"They flocked, like scavenger birds to the corpse.. they foolishly flocked to the trap. Now they sit as caged birds, squaking at that bars that hold them, falling to the bottom of the pit as they are killed off. Day in and day out, too many fall prey, too many fall oblivious, and too many fall susceptible. This world is a masterpiece, but it is a masterpiece of a Maniac's mind. It is a serial killer's puzzle, a Hunter's Query... Luckily... Some of us are the Hunters!" - Rorik of Shorestead.
Kayaba, a man of great intellect, built the first completely VR MMO. This game, named Sword Art Online, would feature ground-breaking technology and the first of a line of games that would break the hold of the gaming world's console limits. This release was monumental and people lined for days to buy it, approximately ten thousand people bought the game and logged into it, but upon their arrival, the game was not as it had been made out to be. The world was closed, no one could log out, the faces of thousands lined the first floor's extravagant city as figure appeared over head and spoke to them all. It spoke of completing the game, and how no one could leave less they survive all one hundred floor. This figure instructed them of one important factor, death in the game resulted in death outside of it as well. This brought horror to the thousands, anger to the thousands, and sheer destruction to the rest. Nearly the first thousand were claimed by suicide alone.
The time between the beginning, and the instance in which our story begins, is a time in which much happens. It within itself is a tale, one that shall be told, but first, you should know what happens before it is told.
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Ok, to begin with this, I will give you information on some very important things!
As the Plot is simple, survive, thrive, and try not to dive. The story will be player driven, moving through quest, exploring the maps, aiding in NPC affairs, or events myself as the Gm will make available, it will be an Rp based on experiencing the world, while still striving for an End-Game goal.
The Lock-Heart Guild is a very unique Guild, it is technically the only guild who knows of the "Locked-Hearts." They seem to know the most about them, and in many cases are truly the only ones to know about them. This Guild is fairly small, close knit, and communicate more clearly than most guilds. They were formed by a small party of Beta-Testers during the release of the Beta. These players grouped together, stumbled upon the aspect of a hidden Item, and upon further exploration and playing, they discovereda few more. They dedicated themselves to finding thee items in the Beta as a way to show skill, to have grand powers, and to be unique in the quest as a player. Each striving for a different goal, each with a different play-style, and each with a different view on things. These core Guild Founders, are the reason the Guild still stands in this nightmare of a Game. Once the full game was released, and these now friends, retook their mantle as a Guild, discovered the dreadful fact of the game Life-or-death toll, and now they seek the same thing as before.. the Locked-Hearts.
Locked-Hearts are indescribably rare item. They are hidden away in the farthest reaches of the Floors, behind massive traps, puzzles, Bosses, secret quests, and all manner of rarities. These items have a truly unique function within the game. These item give grand abilities unparalleled by the Skill system, but they also function with a unique factor in how they give these abilities. Locked-Hearts feature a general classification on what they would affect. However, they will never affect two players the same way, even if they are within the same type of classification, this is due to the fact that the Hearts utilize a very special form of code-command which allows them to access the neural link of the game and player, to create an ability that is uniquely fitting to that specific Player. The General Classification are as listed.
Weapon/Power Weapon/Speed Weapon/Utility Beast(These are among the rarest of them all, having uncovered only a couple so far.) Utility
These classifications affect the player directly, whether it be his weapon skills, or his/her-self directly with a brand new skill.
(*Sub-Note/Explanation Note: These Hearts will essentially affect players in a way that gives them the "Special Skills" from the Manga/Anime, such as Kirito's Dual-Wield, or Heathcliff's Divine Blade. However some will be a further extention and truly different altogether, for example the one I will be using.
This List is of existing Hearts made before the Roleplay's Beginning, and will be added to as more are made during it.
Locked-Heart: Beast-[Rorik of Shorestead/ Ability Effect-[Hunter's True Nature/ -((Used by: ManoftheNorth/Rorik of Shorestead.)) Locked-Heart: Locked-Heart:
NOTE: NO LOCKED-HEARTS ARE TO BE MADE, AND USED, WITHOUT FIRST BRINGING IT'S CONCEPT TO ME AND GETTING APPROVAL.
