The Secret World Wiki
Register
Advertisement
PhoeniciansLogo

The Phoenicians are a non-playable faction that is the fourth member of the Council of Venice along with the Illuminati, Dragon and Templars. They trace their heritage to ancient Carthage

According to an intercepted email from Elias Berbera to the Council-Consul, Phoenicians are not allowed on the battlefield between the other three factions, and they also serve as protectors of civilians from the items listed in the "Book of Secrets".[1]

However they are allowed to fight against factions that are not members of the Council of Venice. And of course, even if they are not supposed to, it doesn't mean they don't do it.[2]

The Capitol City for the Phoenicians, New Carthage, they claim, floats in the sky. All that is known for sure is that they were once powerful in Carthage before it was sacked by Rome, and their presence is powerful enough to indicate either a large base of operations or many smaller ones.

Story[]

A handful of the missions around Kingsmouth Lighthouse and the Atlantic Island Park make reference to or even spawn enemy agents of the Phoenicians.


Alluded to as "the sailors" in Gravity

Taking the Purple reveals a Phoenician special operations team inserted covertly into the Savage Coast to retrieve magical artifacts; the phrase means taking a royal title.


Arturo Castiglione, Council of Venice functionary and mentor to Sarah, falls victim to the Phoenicians' threats and bribery and betrays the Secret Worlders to them. The Phoenicians that hold him under their thumb attack the player in Venice Sinking; by the end of the mission Arturo learns that Sarah is alive, and he resolves to face his blackmailers head on.

Mentions of them are everywhere, especially once their quest line in Tokyo begins.

Kaoru in The Dream Palace is particularly forthcoming on the subject.

Tanis header

Tanis

Tanis was a Council of Venice agent, but long before she is encountered in Egypt. She represents the Phoenicians now, as much to disrupt the plans of the "Red Team, Blue Team, Green Team", as out of loyalty.

Ellis Hill is probably a Phoenician employee, if not agent.


Presence in History[]

Phoenicians' banner color is purple for more than just aesthetic reasons; their power came from riches got from the trade in the rare and therefore precious purple and blue dyes only used by royalty.

Wikipedia: Tyrian purple : "Tyrian purple (Ancient Greek: πορφύρα porphúra; Latin: purpura), also known as Phoenician red, Phoenician purple, royal purple, imperial purple, or imperial dye, is a reddish-purple natural dye; the name Tyrian refers to Tyre, Lebanon. It is a secretion produced by several species of predatory sea snails "

Legend has it that in the distant past, powerful brothers were estranged by the plotting of a sinister woman. One brother went on to found the Templars; the other, the Phoenicians. Lilith may be the woman who caused the split between the brothers.

Lore[]

There are 13 Phoenician Lore pieces to be found. One each for Kingsmouth Town, The Savage Coast, and Blue Mountain, and two each for the following five areas.

1. Our wisdom flows so sweet. Taste and see.

TRANSMIT - initiate Babel signal - RECEIVE - initiate Carthage frequency - DOWNLOAD - initiate the Tyrian Effect - PRICED TO OWN - initiate the golden apple grammar - THE FACE THAT LAUNCHED A THOUSAND SHIPS - the purple spectrum - WITNESS - The Phoenicians.

Kingsmouth, 898×701 Kingsmouth Municipal Airport, up the ladder in the same building as Ellis Hill


2. There is a story, sweetling. You will hear it on the lips of a drunken sailor or fisherman or the disgraced captain of an oil tanker. This story will be hard to find, but can be heard in any port in the world. The details change, but always there will be a floating city, hidden by magic, travelling the seas of the world as a leviathan ghost. Always, the intoxicated tongue will mutter, "Purple." A day or a week later, the storyteller will go missing, never to be seen again.

Only a fool would believe such a tale. But the dark days initiate the fool's prerogative. Everything is true.

The Purple People. Their ships in the night. Since civilisation's infancy, they have hungered for wealth and the occult. Their emblem tattoos every harbour.

Savage Coast, 565 × 455 . Atlantic Island Park, on a rock outcropping overlooking the Ferris Wheel. Will require some platforming skills, with the starting point being outside the park itself at 507 × 480|Savage Coast. The lore being near the Park adds credence to "the sailors" in the Will in Gravity referring to Phoenicians


3. Initiate the Secret Histories. Mesopotamia. The Tower of Babel. From its top, two brothers ruled all they could see. They could see all. Enter a woman. Her beauty will inspire myths. Her eyes are a prelude to the fall of empires. Her parted lips promise secrets and the tidal pull that causes men to steer their ships onto jagged rocks. Night to night, she visited each brother, promises moaned. She taught them jealousy, distrust, and covetous thoughts.

