Skill

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Aristotle

"I don't know why I put up with your manners. I should throw you out right this moment."
"And loose your best polihacker? Get real, buster, without me you would understand nada of what happens on the Hill. You may have the money and tech, but you can't even parse the Post. Without me, you wouldn't know what hit you when they change the rules again."

"Just don't forget who pays the bills. Do you really think you could have created an organization like this?"

Academic Skills

Academic skills enable the character to understand nature, man and society on a deeper level. He can see how and why certain ideas influence the way of thinking in his area, and utilize them. The Coordinator should give bonuses and penalties depending on the quality of a character's access to reference libraries, professional advice, equipment etc.

Chemistry VH

This is the study of matter and how it behaves. Applications include understanding the reactions that occur in our environment, analyzing unknown substances, synthesizing chemicals and knowing their properties. Modern chemistry relies heavily on online databases and simulation methods, as well as the traditional lab skills.

Biology VH

The study of living organisms, from individual viruses to whole ecosystems. Biologists learn about how organisms function, their properties, how they live, evolve, can be identified and classified, how they form biotopes and ecosystems. See also Ecology & Biotech.

Medicine VH

Medicine studies the human body and its illnesses, both as a scientific subject in itself and as the practical skill of helping sick (or healthy) people get better. Medicine can be used to diagnose illnesses and find treatments, know about how the body works and how it will react to different circumstances ("Is it dangerous to bring him along with his weak heart?").

Physics VH

This is the study of matter, energy and the forces that bind them together. Like most modern sciences it has a variety of branches, such as theoretical physics, thermodynamics, nuclear physics, chemical physics, materials physics, engineering physics and optics. Using physics it is possible to predict and design physical processes, as well as understand why they occur.

Mathematics VH

Unlike arithmetic and everyday calculations, Mathematics deals with abstract structures, ranging from numbers and geometry in the beginning to concepts like functions, sets, groups, graphs and spaces higher up. Modern mathematics has a myriad of subdisciplines, but the major areas are analysis, algebra, logic, geometry and combinatorics. Some degree of mathematical knowledge is usually necessary to truly understand modern science, but most people think Mathematics is too hard for them, barring themselves from entry.

Engineering H

We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.
Carl Sagan

Engineering is the art and science of building things, from electronic toys to roads. It also includes the ability to repair and maintain them, but unlike the Repair skill the engineer does so based on an understanding of the object, not just rules of thumb. Subdisciplines include mechanical engineering, power engineering, civil engineering and many others.

History H

This skill is not only about telling funny anecdotes about historical figures and remembering important events. It is about understanding the political, economic and socio-cultural processes that shaped history's course. The skill is about understanding why events happened in a certain way and to analyze the effects that those events had on the present.

Psychology H

Psychology studies how humans think and behave, and why. It is a broad subject, containing many subfields with quite different methods and aims. Some are scientific, while others are more gathered experience and theory; many subfields are somewhere in between (and a few, like certain forms of psychoanalysis, have developed into cults rather than serious disciplines). This skill allows the user to understand human motivations and behavior, for example diagnosing what is wrong with someone who seems manic, and methods to deal with it (ranging from drugs to talking calmly). Most people have a little inkling of psychology (who was Freud?) but tend to know more about the latest pop psychology psychobabble than the real stuff.

Social Sciences VH

This skill is composed of several separate skills like Anthropology (the study of civilizations), Philosophical History (the study of how ideas have changed in history), Art History, Literature History, Political Science and many other skills in the humanities. The problem is that they nowadays are nearly inaccessible to a student. They are so deeply steeped in post-modern thoughts and jargon that hinders them to really accomplish anything significant and they have sunk to their lowest point in history. Their teachers have declared that humanities have no questions to ask, no method to follow, and no answers to offer. As a result, they are disappearing - losing their identity, their intelligibility and their students. Nearly no one would suspect any longer that these skills could be relevant to human life or action. That is why these skills are Very Hard, they are damn hard to get anything useful from now.

Art VH

Art is the skill used to create artistic pieces. It is used in combination with an appropriate Crafts skill (Sculpting, Painting and so on). It is also used to appreciate and evaluate art. The Art skill shows how unique and original the character's artistic vision is, his creativity, his talent to express his vision and his capacity to refine his appropriate Crafts skill into an artistic technique. These are things that can be improved with practice. Unfortunately there isn't any art around anymore so the character must work on his own to achieve this skill.

