Skill Specialty

A Specialty is narrowly focused expertise within a Skill. For example, Aim grants skill with all ranged weapons, but a character may have a Specialty in Pistols. If a Specialty applies to your situation add a 1-point Enhancement.The specialty could apply on the direct use of the skill or be applied to another situation that it could benefit, within reason. If you find yourself going to great lengths to justify a Specialty, it probably shouldn’t apply.
For example, a character might apply her Pistols Specialty from Aim to an action using her Culture Skill to suggest a deeper knowledge and understanding of gun shows than another character who is equally adept in Culture might have. The Storyguide is the ultimate arbiter of what constitutes a Specialty and what doesn’t; Specialties that are too broad or too narrow can hurt the story or never come into play.
Sometimes specific actions might require you to have a Specialty to simply perform that action. When something requires you to have a Specialty in a Skill to do the roll, it just unlocks the ability to take that action, it does not apply Enhancement to the roll. some examples could be ...

• Learning a new language unrelated to your origin, "I come in pieces ..."

• Performing medicine on a new species or xeno, "Hmmm we don't have one of these ..."

• A combat fighter space pilot using an FTL ship, "Now I'm pointed away from the sun, I think ..."

• Learning sorceries or mystic rites, "Hmmm a void like black portal, cool, run ..."

Examples
Culture, Humanities, Technology
Craft or Repair
Aesthetics, composition, design, smithing
Athletics
Fitness, meditation
Culture, Humanities,
Theology, games, courtesy, commerce

Original Version

A Specialty is narrowly focused expertise within a Skill. For example, Aim grants skill with all ranged weapons, but a character may have a Specialty in Pistols. Once a character has a Specialty, she may apply that expertise as a 1-point Enhancement to other Skills. Each dot the character has in the Skill at or above three dots adds an extra point of Enhancement. For example, a character might apply her Pistols Specialty from Aim to an action using her Culture Skill to suggest a deeper knowledge and understanding of gun shows than another character who is equally adept in Culture might have. If the character had four dots in the Aim Skill, the Enhancement would be worth two points. A character gains the ability to purchase Specialties when her Skill rating is three or higher.

- Trinity Continuum Core 45

Specialties were house ruled because you do not gain an enchancement with the primary skill that you spend time practising, perfecting and gaining expertise and you only gain the enhancement in the other skill. In a case of two equal skill levels, Aim 3 (to shoot with a pistol) compared to Command 3 (to intimidate with a pistol) your results gained an enhancement bonus of 100-300% for the other skill on a successful roll. This mechanic is counter-intuitive to the narrative description and use of the word "expertise" The final reason to house rule out the scaling plus 1 to 3 is to leave the unique and more powerfule bonus to the realm of Skill Tricks.

FROM THE DEVELOPERS

These are not a contradiction. Sometimes specific actions might require you to have a Specialty to simply perform that action. The specific mechanic for Specialties is that they give you Enhancement on actions with unassociated Skills. When something requires you to have a Specialty in a Skill to do the roll, it just unlocks the ability to take that action, it does not apply Enhancement to the roll. And while the Specialties section on p. 45 does not explicitly say this (and maybe it should) having a Specialty be a gateway to performing a specific action does not contradict that Specialties always give you a +1 Enhancement on an action with another Skill as long as it makes sense.