Woah, that's a lot to take in
I'm going to respond to each of your points but before I do, bear in mind I'm not really disagreeing with you. I do understand how things sometimes get out of whack in high circle play however the Swordsmaster in my group is also a Sky Raider so I haven't seen this particular issue. I don't deny it's existence though all I'm doing here is exploring the issue not necessarily arguing the case.
With that in mind...
1. I completely agree with you about Maneuver. I have found it to be a particularly bad Talent, especially at high circles. I hope that the developers have addressed this and from the previews it looks like they have at least made an attempt.
2. At higher circles, physical defences even out I agree but the swordsmaster has by far the best social defences. The other Disciplines can specialise to get an equivalent level but that would mean neglecting other areas. The swordsmaster is good at it naturally and can also specialise if he wanted to so I don't agree with this. I do think that the Swordsmaster should get Defence before or at least at the same time as the Sky Raider if possible though.
3. I don't still don't agree Swordsmasters needs to 'keep up' in terms of damage with the Warrior. The Warrior does not have any real options outside of combat so this is what he should excel at. He can't do anything interesting to his enemies other than hit them hard and repeatedly. Hence, the swordsmaster should not be as good at him at this. That's not necessarily what you are saying as you just want a smaller gap between the damage ( which I think is fair) but Warrior and Swordsmaster damage is not really a fair comparison.
4. The Sky Raider is another matter. He's got other things to do so it's a fairer comparison but he's all about strength and aggression. However, although he's pretty good at defending against physical attacks (eventually) he's not great against social or magical.
5. The swordsmaster has a high social defense and resist taunt as a discipline Talent which makes him very good at Social Defence. He has a good physcial defence and Parry and Riposte as discipline Talents making him good at defending. If he ties his group pattern to parry and get the second riposte knack then use defensive stance, he's almost unhittable. So he is very defensive naturally, not great against spells though.
6. The main thing that the swordsmaster gets instead of a damage increase is disarm as a discipline talent which is not to be sniffed at.
7. However my main point is the swordsmaster has a lot of utility outside of combat whereas the warrior and for the most part the Sky Raider does. This means that he really shouldn't be comparable in terms of damage output.
8. I do agree however that the circle gap is too much and that the damage difference is probably out of whack. My preference would be for him to get Crit Hit at 9th and defence at 10th. In that gap between the circles he should get definitely get some increases to damage, probably with improvements to Maneuver to make it usable at higher circles and some other damage Talent or ability which is more situational or provides a lower damage bonus or is good against armour.
So in short, I agree the swordsmaster needs addressing at higher circles. I'm just not sure that just giving him an equivalent level of damage output is either fair or an efficient way to fix the problems you highlighted.