Swords_Guns_Magic

The majority of the guild members share a common background: they all had played (or rather, had participated in) Sword Art Online, a japanese VMMORPG (virtual MMORPG, with a fully simulated 3D environment you are in). Sword Art Online was planned as a revolution to the genre of MMORPGs, coming with a full virtual reality support. In the game, you see through your characters eyes, hear, smell, feel, taste like it was truly happening. Via a device attached to the head, the brain is stimulated to experience this as if it was perfectly real and logged into the game world like you normally go online in the internet.

The game turned into a twisted Life-and-Death struggle when the lead programmer made it impossible to leave the game, and set up a feedback programm that would roast your brain and thus kill you for real if you died in the 'game'. He forced the players to play through the game and clear it stage for stage, trapped within the virtual world and with the lingering promise that they would be saved if they beat it - but the risk was high, of course.

Finally, after almost two years, when some players actually had gotten accustomed to the game, Asuna 'the Flash' for example falling in love with the well-known soloist player Kirito and living with him after doing an ingame marriage, the players managed to clear the game - the final effort done by no other than Kirito, a famous player (or rather, character within the game). People saw each others as the avatars they were stuck in, called each other with their character's name, and their memories about their original world started to become a bit hazy. In the last struggle, Kirito beat the final boss (that was actually the psycho programmer in disguise of a normal player) and set everyone free, after it almost seemed that Asuna had been fatally wounded.

The game was cleared, although Kirito had no idea that a part of his beloved Asuna, namely the avatar and character her player was in, had been split off in that moment. As the real human part of the girl was about to be freed, her ingame persona got warped to Nexus as an own, independent being, mysterious and unknown powers at work - and not only her. A couple of avatars shared her fate, though for some reason they did not arrive at the same time despite their personas being split from their players at the same moment. This could have been the end of Kirito's struggles and business in the VMMORPG world and led to Asuna being alone in this new world, had it not been for the twisted, megalomanic Sugou who trapped the player of Asuna within another, newer VMMORPG, Alfheim Online (also called ALO).

It was appearantly a fantasy game with magic and flight-capable fairies who competed in beating the World Tree guardians, but it was a trap for several SAO players, where immoral and disgusting experiments were done with their minds as they got held captive inside the VMMORGP environment. Kirito's love for the girl, and his unshakable belief he would manage to rescue her and could make a difference, overcame all odds and led to Asuna's real part being freed by him, while the Nexus part slowly got accustomed to her new surroundings, and some other characters were still in transition.

By pure coincidence - almost as if fate tangled with their lives - a part of Kirito should end up in that strange place as well, though. After helping the government to research strange occurences in a shooting game, Gun Gale Online, when the Black Swordsman tried to convert back his character to Alfheim Online to continue playing it, there was another splitting. His usual self reverted as planned, but the extremly girlish looking, somehow cute avatar of his, which he had gotten as he brought his character over from Alfheim Online, was split off in a similar way Asuna's persona had been previously. A cute, effeminate version of Kirito subsequently landed in the Nexus as result of this incident. Not only that, but somehow the timeflow was messed up a bit too - even if quite a while had passed since the clearing of SAO, when Kirito's split off femboy part was transported to Nexus, barely some weeks had passed for Asuna. His age also seemed to be reverted back to the state just before the defeat of Heathcliff, so the age difference of all avatars who landed in Nexus in the end stayed roughly the same.

A short while later, Sinon, a girl Kirito had teamed up with in GGO, tried to convert over to ALO to try it out, causing a splitting as well, making her the third that landed in Nexus. Then, a fairy girl Kirito had met in Alfheim Online wanted to see what this Gun Gale thing was all about, converted over, and caused yet another split. Finally, some friends of Kirito from SAO got transported to Nexus too, arriving there last thanks to a time delay, despite the incident happening at the same time as Asuna's did. In the end, a total of eight characters from those Virtual Multiplayer games had copies of themselves, or more accurately had their characters/avatars transported into Nexus.

The memories and nature of the copies who ended in Nexus remained mostly the same, though they were not emotionally afflicted in any way. The only bonds they shared were ones developed within the actual games. The parts that landed in Nexus were the personalities which had been formed during their stay in the various VMMORPGs. It was defined by their attitude, behavior and deeds in those worlds.

