Prior to official launch, the Sword Art Online Closed Beta was available to 1,000 beta testers for a one month period from August to September, 2022. During that period, Sword Art Online was lauded as an incredible experience. It received extremely positive reviews despite the actual difficulty of the game; over the one month period, the Beta Testers had only reached the 10th Floor. After the Closed Beta Testing ended, the Beta Testers were given the opportunity to pre-order the game.
Only 10,000 copies were printed in the first batch of the game and online sales sold out within seconds. Hardcore gamers waited in line for days to purchase the first few hard copies from many stores.
Sword Art Online officially started server service at 1 PM of November 6, 2022. It obtained infamy when the creator succeeded in trapping 10,000 people in the game, making it so that death in-game would mean actual death for the player. During the two-year period the game remained active, Sword Art Online evolved into an innovative yet complex society of individuals with mixed feelings about the possibility of clearing the game.
Psychologically, many players experienced extreme despair, grief, insanity, and sadness during the course of the death game. Of the total 3,853 deaths, over half occurred in the first month of SAO. Combined with lethal dungeon traps and bosses, Player Killing (PKing), crime, suicides, a slowly dwindling population, and increasing difficulty on the higher floors, the prospects generally looked very bleak.
The game was prematurely ended on the 75th floor (as opposed to the intended 100th floor), after The Black Swordsman defeated the final boss, Heathcliff, who was revealed to be Kayaba Akihibo himself, in a duel. A total of 6,147 survivors were logged out from it at 2:55 PM (Aincrad Standard Time) of November 7, 2024.
After the SAO incident, its servers were used by RECT Progress Inc. to create ALfheim Online as the current successor of the VRMMORPG online game.
Obviously, The Black Swordsman is the star of the show, being the one to officially clear Sword Art Online. But what about the other 9,999 players? What of the 3,853 deaths and 6,147 survivors besides The Black Swordsman? What of the players who only peripherally encountered The Black Swordsman or never met him at all? What of the other players who survived and thrived in the death game that was Sword Art Online?
Let us join the death game of Sword Art Online on June of 2024, one and a half years after the cursed game began and six months before it ended. Laughing coffin has been around for five months, the Front Line is at the 62nd Floor, and Kirito is about to journey off with Lisbeth to forge his Dark Repulser. But let us instead focus on the players whose stories were not told to many. Let us instead focus on the tales of these...
Unsung heroes.
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Headquartered in the main city of the 50th Floor of Aincrad, Algade, Vagabond's Lantern is one of many guilds in Sword Art Online. Only medium size at about 50 players, you would expect a guild run by a player with a Unique Skill to be popular. But as many players looking for a tough group to join find out, the guildmaster is not what one would expect.
Despite having a Unique Skill, perpetual frown, and a rather intense air about him to match, Pluto is a surprisingly nice guy. Often described as "the chill of winter with a warm center," he takes in players that no other guild will accept or were left to die out in Aincrad. He gives them food, a place to live, and a purpose. He may be pretty intimidating at first but beneath his constant frown and glare, Pluto is a rather nurturing guy with a love of children and animals, particularly cats.
Pluto tends to do a lot of the grunt work around his guild's base, known as the "Lantern Guildhall" including cleaning, cooking, and even sewing for them all. He has a tendency to wake up very early to cook a huge breakfast for everyone, helps gain funds for his guild with odd jobs around Algade, and even packs his players homemade lunches before they head out to other floors. People outside of his guild tend to call him the "Mr. Mom Guildmaster" due to his tendency to go grocery shopping in an apron and bandana. In truth, most of the members of his guild view him as a father figure. You join Vagabond's Lantern, you quickly get in the habit of calling him paternal terms like Father, Dad, Pops, etc.
Pluto has a reason to keep his guild small. With his Unique Skill, most of the red guilds won't mess with members of Vagabond's Lantern, so he's careful of leeches. Luckily he's an excellent judge of character and tries to only recruit players who genuinely deserve his help and protection. He can't be everywhere at once though, so he often encourages his players to Party up whenever possible.
You are a player who is a member of Vagabond's Lantern. You joined because you had nowhere else to go and Pluto saw something in you. Your Level is between 70-79 and you are trying to survive in a cursed death game. it's up to you to find your place in this world. So long as you're in Vagabond's Lantern, you have something more than just friends and allies. You have a family.
