Braziers:
The Braziers serve primarily as a scout group. They have often been the first guild to explore a new floor and often are the ones who have fight sighted bosses. They keep their numbers very small so they are not suited to take on bosses alone, although they normally will take part in the raids alongside the other front-line guilds. The guild only consists of ten or less members at any given time and this is for a couple of reasons. Firstly it means that each individual player receives more and can grow stronger. And secondly it means the group can remain more tight-knit, which is good for trust as well good cohesion in battle. With the exception of ‘Guild President’, ‘Guild Vice-President’ and ‘Guild Secretary’, each member is named after the role they fulfill. In the guild hall they have plaques which record every fallen member and the position they filled.

The guild was very recently wiped out with the exception of the Guild VP, Hawke. It occurred less than five hours after the previous floor was cleared, and according to Hawke they accidentally stumbled across the next boss and were unable to escape. This is first occurrence of a non-escape boss room and many are suspicious, especially given that it meant Hawke allegedly finished the boss off solo. The guild is now recruiting but many are choosing to stay away from it and its new leader.

The Blood Dragons:
The Blood Dragons are perhaps one of the most secretive of guilds despite being the highest ranked guild. It’s believed they have around thirty-five members but no-one outside the guild is sure. Each member is recruited in secret and only when they have proved to be a powerful (or potentially powerful) player, and are not allowed to leave the guild. Unless they are in their hidden HQ each member wears a helmet to mask their identity and will be addressed by number. Members are forbidden from revealing their true identities to outsiders. It’s believed that they do this to prevent outsiders from targeting individual members or their weaknesses. Their leader is Blood General Iroh, and he often dictates how a raid will proceed. Because of their high ranking and secretive nature, many people are filled with both fear and awe when they see someone wearing their armour.

The Night Fissures:
The Night Fissures started off as a protection group, offering their services to lower ranked players. This included leading players through dungeons, to higher zones or even just protecting them from hostile players. The roguish leaders of the guild quickly became some of the games richest players and so naturally gained some equipment advantages which led to them eventually joining the front-lines. The guild has around thirty players, with the top six being much more powerful than the rest.

The White Lotus:
This server’s equivalent of Knights of the Blood. The guild consists of around thirty high leveled players. Whilst they are one of the bigger guilds, every member must prove to be an experienced fighter before joining. They try to act very moral and believe themselves to be above some other clans. Their armour varies from member to member, but each will wear mostly white and will wear the lotus arm band.

Order of the Devine:
This guild is the largest on the server, with around two thousand members. What distances it from other guilds isn’t actually its size, but rather the fact it is a Christian only guild. The guild understandably draws some tension, and there is even some infighting within it. Leadership or the guild changes on a fairly regular basis, with the old leader usually coming to an unfortunate end. Whilst the guild primarily believes in helping all players and beating the game, there are clearly some fanatics as well as players who are simply using the guild to further themselves. Some have argued that it is a player killing guild, but others argue that it’s unfair to judge the whole guild by the actions of a very small minority.

The Nightshades:
A notorious red guild, the Nightshades are believed to be assassins and bandits. Although the guild definitely existed in the early days it no longer is registered by the system. It’s unclear whether they have disbanded, been killed, or merely act in secrecy. Some have hypothesised that they act as puppeteers for other orange guilds, having infiltrated smaller groups.

Real Name (Optional): Robert Hawke

Character Name: Hawke

Age: 28

Gender: Male

Appearance:

Stands at about 6ft2. Sturdy athletic build. Has a faint five o’clock shadow.

Beta-Tester?: Yes

Personality:
Hawke veers towards stoicism, but his emotional side can show when he loses friends or feels that he is unable to help. He is slow to trust but once someone has earned his friendship they will find that he is furiously loyal. He is prone to getting some mild blood lust whilst in combat, but not often to the point where he loses control or endangers others. He never backs down from a fight.

Brief Real Life Background:
Hawke worked as a security guard aboard various freighters. He would spend his free time doing one of three things: sleeping, drinking or gaming. His family weren’t a massive part of his life due simply because his job kept him far away from home. Two of his oldest friends, ‘Aang’ and ‘Maric the Red’ joined SAO with him and together than founded the guild known as “The Braziers”.

