EQG: Sword Art Online - Ruby Palace

by Mindrop

Commercial Break Three

Commercial Break Three
I prefer a good word picture, but they say a picture is worth a thousand words. So, if I failed to properly paint the picture of the Wondercolts' “arrival” (not everyone can easily see a word picture), reference images will be at the end.

First a reminder about the Junishi Calendar, just for reference. Currently they are in the third calendar year, as they started in November.
Year One = Year of the Hawk (2022)
Year Two = Year of the Dragon (2023)
Year Three = Year of the Griffon (2024)

Junishi Calendar - Canon SAO months are in Orange.

• Cypress = November
• Holly = December
• Silvergrass = January
• Ume (plum blossom) = February
• Willow = March
• Sakura = April
• Loquat = May
• Bush Clover = June
• Deutzia Flower = July
• Wisteria = August
• Chrysanthemum = September
• Ash Tree = October

Base Statistics
These have been alluded to and do exist in SAO canon (with even less clarity). A player gets a set number of stat points when they level up, allowing them to tailor their build. Base stats are separate from active Skills, but the two do affect each other. Many skills will not appear to a player before they meet a hidden prerequisite base stat level, while many Skills can passively or actively enhance base stats on a skill-by-skill basis. Base stats always go up with each level, with additional points being granted that the player can distribute to their preference. Many pieces of equipment, and jewelry in particular, can adjust the base stats of a player. Base stats are split into Active and Passive, with the defining feature being if a player can assign points to them. Only Active Base Stats can receive points.

Active Base Stats:

• Constitution (CON) — The primary stat affecting HP, but also slightly modifies resistance to poison, paralysis and environmental effects.
• Strength (STR) — Primarily limits what weapons and armor a player can use. Heavy metal armors, and great shields universally require high strength. Mauls, maces, hammers, axes and two-handed swords often require high strength, but to a lesser degree, and some one-handed longswords and light metal armors do as well. Additionally, strength adjusts the carry weight limit of a player and provides a small additional modifier to HP.
• Defense (DEF) — Directly affects a player’s ability to negate physical damage. Separate from HP and similar to Armor, Defense is a straight damage reduction calculated after armor but before HP is reduced.
• Agility (AGI) — The ability to jump and move across uneven surfaces without losing footing, determining the speed and distance of both. Acrobatics directly modifies agility, and a high enough stat coupled with it can allow a player limited movement across vertical surfaces.

• Speed (SP) — Base movement speed on foot. Primarily affects top running speed but also enhances top speeds for Agility. There is some, slight, modification for attack speed and recovery.

  Passive Base Stats:

• "Modifiers" (MOD) are deliberately left vague and undefined, just as most "hard" statistics remain undefined, but can be thought of as some percentage of the attached Stat. The only relevant information currently from a world-building standpoint is that it is there.
• Hit Points (HP) — The Hit-Points of a player can be calculated as such: HP = (CON + STR MOD) x Level MOD + HP buffs
• Attack (ATK) —Functions as the main calculator for damage dealt. Most commonly, ATK affects weapon damage, but it is highly crucial for martial arts. ATK is not a constant "hard" statistic, as there are a lot of factors that go into it, including but-not-limited-to: a STR MOD, AGI MOD, Weapon Skill Level MOD and the stats of whatever weapon is being used. The STR and AGI modifiers are additionally weighted depending on the weapon skill being used, so a heavy weapon such as a mace or two-handed sword will be affected more by STR, while daggers and rapiers are more heavily affected by AGI. A player can check their current ATK in their stats menu but cannot allocate additional points to it from their free pool.
• Damage-Per-Second (DPS) — DPS is an unofficial stat , and therefore does not appear in any in-game menu. DPS is determined through a combination of a player's ATK, their skill in chaining together Sword-Skill combos, and the time it takes them to both be released from the delay at the end of a Sword Skill and begin their next attack, where the total damage dealt is averaged out across the time all factors combined take to complete.
• Resistance (RES) — A hidden stat that modifies a lot of things, but is primarily important for certain tactile senses. Chiefly calculated through a CON and Level MOD, it attempts to turn "willpower" into a quantified statistic. How much a player is affected by hot and cold climates, poison, paralysis, and other statuses under the game's systems is tied to RES. Players have deduced its existence, but the formula to calculate it is unknown to them, though it is believed to be a very minor and gradual increase. This evasion of quantifiability is largely due to RES also seemingly being more highly subject to the Outside-System Willpower of individual players than other Stats typically are.
• Visual Range (VR) — Another hidden stat that rarely changes outside of status effects or Skills that affect sight. VR at a baseline grants all players 20/20 vision regardless of their natural eyesight, though its primary purpose is to tie in the visual mechanisms of the game world to the players. It does play a crucial role for Search and Reveal to function.
• Acuity (ACU) — A hidden stat, companion to VR but for hearing rather than vision, and likewise largely unchanging except for through status effects and Skills. The Skill Listen is directly tied into it, and is one of the few ways to actually affect hearing in-game. Without Acuity, Listen cannot function.