Blue Mountain 564 × 372

Inside the broken roofs in the Abandoned Factory; access the rooftops using the conveyor belt at 521 × 388


4. There was a falling out, shattering the promise of Babel, precipitating a war that would stretch all the way into the now. One brother took to the valleys and plains, founded a secret society that spread to Babylon, Persia, and Rome. They would become the Templars.

Scorched Desert, 548 × 448 al-Malayah on top of the roof of the Cafe Giza


5. The other brother gathered his own cabal. They heard our voice in the broken reception of Babel and saw divine muses, animate egos, and genius - back when people had the wisdom to see their genius as a separate entity. They journeyed to Tyre, Byblos, Arwad and Sidon. They sailed across ancient seas, traded exotic goods, including a much sought purple pigment. They amassed wealth and established colonies in lands faraway.

Scorched Desert, 480 × 209 Inside a small tower northwest of the Agartha entrance


6. This Brotherhood of Phoenician Sailors reaped much influence and more favours. Their alliances shifted with bloodstained tides. Power was brokered in a way that would set the modus operandi for the secret societies for millennia to come.

City of the Sun God, 46 × 81 - Southwest corner of map, behind a wall


7. The dance found its rhythm. Phoenicians allied with a great king, sworn to the Illuminati and common enemy of the Templars. They built his temple, kept his secrets, and much of their wealth came from this accord. Fortune draws envy, and the Templar kings of Babylon waged a war. The brotherly feud metastasised into a vicious tradition.

City of the Sun God, 425 × 500 -In The Aisle, in front of Quartermaster Shebesh, in a tent


8. The great centipede, the Persian army, marched. The Phoenicians fled to colonies in North Africa to rebuild their trade empire. Carthage rose. The Illuminati, the children of Eye and Pyramid, bristled at the invasion, and alliances dissolved in acidic suspicions. Greece and Rome raged. In the end, the dream of Carthage came undone.

Besieged Farmlands, 1309 × 205 -On top of bridge pillar. Jump from above at 1300 × 192, or jump across the other bridge, through some mobs


9. The wind took the fleeing Phoenicians, weary of enemies and of rebuilding, to Far Eastern seas. No longer would they seek visible power. Let others build and squabble and rebuild.

Time passes. Europeans finally explore the Indian Sea and the Pacific, where the Phoenicians had already long ruled trade. The Purple People retreat back to the sea, and there they stay, a perpetual fleet of mercenaries and treasure hunters, shrouded in the mists of mystery.

Besieged Farmlands, 805 × 389 -Hidden crevice; climb from road at 806 × 422


10. Time passes. The fleet evolves into a floating city: New Carthage. Concealed by sorcery and careful craft, only the agents of the purple flag know where it is at any given time.

Knowledge is power, and the Phoenicians sell to the highest bidder. With such fluid allegiance, they survive. But when the arcane secret or treasure proves too powerful, the Purple People take special care to keep it from the other factions.

Shadowy Forest, 1157 × 1112 -Northeast of Dimir Farm


11. Across the world, occult energies gather, and secrets ripen, opening like eager petals. Always the Phoenicians are there. The most favourable angle, the last man standing, prize in hand - these are their creeds.

Shadowy Forest, 1207 × 642 -Inside a hollow log atop the canyon


12. In this amusing modern world, the other secret societies have spat and made shaky alliances against the coming dark. The Phoenicians stand outside, peering in, waiting for their paycheck. They just may have the final means to spare this planet, yet their intentions are as fleeting as the tides, and always they hunger for the golden apples of Eris. Teeth break, atoms split, and disaster follows fast and follows faster on such appetites.

Carpathian Fangs, 1005 × 921 -Right next to Lidiya's terminal]]


13. And what of the woman, who is said to have set these things in motion? The brothers of Babel never saw her again. We might say she is gone, yet you sweetlings still find the lust to steer onto jagged rocks. We can almost smell her...

Be seeing you, secret worlder.

897 × 644 Carpathian Fangs. At the top of the observatory, go out onto the door and drop down from the side of the platform

Achievements[]

  • These also qualify for Light Reading, In the Footsteps of Herodotus, and Bibliophile
  • Getting all 13 is required for The Buzz
  • Getting all 13 is required for Digging Deep


Trivia[]

Links[]

Advertisement