This is a Posted list of Guilds, and whether they are recruiting or not, this Message board is posted in all towns, to allows players easy access to this knowledge.
Guild- Hallowed Hands-[ The Hallowed Hands are a more "religious" group if you were to classify them. They have a great faith in a higher power, it is both unnamed and unspecified, used purely for it's effect of giving strength, hope, and determination through Faith and belief. These players not only use this to try and motivate people to take shelter if they cannot fight, and for those who can to aid the frontlines, but they also have seemingly sub-consciously taken up the mantle in a gaming aspect. They subconsciously appear and have made themselves seem like Paladins, Wardens, Preists, and any form of class who might bring justice, righteous power, and Hope to the battlefield as a weapon.
Guild- Laughing Coffins((Let's face it, no SAO Rp is a SAO Rp without these PK'ers.))-[ The Laughing Coffins earn nothing the old-fashioned way, unless the old-fashioned way was designed by the Mafia and a Serial Killer. They murder those who stand in there way, they seek out those players who have achieved large statuses, they find those who have great gear, and they slaughter them. They end the life of a person based on their gaming aspect. They lay down the whisper of death over those who have things they want, or have stepped where they shouldn't, and these men and women, are the scum of the Game, and the world.
Guild- Silver-quake Minute Men-[ ((WIP))
Guild- Hunter's Guild-[ ((WIP))
Beta Testers are fairly simple to explain, my fellow Players. These men, women, and children were able to play the Beta of Sword Art Online, they got the first experience, and they with-held this information! They kept this game's vile secrets from us! They lied to us all! They are pathetic, terrible, people!((Note, this both gives info as to how players view the Beeters, and as to how Beeters will deal with an issue inside the game.))
((WIP For now, I don't want more than TWO Beast Tamers, and I am claiming one spot, unfortunately.))
These Skills, will save your lives! These skills are simple to understand, impossible to master. Here is the list.
Name:(Real Name) Screenname:(Player's In-Game, Visible Name.) Sex: Age: Appearance: (Picture or Description, both are fine, but make it plenty detailed.) Appearance/Other:(In case there is anything extra a picture doesn't show, or that you want to add outside of the general appearance.)
Bio: (You can make it as long as you want, but not a lot is possible, as we will be starting on only Floor 30.)
Equipment:(Weapons & Armor.) Items:(Consumables, Tools, Craft Kits, Crystals, Etc.) Skills: (2 weapon Skills & 1 shield Skill OR 3 Weapon Skills without a Shield Skill. Note, the more weapon skills you have, the lesser each one will be to make them all balanced. Everyone gets the Utility Skills, BUT not everyone will share the same values for them, as not everyone will focus on the same ones. Finally, 4 Crafting Skills. Everyone also gets all of the Attribute Skills, but again not everyone will share the same values, as not every character will focus on the same ones. The only Skills you will put a number to, is the Attribute Skills.) -Strength-[0/10) -Speed-[0/10] -Intelligence-[0/10] -Endurance-[0/10] -Will-[0/10] -Charisma-[0/10] *Note: The 1-10 Value system is not a direct, actual value, it is a representative value. This is merely so we Roleplayers can show how our Character will be physically in the game. You are given 35 points to spend, to give a representation of your Character's Game Attribute Skills.
The Lock-Heart Chapter is a alternative story to the world of Sword Art Online story where instead of the actions of Kirito and the standard story line, we will follow the game from floor 30 to the End. This being either all 100 floors, or some possible other occurrence that may end the Game for everyone, good OR bad. The Lock-Heart Chapter is named such due to the involvement of the "Lock-Heart Guild." This Guild will be an important part of the Rp and a very important functioning aspect of the Rp's progression. This Rp will follow a group of gathered players who may, or may not necessarily, get along enough to form a long-standing Raid Party to move through the game. They will be apart of this Lock-Heart Guild. The Rp will not be clandestine to follow a specific in-game pace, meaning no one is forced to have their character be grinding floor after floor as fast as possible. Everyone's character is welcome to their own sense of urgency to move through the game, and everyone is open to many different kind's of characters, just please.. No Power-tripping fourteen year old cliches, and no Soulless Badasses, or any of the bad stereotypes.