Typical Builds are:

• Balanced: A balance of points across all five active stats. Knightstar and Soryuto are balanced builds. Many forwards with shields take a balanced approach.
• Triadic: Another popular build for forwards that focuses on agility, strength, and defense. Reisenki is a triadic build, which means he is the most agile tank in the Assault Team and much closer to a forward with a shield, yet able to take significantly more damage. He wears lighter heavy metal armor to not weigh himself down and chips points into constitution and speed as he needs to.
• STR-AGI: Strength and Agility build. Players like Bladescape, Kirito, and Konpeito sharpen their ability to move in combat while using heavier weapons. This is common for many forwards, particularly those who do not use a shield.
• SP-AGI: Speed and agility build used by many damage dealers to jump in, strike, and back out. Strength is completely ignored in this build. Thunderborne, Doombunny, and Asuna are SP-AGI builds. The type of weapon and attack style dictates if a player decides to further tailor a secondary focus. Doombunny, and Asuna focus on constitution. Thunderborne puts points into defense.
• DEF-AGI: Defense and Agility build. Players like Klein and Kiefer boost their defense to compensate for not having a shield and their agility to avoid attacks. Their katanas do not require high strength to wield.
• STR-CON: Strength and Constitution used by some tanks to boost their health, particularly if they use a heavy weapon such as a mace, hammer, or axe. Defense is mostly ignored for stats points as it increases with each level. The tactic relies on the player's armor to reduce damage and high HP to absorb it, rather than DEF to mitigate it. Some damage dealers use this, particularly if they use a heavy weapon.
• CON-DEF: The main tank build which focuses on boosting health and defense to survive in a fight as long as possible. Diemond is a CON-DEF build.

Nonstandard Builds:

• Malus: All strength, with some to constitution.
• Natora: Natora runs a customized slant build. Agility > Speed > Defense > Constitution > Strength. SP-AGI builds ignore strength entirely. Natora puts some points into strength as it can help for certain spears. Her speed is not much higher than her defense.

Known Guilds:

• Wondercolts: WCS — Led by Bladescape, Natora, and Knightstar, they are a strong but small guild of close knit friends. A big player in clearing. Their colors are Navy Blue and Gold.
• Divine Dragon Alliance: DDA — is led by Lind and a council. The next evolution of the Dragon Knights Brigade, their change was to separate themselves from the disaster that had been the leadership of the clearing effort. They still use the same colors, silver and blue.
• Aincrad Liberation Force: ALF — Also known as “the Army” because of their steel and forest green colors, the Aincrad Liberation Force was formed by the remnants of the Aincrad Liberation Squad and MTD, the guild run by a player named Thinker. They are there for the common player, to spread information and resources to everyone.
• Meigibu: MGBU — The Woman guild made up mostly of clearers. They epitomize the “art of being human” and are known to dress in traditional Japanese garb, even the males, on and off the battlefield. Lobelia is their leader. Their colors are white and emerald green.
• Imperial Dragoon Guards: IDG — A clearing guild of eight middle aged men, all armed with shields and spears, led by Tagahashi. Their black armor with gold shields make a flashy statement for the lancers whenever they enter a fight.
• Gael: GA — A guild of eleven members, all men, with the colors of yellow and red. They are crisp and sharp in all aspects and march to the tune of a fife played by their youngest member.
• Knights of the Bloodoath: KoB — The top guild and the ones spearheading the liberation effort. Their colors are white and red. They are led by Heathcliff, with Asuna as their Second-in-Command (Leader of Team B) and boss strategist, Godfree as the commander of their vanguards (leader of Team A) and in charge of training, and Daizen as their financial officer. Uzala leads Team C.
• Fuurinkazan: WWFM — Named for the war banner of Takeda Shingen which refers to the Art of War by Sun Tzu, the six member guild of guys is flexible in most combat situations, and very eager to prove themselves.
• Amatsukami: AMKI — Meaning “Heavenly Gods,” the guild is composed of heavily armored champions; mostly forwards with shields and tanks. Gold and White are their colors. They are a medium sized guild with fourteen players.
• Toraijin: TJN — The Foreign Tigers are a group of nine foreign players who were in Japan either for a college semester abroad or spending a year after college helping to teach English through a language program. Black and Orange are their colors.
• Kawakatsu: KWK — Meaning “Leather Ones,” the small guild only wears leather equipment. No metal unless it’s a shield or their weapon. Brown with tan are their colors.
• Kiniro Kotaka Toi: KKT — “No worries” is both the meaning of their name and their attitude. A fun loving guild pushing the front that claims to be assured in their victory, in every scenario.
• Ishoku Inji: II — The major crafting guild.
• Lanark Mill: LM — A textile crafting guild specializing in the production of fabrics.
• Aincrad Material Company: AMC — A materials acquisition guild offering services as a clearinghouse for crafters, promising fast delivery, consistent prices and no questions asked.

Aincrad Material Company, Extra:
The Aincrad Material Company is run by Siel alongside his partner Phainda. Their prices have a reputation for being reasonable, matched in turn by their offers to buy the materials in the first place. When buying materials, they make it a point to tell the player what they expect to sell them at, making it easy to see the estimated profit margin. When selling, their primary pitch is never asking questions on what the materials are going to be used for or changing the price, no matter how much or how urgently a material is needed.