Theology VH

This skill is about understanding religion in a scientific way. You don't learn about the religion as a practitioner, but as a reasoned observer. You understand the mechanisms behind faith and how and why religious leaders manipulate the believers. You know about various religions' organization and their history.

Cryptography VH

Anyone who thinks they have devised an unbreakable encryption scheme either is an incredibly rare genius or is naive and inexperienced.
Philip Zimmermann, PGP documentation

Cryptography is the ability to understand, create, implement and crack cryptographic systems. Most cryptographers rely on advanced mathematics; without it cryptography becomes more a question of brute force and tricky programming. Unlike the movies, a cryptographer can not necessarily crack any message even with unlimited computing power. There are cryptosystems like blanket ciphers that are simply impossible to crack - unless the adversary makes some mistake, or the cryptographer can get extra information. In reality, many "secure" communications are far less secure than they appear.

Nanotechnology VH

Nanotechnology is the art and science of making nanodevices that actually work, and employing them for various tasks. Without chemistry and physics it is mainly putting together pre-designed parts, together with the other sciences it can be used to create devices with amazing abilities. Nanotechnologists mainly use molecular modeling and simulation tools to develop their designs, trying out different structures and arrangements before attempting to put them together in a nanolab or MC. This later part can often become amazingly frustrating, as the real world is far more messy and complex than the simulations. Just because you know nanotechnology doesn't mean you can build anything; there are a lot more or less obvious limitations to nanodevices, and making a robust, working nanite that actually does what you want is an achievement in itself.

Biotechnology VH

The ability to understand how biological systems can be modified, and the practical skills to do so. This involves everything from culturing bacteria, genetic testing, genetic modifications, cloning, various forms of gene therapy to designing new genes. Biotech of course requires laboratory equipment, although the essentials for many processes today have shrunk to portable kits.

Electronics H

Electronics is diverse and commonplace; practically everything has some kind of electronics inside. With electronics it is possible to understand how the circuits work, to repair or design them, interfere with their work - or even understand what they are intended to do.

Artificial Intelligence VH

Artificial Intelligence is the field of making more or less autonomous machines and software, that can act as independent entities, learn and solve problems. It involves ways of programming software so it acts intelligently, theories of how to make more adaptable and smart systems, how to manage very complex multiagent systems and the software side of building robots (the physical side is mainly Engineering and Electronics). This is useful to understand and develop better search agents, organize robot swarms or program expert systems.

Ecology VH

Ecology was partially a sub-discipline within biology, but has grown into an independent field recently. The Ecology skill combines both knowledge about ecology itself (how does the ecosystem work?), environmental science (how does pollution affect things? what will deforestation lead to?) and ecotechnological engineering (what is needed to increase biological diversity in this area?). Using this skill it is possible to understand and model complex environmental situations, and to apply more or less efficient methods to fix them.

Computer Programming H

A programmer can create new programs and make the computer do new things (unlike Computer Use, which merely is the skill of actually using the computer well). Programming can be done in a variety of ways, from high-level software engineering down to quick and dirty hacking. Most people can use the simple scripting tools available to write small programs, but Computer Programming allows the programmer to write powerful programs in more advanced computer languages. Included in this skill is also an understanding of how operating systems and computers really work, and how this affects operations - this can be used for cracking systems.

Financial Analysis VH

This skill is similar to Evaluation but on a much, much higher level. It is based on knowledge of Economics, Management and Administration. With it you can be a successful stockbroker or corporate executive. You can decide which tactical and strategic decisions a rather big organization should make to remain profitable and functional. You can see strengths and weaknesses in an organization and you are able to make predictions about its future and of appropriate measures. Management and Administration might be enough to run a small organization, but not a multi-million-dollar corporation.

Economics H

This skill is about understanding how an economy works, in theory. It involves micro- and macro analysis from a neo-classical perspective but also an Austrian analysis of market processes. It can be used to make predictions of an economy's strength and to understand what makes a market work and why.