For the ones who had played Sword Art Online, their personality is roughly true to their real self, in fact, it even developed further in that gaming, making them the persons they are now. Over two years spend in-game without any pause shaped and molded them quite a bit, while those who had not played SAO (Leafa and Sinon, namely) have personalities differing a bit from their real players. As none of them had any contact at all with family and former friends in the games, the only emotional bonds they share is with the characters / avatars they met during their VMMORPG time.

Almost all of them directly wanted to find a way out of Nexus when landing there, though one after another, they stopped their efforts, finding ways to enjoy his new existence and make the best out of the current situation. Asuna who was the first one accepted her new surroundings by herself, only being encourangeed in her decision after she met Kirito again. The others quickly met one another, forming bonds of friendship, leading to them staying where they are without searching ways to escape anymore.

They also found out that they still can connect to the VMMORPG environment, notably to Alfheim Online - specifically, an enhanced and expanded version of Alfheim Online. Somehow, their state leads to their appearance staying the same inside the virtual world, they can't change it as it will switch back, and they even bring their equipment and weapons with them (since they are avatars and characters anyway, even outside of the virtual reality, and just dive into it). They can however collect new items and also interact with people - something prevents a paradox from happening though, so they will never meet the characters of their former 'players'. Inside and outside the virtual environment, they have fully functional gear, and also their skills stay, for example leading to Leafa being capable of casting magic spells.

Over time, there have been some expansions and upgrades to the original ALO - the lead designer of the former Sword Art Online had given Kirito 'The Seed', a special programme allowing for different VMMORPGs to be easily set up and developed, and they would be compatible with one another. By now, the floating castle Aincrad, which was the setting of SAO, is included in Alfheim Online, alongside with the skill system from there. Furthermore, any character of any other game, along with their gear, can be transferred over - the VMMORPG truly became a multi class system without any restrictions. Humans, Fairies, Elves and other races are present in the game, all sorts of melee and ranged weapons, even including firearms, are valid options, and both magic and normal abilities like the 'sword skills' exist. Although there is nothing 'forcing' them to connect to the virtual game world anymore, all of them still frequently visits the VMMORPG environment, be it for fun, to meet people or hone their skills.

Technically, the parts of the SGM members residing in the Nexus are advanced artificial intelligences (AI) that have materialised a solid body, while the original, human parts have returned to the real, normal world. However, they do not realize this - they have feelings and emotions, memories, can think similar to normal humans, and behave normal - well, mostly normal. Their forms are made up from flesh and bone that formed when they were warped into the Nexus, and thus, they are not distinguishable from regular humans. As a result to their state, however, the bodies and minds of them can slowly put themselves together, should they be wiped out, without them having knowledge of that fact. Afterwards, they would have a very blurry, unclear memory of the event, typically writing it off as "weird dream" and later forgetting about it, unless somebody makes them remember. Somehow, their transformation also caused the girls as well as the girlish Kirito to develop vorish abilities, a thing that does not occur for the other male members of SGM though.

The first four who had arrived in Nexus were the ones who founded Swords, Guns & Magic. Kirito, Asuna, Sinon and Leafa all were competent fighters with their own respective styles. As is were characters and not the former players behind that personas, none of them had any experience with a normal job. They also loved adventures, and so they decided they would try their luck as mercenaries. Grouping up meant they could divide resources more efficiently and also more safety during a mission.

When the others arrived, they soon met up with the initial four, and all of them liked this idea and decided to join, boosting the group's skills and capabilities with their specific talents. They also acquired a location to use as headquarters and their base - a surprisingly mundane thing in the form of an inn named "Swordman's Rest".

For a better overview, here will be listed how they think/feel about each other.

Asuna: Is in love with Kirito, who she is engaged with. The girl is also the best friend of Lisbeth and a friend of Leafa, who she bonded with after hearing about the Alfheim Online events. Asuna regards the rest as her comrades, treating them friendly and respectfully.

Kirito: Is in love with Asuna, who he is engaged with. He is a good friend of Klein, the one he relies on the most besides his girlfriend. He regards all others as friends of him, having helped a number of them but also been given help, i.e. from Agil who let him reside in his shop for a while in SAO.

Sinon: A friend of Kirito who always seems to be a bit distanced from the rest, but she doesn't disrespect them. She has affectionate feelings towards Leafa, which is mutual although they are, so far, only friends with benefits at best.

