Player weapon abilities also contribute to the tapestry of the Secret World story, although in the move from TSW to SWL there has been distortion and loss of these profiles.
For example, although SWL has pistol abilities which jump between nearby targets; with ‘Controlled Shooting’ and ‘Seeking Bullet’, TSW’s pistol chain ability ‘Wanted’ makes reference to the 2008 film of the same name. The film is about a secret society of supernaturally skilled combatants with the uncanny ability to curve bullets, and like the faction Dragon are tasked with manipulating the machinations of fate.
TSW Blade ability names invoke associations to the wuxia style of Chinese martial arts film, with abilities entitled ‘Seven and a Half Samurai’, ‘Destiny’/’Destiny Fulfilled’, ‘Bamboo Cutter’, ‘Flight of Daggers’, and ’Four Seasons’ making reference to films such as ‘Seven Samurai’ (1954), ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ (2000), and 'House of Flying Daggers’ (2004).
Sun Tzu’s ancient masterpiece on military strategy is also drawn upon in TSW’s Blade abilities with the inclusion of that of the same name; ‘The Art of War’.
SWL has retained some of TSW basic Blade ability names with ‘Dancing Blade’ and ‘Immortal Spirit’, and developed those ability names that reference the natural forces of water and storms for the majority of this weapons identity, replacing ‘Blade Torrent’, ‘Fluid Defence’, and ‘Perfect Storm’ with ones such as ‘Hurricane’, ‘Tsunami’, ‘Soothing Spring’, ‘Rushing River’, ‘Tempest’, ‘Typhoon’, ‘Eye of the Storm’, ‘Storm Surge’, ‘Waterfall’, ‘Whirlwind’, ‘Torrent’ and ‘Deluge’. However, it is unclear if such traits are making references to any alternate narrative sources.
TSW Blood Magic makes numerous references to the physiological nature of blood, such as with ability ‘Gross Anatomy’ and other medical terminology. The dark magic characteristic of Blood is also referenced in the weapons ability names, in particular ‘The Left Hand of Darkness’, which refers to Ursila LeGuin’s novel of the same name. This title suggests the potential for dark magic to be used for good, as well as using elements within the novel that uses blood as symbol of sacrifice – a central theme for this weapon in both TSW and SWL.
SWL Elementalism appears to mostly have retained its focus on electricity, fire and ice. This reflects the classical notion of reality being composed of basic forces of nature, and the ability to summon and/or control their manifestations. This is most obviously reflected in the now absent TSW named abilities; ‘Lightning Manifestation’ ‘Fire Manifestation’, and ‘Ice Manifestation’. Elemental magic is also described as; one in which ‘the will of the user is utilised to affect reality’, and this is referred to with abilities such as ‘Mind over Matter’ and ‘Molecular Exploitation’.
Also lost from SWL are the magnetic referencing abilities; ‘Magnetic Wipe’, ‘Magnetic Variance’, ‘Electromagnetic Manifestation’.
Elementalism has co-opted Hammer weapon’s ‘Thor’s Hammer’ into ‘Mjolnir’, and although no direct reference exists, Kathy Bates in the film adaption of Stephen King’s ‘Misery’ makes good use of a few of the TSW tier two hammer abilities that exploit weakened states; ‘Punishment’, ‘Insult to injury’, and ‘Bone Breaker’.
TSW Shotgun has ‘12 Gauge’ and ‘Sawed Off’, common to the recurrent theme that such weapons are particularly useful in Zombie Apocalypse.
Both SWL and TSW Fist Weapons have animalistic ability names and affliction effects that reference the poisionous Bagh Nak and cat claws, although the sheer number of TSW’s weapon abilities allows for greater depth in this depiction, such as via ‘Animal Instinct’ and ‘Cage Fight’, as well as referencing Marvel’s Wolverine, with names like ‘Feral Regrowth’, ‘Wild at Heart’ and ‘Alpha Wolf’.
Perhaps the most dramatic loss to weapon identity is that of Chaos Magic, where little reference to actual Chaos Magic is made post TSW/SWL reboot.
Contemporary Chaos magic draws on the works of occultist Austin Osman Spare, and central to the practice is the manipulation of one’s own belief systems (or paradigms) to affect results. As such TSW ability names ‘Paradigm Shift’, ‘Gnosis’ and ‘Cutting Thoughts’ reflect this, as well as two ability names that are still present in SWL; ‘Deconstruct’ and ‘Breakdown’. The principle is also alluded to with TSW ability names ‘Teorema’, ‘Amor Fati’ and ‘Prisoner of Fate’, which refers to the quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt “Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds”.
Also lost are the references to Discordianism with removal of ‘Discord Rising’ and ‘Call for Eris’, as well the symbolism of Chaos magic represented in character attack animations that depict the chaos sphere.
Of questionable relevance to Chaos Magick is SWL’s predilection for the number 8, and its use of ‘Doppelgangers’, ‘Enigmas’, and ‘Singularities’. Rather, SWL Chaos appears to make more reference to Chaos theory, focusing on reusing TSW ability terms ‘Entropy’, ‘Probability’, ‘Paradox’, ‘Contradiction’, as well as adding the ability name ‘Butterfly effect’.
