nothing so I don't get a chance to even try and figure them out.
the Sanctuary of Secrets is indeed in the Secret World. I do wonder if it links the actual dying off of bees which has been happening at an alarming rate for several years and no one knows why.
The Hollow Earth is an easy one. There was a point in time where some believed that the Earth was hollow and that many of the lost species such as dinosaurs still lived inside the earth. An expedition was even planned to the north pole and find an entrance and John Quincy Adams is said to have been willing to fund the expedition.
A gentleman by the name of Charles Fort wrote extensvely about this as well as other "natural phenomena". ( I actually wrote a piece of music about a fictionalized Charles Fort called "Charles E. Fort leads his regiment into the Void" with the void symbolizing all of the "unknowns" that he touted as truth. E stood fo Enigma as I felt the title needed an extra beat ; ) )
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Just the dialogue here in this thread alone makes this my go-to game of the fall. I can't wait to play anything that opens up these Pandora's boxes.
Every veteran MMO gamer ends up futily searching for years for a game that will rekindle the sense of awe, wonder, and excitement that their first MMO brought. Its pretty early to tell, but this looks like just the kind of game that could do it.
Nice finds, in the article as well as in the posts
As for the eleven days, I thought indeed too that this was a referral to the 11 days that went missing when the calendar got adjusted to the one we know today.
'The bees are returning' is a nice mix with a real conspiracy theory or mystery buzz that went around, when a few years ago massive amounts of bees flew off from their hives never to be seen again. It happened to such extent, that it got the attention of a lot of people and was cause for a lot of newsarticles and speculation (see here for an example).
'The earth is hollow' is a referral to Agartha, which is supposed to be ingame as well.
'The Host' is very likely a reference to the Host as talked about in combination with the Wild Hunt, which this source describes:
'The Sluagh and the Wild Hunt, Also known as The Host, the Sluagh (sloo-ah) are the Host of the Unforgiven Dead, and the most formidable of the Highland faerie people. They were believe to travel above inhabited places around midnight. In some accounts, the Sluagh are fallen angels rather than the dead'
So, the Host is a description of faerie folk and other supernatural races like the elves, pixies and the sort encountered in folklore tales. In noe of the videos a glimpse could be seen of a faerie visiting an old english bar.
'Portals in time and space', from one of the videos we already know of one time travel where you're dropped into a grim futuristic nightmare version of the world where it is shown to you as player what will happen if the darkness isn't stopped.
'The Ark' reference made me think of Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
this link is only static... what is this ?
Oh, btw, this is the full list of text lines that flash by in the video:
This Is How Our End Begins
Now
Powerful forces are on the move
And dark conspiracies converge
As a hidden world is finally revealed
We are in the Fourth Age
Powerful Cabals Rule the World
They Have Kept Us in the Dark
Signals Disrupt our Thoughts
The Host were Here Before Us
They are still here
There is a City on the Moon
Eleven days are missing
The Earth is hollow
The Wagtail has arrived
There are Portals in Time and Space
The Bees are Returning
The Eight watch over us
Solomon's Key unleashes Hell
The Tower of Babel never fell
The Old Gods are awakening
Atlantis rises
The Ark of the Covenant is an Engine
Stonehenge is a Beacon
The Fountain of Youth is Poisoned
Immortal Beings walk the Earth
The planets are aligning
The End of Days are here
Everyone must choose a side
The Dark Places are Crawling
The Filth will Corrupt us all
The Morning Light burns
Demons march against us
The Dreamers whisper
A Blight befalls the Garden of Eden
We have dug too deep
Lillith's Children are unchained
Pandora's Box is opening up
There is a secret world
Everything Is True
Dark Days Are Coming
'Old Gods' made me think of Neil Gaiman's novel American Gods too
Since all of these make their appearance one way or the other, the city on the moon and the time portals among others sound interesting.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Good catch MMO Maverick, but you missed a line.
Fnord.
Eh... yes... I guess I missed that one. It must have been a subliminal line or one only recognisable by ESP perceptive people.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Also if you watch the trailer for the beginning in London. The woman got her powers when a bee flew into her mouth as she slept
Ouch. That's not a happy way to get superpowers.
