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Story arcs are somewhere in between regular missions and task forces. Like a task force, there is a series of connected missions which tell a story. Story arcs come from your regular contacts, though, and you can do them at your own pace, with a group or solo, or even with different groups on different days. Each mission will give you a clue, and the clues will pile up in your clue window until the arc is done. You know that you are doing a story arc when you see a clue which says, "It all started when..." When you finish a story arc, you receive an enhancement and a souvenir. The souvenir includes text summarizing the missions in the arc.

You can only have two story arcs running at a time. If you outlevel a story arc, don't worry. You can still do the missions and get the rewards, without having to exemplar down. The bad guys have a maximum level, though, and if you are beyond it then the fights aren't going to be very interesting. If you have missed any story arcs, go back to your very first contact and talk to them in person, and work your way up. Eventually, someone will give you either a mission or a new contact.

Names in boldface are nominees for the Best Story Arc award, from the contest held on CoH's first anniversary.

Level range	Story name	Souvenir
10-14	The Clockwork Captive	An etched Clockwork piece
10-14	The Bonefire Plot	Skulls bandana
10-14	The Vahzilok Pollutant Plot	Water department ID badge
15-19	The Mind of a King	Damaged power source
15-19	The Tsoo Shenanigans	Rage ampoule
15-19	The Vahzilok Plague	Hypodermic needle * First Archvillain
20-24	The Tsoo Coup	Tsoo dagger
20-24	A Hand of Iron	Iron Hand's Badge
20-24	The Sky Raider Secret	Captain Indomitable's Uni-Bands
20-24	The Wheel of Destruction	Hub of the Wheel of Destruction * Great temp powers!
25-29	The Scroll of Tielekku	Translation of the Scroll of Tielekku
25-29	The Mysterious General Z	Small cog from a Lockhart Aerotech jet pack
25-29	Ubelmann the Unknown	Letter from Requiem
25-29	An Unnatural Order	Will of the Earth sample
25-29	The Freaklympics	Freaklympics Gold Medal
30-34	The Library of Souls	Note from Akarist
30-34	The Freakshow War	Page from Schwarzwald's notebook
30-34	The Rise of the Vampyri	Dosier on Victor Sieger
30-34	Corporate Culture	Crey data disc
30-34	The Unity Plague	Sample of the Unity cure
35-39	A Path Into Darkness	The Book 'The Rites of the Dark'
35-39	The Envoy of Shadow	The Envoy's True Name
35-39	Revenant Hero Project	Invisible Falcon's Mask
35-39	The Terra Conspiracy	Hamidon's letter
35-39	Mass Duplicity	Nemesis battle suit blueprints
35-39	The Organ Grinders	Omega level clearance badge
40-44	To Save a Soul	Madeline Casey's pendant
40-44	The Evil Countess Crey	Julianne's diary
40-44	Melvin and the Mysterious Malta Group	A painting called Gentlemen of Malta
40-44	The Eternal Nemesis	The Face of Nemesis
40-44	The Praetorian War	Blue Clockwork piece
40-44	Division: Line	C'Kelkah's cermonial blade
45-49	Upon the Psychic Plane	Vanessa DeVore's mask
45-49	Project: World Wide Red	The thanks of the world
45-49	To Save A Thousand Worlds	Pure flame
45-49	A Hero's Hero	Statesman's face plate