Seil primarily handles the buying and selling of regularly stocked materials while his partner Phainda runs the material contracts side of the business. If Siel doesn't have what a player needs in stock, Phainda draws up a contract to acquire it and posts the request listing in several sources, ranging from the newspapers to a steadily growing network of regular suppliers. When a player submits a contract to Phainda, they pay for the items up front and are guaranteed that they will have them by the set time. That contract is then given to an intermediate player, the “agent”, who does the actual hunting and receives the agreed upon payment for the materials. It is normally far easier for the members of the Assault Team to go to Siel and Phainda for their services, rather than hunting many items themselves. Agents are not a part of the guild; they are free to come and go for contracts as and when they wish.

Players:

• Kirito: Level 80 — One-Handed Longsword — Search — Martial Arts — Hide — Weapon Defense — First Aid — Sprint — Blade Throwing — Battle Healing — Extended Weight Carry — Dual Blades
• Asuna*: Level 76 — Rapier — Two-Handed Spear — Light Metal Armor — Weapon Defense — Sprint — Acrobatics — Cooking — Sewing — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Heavy Metal Armor
• Agil: Level 62 — Two-Handed Axe — Martial Arts — Weapon Defense — Leather Equipment — Equipment Appraisal — Purchase Negotiations — Sales Negotiation — First Aid — Extended Weight Carry
• Klein: Level 66 — One-Handed Curved Sword — Katana — Light Metal Armor — Shield — First Aid — Fighting Spirit — Battle Regeneration — Search — Extended Weight Carry — Listening

*Asuna possesses the very rare Crystal Bottle of Kales'Oh, which will store a skill without losing proficiency and allow for switching in another.

---

Wondercolts Data:

• Bladescape (Sunset Shimmer): Level 79 — 15200 HP

  • Two-Handed Sword — Complete
  • Search — Complete
  • Weapon Defense — 786/1000
  • Leather Armor — 692/1000
  • First Aid — Acquired
  • Battle Regeneration — 468/1000
  • Sprint — 479/1000
  • Blade Throwing — 395/1000
  • Extended Weight Carry — 374/1000
  • Acrobatics — 256/1000

  -----

  • Weapon: Harmonic Salvation (Made by Lisbeth)
  • Armor: Dagannoth Hide Plate Armor (Made by Ashley)
  • Legs: Dagannoth Hide Plate Legs (Made by Ashley)
  • Gloves: Dagannoth Hide Gauntlets (Made by Ashley)
  • Boots: Dagannoth Hide Combat Boots (Made by Ashley)
  • Belt: Dagannoth Hide Belt (Made by Ashley)
  • Helmet: Silver Sagacity Circlet (Boosts Search and Visual Perception)
  • Ring #1: Treant’s Heart (Defense +5)
  • Ring #2: Ring of Agility (Agility +20)
  • Wrist #1: The Loyal Sun Bracelet (Attack +7)
  • Wrist #2: The Heavenly Prospect Ring (+350 HP)
  • Necklace: Geode Necklace (Defense +6)
  • Outer layer: Wondercolts Cloak (Made by Ashley)

  Harmonic Salvation is a large two-handed European sword made of the rare alloy Black Rune. The sword is the same color as the ingot was, gunmetal blue. The ricasso stops at the triangular flukes that protrude from the blade, about ten inches total. Forward of the flukes, the edge can be seen as a lighter blue, evidence of the high concentration of runite in the edge. In contrast, an almost black fuller runs from the flukes up three quarters of the blade, exhibiting the colors of the obsidianite. The crossguard isn't squared; having a straight quillon that flares to a point, but above and below it flares with a rolling “w”, framing the center jewel. The whole guard is a lighter blue, like the edge of the sword. The handle is in two segments, with the lower half slightly smaller and much darker, showing off the obsidianite in the alloy. Its pommel is the same blue shade as the alloy, slowly expanding in diameter before quickly collapsing to a soft point

  The dagannoth plates made by Ashley are predominantly navy blue, with some gold worked in. The hide was tanned and hardened into plates and given a coating to make it shine. The leather armor appears to be heavy metal armor, not leather. The armor is complete with besagews at the shoulders to protect Bladescape’s armpits. The pauldrons are gold, as are her couter, tassets, and poleyns. The fingered gauntlets have a strip of gold at the first joint and the flared opening. The navy-blue greaves are open for her gold leather boots. Bladescape’s leggings and shirt are gold so they showed in the few gaps of her armor. Her velvet cloak is blue, fringed in gold, and seamlessly has the extra-large gold horse head dyed on the center. The cloak connects to the besagews at her shoulders and it was designed to function with her sword on her back, with the cloak covering the sheath.

  Silver Sagacity Circlet: A silver circlet with a blue gemstone that matches Sunset’s eyes in the center. The silver is expertly woven into a beautiful pattern that is both delicate and strong.