Management H

This skill is the practical side of Administration. How do you implement the theory in the practical situation at hand in your organization? If you don't possess this skill you are a prime candidate for becoming a dilbertist boss, you often try to apply inadequate measures in your organization because they sound fine in theory or look great in other organizations. The skill includes also a bit of knowledge about identifying organizational subcultures, organizational etiquette and personnel psychology. Note that this isn't the fabled Bureaucracy skill from many role-playing games. To manipulate the system also requires other skills (particularly Social skills).

Administration H

How to administrate an organization in theory. How do you build up an effective organization that accomplishes its goals at a minimal cost in resources? It includes some accounting, personnel administration (who should do what and how?) and resource administration (what should do what and how?).

Media VH

An in-depth knowledge of how the media works, what news are interesting to the media, how do you design a TV-program or a newspaper article to be interesting and get accepted, who is who in the media. In short, how do the media work in practice? Often used in combination with Journalism.

Journalism H

Academic studies in journalism, communication sciences, media structure and media history. This is a theoretical skill that is often applied in combination with Media, that is the practical application.

Imaging H

The skills to produce visual media like still photography, film-making and VR construction. The skill is often used with Computer Use. It includes knowledge of the technologies used in the production of these media, as well as how they can be manipulated.

Philosophy H

Covers theoretical and practical knowledge of metaphysics, epistemology, ethics and politics. Philosophy, unlike what many think, is a very practical skill that is essential to life as it enables you to understand it and live it. The Philosophy skill is very infrequent at philosophy faculties at universities all over the world . Most have discarded it as relevant to real life.

Law H

Knowledge about the laws. You know how the judicial system should work and how it really works. You understand why the lawmakers have made the laws in a particular manner and what they wish to achieve by that. The skill does not only cover the laws of the FOG but also objective justice, theoretical law and Concordat rule interpretations. If trying to understand a different legal system than the one you're accustomed to you will get penalties to your skill.

Combat Skills

Combat skills have a chapter of their own, see below.

Thrown Weapons H

The ability to throw knives, axes, shuriken, javelins and other melee weapons. It also includes the ability to throw a hand grenade in a correct and directed manner.

Bows H

The ability to fire bows, improvised or factory made. The skill includes an ability to repair them. It does not include the ability to fire crossbows; Firearms cover that.

Combat Experience VH

You have participated in real combat. You know what to do in a combat situation, how to stay alive and succeed in your combat tasks. Lower levels can be attained if you are constantly involved in brawls or shoot-outs but the higher levels are probably only attained from war experiences. That's why Combat Experience is a VH skill, you don't get many opportunities to train it besides the real thing (and one mistake there and you won't be able to train it again). Paintball games can be a way to train it at very low levels, but ultimately it doesn't really prepare you for the real thing.

Firearms H

Covers the use of pistols, rifles, submachine guns and automatic rifles but not machine guns or heavier firearms. It also covers the use of crossbows. Firearms can also be used to maintain guns. If you are firing a rare or experimental weapon, the Coordinator will give you a negative modification on your skill to use it until you are accustomed to it.

Melee H

Covers the use of most melee weapons, everything from knives, broken bottles, chains, swords and shields. You can keep your weapon working with this skill and you will probably get a negative modifier on a rare or experimental weapon (how did your character learn to use a great axe?)

Brawling N

Kicking, biting, scratching, wrestling and punching. It's the way most people fight, without technique and finesse. This skill indicates that you have been in quite a lot of fights and that you can walk away from them with your adversary hurting more than you.

Heavy Weapons VH

Flame throwers, heavy artillery and machine guns and so on. Very military weapons, you learn to use these in the army.

Demolitions VH

To plant bombs and explosives effectively without blowing oneself up in the process.

Martial Arts VH

Martial Arts are about fighting with a technique, often with a lot of practice attached to it. If you just know some karate kicks you are Brawling. You have certainly trained a lot in a dojo (or equivalent) if you posses a Martial Art. Each Martial Art is a separate skill, for instance Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Capoeira, Rua Vale Tudo, Ninpo, Judo, la Savate, Krav Maga, Ninjutsu, Boxing and Greek-Roman Wrestling. This is not to say that Brawling is a less efficient skill; many of these Martial Arts are fooling their practitioners that their skills will be efficient in a real combat situation. Sure, Judo might look good in a dojo, but it is difficult to use it in real combat. That is why this skill is Very Hard, you must put in the extra effort to learn it right.