A major, creator-made function for this Rp is that the universe has one distinct difference. The Locked-Hearts. These items are extremely rare Items located in hidden, secret, or quest-unlocked Dungeons scattered across each massive floor, guarded by an unbelievable challenge, and poised as an Item that most would consider "OP or over-powered." These items are the founding concept of the "Lock-Heart Guild" and it's founding Members reasons for the Guild. These items will be regulated both In-Rp and OOC by myself and any Co-Gms I may or may not take on.
I am fine with the CS, but to note two things: The Lock-Heart Guild does not openly talk about the Locked-Hearts to strangers. Second, Stealth blows only one-hit small to medium monsters.
Yes, just be realistic with how effective punching, kicking, and martial arts would be compared to the more standard combat methods. It is highly suggested something else is taken as well.
Aria is a treasure hunter by trade, mainly for rare ingots and raw materials, sticking mostly to the 20th floor and higher to find her wares. Occasionally teaming up with berserkers and shield bearers for when she runs across difficult bosses, leaving them to the gold and craved prizes only asking for one item of the loot in return for each kill. She would make more with sharing but the small vial of liquid swinging around her neck would remind her of a promise she made months ago, when the world first shattered.
~~~~
Two girls laughed as they rain through the plains of flowers, there was no no difference between the two, even for twins the girl's were eerily alike, short cropped silver hair, strange red eyes, their hands gently entwined with the others. The only difference was that one wasn't talking, the other one chattered along as bright and happily as could be. They had only just entered the game, it was her sister's idea really for them to play. It had been years since the women had seen each other, this was the only way they could see each other. It was what the younger sister had said to convince her sister, back then Aria was surely and muted, her sister was the hot headed one. Always charging ahead. Then the sky open and the man in the robes told them of their fate.
~~~~
"Lydia.." The treasure hunter murmured toying with the pendant hanging loosely around her neck, she was laying in a field of flowers looking up at the cloudless sky, it had been months since she had thought about her sister, her shadow, the one always watching over her. She was suppose to be the big sister yet she had failed to protect the one thing she held dear.
~~~~
They had made a promise to clear these floors, these dungeons together, that they would go home, they wouldn't stop and dally like the rest of them. This was no longer a game, the trouble was Lydia had a knack for fighting, the older sister didn't. Honestly she was a bit of a burden, unwilling to pick up a sword but to scared to stop following her sister. So she took up crafting, making potions and small weapons enough to trade and buy her sister better armor and weapons. It was fine this system, the girl's were alive and well, their bond which had grown frail with separation had started to grow stronger through this ordeal.
~~~~
Sighing softly the woman sat up looking towards the guild building to her left, in passing it looked like a store, not the a guild of treasure seekers like herself, and the most glorious kinds of treasure they did seek indeed. She hadn't been with them from long, a month at the most. There was a flyer, said they were looking for new members, members with skill. Until then she had only traveled with freelancers and those of questionable behavior. It was a living, and they didn't ask questions about the girl, not when she gave them most of the prize. She was a strange one, having the skill to advance to the upper floors, yet she stayed in the 20's as if something was holding here there, like she was waiting for something.
~~~~
Lydia had spent days and days trying to teach her older sister the ways of the sword, there was a rumor going around that no one had been able to kill the boss on the 25th floor. She would need her sister capable of defending herself at the least. If they were to pass, then she would need her full attention on this beast. The dagger glittered in her hand, gold inlay shimmering in the hilt. A drop from the last floor's boss. The rest she had given to those who had risked helping her, others who helped keep her sister safe. The chime of metal hitting the floor drew her out of her day dreams. Seemed her sister had gotten fed up with her training, sweat gleaming on the older woman's skin. A displeased look flickering across her face, as her sister laughed picking up the thin blade. She had had it formed into a rapier, a quick and light weapon for the small built woman, it would give her speed and agility in sacrifice for power, a necessary risk.