  ---

• Natora (Ota Natsuki): Level 75 — 12890 HP

  • Two-Handed Spear — 821/1000
  • Purchase Negotiations — Complete
  • Sales Negotiations — Complete
  • Weapon Defense — 687/1000
  • Light Metal Armor — 457/1000
  • First Aid — Acquired
  • Battle Regeneration — 378/1000
  • Acrobatics — 541/1000
  • Armor Pierce — 488/1000
  • Sprint — 361/1000

  -----

  • Weapon: Blazefury Lance +4 (2D1A1Q)
  • Armor: Splint armor corset and gorget with pauldrons and rerebraces with
  • Breastplate: Medallion of the Two Kings’
  • Legs: Splint armor skirt, greaves, and cuisses
  • Gloves: Gold leather gloves
  • Boots: Gold leather boots
  • Belt: Double-Shoulder X belt with the Medallion of the Two Kings integrated into the right shoulder
  • Helmet: Barbuta Helmet with visor profiled to look like a horse head
  • Ring #1: The Proud Crest (Critical Attack +6)
  • Ring #2: The Jasper Drop Ring (Attack +4)
  • Wrist #1: The Brave Panther Armlet (Defense +5)
  • Wrist #2: The Serpentine Flower Armlet (Speed +6)
  • Necklace: Geode Necklace (Agility +8)
  • Outer layer: Renaissance shoulder cape, navy blue exterior with a border of gold horse heads, alternating directions, and gold lining, over their left shoulder

  Blazefury Lance has twenty-seven enhancement slots with no failures. Durability has been increased twice, and both accuracy and quickness once. The black shafted jūmonji yari spear has a maroon head almost a foot long, sharpened squared cross-blades, and a metal collar with a tassel of gold ribbons.

  Her splint armor is on top of a gold, long sleeve shirt and leggings. The splints are a blue steeled alloy riveted onto the blue leather with brass. Her chest is protected with a corset, and gorget and below it was a skirt of leather strips often reinforced with riveted metal squares. The corset and skirt are paired with full pauldrons, rerebraces and vambraces to give her arms full coverage. Above her greaves and poleyns are cuisses. Gold leather boots and gloves protect her extremities. On her head is a sleek and feminized barbuta helmet with a visor, allowing for her hair to easily flow out the back. The helmet is profiled to look like a horse head. To hold her pouches, she wears a double shoulder belt crossing over her chest to keep everything in place while performing acrobatic maneuvers. The Medallion of the Two Kings’ Breastplate is integrated into the right shoulder strap, allowing it to be easily flipped to choose the buff.

  ---

• Knightstar (Twilight Sparkle): Level 70 — 10981 HP

  • One-Handed Sword — 816/1000
  • Shield — 932/1000
  • Light Metal Armor — 746/1000
  • Appraisal — Completed
  • First Aid — Acquired
  • Battle Regeneration — 300/1000
  • Acrobatics — 360/1000
  • Extended Weight Carry — 367/1000
  • Armor Pierce — 146/1000
  • Search — 28/1000

  -----

  • Weapon: Reach of the Light +2 (1A1S)
  • Shield: Kite Shield with gold horse head on the blue face. (Made by Rendil)
  • Armor: Splint armor corset with pauldrons, vambraces
  • Legs: Splint armor skirt, greaves, poleyns and cuisses
  • Gloves: Blue leather gloves
  • Boots: Blue leather boots
  • Belt: Blue Sam Brown Belt with gold pass-through buckles of a horse head set in a circle
  • Helmet: Barbuta Helmet with visor profiled to look like a horse head
  • Ring #1: Solar Beauty Ring (Attack +7)
  • Ring #2: The Bright Force (Speed +4)
  • Wrist #1: Ocean’s Grace Armlet (Defense +6)
  • Wrist #2: Virtuous Balance (Critical Attack +4)
  • Necklace: The Playful Star Pendant (Agility +5)
  • Outer layer: Renaissance shoulder cape, navy blue exterior with a border of gold horse heads, alternating directions, and gold lining, over their left shoulder

  Reach of the Light is an arming sword with a gold and silver twisted crossguard. It has had one enhancement for both Accuracy and Sharpness added and no failures.

  The kite shield is navy blue with a golden horse head on the face. Her splint armor is on top of a gold, long sleeve shirt and leggings. The splints are a blue steeled alloy riveted onto the blue leather with brass. Her chest is protected with a corset, and below it is a skirt of leather strips often reinforced with riveted metal squares. The corset and skirt are paired with slim pauldrons, vambraces, greaves, and poleyns, all in the same splint armor design. Blue leather boots and gloves protect her extremities. On her head is a sleek and feminized barbuta helmet with a visor, allowing for her hair to easily flow out the back. The helmet is profiled to look like a horse head. To hold her pouches and sword, she uses a blue Sam Browne belt with a gold pass-through buckle of a horse head set in a circle.

  ---

• Malus (Applejack): Level 74 — 16973 HP

  • One-Handed War Hammer — 560/1000
  • Greatshield — 635/1000
  • Heavy Metal Armor — 921/1000
  • First Aid — Acquired
  • Extended Weight Carry — 579/1000
  • Battle Regeneration — 645/1000
  • Fishing — 568/1000
  • Search — 302/1000
  • Martial Arts — 360/1000
  • Rend — 256/1000

  -----

  • Weapon: Earthshaper +16 (4H4T4D2A2Q)
  • Shield: Iron Bulwark
  • Armor: Plate of Veracity with color matched pieces made by Diemond
  • Belt: Blue leather belt with a ring to slip her hammer into.
  • Helmet: Close helm in the Maximilian style
  • Ring #1: Spotless Passion Ring (Speed +8)
  • Ring #2: Heavenly Stone Ring (Agility +6)
  • Wrist #1: The Amethyst Breath Bracelet (Strength +7)
  • Wrist #2: The Enchanted Moon Bracelet (Strength +8)
  • Necklace: Geode Necklace (HP +500)
  • Outer layer: Long Wondercolts’ cloak

  Earthshaper is an adamant war hammer with a flattened square head, a bearded axe on the back, and a top spike. The grip is wrapped in gold leather. There are a total of thirty enhancement slots with two having failed. Heaviness, Toughness, and Durability all have been enhanced four times, while Accuracy and Quickness have been enhanced twice.

