General Skills
Alchemy is the art of creating potions, elixirs, and general single-use quasi-magical items that rely on metaphysical properties inherent to the new world. (Intellect)
Athletics is general physical conditioning and competence, the ability to run, jump, climb trees, and otherwise utilize your strength to the fullest of its ability. (Brawn)
Cool is mastery of the surface self, how to not let yourself be swayed by flattery or temptation, the art of a good poker face, reining in your impulses, and keeping your nerves fresh in tense situations. (Presence)
Coordination applies learned fine motor skills -- balancing, swinging from chandeliers, squeezing into tight places and contortionism, and trying to break one's fall. (Agility)
Discipline is deep-level focus and calm, the sort that is unfazed by visceral terror or sanity-rending insights, and that refreshes the self after times of danger. It's also the art of meditation, centering oneself, and piece oneself back together after strenuous events. (Willpower)
Mechanics is the broad art of building, disassembling, and repairing things with your own two hands, covering both preparation and execution of complex works. (Intelligence)
Medicine is a functional insight into the operations of the body. This skill is used for immediate first aid, for long-term care, for treating sickness and toxins, and to create or identify mundane pharmaceutical compounds.
Operating governs a character's ability to work as part of a crew piloting a large vessel, whether a sailing ship or a starship. (Intellect)
Perception is the art of actively using your senses to investigate your surroundings, pick up clues, or search for hidden dangers. This skill requires active, focused observation attention, and is not used passively (but see Vigilance), but yields potentially tremendous amounts of detail. (Cunning)
Resistance is the art of pacing your body during times of stress, your ability to handle the environment and its extremes, the body getting to learn how to process unwanted substances, and how to let lasting consequences flow off your back. Like Cool, it is a generally defensive-oriented skill. Resistance does not help you with a leisurely day-long hike, but it will help you do that same hike in the snow the next day. (Brawn)
Riding measures a character's skill to mount, stay mounted, and direct the actions of one's mount while on top of a properly-trained creature when adrenaline or danger is a factor. (Agility)
Skullduggery is the art of subterfuge, including applying disguises, performing sleight-of-hand, disarming traps, picking pockets, executing tactical feints, mapping out security systems, and other forms of nefarious, well, 'skullduggery'. (Cunning)
Stealth is the ability to go physically unnoticed, tail without being identified, and personally infiltrate places that others do not want you to be. (Agility)
Streetwise is a character's mastery of urban life, covering both how to get along in a large settlement as well as how to handle dealing with under-the-table pseudo-criminal networks as an outsider. (Cunning)
Survival manages a character's skill in surviving without access to civilized comforts, covering how to forage for food, safely navigating poorly-mapped outland areas, and how to live harmoniously with 'natural', non-monstrous creatures. (Cunning)
Vigilance is one's intuitive sense that something is amiss -- whether a pending ambush, a passing clue, or an incongruity in someone's lie. (Willpower)
Social Skills
Charm is the art of convincing people to like you, and to do things for you merely because you've requested it. It also covers public relations, performance arts, flirting, and moral appeals. When relevant, resisted by the Cool skill. (Presence)
Coercion is the art of threatening people, explicitly or implicitly, politely or impolitely, directly or indirectly, to heed your words and comply with your wishes. It's also used for forceful questioning and interrogation. Resisted by the Discipline skill. (Willpower)
Deception is the art of lies, covering half-truths and whole-cloth falsehoods alike. It is the skill that governs wordplay, general misleading, or maintaining the persona of a disguise. When relevant, resisted by the Vigilance skill. (Cunning)
Leadership is the art of giving orders that you expect to be heeded due to your legal authority, military rank, reputation, or other social cachet. It also covers inspiring loyalty, tactical expertise, and rallying people to your banner to excite or organize them. When relevant, resisted by the Cool skill. (Presence)
Negotiation is the art of convincing someone to do what you want by giving them something in return, covering exchanges as meager as dickering over the price of your evening meal and complex as negotiating national treatises. Resisted by the Cool skill. (Presence)
Combat Skills
Brawl is the art of using your body, brawling implements such as cesti or punching knives, and small improvised weapons to enact violence upon your enemies. (Brawn)
Gunnery is the art of using siege weapons and other massive not-easily-portable forms of weaponry or artillery. (Agility)
Melee (Light) is using one-handed weapons such as daggers, short spears, axes, arming swords, and shields, whether either singly, paired, or in some related combination, to kill your foes. (Brawn)
Melee (Heavy) uses two-handed weapons to kill people. (Brawn)
Ranged is the broad-spectrum skill governing the use of implements to harm people further than arm's length away, covering conventional bows, crossbows, slings, thrown knives or grenades, and other related items. Use of this skill becomes much more difficult if someone is directly in your grill. (Agility)
Knowledge Skills
Knowledge (Adventuring) grounds word-of-mouth stories and uncanny intuition into monsters and mysteries of the world, both in the basics of how the relics and ruins of bygone civilizations function, as well as how dangerous monsters who stalk the boundaries of civilized lands can be pacified, fought, or bargained with. (Intelligence)
Knowledge (Earth Science) governs Julianne's mastery of scientific discoveries made after the early Modern Age of Earth (circa 1500 CE), including chemistry, biology, physics, mathematics, medicine, and other related fields, as well as how to readily apply the fruits of those lessons. (Intelligence)
Knowledge (Earth Culture) reflects Julianne's knowledge of the 'soft' sciences coined after the early Modern Age of Earth (circa 1500 CE), including psychology, anthropology, economics, and history, as well as how best to apply those lessons. (Intelligence)
Knowledge (Geography) is accumulated insights into the cultures, peoples, geographies, and languages of this new world. This skill covers topics as diverse as local taboos to preparing overland navigation.(Intelligence)
Knowledge (Lore) is the refined education of the elite, whether that elite is aristocratic, ordained, or philosophical. Mastery of this skill covers everything from magical lore (if not magical talent) to religious traditions and is generally not considered peasant-practical.(Intelligence)