Leafa: A friend of Kirito who she met in ALO, and Asuna who she met in Nexus. She knows of Sinon's feelings and thinks the same, but doesn't want to pressure her friend and so, nothing serious has happened, although they tried letting off some steam together and enjoyed the experience. She is friendly and kind towards the others.

Lisbeth: The best friend of Asuna who she had met early in SAO. They went along very well, even if Lisbeth developed a crush for Kirito - but she knew he was in love with Asuna, and thus did not act according to her feelings, even befriending Kirito later on. In Nexus, this stayed the same. She has had a few dates with Klein and regards him as friend, more might develop from this but they are not in a relationship so far.

Silica: A friend of Kirito who she was saved by as she got lost in the woods in Sword Art Online. Due to her age, she is somewhat of the nestling of the group, although noone would question the talents she has. She gets along well with everybody.

Klein: Regards Kirito as a good friend of him and cares much about his comrades. Even though Kirito parted ways with him on the first day of SAO and was later reunited with him, Klein never blamed him for anything or thought bad of the boy. He is a slight bit of a womanizer, however he was not really successful so far - lately, he dated Lisbeth a few times and he has feelings for the girl, but it's nothing serious so far.

Agil: A friend of Kirito, the two having helped each other a few times. Agil always was very helpful towards others, supporting his fellow players, and this has not changed now that he is a member of SGM, Agil now aiding his comrades where he can.

Japanese honorifics can be tricky, but they directly show a bit about the social status people have, or how they feel about each other. Most SGM members will use these titles when addressing each other, unless they feel very informal and casual, and thus, here will be a short list of the most common titles.

About honorifics: "Honorific", in linguistic lingo, refers to the little prefixes, suffixes, or titles that are added to a name in most languages, like "Mr.", "Mrs.", "Dr.", "Sir" and the like. Japanese, naturally, has them. One interesting feature, however, is that there are far more of them with far more nuances of meaning than there are in other languages. They can be either attached to the end of a name, or in some cases (such as "sensei", much like the English "Professor") as standalone substitutes for names.
Etiquette is a critical part of Japanese language and culture, and honorifics are a key element in that. In general they are expressions of respect or endearment, but as with many terms in many languages, delivery — tone and emphasis — can change a title of utmost honor to a sarcastic insult. Using the wrong honorific, or the right honorific in the wrong way, can result in anything from simple disdain to (in feudal times, at least) clan warfare.

-san: San is the most commonplace honorific, and is a title of respect typically used between equals of any age. Although the closest analog in English are the honorifics "Mr.", "Miss", or "Mrs.", -san is almost universally added to a person's name, “-san” can be used in both formal and informal contexts, and for either gender.

-sama: Sama is a markedly more respectful version of san and can be used for either gender. It is used mainly to refer to people much higher in rank than oneself, toward one's guests or customers (such as a sports venue announcer addressing members of the audience), and sometimes toward people one greatly admires. Deities, both native Shinto kami and the Christian God, are referred to as kami-sama, meaning "God-sama". When used to refer to oneself, sama expresses extreme arrogance (or self-effacing irony).

-kun: Kun is used by persons of senior status in addressing or referring to those of junior status, or by anyone when addressing or referring to male children or male teenagers, or among male friends. It can also be used by females when addressing a male that they are emotionally attached to or have known for a long period of time. Although kun is generally used for boys, it is not a hard rule. For example, kun can be used to name a close personal friend or family member of any gender. Also, in business settings, young female employees may also be addressed as kun by older males of senior status. It can also be used by male teachers addressing their female students.

-chan: Chan is a diminutive suffix; it expresses that the speaker finds a person endearing or cute. In general, chan is used for babies, young children, grandparents and teenagers. It may also be used towards cute animals, lovers, close friends, any youthful woman, or between friends. Using chan with a superior's name is considered to be condescending and rude. Normally, it only applies to people who have known each other for a long time and between people of the same gender. Otherwise, using this for someone, especially adults, only known for a short period of time, can be seen as offensive. Chan can also be used to refer to a peer that is female.

-senpai and -kohai: Senpai is used to address or refer to one's senior colleagues in a school, dojo, or sports club. So at school, the students in higher grades than oneself are senpai. Teachers are not senpai. Neither are students of the same or lower grade: they are referred to as kōhai. In a business environment, colleagues with more experience are senpai, but one's boss is not a senpai. In the same manner as English titles such as "doctor" or "professor", senpai can be used by itself as well as with a name. A kōhai is a junior, the reverse of senpai, but it is not normally used as an honorific; kun is used for this function instead.

