Chapter 4.2: Attributes
Your six Attributes are what you bring to anything you attempt, before training or tools enter the picture. They run from 7 to 12 for the peoples of the Empire, where 8 is an ordinary adult and 12 is the high end of what a person reaches unaided. Your species adjusts these ratings; that comes when you choose one.
The Six
Control
Precision and self-command: the steady hand on a wound, and the nerve held when showing anything would cost you.
Daring
Acting on instinct when there is no time to plan: the dive across the gap, and the call made in the half-second you have to make it.
Fitness
Endurance and force: carrying someone out of a place that is coming down, and lasting through a long climb or a hostile sky.
Insight
Reading people and the room: the thing a frightened delegation will not say, and the wrongness you feel before you can name it.
Presence
Force of personality: holding a panicking crowd with your voice, and being believed across a table by someone who arrived not trusting you.
Reason
Logic and analysis: building a working theory from too little data, and planning the approach before anyone moves.
Pairing an Attribute
An Attribute never rolls alone. You pair it with a Specialization (Chapter 4.3): Reason and Science to name a compound, Presence and Diplomacy to carry a room. The same Attribute does different work depending on what it is paired with, and the same Specialization changes character depending on the Attribute you bring to it. When more than one Attribute could fit, the one you pick says how your character is choosing to approach the problem, and the gamemaster has the final word.