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Overview
This is a submit-your-OCs fanfic for Sword Art Online. It'll focus on a single party of six within Vagabond's Lantern, a guild for the downtrodden, outcasts, and misfits with nowhere else to go but a potential for being a part of a family that Pluto sees in them.
Characters will be Level 70-79 so you can have 10 Skill Slots. This'll allow varied builds. You can be a lower Level, but that'd mean less Skill Slots. Builds should be varied. SAO has skills that allow for tank builds (Howl, Fighting Spirit, Spiritual Light, Lightweight Shield Equipment, Heavy Shield Equipment), thief builds (Wild Dance, One-Handed Dagger, Picking, Trap Dismantling, Straining), sniper builds (Blade Throwing, Searching, Straining, Hiding), and even monk builds (Martial Arts, Meditation). Don't worry about a crafter or vendor build like Agil or Lisbeth. Vagabond's Lantern has players that act as in-house vendors and crafters.
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Higher-Ups of Vagabond's Lantern
Pluto
Pluto is the guildmaster and founder of Vagabond's Lantern. While he possesses a cruel-looking face with a perpetual frown and sharp edge about him, Pluto is a man with a warm, nurturing exterior and is an excellent judge of character. His Unique Skill means the red guilds like Laughing Coffin won't mess with anyone who's username has the lantern icon next to it but he's rather hush-hush about what his Unique Skill actually is. Pluto has opened the Lantern Guildhall's first floor as a public tavern to earn extra funds for the guild and in fact cooks all the food himself with his Cooking Skill. He also has the Tailoring Skill to mend his guild members' clothing. While a man of few words, he often gives his guild members fatherly advice. He truly considers his guild members his children and many refer to him with fatherly terms like "dad," "pops," or "old man."
Flora
Flora is the captain of Vagabond's Lantern. Possessing a latin complexion and a curvy figure shown liberally through her revealing leather armor, Flora is a DPS build who wilds a Two-Handed Staff. She is Pluto's in-game wife and while the pair met in Sword Art Online, they are very much in love. Whereas Pluto is a father to the members of Vagabond's Lantern, Flora is the guild members' mother figure. She's more prone to tough love than Pluto's gentle words of advice but is also fond of teasing and pranking the members of her guild. Like Pluto, she doesn't object to being referred to with parental nicknames.
Morn Rower
Morn Rower is the lieutenant of Vagabond's Lantern, though not that most of the members would know. He's never around. Flora, Pluto, and the deputies say that he's often out taking care of odd jobs for the guild. He stops by on occasion to drop off rare items for the other members of the guild but guild members are always told they "just missed him." His room is constantly locked and the table in the corner is "his table," with no members of the guild allowed to sit at it. He's supposedly a rapier-wielder with Picking and Trap Dismantling in his Skill slots, though he's apparently not a thief build but a "gentleman thief build." The deputies say he's quite the charmer and knows just the right things to say, as well as being fond of fine wine and women but never getting drunk or womanizing. He's quite the mystery, but... maybe he prefers to keep it that way?
Cloud
Cloud is the in-house blacksmith of Vagabond's Lantern and a deputy of the guild. A short, petite man in his 30s with glasses, Cloud has high levels in Slash Weapon Forging, Thrust Weapon Forging, Blunt Weapon Forging, Heavy Metal Armor Forging, Light Metal Armor Forging, Metal Equipment Repairing, and even Metal Refining. He's happy to repair his guildmates' equipment and even forge them new weapons and armor... for a price. He has to stay supplied, after all. Cloud is a kind, gentle soul and enjoys writing poetry in his off time. He's the real-life wife to Rain and the real-life father to Sunny. They bought the game together as a family activity. In battle, he wields a Two-Handed Battle Axe and wears light metal armor.
Rain
Rain is the in-house apothecary of Vagabond's Lantern and a deputy of the guild. With high levels in Drug Mixing, she makes potions and poisons for Vagabond's Lantern for a price. A large, cantankerous woman, Rain is prone to dishing out tough love and bellowing in a loud voice. Even her real-life husband Cloud can't settle her unstoppable rage. She's still a loving, sweet, and gentle mother to Sunny, though. She fights with a One-Handed Mace, Heavy Shield, and heavy armor.