-sensei and -hakase: Sensei (literally meaning "former-born") is used to refer to or address teachers, doctors, politicians, lawyers, and other authority figures. It is used to show respect to someone who has achieved a certain level of mastery in an art form or some other skill, and is also applied to novelists, poets, painters, and other artists. In Japanese martial arts, sensei typically refers to someone who is the head of a dojo. As with senpai, sensei can be used not only as a suffix, but also as a stand-alone title. The term is not generally used when addressing a person with very high academic expertise; the one used instead is hakase (lit. "doctor" but the actual meaning is closer to "professor").

-dono: Tono, pronounced dono when attached to a name, roughly means "lord" or "master". It does not equate noble status; rather it is a term akin to "milord" or French "monseigneur", and lies above sama in level of respect. This title is not commonly used in daily conversation, but it is still used in some types of written business correspondence, as well as on certificates and awards, and in written correspondence in tea ceremonies. It is/was also used to indicate that the person referred to has the same (high) rank as the referrer, yet commands respect from the speaker.

-chin: An even more diminutive variant of -chan. Most commonly used by young girls who are very close friends. This is often contracted to make it easier to roll off the tongue, for instance Yukari-chin would become Yukarin.

-niisan/neesan: Literally refers to one's older brother or sister, respectively, but can also be used to refer to a relative within your generation that is older than you (i.e. an older cousin) or a slightly older close friend that you consider to be like a brother or sister, similar to -senpai. To directly address your brother or sister, add O- to the beginning (it denotes respect), but if you don't feel particularly respectful feel free to omit it. Siblings trying to be cute will sometimes refer to their older counterparts as Onii-chan or Onee-chan. An alternate way of being very casual, typically seen more in fiction than reality, is to drop the san and address the subject as "(name)-nii" or "(name)-nee".

-taichou: This is mostly used in a military context, or is related to combat. It means something like Captain, Leader or Commander in English (can also refer to the commanding officer of a group/squad in the field). It can also be used as a stand-alone title. Less common is the use of this title for the head of a club / organisation - for example, the head of a school club could be addressed as 'Taichou', although it's more likely that another title would be used in that context (see the next in the list).

-buchou: President, or head of a department. It can mean the CEO of a company, or the leading figure of a division / group (not in military terms), but is also frequently used for the president of clubs and the like, for example a student council club or similar. It can also be used on its own.

Additional Info: Several other terms for social rank seem to be used as honorifics as well, most notably -oujo and -hime, both of which mean "princess". "-ojou" or "-ojousama" is regularly used for girls from very well-to-do families.
Likewise, which version of a person's name to use will also convey varying degrees of formality; the Japanese generally tend to be on a Last Name Basis except for family or intimate friends, so addressing a coworker, neighbor or casual acquaintance using their given name instead of their family name in cases where a full name would be too formal would usually be considered quite forward regardless of the honorific attached to it. As with any such distribution things tend to towards the center rather than the extremes; attaching formal honorifics to informal names and vice-versa tends to either connote sarcasm or just sound silly so "Family Name -san" is most likely to be the most acceptable form for most people on most occasions.
This provides yet another subtle shading of formality: "Ranma-san" is less formal than "Saotome-san" even though the same honorific is used. It's not uncommon for Japanese to be on first name basis with peers of their own gender and last name basis with those of the opposite, as being on a first name basis with someone of the opposite gender who is not related implies a higher degree of intimacy then acquaintance, classmate or coworker would supply.
Using no honorific at all (called yobisute) is also an honorific — it's a "null honorific", and it means the speaker is addressing the person to whom he is speaking in an intimate and familiar manner usually restricted to family, spouses or one's closest friends. Usually, this is only done when First Name Basis permission is granted by the subject. Using no honorific without such permission is a grave insult; this is a subtlety lost on many foreign visitors, who may offend people with no idea that they're doing so (although nowadays this is generally not the case for most foreigners since most Japanese understand that many languages do not use honorifics, and many foreigners, particularly business travelers, brush up on Japanese etiquette before visiting.). Addressing someone in yobisute for the first time frequently marks an important point in a Romance Arc or friendship.

After they had agreed to form SGM, they needed a Headquarters and base where they could plan their operations, meet clients and rest during the night. The members searched for a while, until Leafa had an idea that seemed funny at first, but was later accepted by all.