Personal Skills

Personal skills enable the character to perform practical tasks involving his body and his mind. They are a quite varied collection.

Sports H

These are athletic abilities performed at a professional level. Each sport is a separate skill, for instance American football, soccer, basketball, water polo, gymnastics, track and field and ice-hockey. A person that uses the skill Soccer is much more skilled and refined than someone just using Athletics. At the Coordinators discretion the appropriate Sports skill can substitute for Athletics in certain situations.

Athletics N

General athletic ability. It is used to climb, jump, run fast, run long distances, lift heavy objects and so on. Mind that the various Sports skills are on a professional level and much superior to Athletics.

Crafts H

The traditional crafts like carpentry, blacksmith, weaving, pottery and so on. They are too many to list here and each craft is a separate skill.

Information Gathering H

Information Gathering is about researching, finding and evaluating information found from different sources like a library, the Internet or from rumors. It involves obtaining relevant data and evaluating their significance and then process them into good information from which you can deduce things about the subject you are researching. The skill is rated Hard because most people aren't very skilled at doing such a broad and open search as this skill enables. If the character does a very limited research he might get a bonus, but not quite as good results.

Security H

You know the techniques and are skilled with the tools used for activities such as picking locks (both mechanical and electronic), hot-wiring cars, setting and deactivating burglar alarms, and opening up safes. You also know how to build and penetrate complex security systems.

Repair N

You are a bit of a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to mechanics and electronics. You can repair simple or complex devices like cars, elevators, doors and even computers. Given the proper tools you can fix most things. Construction or more advanced problems requires Engineering or other relevant skills.

Computer Use N

In the 21st century the actual use of computers is very differentiated from the programming of them. You can be very skilled at using computer applications like word processing, spreadsheets and presentation programs without knowing how to create them (the reverse is also true). With the skill of Computer Use you can get the most out of your computer's functions and minimize problems. Most people use this skill in combination with other skills in their daily jobs.

Urban Survival N

The skill makes it possible to survive in an urban environment with few means. It includes some home economics but it generally enables you to know where you can find cheap or free food, clothes, shelter and such things. If you really are destitute, completely without capital or means (bag-lady style) and not accustomed to it you will get a penalty on your skill. Urban Survival is about surviving on small means. A lot of romanticism has been said in many role-playing games about living on the streets with no means, but it is really an impossible lifestyle. Most destitute people survive by lingering on institutions, receiving welfare from time to time or by getting out of the homeless lifestyle - those who don't tend to die.

Wilderness Survival H

A lot of glamorizing here too. Living in the wilderness is pure hell, with this skill you can hunt, fish, forage for food, know a bit about animals in the wilderness, which plants to eat and make small traps. You will survive, but hardly more. If you lack equipment you will most certainly get penalties on your skill. Trying to survive in an unfamiliar environment will reduce your chances severely.

Stealth N

Stealth enables you to move quietly and without rousing suspicion. It is used both in the wilderness and in urban environment. Almost always a resisted dice roll.

Use Technology E

This skill involves using and repairing everyday technology. It's a very basic skill that can be used to design a new technology so it is usable and understandable to the general public. Note that people from Third World countries will generally have lower ratings on this skill. A Pakistani peasant will not know how to operate an elevator or kitchen blender. There is a lot of advanced technology in our lives that people in the industrialized countries just take for granted.

Basic Education E

A basic industrialized country education. It includes knowledge of basic mathematics (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division), speaking and reading and writing your native tongue on a fairly advanced level (that's why even native speakers do not start with higher than Mediocre). Some basic knowledge about your native society (with which you might answer simple questions like who is the president of the United States, how is the Swedish parliament elected) and basic knowledge in legal matters (am I allowed to own drugs?). Note that people from Third World countries will generally have lower ratings on this skill and that knowledge from Basic Education is heavily tainted with FOG propaganda.

