Knowledge [Mind]

This is your general base of knowledge and education; it covers all subjects and disciplines, but seldom gets very deep or specific. Your default indicates the general schooling you received, either from the Raelite church in the Republic or from your masters and parents in the kingdoms. For a good real world indicator, this is equivalent to your character dropping out of high school to pursue your apprenticeship or other career. Taking at least one rank is equivalent to finishing high school, and further ranks indicate additional education in Liberal Arts.

Just because I'm using a school analogy doesn't mean this is directly linked to formal education; life experience, natural intellect or voracious reading would produce the same results. Your knowledge skill is your familiarity with basic mathematics, literacy in your native tongue, general science, world and Republic history, geography, and everything else they tried to teach us in High School but you were too busy playing role playing games to learn. Sub-skills of knowledge are training in specific fields. As always, there are things a person with the subskill at 1 can try that a person with the general skill at 10 cannot; Knowledge is a general and broad education. You might be able to name major battles, for example, but without Military History and Tactics, you won't be able to say why they happened or what tactics won them.

Heroes and Monsters
You have a strong grounding in heroic stories and the monsters that appear within them. You can quite from major epics and identify obscure references or names. You know the tactics the heroes of lore used for dealing with their opponents—at least in the stories. Tests may provide useful information about creatures, or draw up pertinent quotes.

Military History & Tactics
You have an armchair knowledge of the battles of the past and the methods used to win them. This also includes a basic ability to put that knowledge into practice if need by. Tests may provide tactical advice, or reveal an opponent stratagem and the defenses against it—at least things that worked in the past.

Religion & Philosophy
You can expound on the tenets and beliefs of both the Raelite faith and the faiths of the incarnate gods. This does not extend to a knowledge of the secrets of these faiths, but it does include detailed knowledge of their past actions, their apparent goals and their tenets. While this includes both the Summer and Winter Gods, it does not include the Nether Gods, if they even exist.

Architecture
You know how things are built, who built them that way, and why. This includes basic architectural ability yourself, as far as designing buildings that will stand up, spotting flaws in existing structures, and locating things like secret doors and hidden rooms based on the construction. You can also talk endlessly about the design of houses, stylistic changes over the Republic's history and other amazingly dull topics.

Excavation
Not surprisingly, a lot of Dwarves have this sub-skill. This is knowledge of the techniques and methods used for mining, tunneling and other subterranean activity. Checks let you locate and gauge the quality of mineral deposits, design proper tunnel complexes, place support beams properly, and survive a cave-in. You know the hazards of underground caves and the dangers of freshly dug or ancient tunnels, which are places adventurers often find themselves.

   

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