Sunny
The flower of Vagabond's Lantern, Sunny is the real-life daughter of Cloud and Rain. They bought the game together to play as a family activity but their family fun was ruined when Kayaba Akihiko began the death game. Sunny is still a very low Level, as her parents have kept her out of any major battles, but she claims she's pretty good with a One-Handed Dagger. Though only eight years old, she's a very bright and cheerful little girl, full of energy. She usually helps out "Uncle Pluto" with cleaning the guild and also helps him cook in the kitchen and even acts as a waitress. She really keeps spirits up around the Lantern Guildhall with her childlike innocence.
Pinklord
Pinklord is the in-house tailor of Vagabond's Lantern and a deputy of the guild, with high levels in Tailoring. He's happy to craft, mend, and Enhance clothing and leather armor for the guild members for a price. Though a large, hairy man, Pinklord is very exuberant and even a tad effeminate. He's obsessed with the color pink and often suggests the guild members incorporate it into their outfits. Luckily he doesn't take liberties with including pink in his custom orders. He fights with Wild Dance and light armor.
Touch Me
Touch Me is the in-house carpenter of Vagabond's Lantern and one of its deputies, with high levels in Carpentry. It's him who built the guildhall and its furniture and he also keeps it all in working order by repairing it. He seems to be albino and rarely speaks, preferring to kick back in a chair and sleep most of the time. When awake he's a bit of a troll but he's a good-natured one. He fights with a Two-Handed Assault Spear and leather armor. He tends to get slapped a lot for his username, which was apparently chosen because he lost a bet with a friend before getting the game.
Xer0
Xer0 is the in-house merchant of Vagabond's Lantern. She has Extended Weight Limit, Purchase Negotiation, Sales Negotiation, Equipment Appraisal, and Tools Appraisal. Most of the members of Vagabond's Lantern hock their goods and buy supplies from her. Xer0 is a very short and petite girl with glasses and is surprisingly not Japanese, but Arab. She's rather stoic and antisocial, preferring to read books when not dealing with customers. She fights with a One-Handed Axe, Heavy Shield, and heavy armor.
Goldman
Goldman is the in-house bartender, head chef, and one of the deputies of Vagabond's Lantern. His Cooking Skill is near-Complete and he can make some of the best drinks you'll ever taste in SAO. Sauve, sophisticated, but with a sarcastic side, he dresses like a butler. Goldman is one of the few players who is not Japaneses along with Agil, Flora, and Xer0. In Goldman's case, he's British and white with the blonde hair and accent to prove it, but is also notably Jewish. He mentions that his username isn't all that creative since it's really just his real-life surname. Goldman is also notably a transman. While everyone was reverted to their real-life appearances, the NerveGear actually determines gender by brain patterns. As a result, Goldman is one of the few players who got to play as his chosen gender. Like any bartender, customers both in and out of the guild tend to dump their troubles on him, which he's happy to listen to and give sound, if snarky, advice. In battle he wields a One-Handed Curved Sword, Lightweight Shield, and light armor.
Hero's Shade
While not many elderly people bought and played Sword Art Online, some did. Most of the ones who did stuck to the lower floors or never left Starting City. Hero's Shade however is a 68-year-old veteran of the Iraq War with several awards for his service for his country. He claims he didn't want to sit around waiting to be saved, so he set out and later became one of the strongest players in the game. He's one of Vagabond's Lantern's deputies and claims he'd trust Pluto like he'd trust any member of his old squad. Hero's Shade is one of only five players to have gained the Extra Skill "Katana" from training "One-Handed Curved Sword" enough. Unlike Klein, he wields his with a Lightweight Shield and heavy armor. It's him who often mentors new recruits to Vagabond's Lantern in how things work around the guild. When not doing that, he's either out fishing or sitting at the bar, drinking shot after shot of alcohol. He's notably a Beast Tamer. His Red-Eyed Black Wolf is rarely not by his side or curled up at his legs. The Shade apparently named her Black Hayate.
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Skills
Most of the knowledge of SAO lore you need is on the Wiki. The exception is the Skills, so I'll detail them here. Remember, assuming you're Level 70-79, you have ten Skill Slots. Skills grow as you use them, going from 0 to 1,000, where they're considered Complete. You can't just swap out Skills on the fly. The second you remove one Skill, you lose all progress in it.