Underworld H

You are streetwise with this skill. You are knowledgeable about criminal operations, where to find fixers, illegal goods and services. You know the etiquette among these groups and you have knowledge about organized crime. Mind you, this is a rare skill. If you possess it you are certainly part of the scene. If you possess it at higher levels you are a serious operator (perhaps a Triad boss or its equivalent) and you may have been sentenced for a crime, one of the best ways of learning Underworld is in prison. If you run a criminal operation you will use this skill in combination with other skills. The skill is international, but you will encounter heavy penalties to your skill if you try to use it in an unfamiliar environment.

Farming N

Farming includes basic agronomy. You know how to run a small farm, how to take care of traditional crops to produce a reasonable yield and how to take care of traditional livestock. You can also use Farming to take care of domestic pets in an efficient way.

Drive N

The ability to drive personal transports like cars, bicycles, motorcycles, trucks, lorries and such. If you try to drive a vehicle that you are not accustomed to (like a Main Battle Tank) you will get heavy penalties until you are accustomed to it.

Boating N

The ability to use aquatic transports ranging from rowing boats, sailboats, motorboats, catamarans, submarines and supertankers. If you try to drive a vehicle that you are not accustomed to (like a supertanker) you will get heavy penalties until you are accustomed to it.

Aerospace VH

The ability to use air transports ranging from hang-gliders, helicopters, commercial jets, and space shuttles. If you try to fly a vehicle that you are not accustomed to (like a jumbo jet) you will get heavy penalties until you are accustomed to it.

Politics H

You are knowledgeable about politics with this skill. You are knowledgeable about political operations, where to find power brokers, subsidies and quangos. You know the etiquette among these groups and you have knowledge about organized political parties. Mind you, this is a rare skill. If you possess it you are certainly part of the scene. If you possess it at higher levels you are a serious operator (perhaps a mayor or its equivalent) and you may have been elected to an office, one of the best ways of learning Politics is in a political body. If you run a political operation you will use this skill in combination with other skills. The skill is international, but you will encounter heavy penalties to your skill if you try to use it in an unfamiliar environment.

Mumbo-Jumbo E

Mumbo-Jumbo is frighteningly common knowledge in the 21st century. You know quite a lot about the New Age movement and various sects. Traditional superstition in Third World countries is also included in this skill (what are pennangalans?). What do the various New Age groups say about the world? What they say about a specific issue and how they deal with problems. This skill gives you the propaganda that the sects say to the masses. It isn't a true understanding of their ideas. To truly understand the mumbo-jumbo you should use this skill with Theology and Philosophy.

Political Correctness E

A horrible combat skill, it enables the user to attack a subject with mind-numbing Political Correctness. In the 21st century people have been taught to not argue with certain types of arguments, a ritual of quietly accepting something as the truth. Political Correctness covers the whole spectrum of ideas that dominate society; feminist theory, queer theory, environmentalism, war against drugs rhetoric, United Nations babble, egalitarianism and so on. It is a good thing to know one's enemy, but Political Correctness should be used in combination with a serious skill. By its nature it's very one-sided and one-eyed. It doesn't work on cynical FOG people, most Concordat members and others who have freed themselves from social conventions, but it still affects most listeners and arguing against it sounds bad.

Example: Jeanette Beaulieu is debating with a FOG loyalist in front of a large auditorium. She is not doing too well, the loyalist has had some rather good arguments and is manipulating the mood. She decides to use Political Correctness: "But what about women, children, disabled and other weak groups? Your society will put them at an even greater disadvantage, at the mercy of paternalistic bureaucrats in Brussels!". She goes on to environmental issues. Her argument is completely spurious, but since most of the audience has been conditioned to not argue with this kind of argument (and besides, any attack might be male chauvinism) she wins - at least for now.

Lemming Lore E

How does John Q. Public think? What is considered normal in mainstream culture? How does a "normal" person act in a given situation? It might seem as a stupid skill, but consider this, how "normal" are the players' characters? It is easy sometimes to loose sight of mainstream society and thus end up branded as a bunch of "kooks" when you daily deal with things people generally don't have the slightest clue about. In addition, this skill is useful for blending in, which can be used for "social engineering" and infiltration. Of course, if you use this skill in a very different culture that you are accustomed to you will certainly get some penalties to your skill (John Q. Public acts in a very strange way in many Arabs' opinion).