  The Plate of Veracity is an elegant heavy metal armor torso piece: specifically a breastplate, backplate, tassets, and pauldrons. The steel is beautifully etched. The center of the breastplate is a tree, the NIST Gaithersburg tree, an immediate descendant of the apple tree from Issac Newton's home. The pauldrons, tassets, and backplate were decorated with apple leaves and blossoms.

  Diemond was able to match the color and design of the Plate of Veracity for all of the other pieces, but she could not do the etching. For her helmet, she wears a close helm in the Maximilian style.

  ---

• Thunderborne (Rainbow Dash): Level 74 — 12365 HP

  • Rapier — 957/1000
  • Sprint — Complete
  • Acrobatics — Complete
  • Weapon Defense — 678/1000
  • Light Metal Armor — 412/1000
  • First Aid — Acquired
  • Battle Regeneration — 360/1000
  • Armor Pierce — 469/1000
  • Martial Arts — 178/1000
  • Blade Throwing — 68/1000

  -----

  • Weapon: Ruby Sabre +21 (7D5Q5A4S)
  • Armor: Splint armor dress
  • Gloves: Blue leather with gold splints on the back of the hand
  • Boots: Gold leather with gold splints and Prince of Wales spurs
  • Belt: Double-Shoulder
  • Helmet: Gold hair ribbon
  • Ring #1: The Pearl Rainbow (Speed +5)
  • Ring #2: Bright Spark (Agility +8)
  • Wrist #1: Amber Seal Bracelet (Defense +5)
  • Wrist #2: Lavish Rainbow Armlet (Agility +9)
  • Necklace: Geode Necklace (Speed +6)
  • Outer layer: Renaissance shoulder cape, navy blue exterior with a border of gold horse heads, alternating directions, and gold lining, over their left shoulder

  Ruby Saber is Thunderborne’s primary or boss rapier. It is styled a carmine Pappenheimer Rapier. She carries several generic dungeon diving or clearing rapiers due to rapiers having a low durability. A tough dungeon can wear down two or three rapiers with ease, making it a risk for a fencer to use their primary sword too often. Four enhancements of twenty-five failed. Of the twenty-one that took, seven are Durability, five are Quickness, five are Accuracy, and four are Sharpness.

  Thunderborne wears a splint armor dress. The dress itself has a houndstooth woven leather base, sleeveless, woven out of three different shades of blue, plus one cord of gold. The blued splint plates are riveted on and smaller to afford her more flexibility during acrobatic maneuvers. The dress’ skirt is without metal and uses knife pleats to allow for a wide range of motion and a front panel for a smooth look, just like a Scottish kilt. Underneath it is worn a blue long-sleeve shirt and leggings. She wears splint arm harnesses on each arm – a blued splint rerebrace, articulated elbow piece, and a golden splint bracer – her gloves are simple blue leather with gold splints on the back. Her knee-high leather boots are dyed gold and had golden splints vertically riveted on them to cover the shins, with plates covering the toes and heels. The boots are laced on using blue leather cord. Each lace hook is a lightning bolt. The toe of the boots has a horseshoe stamped on them and she has gold Prince of Wales spurs with blue straps holding it onto the boot. Instead of a Sam Browne belt, she had a belt with two shoulder straps that cross like an X over her chest. She no longer wears a helmet, instead her rainbow hair is tied into a ponytail with a gold ribbon that has a surprising amount of defense.

  ---

• Konpeito (Pinkie Pie): Level 74 — 13310 HP

  • Two-Handed Axe — 854/1000
  • Cooking — Complete
  • Weapon Defense — 712/1000
  • Light Metal Armor — 802/1000
  • Martial Arts — 699/1000
  • First Aid — Acquired
  • Battle Regeneration — 347/1000
  • Music — 785/1000
  • Blade Throwing — 312/1000
  • Bard — 357/1000
  • Extended Weight Carry 109/1000

  -----

  • Weapon: Honor's Call
  • Armor: Leather and metal scale armor
  • Legs: Blue silverthread trousers with splint greaves.
  • Gloves: Splint braces with silverthread gloves
  • Boots: Short blue boots
  • Belt: gold leather belt tied on, no buckle
  • Helmet: Viking kransen with shield maiden hairstyle
  • Ring #1: Pink Spark Ring (Critical Attack +7)
  • Ring #2: Angel Orb (Attack +5)
  • Wrist #1: The Sapphire Breath Bracelet (Attack +6)
  • Wrist #2: Lunar Stone Bracelet (Critical Attack +4)
  • Necklace: Geode Necklace (Agility +12)
  • Outer layer: Mantle of Hati

