Chapter 4.3: Specializations
A Specialization is a permanent field of training and judgment. You have six, each rated from 0 to 5, and you add one to an Attribute every time you attempt a Task. Where other crews are sorted into bridge stations, Morlencir crews organize around the work at hand. You answer to no station and no rank (Chapter 2.1).
A cysuit supplies standard references, calculation, and general tools. Those capabilities support every Specialization at its baseline. Higher ratings measure practice, judgment, and the character's ability to use that support under real conditions. They remain fixed when the character changes Focuses. Dedicated tools and cysuit hardware are Traits governed by Chapter 3.5; a rating never creates an instrument by itself.
What the Rating Means
| Rating | What the rating means |
|---|---|
| 0 | No meaningful training in the field. Some Tasks rely on the bare Attribute, and others stay out of reach. Main characters never begin here. |
| 1 | General literacy and standard cysuit or terminal support. Enough to recognize common problems and follow routine guidance. |
| 2 | Competent training and practice. Reliable work under ordinary conditions. |
| 3 | Deep practice and sound independent judgment. The person a crew calls first. |
| 4 | Expert command of the field under pressure, including unusual and unfamiliar work. |
| 5 | Mastery at the frontier of the field. Rare, public, and earned. |
Every player character has at least 1 in all six. A cysuit or Synthetic substrate provides the usual baseline support. An unbonded character reaches the same rating through foundational education and external tools, with the access limits in Chapter 3.5.
The Six
Medicine
Keeping people alive and putting them back together, across species you have never treated before. At a 1, you recognize a routine wound or common pathogen and can follow standard treatment guidance; a cysuit also supplies local trauma response. At a 4, you can direct unfamiliar treatment under pressure and judge what the standard routines missed. A Clinical Sequencer or Surgical Suite is a separate Trait when the procedure needs one (Chapter 3.5). Pairs with: Control (surgery), Reason (diagnosis), Daring (triage under fire).
Science
Making sense of the unknown: identifying what a thing is, working out why it behaves as it does, and synthesizing what the moment needs. At a 1, you run a standard scan. At a 4, you can build and test an explanation from hostile or incomplete evidence. Your active Focuses name the current disciplines. A field laboratory or dedicated sensor package is a separate Trait (Chapter 3.5). Pairs with: Reason (hypothesis), Control (delicate procedure), Insight (a guess from thin data).
Engineering
Building, breaking, repairing, and using the cysuit to form common tools from available material. At a 1, you run standard repair libraries. At a 4, you can design and execute an unfamiliar repair while a system is failing around you. Large or specialized fabrication requires an Integrated Microfoundry, a Foundry, or another suitable Trait (Chapter 3.5). Pairs with: Reason (design), Daring (improvised fixes), Control (exact work).
Diplomacy
The work of moving people: negotiation, first contact, mediation, speaking for the crew, and holding your own people together when a job frays them. This is the craft other systems split between command and counsel; here it is one field. At a 1, you can carry a conversation and read a contract. At a 4, you can hold a first contact, a hostile hearing, or a failing negotiation together while the available record remains incomplete. Cultural and linguistic Focuses provide current reference; trust and lived relationships may be Rooted Focuses (Chapter 3.5). Pairs with: Presence (command a room), Insight (read a room), Reason (a point of law).
Security
Meeting force: defending people, reading a space for threat, handling weapons, and standing between a settlement and whatever came to burn it. At a 1, you can use a weapon and notice danger. At a 4, you can read and control a violent situation as conditions change. Armor, field projectors, and specialized weapons are separate Traits (Chapters 3.4 and 3.5). Pairs with: Daring (close combat), Control (a careful shot), Insight (spotting an ambush).
Infiltration
Going unseen and unheard: stealth, covert entry, disguise, surveillance, getting in and back out with no one the wiser. The Empire keeps this as a craft of its own. At a 1, you can move quietly and lift a credential. At a 4, you can maintain a cover, read a security system, and improvise an exit under active pursuit. Light-bending fields, heat sinks, and circuit-level interfaces are Cysuit Hardware Traits (Chapter 3.5). Pairs with: Control (staying unseen), Daring (the way in and out), Presence (passing for another).
Focuses: Active Expertise
Where a Specialization is the broad field, a Focus is a narrow expertise active inside it: Hand-to-Hand Combat, Subspace Theory, Mediation, or Forensic Pathology. A Loadable Focus is cysuit software. A Rooted Focus is embodied or personal expertise held in one of the same six slots. When a Focus fits the Task, your best dice count double.
Piloting lives here, with Navigation, Small Craft, and Vacuum Operations beside it. Few of you fly the ship, so you load its library when the work requires it. A pilot's roll then borrows whichever Specialization the moment calls for: Engineering when you are nursing a wounded craft home, Security when you are flying it through fire, and at times nothing but a raw Attribute and a steady nerve.
A main character has six active Focus Slots. Chapter 3.5 distinguishes Loadable and Rooted Focuses and gives the complete swapping, access, hardware, and signal exposure rules.
Sample Focuses
A Focus in Xenolinguistics serves Diplomacy as often as Science, so treat the grouping below as a starting point. Any Focus can apply to any Task it would plausibly sharpen. The list is a sample; write your own where the work calls for it.
Medicine: Xenobiology, Trauma Surgery, Field Triage, Nanite Pharmacology, Somatic Interface Medicine, Epidemiology, Genetic Sequencing, Toxicology, Psychiatric Care, Neural Trauma, Medical Compatibility Assessment, Palliative Care, Forensic Pathology, Xenofauna Medicine, Obstetrics
Science: Astrophysics, Xenoarchaeology, Stellar Cartography, Aelith Signal Analysis, Subspace Theory, Xenolinguistics, Planetary Ecology, Foundry Materials Science, Chemistry, Quantum Mechanics, Sensus Data Interpretation, Geology, Anthropology, Cryptography, Terraforming
Engineering: Cysuit Calibration, Nanite Colony Maintenance, Foundry Fabrication, Propulsion Systems, Structural Engineering, Aelith Relay Systems, Power Systems, Robotics, Cybernetics, Salvage and Reclamation, Sensor Systems, Demolitions, Life Support Systems, Systems Security, Zero-G Construction
Diplomacy: First Contact Protocol, Treaty Law, Mediation, Cultural Protocol, Persuasion, Crisis Negotiation, Assembly Procedure, Etiquette, Public Address, Historical Precedent, Debate, Grief and Loss Counseling, Multi-Species Protocol, Trade and Commerce, Testimony and Advocacy
Security: Small Arms, Hand-to-Hand Combat, Tactical Planning, Interrogation, Threat Assessment, Riot and Crowd Control, Heavy Weapons, Defensive Fieldcraft, Close Protection, Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Survival, Boarding Actions, Marksmanship, Zero-G Combat, Fortification
Infiltration: Stealth Movement, Disguise, Lock and Circuit Systems, Surveillance, Signal Interception, Forgery, Social Engineering, Safecracking, Urban Tracking, Counter-Surveillance, Escape and Evasion, Improvised Tools, Shadowing, Signal Bending, Vault and Containment Systems
One Problem, Several Fields
Your crew reaches a colony where the water has turned and people are dying. Your scientist takes the first sample. She has Science 3 and the Chemistry Focus, and the crew prepared a Field Laboratory Asset; she rolls Reason and Science, the Focus makes her best dice count double, and by the time the others have the sick into beds, she has the compound named. Naming it was Science. Brewing the counter is Engineering, and your engineer takes that. Talking a frightened matron into letting you dose her people is Diplomacy, and your captain takes that. One problem, three fields, a different member of the crew leading each step.