Example: Auntie May has confronted Bill and his cell-mates with the fact that they are doing something strange in the basement. Something seems to be cooking in some chemical equipment. How should they explain this? The bad idea would be to say something "Oh, we're just doing some nanoscale mechanosynthetic chemistry for school". This is bad since it is something weird and unknown and the proud aunt might even mention it to the neighbors. A better solution would be to say something like "Oh, don't tell this to anyone. Me and my mates are just making moonshine - do you want a bottle?" This is something understandable, and May will likely keep quiet (even if she disapproves, to protect her nephew) and even if she doesn't, the nosy neighbors will likely just ask for moonshine. With Lemming Lore you can see what's a good idea and a bad idea when dealing with lemmings.

Official View E

What is the FOG saying about the world? What does it think of a specific issue and how does it deal with problems. WARNING! This skill gives you "the official view", what the FOG says to the masses. With Official View, you can understand what the prime minister really means with the word 'justice'. It isn't the way the FOG is really run. To truly understand the FOG you should use this skill with Philosophy, Law and Politics. This skill only gives you propaganda. Corporate dilbertism is included in this skill.

Activism E

What do the various groups of mindless activists say about the world? What they say about a specific issue and how they deal with problems. This skill gives you the propaganda that the activists say to the masses. It isn't a true understanding of their ideas. To truly understand the activists you should use this skill with Philosophy and Politics. Activism is also useful for blending in, by spouting the right slogans and dressing right. All non-TU groups are included in this skill from neo-nazi groups to environmentalists and anarchists.

Example: The kooky right-wing politician is on electoral campaign in town. What will the anarcho-syndicalists do, and how do you avoid the mess?

Evaluation N

The art of assigning a proper value to goods, commodities and services. You use this skill to get the highest price for your goods and services and to buy things cheap. It can also be used as a haggling skill, but it requires that both parties acknowledge a proper value. Most people outside the TU use Brownnosing and Manipulation to trick and fool.

Area Knowledge E

Each area is a specific skill. Even if you are very knowledgeable about the Stockholm area you won't know as much about the Montevideo area. An area is often a city and its surroundings but it could also be of a specific countryside or wilderness (i.e. Amazon Knowledge). It gives you the kind of knowledge found in guidebooks at first, to go on towards the pecularities only known by locals. The reason it starts as Mediocre for all areas is that you can quite easily attain that level of knowledge by reading some good guidebooks and live a few weeks in the area - if you haven't, then the relevant skill is lower.

Teaching H

This skill is an asset in InfoWar, the ability to teach someone another skill. It involves some pedagogy, a bit of psychology, ability to make a realistic and functional curriculum and knowledge of how to "sell" the subject to a student. Teachers are really a kind of salesmen that try to make the student interested in the subject, it is really the motivated student that does most of the hard work, with some coaching from the teacher. Of course, the teacher must have a higher level in the taught skill than the student has.

Social Skills

Social skills enable the character to interact with other people. Positive or negative modifiers should be given according to the player's role-playing but don't discard rolling the dice for Social skills altogether. After all, the character has other strengths and weaknesses in this area than the player and the actual dice roll accentuates them. Social skills should also be used among player characters, absolutely not dictating the others' reactions but giving them a suggestion of how they should react. Wouldn't it be strange if a great debater among others always looses every debate in his own cell?

Manipulation N

Emotional embezzlement. To trick someone to believe in something by using his emotions against him. It often involves using guilt feelings against the target. This skill can also be used to confuse a target with fast-talk.

Argumentation H

This skill involves using logical arguments to convince someone of something. Most people are not used to use logic or to be a part of a logical debate. That is why this skill is Hard. Rhetorics is included, but only those uses that rely on logic and honest debating otherwise, as in most cases, Manipulation is used.

Brownnosing N

To put oneself in an inferior's position and rely on the good will of the target. It includes flattery, whining, insincere admiration and bootlicking. You don't try to argue with the target (that's Argumentation), neither to attack his feelings (that's Manipulation). This skill is also used in bribing people by offering them something. The briber does not see himself as an equal partner in the transaction, like in Evaluation.

Threaten N

Menacing and frightening a target either with direct or veiled threats.

