acquiring new skills... learning from trainers and other players: Let's hear it for more improvements on the skill system! Yes, the Atriarch team has dived back into skills. As described in a previous update (see June 15th), the Atriarch Skill System has both Basic Skills and Player-Defined Specialty Skills. The first iteration tested this out with Combat. Later we added a new Assess Skill (see August 12th) which allowed for characters to gain Knowledge useful for a skill through observation and assessment.

The most recent addition to Atriarch's Skill System includes in-game acquisition of new skills. Previously, the only possible way to have a skill was to be born with it (in other words, authored by the devs). There was no mechanism to gain a skill in the world. Now there exists three ways to gain a new skill: Assessment, Native (npc) Trainers or Player Trainers.[more]