~~~~
The young woman sighed looking down at the blade by her side, running a hand across the small dagger tucked into her belt. She had little left now, so she wandered, waiting on the 27th floor, waiting for the respawn. The world boss would be due in another two hours. A chance to get revenge for her sister, one last request before she sold her sword and skills over to the Lock-Heart Guild. As the hour chimed, the maroon eyed woman shifted pulling her hood back up setting off towards the materializing door pulling out a small crystal, teal in color. A slight shift of her hand and the box began to talk, the light tinkering of someone's laughter filled the air.
~~~~
The boss tore them about, killing many of the ones who had tried to help them get passed this floor, wiping them all out until only the girl's remained. One barely standing, a long gash down her side as she leaned against her sword, the other sister laying knocked out on the ground her dagger flung out slightly to the side. An earlier blow from the metal based creature, enough to send the older sister into a panic, prompting her to attack. Both her and the boss were on their last legs, and it was a flip of the coin which would come out ahead. When the younger sister awoke she found both her sisters necklace and sword laying in the grass beside her. A crystal glowing slightly near them.
~~~~
"If you are listening to this, then I am dead. I'm sorry. It seems I wasn't good at this at all, silly me." A short decrepit pearl of laughter broken by a terrible cough. "Live little sister, live and get home. Someone has to take care of mother. She'll be worried sick by now." Another laugh followed by a hacking cough. "I love you, remember that and remember me, and live. You hear me. Live."
A click and the recording stopped again, the young woman holding it was panting leaning on her sword as the boss fell, a sense of revelation and peace washing through her. It had been 3 months since she had taken up her sisters name and mantle. Now she could feel some peace for her sister's soul. A slight squeeze of the pendant, and the dispersion of the loot to the rest of the party. She only kept the Cor before walking out into the next floor. "Finally.." she whispered softly before activating the teleport crystal, it seemed she had only one left, returning back to the guild home. It was time for a new start.
Appearance: (Picture or Description, both are fine, but make it plenty detailed.) Appearance/Other:(In case there is anything extra a picture doesn't show, or that you want to add outside of the general appearance.)
Bio: (You can make it as long as you want, but not a lot is possible, as we will be starting on only Floor 30.)
Equipment:(Weapons & Armor.) Items:(Consumables, Tools, Craft Kits, Crystals, Etc.) Skills: (2 weapon Skills & 1 shield Skill OR 3 Weapon Skills without a Shield Skill. Note, the more weapon skills you have, the lesser each one will be to make them all balanced. Everyone gets the Utility Skills, BUT not everyone will share the same values for them, as not everyone will focus on the same ones. Finally, 4 Crafting Skills. Everyone also gets all of the Attribute Skills, but again not everyone will share the same values, as not every character will focus on the same ones. The only Skills you will put a number to, is the Attribute Skills.) -Strength-[9/10) -Speed-[4/10] -Intelligence-[3/10] -Endurance-[8/10] -Will-[7/10] -Charisma-[4/10]
Bio: Cecelia is a traceur (which is a person who practices parkour) and thought to test this game's bounds when it came out. She beta tested, but only stayed in the main town on Floor 1 (in the beta) seeing how far and high her parkour could take her in the game. She died a few times misjudging jumps and finding some non-solid ledges, but had fun. When she was told about the virtual-deaths-are-real thing, she took no time in getting as far away from "Town 1" as she called it. She then would float from raid team to raid team, never staying with a guild or team after the goal she was going for was accomplished. When not in a team, since she wasn't really a fighter, she would sneak around, killing some of the smaller creatures with a single stealthy blow to get some more XP and/or small quests, or hired herself out to those that wanted things. She could usually slip past most monsters and grab it. Sometimes sneaking past people to steal. She would just wait for her icon to go green again before doing any more thefts. She met a member of the Lock-Heart guild around floor 24 when she had a quest to steal a very rare artifact on Floor 24. When she got to the Locked-Heart (though she didn't know the name at the time), she noticed that she'd been followed. She quicky snatched the item just before being snared. She was then interrogated on what she knew about the item she had just obtained. After proving her lack of knowledge, the man claimed to be part of a guild "that searches all across the levels for these these", not saying what "they" were, but was impressed by her ability to get past the traps and enemies. He offered her a place in the guild, though she couldn't keep that item. Thinking it would be a short-lived thing, she agreed. After learning about these Locked-Hearts, she realized that they'd kill her if she left, but she didn't want to leave now anyways, because these could do incredible things.