Languages H

In InfoWar each language is a separate skill; Romanian is one skill, French is another. You might get a bonus to understand a language that is related to one you know. Your native tongue (or tongues if your multilingual, and that is quite unusual) is covered by Basic Education. Higher levels of skill mean that you are not only fluent in that language but you have also an academic grasp of the language's history, function, grammar, a bit of essential literature and the ability to express very advanced and complex things. Of course, this skill also includes reading and writing the language besides speaking it.

Etiquette H

The upper crusts of society are still a world very much of their own. There are still a lot of differences between the elite and the lower classes. If you don't possess Etiquette at a reasonable level you will be regarded as an outsider by the rich and famous. Etiquette is nearly a talent that the sons and daughters of old money start to learn since birth. The lower classes are more unaware of the differences that really still exist nowadays (since they aren't so pronounced as earlier) so they often use Brownnosing to communicate with the upper class.

Example: One of the authors went to a party of an upper class acquaintance some time ago. He has some knowledge of Etiquette even if he isn't upper class. In a discussion with the party's hostess another guest kept praising the hostess for her marvelous ten-room apartment. The author kept quiet because he knew that upper class people consider it uncouth to mention their possessions. It is natural for them to have such an apartment, whoever makes a big deal of it is certainly not from their class. With this knowledge he didn't make a simple mistake and he got more respect from the hostess. This is how characters can use Etiquette, if they are not from the upper class themselves.

Creating Your Own Skills

Sometimes The Dialogue of a character indicates that he should possess a skill that isn't covered by the already existing ones. Be careful when you design a new skill, 30 free skill levels aren't a lot if you want reasonably skilled character's from an industrialized country, and if you construct too many skills your characters won't know anything in the end. When assigning the difficulty of the new skill think about; how common is the skill in society, how easy it is to train, if the skill is obtainable in just a few institutions and so on. The most important questions, will the skill be relevant to the character, is it something that has to be covered in a separate skill and will it add to the role-playing? Most new skills will probably be Hard or Very Hard.

Examples:
Agronomy H
In Bill's Dialogue he mentioned that he had studied Agronomy. Since the stories that the Coordinator has designed are about modern agriculture and fighting the myths surrounding agriculture he designs a new skill. Agronomy is different to Farming; it is a scientific skill to optimize agricultural profits. It involves animal and crop handling on a much bigger scale than Farming and is taught at universities and special schools, so it should be Hard.
Space Training VH
Monique's character was an astronaut in the '80s and the chronicle is about stopping FOG's satellites. Space Training involves most operations than an astronaut does in space. To cope with micro- gravity, to take care of his spacesuit and operating advanced technology and sensors. This skill can only be learned at very few places so the skill should be Very Hard.

Quick Reference

Skill	Difficulty
Activism	E
Administration	H
Aerospace	VH
Agronomy	H
Area Knowledge	E
Argumentation	H
Art	VH
Artificial Intelligence	VH
Athletics	N
Attention Training	VH
Basic Education	E
Biology	VH
Biotechnology	VH
Boating	N
Body Control	VH
Bows	H
Brawling	N
Brownnosing	N
Chemistry	VH
Combat Experience	VH
Computer Programming	H
Computer Use	N
Crafts	H
Cryptography	VH
Demolitions	VH
Doublethink	VH
Drive	N
Ecology	VH
Economics	H
Electronics	H
Emotion Control	VH
Engineering	H
Etiquette	H
Evaluation	N
Farming	N
Financial Analysis	VH
Firearms	H
Heavy Weapons	VH
History	H
Imaging	H
Information Gathering	H
Journalism	H
Languages	H
Law	H
Lemming Lore	E
Management	H
Manipulation	N
Martial Arts	VH
Mathematics	VH
Media	VH
Medicine	VH
Melee	H
Memory Tech	VH
Mumbo-Jumbo	E
Nanotechnology	VH
Official View	E
Philosophy	H
Physics	VH
Political Correctness	E
Politics	H
Psychology	H
Repair	N
Security	H
Social Sciences	VH
Space Training	VH
Sports	H
Stealth	N
Teaching	H
Theology	VH
Threaten	N
Thrown Weapons	H
Underworld	H
Urban Survival	N
Use Technology	E
Wilderness Survival	H