Reminds me of the opening part of the (super-obscure) RPG deSpiria, where you actually stick this... centipede... crawly insect thing up your nose to power up your esper abilities.
Super powers you get from ingesting living bugs better be DARN good.
This is the second reference to the poles. The other is 'The Wagtail Has Arrived', a reference to an ill-fated North Pole expedition by Roald Amundsen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Amundsen), I think:
Amundsen disappeared on June 18, 1928 while flying on a rescue mission with Norwegian pilot Leif Dietrichson, French pilot Rene Guilbaud, and three more Frenchmen, looking for missing members of Nobile's crew, whose new airship Italia had crashed while returning from the North Pole. Afterwards, a wing-float and bottom gasoline tank from the French Latham 47 flying boat he was in, improvised into a replacement wing-float, was found near the Tromsø coast.
It is reported by some that Amundsen’s last entry in his diary (which he left back home in Uranienborg) was: "The wagtail has arrived."
We're going to the North Pole...which will take us to the center of the earth...where there will be dinosaurs...and maybe Amundsen (afterall, he didn't DIE, he DISAPPEARED).
How's that for connecting [some of] the dots?
[As an aside, here's an interesting bit of trivia: A large crater covering the Moon's south pole is named Amundsen. Hmmmm...]
While I understand that "The Old Gods" can make people think about Neil Gaiman's American Gods, it is in my mind a clear reference to the Cthulhu mythos by H.P. Lovecraft. Just a tad more evil that way. *grin*
Slacker extraordinaire!
The 'bees' line simply refers to the somewhat recent disappearance of tons and tons of honey bees. No one knows how. No one knows where. But, they disappeared. And, now, in Secret World, they are returning.
Thanks MMO.Maverick for the transcription. "The Eight watch over us" made me think of the Ogdoad: a psedjet or group of gods/goddesses worpshipped together in Egyptian culture. However if it was referring to that it would have probably called "The Eightfold" instead of "The Eight" so it may be talking about The Eight Immortals from Chinese mythology (which I honestly only knew about from that movie "Forbidden Kingdom" :-P). WIkipedia had some great info on it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Immortals
Hehe, yep. I like this mixing up of real life mysteries, urban myths and conspiracy theories with the myths and legends that'll be in TSW, makes for a nice added immersion.
Nice find!
It could be those Eight that is being referred to, since one of the flashlines was 'Immortal Beings walk the earth'.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
About the bees...
Couldn't it just be that they're massively dying now (you can read about that everywhere) because of weather changes. Couldn't it just be that in the future where The Secret World is time framed, bees were instinct, and now they're comming back?
I don't know, I don't think you have to search too far for this one. It could just be the "the world went to apocalypse and now things get better.
About the things with the bee going into a person's mouth to give her super powers, well, maybe they're going to call a Faction the Bees or sometjhing because they inherit their powers from them?
So basicaly the Bees are returning could mean that this faction is getting stronger?
https://i.imgur.com/Dc8dU3M.png
When I saw the line about the Old Gods I too thought more along the lines of Lovecraftian beings of insane design and malicious intent.
Likewise the city on the moon reminded me of a Lovecraft story where there are creatures plotting nefarious deeds on the moon who are then foiled by cats (cause cats are superbeings, duh).
Oddly enough the bees returning just reminded me of Dr Who. >.>
Cthulhu fhtagn!
Deeper open source research will reveal that the bees conspiracy is actually linked to an interesting comment made by Albert Einstein who predicted that if the bees died, humans will have only four years to live. Bees pollinate plants which feed animals which feed humans. Currently human involvement in bees' ecological environments have seen a decline in their numbers so TSW is saying that the bees are coming back.
lol "everything is true" coming from Funcom.. get real eheh.
Im sometimes amazed to how short is human memory .
I'm sometimes amazed how long some people can hold on to a grudge or their hate, it coloring their opinion for the rest of their life.