Weapon Skills
-One-Handed Straight Sword: Determines effectiveness with longswords, double-edged swords, and other straight swords.
-One-Handed Curved Sword: Determines effectiveness with sabres, scimitars, and other curved swords.
-One-Handed Rapier: Determines effectiveness with rapiers.
-One-Handed Dagger: Determines effectiveness with knives, daggers, shivs, and shortswords.
-One-Handed Axe: Determines effectiveness with hatchets, war axes, and other one-handed axes.
-One-Handed Mace: Determines effectiveness with hammers and maces.
-Two-Handed Straight Sword: Determines effectiveness with greatswords, bastard swords, buster swords, and other two-handed straight swords.
-Two-Handed Assault Spear: Determines effectiveness with spears and halberds.
-Two-Handed Battle Axe: Determines effectiveness with battle axes, greataxes, and other two-handed axes.
-Two-Handed Staff: Determines effectiveness with bo staffs and quarterstaffs.
-Wild Dance: Determines effectiveness with claws.
-Blade Throwing: Determines effectiveness with throwing weapons.
-Katana: Extra Skill. Obtained randomly from using One-Handed Curved Swords enough. Determines effectiveness with katana. Only five people in the game have it, including Klein and Hero's Shade.
-Martial Arts: Extra Skill. Obtained from a 2nd Floor Quest. Allows you to use Sword Skills unarmed.
Armor Skills
-Light Metal Equipment: Determines effectiveness with wearing light armor.
-Heavy Metal Equipment: Determines effectiveness with wearing heavy armor.
-Leather Equipment: Determines effectiveness with wearing leather armor.
-Lightweight Shield Equipment: Determines effectiveness with using bucklers, targes, and other small shields.
-Heavy Shield Equipment: Determines effectiveness with greatshields, tower shields, and other large shields.
Combat Skills
-Parry: Allows the player to deflect enemy Sword Skills with their own Sword Skills.
-Howl: A loud shout that draws enemy Hate to the player.
-Fighting Spirit: Increases ally HP regen rate and combat power, but draws enemy Hate to the player.
-Spiritual Light: Uses the reflective metal surface of the player's weapon, shield, or armor to create a brief flash of light that blinds all enemies for three seconds, but draws enemy Hate to the player.
-Battle Healing: Increases HP regeneration rate.
-First Aid: Causes a huge burst of healing when HP enters the red once per day.
-Meditation: Extra Skill. Obtained from a 6th Floor Quest. Causes burst of HP recovery and healing of status conditions after setting into a concentration pose.
Support Skills
-Searching: Increases player's detection range. Allows the player to zoom in on distant targets, detect enemies, see through Hiding, see in the dark, and track friends.
-Straining: Increases player's hearing range and allows eavesdropping, even through player-owned locked doors.
-Hiding: Allows player to blend into their surroundings. Only works on enemies that rely on vision to sense targets.
-Acrobatics: Increases jumping height and the effectiveness of aerial maneuvers. The base jumping height is the natural jumping height of the player.
-Sprint: Increases running speed and the effectiveness of dashing. The base running speed is the natural running speed of the player.
-Swimming: Increases swimming speed and the effectiveness of diving. The base swimming speed is the natural swimming speed of the player.
-Extended Weight Limit: Increases inventory space.
-Purchase Negotiation: Decreases prices when buying items and equipment. Also decreases prices when buying furniture for your house.
-Sales Negotiation: Increases prices when selling items and equipment.
Crafting Skills
-Slash Weapon Forging: Allows the player to create and Enhance slashing weapons.
-Thrust Weapon Forging: Allows the player to create and Enhance thrusting weapons.
-Blunt Weapon Forging: Allows the player to create and Enhance blunt weapons.
-Light Metal Armor Forging: Allows the player to create and Enhance light metal armor and lightweight shields.
-Heavy Metal Armor Forging: Allows the player to create and Enhance heavy metal armor and heavy shields.
-Tailoring: Allows the player to create, Enhance, and repair clothing and leather armor.
-Carpentry: Allows the crafting of furniture, houses, and wooden carvings.
