Lore

Through out The Secret World there are yellow honeycombs, each with a bit of lore. Some are an easy find, turn a corner and there it is. Some of them require a bit ingenuity and, when they were feeling generous, a helpful ladder.

The lore of the Secret World is that of our world, our history; just a little deeper, a little more sinister. Newly introduced to this hidden history we gather the pieces from conversations, tasks, and honeycombs.

We began our search out of necessity, three weeks ago a strange explosion occurred in a Japanese warehouse...

Note: Honeycombs are not visible in the starting cities until you have completed the introduction to Secret Society missions.

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Throughout The Secret World there are yellow honeycombs, each providing a piece of lore. Some are an easy find, turn a corner and there it is. Others require a bit ingenuity and, occasionally, a helpful ladder.

The collections of lore are guaranteed to grow over time as new mysteries and new content is added to the game. You should always be on the lookout for new lore, and expect to have to revisit old areas in the search for newly revealed lore.

Achievements and titles, in addition to XP gain, are available for completing the lore gathering for specific regions and overall percentages.

Update: Issue 1.3:The Cat God brought Seasonal honeycombs.

Note: Honeycombs are not visible in the starting cities until you have completed the introduction to Faction missions.

Several lore types were removed from the lore journal between Open Beta and Launch. In an effort to not have to redo work because the content is just delayed, those pages are currently marked with (not listed).

Solomon Island

Main article: Lore:Solomon Island

Lore UI

Local History

1. 1712 Fire
2. Jack O'Lantern (not listed)
3. League of Monster Slayers
4. The Atlantic Island Park (not listed)

Places of Interest

1. The Black House
2. Blue Ridge Mine
3. Franklin Mansion
4. Innsmouth Academy
5. The Polaris

Myths and Legends

1. The Darkness War

Recent Events

1. The Fog
2. The Lady Margaret

Valley of the Sun God

Main article: Lore:Valley of the Sun God

Local History

1. Aten Worship (not listed)
2. Roman Sun Cult (not listed)
3. The Sentinels
4. The Kingdom

Places of Interest

1. al-Merayah (not listed)
2. The Ankh
3. The Pyramid

Myths and Legends

1. Plagues of Egypt (not listed)

Recent Events

1. Temple City Discovery

Transylvania

Main article: Lore:Transylvania

Local History

1. Iazmaciune
2. The Red Hand (not listed)
3. The Truce

Places of Interest

1. Anastasia's Wagon
2. Red Hand Research (not listed)
3. The Breach
4. Roman Baths
5. The Facility
6. The Slaughterhouse

Recent Events

1. Vampire Crusades

Global Lore

Main article: Lore:Global

Ancient Mysteries

1. The Buzzing
2. The Filth
3. Gaia Engines
4. The Host
5. Agartha
6. The Hell Dimensions
7. The Third Age

Faction

1. Dragon
2. Illuminati
3. Phoenicians
4. Templars

Groups

1. Council of Venice
2. Morninglight
3. The Orochi Group

People

1. Draculesti
2. The Marya
3. Wabanaki

Events

Main article: Lore:Events

1. End of Days
2. Opening Night
3. Samhain

Lore
▪ Solomon Island ▪ Valley of the Sun God ▪ Transylvania ▪ Global ▪ Events

Lore Journal

Acquiring Lore

Lore Honeycombs mark the spots, scattered throughout the game, where Lore can be added to your Lore journal. To acquire the specific element of lore, click on the Lore Honeycomb, and allow it to download to your Lore journal. Once it is acquired, that Lore Honeycomb will no longer appear on your screen. You cannot reacquire Lore once you have acquired it.

Lore has to be actively acquired. It is not sufficient to merely spot the lore. Nor is it sufficient to get within some area surrounding the lore, as it works with most mission requirements. You have to actively click on the Lore Honeycomb, and then allow time for the lore to be downloaded to your Lore journal. Because of this, acquiring lore can be disrupted if you are attacking during its acquisition.

Locations of Lore

Lore can be found in both easily accessible and hard to get to locations throughout the game. Lore can be found in all the major areas of the game, from Faction HQs in London, New York, and Seoul, to the individual zones of Kingsmouth, The Savage Coast, Blue Mountain, and all the others. Lore can also be found in Solo Instances. Since these Solo Instances are only accessible during missions that unlock them, you want to be certain to thoroughly search every Solo Instance to make certain you have located and obtained the lore.

Accessing Your Lore

To access your Lore and Achievements journal, the default key is L. You can also access the journal, through the Menu by selecting Menu > Achievements and Lore (L).

Your Lore Journal

Your Lore and Achievements journal is automatically maintained for you as your progress throughout The Secret World. It is your journal, unique to your journey throughout the game.

Lore Example

This is an example of a completed lore collection. This specific lore collection comes from the Solomon Island Local History for the 1712 Fire. As you collect each of the Lore Honeycombs in the collection, the story is revealed to you.

Current Lore List

The collections of lore are guaranteed to grow over time as new mysteries and new content is added to the game. Lore is and should be a constantly moving target. The best you should ever be able to say is, "I have acquired all the known lore at this time." You should always be on the lookout for new lore, and expect to have to revisit old areas in the search for newly revealed lore. At game launch in July 2012, this represents all the lore that is known in the game.

"Our wisdom flows so sweet. Taste and see." — The Buzzing

Lore are a manner of intelligent, self-aware phenomena in the Secret World. Also known as The Buzzing, the Education Protocol, and other similar names, The Bees inhabit Agartha, but do not appear to be tied to The Custodians, and unlike them, are capable of freely leaving at any time. They refer to serving the will of the 'Machine-Goddess', who likely created them, The Custodians, The Tree of Life, and perhaps the whole of Agartha itself. It is unknown for certain, but it is highly probably The Bees are technorganic: a hybrid of life-form and machine. They serve and worship a 'Machine-Goddess' as their queen, and the Agarthan Stationmaster comments in passing that their honey has the peculiar aftertaste of "machine oil", alluding to their potential semi-mechanical nature.

The Agents in the game are referred to by The CDC as 'Bees', which may refer to the incident that thrust the player into the Secret World. An Agarthan Bee selects a host and, through some as-yet undetermined means, alters the host's brain chemistry to cause the player-character to develop supernatural abilities and an 'awareness' of the Secret World.

In much the same way conventional bees gather nectar, Agarthan Bees gather knowledge, passed through several eras of existence. The Bees insist that 'the beginning' is not so; in fact, there have been four 'beginnings' before our own, and they have collected the sum total of knowledge from every era. Because of this, it is The Bees that transmit Lore entries to the player, whether through discovery of key clues, or simply picking up Lore Honeycombs in their travels.