The launch of AoC was rushed and released far too early, and some of the bugs that plagued the early months were annoying. Still, I had a great time in AoC, the atmosphere was right for a Conan world, the music was simply perfect, I loved the melee combat, the most engaging combat in an MMO I've encountered, and the leveling was never a bore. All in all, of all the MMO's I've played AoC was one of a few where I've built up the best MMO memories.
So, you keep on to your bitterness and grudge against a company. I myself, I'll see what the FC team has to offer with this new MMO, especially since the maker of The Longest Journey and Dreamfall, Tornquist, is the game director of this one.
I thought that Einstein had said this too. However, in my surfing I accidentally discovered that this was an urban myth, propagated on some tv show and after that it got its own life. The statement of that humankind would die out within 4 years if there'd be no more bees is true, but Einstein never said it.
Ah yes, Lovecraft's elder gods and ancient ones. All too true, it could be more like that, since they've stated various times that Lovecraft was a huge inspirational source to them.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
The Host were Here Before Us
They are still here
To me this refers to the Heavenly Host which defeated Satan's army during the War in Heaven. It is also supposed to be same army that will fight against Satan during the End of Days. Perhaps after the War in Heaven the Heavenly Host were not able to return to Heaven and have been stuck on our plane of existence in order to wait for Satan's return and the End of Days!
The Wagtail has arrived
Perhaps the theory about the expedition to the North Pole is correct about the association with this phrase. However, just to inform people: a wagtail is an antiquated term for a prostitute, named after the Old World bird with its particular walk. I took this to refer to an ancient prostitute like figure perhaps former wife of Solomon who led him astray from God or Jezebel and her ways to make Ahab turn away from God and worship Baal.
Solomon's Key unleashes Hell
Reference to the Key of Solomon a grimoire from the Italian Renaissance but attributed to King Solomon. The first of the two books contains Christian theurgist incantations about invoking the power of spirits and demons to do ones bidding. However, this requires ritual purification, confessing sins and inciting God's name in order to protect oneself prior to the invocation is performed. If these precautions are not taken then perhaps demons could be unleashed onto our plane of existence...There is also a separate artifact called the Ring of Solomon which was rumored to give King Solomon power over demons - could be an interesting artifact in game in order to send demons back to the abyss.
The Old Gods are awakening
Definitely makes me think of Lovecraftian horror. Since we already know that he is inspiring the New England areas of the game (Kingsmouth, a location in the game, if memory serves is a portmanteau of Kingsport and Innsmouth two fictional locations in his stories in Arkham, Massachusetts), it does not surprise me if we some Cthulu-esque Old Ones appear within the game.
There are Portals in Time and Space
Makes me think of a cross between Sliders and Stargate.
The Tower of Babel never fell
Refers to the legendary tower and city of Babel, a post-Great Flood collective of people that spoke one language and built a tower to scrape the very Heavens. According to the Bible, God removed the people and dispersed them around the Earth (this is how the origin of all of our different languages is represented in Christian theology). If the tower did not fall and was completed then it could be a way for mortals to access Heaven prior to death which would incite God's wrath once again or it could be that speakers of the Adamic language (the first language) still exist in this city/tower and not all were dispersed by God. According to Kabbalah, the original inhabitants were also turned into demons which would fit the theme of the game...
I hope that this helps a bit!
M
Really looking forward to this game not raveing fanboi slavering over every pic of a way but definately intrigued,regarding Mr Mavericks list the Ark of the covenant as all ways being very prevelant in many cultures,many theories abound but the most interesting is that the Ark was indeed a machine/engine of sorts.
This device was supposedly the source of the mana that kept the jewish people fed for 40 years,also many texts state that when drawing near to the Ark many would get sick and die with the symptoms of radiation poisoning !!.A further twist is the money pit which is as baffled many as to why it was constructed and by who,as they had extensive knowledge of mechanical engineering as even today it can not be fully explored as the flood system is ingenius to say the least,so what was buried treasure,the Grail,the Ark what it was was deemed to be either valueble or maybe to dangerous to use.
Here is a link to the mana machine and the money pit.
http://www.fernhouse.com/book-pages/mannamachinepic.html
http://www.unmuseum.org/oakisl.htm
Makes a facinateing read.