Equipment: 1 Katana, Cloak of Night (black dyed leather armor that looks like the one in the left picture. It can be undone to be worn as a cape.) Items: -Lockpicking Set -1,216 Cor -2 Health crystal -1 teleport crystal -1 journal, holding her transactions (legal and otherwise) -3 rations of randomly assorted food
Appearance/Other: Slyvester is 5'10" weighing in at 190 lbs. He has three tattoo's, one on each arm and one on his ribcage. One for each of his children that are outside of this world.
Bio: Slyvester decided to get this game because he wanted a good game that he could kill his little amount of spare time and also while chatting with his little brother who lived on the other side of the world. When they purchased it on the release day they soon found out that they would be spending a lot more time with each other since no one could log out. It was one month into the game when himself, his brother and their guild got ambushed by a group of Laughing Coffin members. It was that day that Slyvester felt the most pain in his life since only a handful of members survived and his brother wasn't one of them.
Slyvester was the only one who survived that attack that made it through the rest of the week since everyone else couldn't handle seeing all of their lost friends dying day after day when they all willingly ended their time in Sword Art Online. This was however not an option for Slyvester since he couldn't leave his wife and three kids to a madmans video game.
Equipment: Slyvester always wears his brothers leather chestplate with the guild insignia on it for sentimental reasons so he relies on the strong alloy chainmail equipment that he wears underneath of the leather chestplate to keep his defensive stats on the competitive edge.
At the moment he is wearing a silver warriors helmet that was altered to end at the cheekbone to show his beard. On his left hand only he is wearing a strong metallic bracer to help deflect minor attacks should they get past the small buckler shield. He also if wearing a belt made of a more flex metal version of the bracer in case of being disarmed. On his legs he is wearing pair of platelegs made of flex metal as well for improved movement. Finally for his feet he has standard boots to reduce leg/feet fatigue.
Curved Sword;
Dagger;
Consumables: ► 6 Healing Potions ► 2 Defense Boost Potions ► 2 Attack Boost Potions ► 1 Teleport Crystal ► 75,051 Cor ► Medium-Sized Sharpening Stone ► Metal Retrieval Kit ► Metal Information Handbook ► Spare Ingots for Repairs
Slyvester has a more aggressive fighting style so he is carrying a small amount of healing crystals. He also likes to make sure that his blades are always sharp for maximum sharpness so he also carries a medium sized sharpening stone.
Skills; Curved Blade Skill Dagger Skill Buckler Skill The curved blade skill is significantly higher than the dagger since the latter is only a back up in case of emergencies. A ratio of 6:1 for curved to dagger.
Crafting Skills; Metal Working Weapon Crafting Metal Refining Medium Armour Crafting Slyvester has an interesting method of fighting and that requires him to modify his equipment to be able to function at maximum efficiency.
Attribute Skills; Strength [9/10) Speed [6/10] Intelligence [4/10] Endurance [10/10] Will [4/10] Charisma [2/10] Slyvester is a strong fighter who can endure quite a bit of damage and still keep slugging it to the opponent. He isn't overly intelligent to other matters besides metal working and basic spells and isn't overly charismatic but has some if ever needed.
I think this covers everything @ManoftheNorth. If you see anything that I need to fix or anything like that hit me up.