Game Background:
Very shortly after players were told about the nature of the game, Hawke, like many beta-testers, went off ahead to try an gain an advantage. This wasn’t out of complete selfishness however, and he took his (non-beta) friends with him. The Braziers were one of the first guilds founded on the server and they pledged to do all they could to help clear the game. In the following six-months rumours have started to spread that Hawke is somehow connected to the Nightshades. This rumour has perhaps grown significantly as recently Hawke emerged as the sole-survivor of his guild under unusual circumstances. The death of his guild, regardless of circumstance, is not something he is taking well although he does incredibly well to hide it.

3 Main Skills:

Two-handed Assault Spear

Light Metal Equipment

Parry

Special skill?: His spear grants him the ‘Berserker’ skill. This is a skill which he tends to keep a secret and not use.

Other skills:

Acrobatics

Sprint

Reveal

Current Weapon:Beserker’s Blood Spear

Current Armour: Standard light armour worn by Braziers

Play style (Optional): Aggressive damage dealer

Real Name (Optional): Haul Byrne

Character Name: Hazard

Age: 25

Gender: Male 

Appearance:



Beta-Tester?: Noup 

Personality: In real life, Haul was someone who always lived up to the expectations of others, behave like this, eat like such, do like that. His life wasn't his but rather, he always felt like he was just fake. In real life, he was all smiles and a well behaved person, an average human who didn't stand out. He would have never done anything he wanted to do, feel the thrill of something. He liked to watch box and UFC matches, but he never gathered enough courage to be in one, he would have liked to do extreme sports, but he never really did so. He was a gutless coward who merely went with the flow of things.

But in SAO, things changed. He felt like he didn't have to fake anything in that fake world, no, maybe because it was fake was why he felt like he could do whatever he wanted. He let out his real self, and boy, is he rotten. Hazard doesn't care who he has to stomp to do what he wants and also likes playind the role of a villain and would have played it through and through had it been a normal game. In the death game, he is an asshole with a sharp tongue who likes to point out the things that are wrong with others and laughs at their disgrace. He gets on the nerves of people, but nobody can deny that he is really useful. He now tries to do everything he didn't do in real life, live his life to the max and not let anyone get in the way of his fun.

He lives for fun and only for fun. Anything can entertain him, as long as he deems it entertaining. However, what he finds most entertaining are secrets. Of people, of items, of the game itself. He acts as an Information Broker in the game apart from a front line fighter. While he does participate in Boss fights and whatnot, he doesn't seem to want to get out of the game, and the reason as to why he fights against bosses is still unknown.

Brief Real Life Background: In real life, Haul was nothing but a programer with a gaming hobby. He tried SAO on a whim, since he wasn't all that trusty about the Nervegear, but he never could have predicted what was going to happen.

Game Background: Hazard first sunk in despair when he heard the news. Maybe he was in despair or something, but he soon resolved himself. He couldn't just stay there. He would die at that rate. He took up the mantle of an antagonistic character as the form of his bravado, though it soon became part of his personality. He knew that the skill he had selected wasn't really apt for front line fighting so he chose to become an Information Broker, using intimidation and whatnot to get the information necessary for him to be succesful. It has worked quite well since he started too.

3 Main Skills:

One Handed Dagger

Leather Equipment

Straining

Special Skill:

Chains of Judgement: While the name of this extra skill is fancy, it actually isn't that big of a deal. The player has the ability to use chains as a side weapon to slow down the enemy or make them trip.

Other Skills:

Searching

Familiar Communication

Hiding
 
Current Weapon: Curved Balisong & various meters of chains.

Current Armour: Hiding Sun Cloak & Vest of Dawn

Play Style (Optional): Like an Assassin, he waits in the shadows and then strikes (if possible). If he can't hide, then he will resort to attacking by getting in and out and dealing bits by bits of damage, or he will try to take their opponents down with his chains and then proceed into a full front attack.