-Drug Mixing: Allows the crafting of potions and poisons.
-Cooking: Allows the crafting of food, drinks, and condiments.
Other Skills
-Familiar Communication: Increases ability of a Beast Tamer to command their familiar.
-Familiar Recovery: Increases effectiveness of a familiar's ability to heal its Beast Tamer.
-Metal Refining: Allows the player to refine raw ore into ingots.
-Metal Equipment Repairing: Allows the player to repair metal weapons and armor.
-Equipment Appraisal: Allows the in-depth examining of weapons and armor.
-Tool Appraisal: Allows the in-depth examining of items.
-Picking: Allows the picking of locked doors and containers. Doors and containers owned by players cannot be picked.
-Trap Dismantling: Allows the detection and disabling of traps.
-Musical Instrument: Allows the player to play an instrument for NPCs to earn money. At Complete, the player can use their instrument to make enemies briefly fall asleep.
-Fishing: A leisure Skill that allows the player to fish. Caught fish can be sold, cooked, or used as ingredients for Drug Mixing, but treasure may sometimes be hauled up with the fish.
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Profile Layout
Submit profiles in a review (longer character limit) or PM. You can send multipe PMs or just add a second PM to one you already sent, so no need to cut them down to fit a character limit. Complete it to the best of your ability, but show some effort. If you're just doing this to get a character in something and don't care about the actual work, please look elsewhere. Note that there are only six slots for submitted characters. Don't worry about bolding or anything. I'll do that.
Name: Your character's username within SAO. It should sound and look like a username a person would use and your character would choose upon purchasing the game.
Sex: Your character's biological sex and gender identity. Of note is that the NerveGear determines the player's gender by brain patterns, so trans players are more likely to be able to play as their chosen gender.
Age: How old your character is.
Race: Your character's ethnicity. Will likely be Japanese unless they somehow were in Japan when the game was released and managed to get a copy.
Sexuality: Your character's sexual preference. Will determine ships.
Personality: Your character's personality. Be detailed, but give me room for error. Include strengths, flaws, likes, dislikes, fears, etc.
Appearance: Describe the character. Be detailed. I need to be able to picture this character and describe them. Things like skin tone, eye color, hair color, hairstyle, body shape, breast size, facial hair, markings and scars, etc.
History: Your character's backstory. Be detailed, but give me enough leeway to work my own twist into things so they fit the flow of the story. Include their life before playing SAO and how their experience has been in the last year and a half of playing it. If they're a beta, this is where you would mention it.
Level: Their Level. Should be between 70-79, no higher. Can be lower, but then you'd have less Skill Slots.
Stat Build: The only two true stats in SAO are Strength and Agility. Strength is physical power, lifting strength, and attack force. Agility is precision, dexterity, and skill. Each Level, you get three points to distribute between the two. Say whether they're a Strength build, Agility build, or a balance of the two. As notable examples, Kirito is a Strength build while Asuna is an Agility build.
Skill Build: Say what build they have through their Skills. This is the closest thing SAO has to Classes. Things like tank builds, thief builds, sniper builds, monk builds, and DPS builds are possible. You can make a crafter or vendor build, but note that Vagabond's Lantern has in-house crafters and vendors.
Skills: List your character's Skills. At level 70-79, they should have 10. At least one Skill should be a Weapon Skill and at least one should be an Armor Skill, unless you're suicidal.
Equipment: Describe your character's weapons, armor, clothing (worn under armor), accessories, and outfits for various situations. Also, any items they usually carry on their person, like potions, poisons, or crystals. If they're a Beast Tamer, list their familiar.
Relationships: List the characters that have been accepted as well as the leaders of Vagabond's Lantern listed above and how they would interact. Don't be afraid to collaborate with your fellow writers.
Notes: Trivia and anything else you'd like to mention.
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Other Info
Any questions, ask them via PM or review. I can clarify anything you don't know about SAO lore that you can't find on the Wiki.
Note that if you submit your profile via anonymous review, I cannot accept it because you won't be available to discuss it with. I can't contact you if you don't have an account or leave some reliable method for me to do so.
The next chapter will be for accepted profiles. You'll see my own submission there soon as an example.
Just remember, show some effort. If it looks like you just threw the profile together without caring, how can I accept it?