  Honor’s call is a double headed axe with no curve in the bits. The axe head is in the shape of an “H” and made from Adamite, leaving it a smoky green color. The shaft is wrapped in woven leather cording of five blue cords, a gold cord, and a red cord. No enhancements have been done.
  Konpeito’s new “Viking look” is a stamped leather breastplate with a metal scaled gorget and scaled faulds and tassets, which are more skirt-like as they go almost to her knees. The layered breastplate is dyed navy blue and stamped with Viking knots and symbols. Every rivet, buckle, and lace is gold while the scales are blued steel. Konpeito is still sleeveless to show off her Viking tattoos, which fully cover her arms and shoulders. Her sleeveless shirt and trousers are blue. Her boots are plain, dyed blue, and she wears greaves and bracers both in the splint style with more spacing between each splint and connected by leather straps, not a leather base, which are blue. Her gold belt is simply tied around her waist and holds her pouches. Gjallarhorn is on a strap that crosses over her body, not in a pouch.
  Konpeito’s curls are half tamed. She wears them “shield maiden style.” On both sides of her head are four tiers of Dutch braids. The pompadour top has three asymmetric accent braids and is tied into a ponytail with the first tier of braids. The other six braids are also tied together into a lower ponytail. Everything past each ponytail tie is unbraided and raw. Konpeito also wears a kransen that goes in between the ponytails but lies flat over her forehead. It is woven from three blue and one gold chords.

  ---

• Diemond (Rarity): Level 75 — 15686 HP

  • One-Handed Mace — 813/1000
  • Greatshield — 642/1000
  • Sewing — Complete
  • Heavy Metal Armor — 789/1000
  • First Aid — Acquired
  • Battle Regeneration — 505/1000
  • Light Metal Armor Forging — 815/1000
  • Heavy Metal Armor Forging — 412/1000
  • Extended Weight Carry — 289/1000
  • Jewelry Making — 241/1000

  -----

  • Weapon: Silver Lining +26 (5H6T5Q5A5D)
  • Shield: Tower shield (made by Rendil)
  • Armor: Maximilian style plate armor blued
  • Belt: Gold leather belt
  • Helmet: Close helm in the Maximilian style
  • Ring #1: The Diamond Crest (Speed +4)
  • Ring #2: The Crystal Tear (Attack +6)
  • Wrist #1: Diamond Vigor Armlet (Defense +4)
  • Wrist #2: The Silent Vigor (Defense +5)
  • Necklace: Geode Necklace (Defense +10)
  • Outer layer: Long Wondercolts’ cloak

  Silver Lining is a flanged mace. The flanges come to a sharp point and have trefoils punched out to reduce the weight. Silver Lining is complete, with four failed enhancements. Accuracy, Durability, Quickness, and Heaviness all have five enhancements, while Toughness has six.

  Diemond’s shield by Rendil is a tower shield with a blue face, gold horse head on it, and trimmed in brass.

  She wears Maximilian style full plate armor with a close helm with a blue finish. A gold belt with pouches and a ring to slip her mace is around her waist. Attached to the front of her pauldrons is the cloak, dyed blue, trimmed in gold, and with their gold horse head in the center. It goes down to her calves.

  ---

• Doombunny (Fluttershy): Level 70 — 10555 HP

  • One-Handed Dagger — 762/1000
  • Hide — Complete
  • Fighting Spirit — 649/1000
  • Blade Throwing — 871/1000
  • First Aid — Acquired
  • Battle Regeneration — 301/1000
  • Familiar Cooperation — Acquired
  • Mixing — 413/1000
  • Search — 201/1000
  • Listen — 251/1000
  • Reveal — 52/1000

  -----

  • Weapons: Shadow Song (general use dirk), Mourning Protector (paralyzed qama dagger), Endbringer (poisoned DOT crusader dagger) — All made by Lisbeth
  • Throwing Knives: Alchion throwing knives set and ebony kunai (unnamed producer)
  • Armor: Yellow silverthread dress
  • Legs: Blue silverthread leggings
  • Gloves: Blue fingerless silverthread gloves
  • Boots: Generic blue boots
  • Belt: Thin blue belt.
  • Helmet: Blue Silverthread headband
  • Beast Tamer’s Charms & Geode Ring
  • Outer layer: Dark blue knee length cloak

  On her left hip is her regular dirk, Shadow Song, in a blue sheath. Her pink qama dagger, Mourning Protector, is mounted at the small of her black for a right-hand draw. Off her right hip is her poisoned DOT crusader dagger, Endbringer, in a gold sheath. All three knives have twenty enhancement slots and none have been enhanced.
  Her two throwing knives holsters are one piece, all blue, sharing a belt under her dress and with the holsters dropping down to above her knees. Each holster holds four knives on the face, with five rows behind. The right thigh are her regular throwing knives and her heavier kunai on her left.

