A Guild is a group of players managed by a game engine in MMO games with a structure, leader, and usually clearly defined goals. Sword Art Online series worlds that have guilds are SAO, ALfheim Online, and Gun Gale Online (these are called Squadrons ). There can be any number of guilds in a game at any time.

Guilds in SAO can only be formed after a specific quest on Floor 3. The most well-known guilds are the Cleaners, high-level and experienced players capable of defeating floor bosses.

Guild functionality

In SAO, Guilds offer the following additional features:

• Guilds have a common storage space accessible to all members for easy distribution of items.
• The guild member list allows you to see the location of any member who is not in a dungeon.
• Two guild members can exchange short text messages, instantly if the intended recipient is not in a dungeon.
• Guilds can create their own badges which are displayed next to the character's name and are visible to the outside viewer.
• Guild members who group together receive minor stat benefits.
• Guild members are taxed when they earn money, and the taxes are collected in the guild vault.

Known guilds

Sword Art Online

|English Name | Japanese Name | Abbreviation | Notes|
None
|Aincrad Liberation Force | アインクラッド解放軍ainkuraddo kaihōgun |ALF ||
|Aincrad Liberation Squad | アインクラッド解放隊ainkuraddo kaihōtai | ALS | Merged with MTD to form the Aincrad Liberation Force after the 25th floor boss battle |
|Divine Dragon Alliance | Sacred Dragon Alliance | PDD | (lit. sacred dragon alliance ) None
|Divine division | 天穹師団 | | (lit. celestial division None
|Dragon Knights Brigade |ドラゴンナイツ・ブリゲード | DKB | |
|Fūmaningun | Wind Demon Spy Force | | (lit. Wind Demon Spy Force ) Existence confirmed for beta testing only.|
|Fūrinkazan | Wind, wood, fire and mountain | WWFM | (lit. wind, wood, fire and mountain None
|Golden Apple | 黄金林檎 | AG | Dissolved None
|Knights of the Blood | KoB | (as in "blood brothers")|
|MMO Today | MMO | MTD | Merged with ALS to form the Aincrad Liberation Force after the 25th floor boss battle.|
|Black Cats in the Moonlight | Tsukiyo no Kuronekodan | MBC | Disbanded after the majority of the members were killed on June 22, 2023.|
|Silver Flags | | Majority of members killed on February 14, 2024.|
|The Hand of Titan | | Members imprisoned as of February 24, 2024.|

ALfheim Online

|English Name | Japanese Name | Abbreviation | Notes|
None
|Fuurinkazan | 風林火山 | WWFM | Mentioned in Progressive None
|Sleeping Knights | Disbanded after Yuuki's death.|

Other

|English Name | Japanese Name | Abbreviation | Notes|
None
|Laughing Coffin | LC | This is not an engine-driven guild. The majority of the members were killed or imprisoned by August 2024.|

SLA, FLA, MTD

Commonly known as "The Army," they were the largest guild in SAO with three thousand members. The army's headquarters was located in the Black Iron Palace on the 1st floor of Aincrad.

Leader: Thinker
Former leader, deputy leader: Kibaō

Until the 25th floor, ALS, led by Kibaō, was a Clearer guild with a third of all Clearers in its ranks. Things took a disastrous turn for them on the 25th floor, where the monsters were far more powerful than the progression suggested, and there was insufficient information about them, while the floor's structure was a labyrinth filled with traps. Misinformed, Kibaō took an incomplete raid group there and made it to the boss room, where more than half of the guild members died, and the rest of ALS split from the Clearer group and returned to the 1st floor to merge with Thinker's MTD, with Thinker becoming the official leader.

The SLA's initial goal was to eliminate SAO, and the MTD was a fair distribution of information and resources among all players. After the merger, they began to maintain order. After a switch to armored uniforms, they were nicknamed "The Army."

The army grew too large to remain organized without a proper chain of command and an inspiring leader, leading to so many coups and revolts that the leadership lost control, and Kibaō rose up. He then organized the force and renamed the guild ALF. He also forcibly monopolized domains with effective experience and drop rates. The guild's profits increased, and its political power grew with it. The guild began extorting citizens.

Kibaō had almost given up on completing the game, so he began assigning people to it. When he sent a dozen of their best fighters to clear Floor 74 and three of them, including Lieutenant Colonel Kobatz, died, Kibaō was on the verge of losing power, so he lured Thinker into a trap. Kirito, Asuna, Yulier, and Yui rescued Thinker, and Kibaō's clique was exiled. Thinked split up ALF to return to his volunteer efforts.

Continued on page 2 None

References

• Guilds - Fan Wiki