Monolith Trials
A true test of skill
Before the expansion Era, the Monolith Trials were a series of tests designed to test the absolute limit of skills which Aspirants of Master rank and above could achieve within their brackets. It was originally designed by Sovereign Alephus as a way to keep the Verin people competitive and to drive society in an ever-upwards direction.
Trials were broken into what Alephus defined as the 7 governing attributes and the 28 true skills—skills which he felt most benefited to the wholeness of the self and the world. He called these skills The System and in his design of The Wheel incorporated them. This resulted in 28 events, with brackets run each for each level of Aspirant.
| Rank | Aptitude |
|---|---|
| Layman | People at this level are not yet true Aspirants by their peers, as they have shown interest but not dedication, and it is the action which is important. |
| Adept | People at this level have had a little experience or some training in their skills, and have demonstrated enough dedication that some of their peers may begin to tutor them. |
| Master | Masters rarely finds a safe environment that demand the full breadth of their skill. They are full Aspirants at this point, and have demonstrated their dedication. |
| Prodigy | A Prodigy is so proficient that the acts they do appear to the unskilled to purely be the result of luck, or at least the best-shown result of a hundred failed attempts. |
| Paragon | A Paragon is someone whose feats are so incredible they have to be witnessed to be believed, and even then they may be accused of some sort of trickery. This is the highest a person could naturally achieve. |
| Monolith | Monoliths have broken through the threshold of self mastery and moved on into higher realms where they can tap into the greater will and consciousness of those who came before them. |
Participants
All members of the Aspirants at Master's rank and above would compete. The event was coordinated by a team of hired volunteers and the Sovereign.
Observance
The event was held every 7 years, each time in a different quarter of the year.
Being a Monolith is a measure of Skill. Alephus devised The System, which was followed to varying degrees by most of Ethnis for eeons, and is still quite popular even today in some sectors. It's a set of 28 skills and 7 Qualities, a metric by which to measure someone's aptitudes and thus their usefulness to society.
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