  Her knee-length cloak is dark blue and has pockets hidden inside to securely store her poisons and potions. It also has wide, reinforced and strengthened shoulders for Colorra. Colorra's shoulder pads are a separate piece of blue leather which is braced by a shoulder holster design that pulls and anchors it in the back between her shoulder blades. Underneath the coat she wears a yellow Silverthread dress and blue silverthread leggings. A thin blue belt keeps her skirt in place and also mounts her beast tamer’s charms and weapons. Doombunny also wears a blue headband to keep her hair in place when she isn't using the hood, blue boots that only cover up to her ankles, and blue Silverthread fingerless gloves to finish off the ensemble.
  The coat covers everything on her unless she specifically sweeps it back to stay open. When open, the beast tamer necklace is on full display. Her earnings are also on full display when the hood is down.

  ---

• Kiefer: Level 72 — 12419 HP

  • Curved Sword — 520/1000
  • Slash-Weapon Forging — 365/1000
  • Light Metal Armor — 687/1000
  • Weapon Defense — 589/1000
  • First Aid — Acquired
  • Katana — 658/1000
  • Battle Regeneration — 423/1000
  • Search — 314/1000
  • Blade Throwing — 205/1000
  • Armor Pierce — 99/1000

  -----

  • Weapon: Mist’s Fury
  • Armor: Splint armor breastplate, backplate, faulds, and tassets gorget with pauldrons and rerebraces
  • Legs: Splint armor greaves and cuisses
  • Gloves: Gold leather gloves
  • Boots: Gold leather boots
  • Belt: Blue Sam Brown Belt with gold pass-through buckles of a horse head set in a circle
  • Helmet: Lobster-tailed pot helmet
  • Ring #1: Bright Bliss (Agility +4)
  • Ring #2: The Sweet Cross Ring (Defense +4)
  • Wrist #1: The Onyx Tribute Bracelet (Attack +7)
  • Wrist #2: The Vibrant Class Armlet (Speed +4)
  • Necklace: Geode Necklace (Attack +9)
  • Outer layer: Renaissance shoulder cape, navy blue exterior with a border of gold horse heads, alternating directions, and gold lining, over their left shoulder

  Mist’s fury is a new katana, having forty enhancement slots. The handle cord is gold with a gold and blue tassel while the sheath is navy blue. The brass tsuba is a chrysanthemum. No enhancements have been attempted.

  His splint armor is on top of a gold, long sleeve shirt and leggings. The splints are a blue steeled alloy riveted onto the blue leather with brass. His chest is protected with a breastplate, backplate, faulds, and tassets. Breastplate and backplate are paired with full pauldrons, rerebraces and vambraces to give her arms full coverage. Above his greaves and poleyns are cuisses. Gold leather boots and gloves protect his extremities. His helmet is a lobster-tailed pot helm, also bearing a resemblance of a horse. He also uses a blue Sam Browne belt with a gold pass-through buckle of a horse head set in a circle. The belt has a sword frog directly on it to properly align his katana.

  ---

• Soryuto: Level 70 — 11300 HP

  • One-Handed Sword — 722/1000
  • Shield — 764/1000
  • Light Metal Armor — 624/1000
  • Music — 505/1000
  • First Aid — Acquired
  • Fighting Spirit — 400/1000
  • Armor Pierce — 235/1000
  • Acrobatics — 156/1000
  • Extended Weight Carry — 10/1000

  -----

  • Weapon: Last Rites +10 (4D2A2S2Q)
  • Shield: Kite Shield with gold horse head on the blue face. (Made by Rendil)
  • Armor: Splint armor corset with pauldrons, vambraces
  • Legs: Splint armor skirt, greaves, poleyns and cuisses
  • Gloves: Bleu leather gloves
  • Boots: Blue leather boots
  • Belt: Blue Sam Brown Belt with gold pass-through buckles of a horse head set in a circle
  • Helmet: Barbuta Helmet with visor profiled to look like a horse head.
  • Ring #1: Majestic Soul (Agility +4)
  • Ring #2: Lunar Aura Ring (Speed +4)
  • Wrist #1: Jade Spiral Bracelet (Attack +5)
  • Wrist #2: The Grand Blessing (Health +250)
  • Necklace: Geode Necklace (Defense +6)
  • Outer layer: Renaissance shoulder cape, navy blue exterior with a border of gold horse heads, alternating directions, and gold lining, over their left shoulder

  Last Rites is a narrow crusader style sword with twenty-eight enhancements. Six have failed. Durability has been enhanced four times, while Accuracy, Quickness, and Sharpness each have been enhanced two times.

  Her kite shield is navy blue with a golden horse head on the face. Her splint armor is on top of a gold, long sleeve shirt and leggings. The splints are a blue steeled alloy riveted onto the blue leather with brass. Her chest is protected with a corset, and below it was a skirt of leather strips often reinforced with riveted metal squares. The corset and skirt are paired with slim pauldrons, vambraces, greaves, and poleyns, all in the same split armor design. Blue leather boots and gloves protect her extremities. On her head is a sleek and feminized barbuta helmet with a visor, allowing for her hair to easily flow out the back. The helmet is profiled to look like a horse head. To hold her pouches and sword, she uses a blue Sam Browne belt with a gold pass-through buckle of a horse head set in a circle.