She saw an ad that a former inn was up for sale. Figuring they could combine necessary things with something convenient, the group members soon began to like this idea. When they are not working on any contracts, the tavern nets them a bit of money to keep things running, it gets them in touch with potential customers and is a cozy home where they can stay. Many clients who they meet up with are also positively surprised that they don't have to discuss the specifics of a mission in a sterile, unwelcoming athmosphere.

And last but not least, an inn provides a perfect place to have a nice party celebrating a successfully completed job. The "Swordsman's Rest", as they called it, is a small, old-fashioned but homely and comfy place, the furnishings not fancy but cozy, most of the furniture being made of wood. Nevertheless, the meals (regular ones, normally, although from time to time, they let a notorious evildoer 'vanish' by making him part of the menu - devoured whole and alive by a customer or themselves) and drinks served are good quality for a moderate price. Besides the main room, the kitchen and some staff only rooms which are located on the first floor, there are rooms for rent and also the chambers of the members on the second floor and third floor, and in the basement, they installed an armory, a surveillance room, a storage room and their operations centre.

Unlike the rooms patrons and customers can enter, high tech equipment is located in the basement, and the rooms belonging to the members are individually furnished and decorated. There is a total of 6 double rooms and 20 single rooms in the inn, although two double rooms and four single ones are taken by the members of Swords, Guns, Magic. Kirito and Asuna as well as Sinon and Leafa stay in double rooms, the rest has their own room.

If they are just running the inn - the barroom is open in the evening and late afternoon, unless an important contract is being worked on - the members are each in their specific position. During a mission, the members that are not out in the field usually gather in the basement, typically in the operations centre, and provide intel and support from there. Apart from this, Agil and Lisbeth make sure that they have everything needed in stock and that the equipment for the members is in perfect order.

While all members combined are a force everybody should reckon with, and despite their unusual choice for an HQ, SGM also invested in the safety of their base. They have a number of surveillance systems and defense mechanisms, and Sinon is dead serious about her position as chief of security.

Usually when they consider accepting a mission from a client, they make a contract with that person and discuss if they want to take the job, although the leaders are the ones who end up making the decision. As almost all members don't have a vile, twisted or cruel nature, they try to take jobs which they feel are 'righteous' and legitimate, though it is depending on the exact case.

In ALO, they also own an inn and the structure resembles the real one.

Note: Obviously, vore scenes or at least, vore content in a scene is loved. While combining vore and missions or just having the chars in a vore scene is perfectly fine, nevertheless they can also be played in a non-vore scene, or one where vore is only a minor focus. Almost any contract type can include vore~ Also, most of the missions can be played both in the normal, Nexus canon environment, or with them logged into the VMMRPG world.


Bounty Hunting: The group is hired to take out a (usually villainous) person (or several), normally catching them and delivering them to the client - but in certain situations, they might need to dispose of their enemy right away. Alternative: Some is hired to take out one of the group members.

Attack on a stronghold: The SGM members need to make an assault on a fortified position / base of someone, either to steal intel, destroy a structure, abduct a criminal leader / take out an illegal, dangerous group, etc. Alternative: Someone launches an attack on the mercenary group's Headquarters.

Bar fight: Someone has caused a ruckus in the Swordsman's Rest, and the SGM members personally make sure the one responsible for it is getting punished for disturbing the peace~

Missing person case: Someone has mysteriously vanished - aka, what noone knows, been devoured and digested. SGM is supposed to find where the person is, or possibly catch the one responsible for it. They either manage... or someone of them becomes the next missing person... Alternative: They caused someone to miss, and a detective / investigator is send after them.

Treasure hunt: The group has to retrieve a valuable object from a possibly deserted place / some ruins, or is searching through the area in hopes of finding valuables.

Escorting someone: SGM is asked to provide an escort for someone, as they fear to be ambushed on the way. Alternative: They have to ambush someone on their way (might also be Bounty Hunting) Second Alternative: Their client betrays them and tries to lure them into a trap.

Doing a quest in Alfheim Online: The members are logged into the game and go on a quest of whatever sort, possibly also a boss clearing fight. They meet someone during that and things get tense.

Inn setting: Someone comes to the Swordsman's Rest to eat / drink / stay for the night / meet up with someone or talk with the group. This can lead to sexy / vorish times in one of the rooms, or other things.