  ---

• Reisenki: Level 72 — 14894 HP

  • One-Handed Axe — 885/1000
  • Greatshield — 556/1000
  • Heavy Metal Armor — 496/1000
  • Equipment Repair — 633/1000
  • Metal Equipment Repair — 412/1000
  • First Aid — Acquired
  • Battle Regeneration — 366/1000
  • Cooking — 571/1000
  • Metal Refining — 104/1000
  • One-Hand Weapon Creation — 72/1000

  -----

  • Weapon: Storm-Forged Battle Axe +6
  • Shield: Tower shield (made by Rendil)
  • Armor: Maximilian style plate armor blued
  • Belt: Gold leather belt
  • Helmet: Close helm in the Maximilian style
  • Ring #1: Leiurus Ward (protects against all poisons)
  • Ring #2: The Defiant Flame (Attack +7)
  • Wrist #1: The Infinite Spark Ornament (Agility +9)
  • Wrist #2: The Serpentine Twins (Agility +4)
  • Necklace: Geode Necklace (Agility +6)
  • Outer layer: Long Wondercolts’ cloak

  Storm-Forged Battle Axe is a steel battle axe with a twisted shaft, and a circular hammer counterbalance for the wide face. A fleur-de-lis is carved in the face to reduce weight.

  Reisenki’s shield by Rendil is a tower shield with a blue face, gold horse head on it, and trimmed in brass.

  He wears Maximilian style full plate armor with a close helm with a blue finish. A gold belt with pouches and a ring to slip his axe is around his waist. Attached to the front of his pauldrons is the cloak, dyed blue, trimmed in gold, and with their gold horse head in the center. It goes down to his calves.

  

  Sam Browne Belt
  A very common design of belt named for Sir Samuel J. Browne. He was a British Indian Army General who invented it due to losing his left arm in combat. He couldn't grab the sheath with his left while drawing his sword or keeping it from shifting on him, so he used the chest strap to keep the belt and sword in place. Many military dress uniforms use it, historical uniforms and current one, as well as many police dress uniforms, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. They also have been used in fashion.

  

  ---

  A good example of the cloak hooks and the renaissance capes:

  

  ---

  Splint Armor: Arms Street's “Lady Warrior” was the basis for the splint armor worn by Knightstar, Natora, Soryuto, and Kiefer.

  

  ---

  Konpeito's armor was inspired by:

  

  And Shield Maiden Hairstyle:

  

  ---

  Bladescape's Armor was inspired by the “Morning Star”. Obviously, the black steel would be replaced by blue, but it shows the location of the gold plates and generally how it should look.

  

  ---

  Maximilian Armor:
  

  ---

  Malus' chest piece is "etched" and a good example of how "etching" can look is "The Paladin" by Armstreet. Obviously, hers has the tree on it and apple tree leaves and blossoms.

  

  And the NIST Gaithersburg tree:

  

Comments

[Jojoleopard]

I like how this integrates into the EQG world, plus the string of originality weaved into the world of Sword Art.

[Mindrop]

11917104
Thanks! It's a fun project. A big one, but fun! Finding the balance between canon for each and bringing in originality is challenging and enjoyable.

[Hexan Tronic]

I noticed that Knightstar is the ONLY one of the WC who isn't wearing her Geode necklace.

[Phara_mine]

You did fine with word picture, the problem, at least for me, was that I didn't know all the specific terms you used (Maximilian armor, Sam belt ext.) I mean I like medieval stuff but I'm not that big of a fan to know such things.

I don't remember if you had the stat breakdown before but thanks for making it. Is it all info from canon SAO or do you use side materials like games as well?

[Mindrop]

11917135
Oops. So I initially wrote in jewelry, and then later remembered they all had geode necklaces. I guess I didn't properly edit hers. I'll check that.

[Hexan Tronic]

11917202
Yeah, it sounds like something she'd wear. But it sounded out of place compared to the others.

[Mindrop]

11917190
I figured, which is why I did the commercial break. Not everyone knows them. I try to only use the technical language when necessary and these were key descriptions, so necessary. I am intimately familiar with Sam Belts, but most people only know the style, not the name and certainly not the history/reason of them.

SAO canon briefly touches on there being player stats and having points to modify them when a new level is reached. We later see Kirito identify as STR-AGI. Otherwise, there is no details on it, but inferences can be made, such as Asuna being speed based.

My editor, Void Runner, and I dove in to create a more fleshed out system based on the known parameters and worked to make something much more concrete and usable. It does come up later at times. We certainly did look at other games and systems for inspiration to properly balance them. There are so many and many of us are used to a wide variety from different games we play, it is hard to say something is concretely from one or another (like defense). The use of "Constitution" as the name is directly pulled from RuneScape by me, as they use it to delineate the difference between it and health/hit points. The HP calculation is mine, I designed it myself. The different builds besides STR-AGI is my work. My editor heavily added in more on the passive stats, which was awesome. They took it where it needed to go, like adding in MOD and DPS.

[SuperSonicHeroes]

Good recap of everything so far, and seeing the armor at the end that inspired the Wondercolts' new looks is nice.

[Regnor]

I'm one of those people who cannot easily see a word picture as you call it. Long descriptions of how things look never do anything for me, so I appreciate the pictures.

[Vibrant lies]

Hmm, Blade has maxed out her sword, but Greatsword has not appeared… interesting

[Mindrop]

11932161
She doesn't have an available Skill Slot. She has 10 and will get her 11th when she reaches level 80.