Real quick - stealth falls under Dex. A sneaky char may make a dex roll vs alertness of potential observers. If I knew anyone on game needed this from the books, I would of gladly responded with the information, my apology that its confusing. Alertness is broader than this, as it can be used to simply spot something out of the ordinary, or notice something that may be important amidst a raging battle.
Information gathering falls under a few skills. This includes Intrigue and Manipulate. Manipulate is a region specific skill that is the same effectiveness as Intrigue. Intrigue is picking up on subtleties in a room, knowing where to hear gossip (servants, the markets etc.), or where to find information, its a nicer skill than Manipulate. Manipulate returns the same but its more about manipulating the usual subjects to get them to give the information you are seeking.
There are a lot of skills that seem maybe pointless - orating, composing, dancing, etc. I'll use a quote I picked up from a Kushiel game once; the castle court is the medieval equivalent to the mall. Which was funny, but in some ways true, going to the open parts of the castle to mingle and socialize was a thing to do. These skills are sort of the 'golf course' skills of the nobility. In setting up a social contest/challenge, it might take more than a fast intrigue roll with an NPC, maybe telling them a tale will gather their interest (orate), maybe dancing at some event will entertain one enough to get to that meeting where Manipulate or Intrigue may be more relevant.
+Requests are there in Valorous, we've told no one to use them until it seemed like others were missing out and we put up the bbpost as an indicator to please use that. I know some staff and requests on other games may make some folks gun-shy, but its really the OOC tool to work with staff to figure things out, much as just asking the GM in a TT game what would be needed to talk the merchant into reducing the price when there is no apparent haggle skill.
Econ system and House system needs more explaining. Some of it has been on a hard to find page on the wiki called House Rules, which has been under the Game tab along with a few other things specific to the game. It does need a better explanation and this is something we are working to address. Layout of the wiki is going to be addressed going forward, we have a great volunteer working at this and from what we've seen so far, it looks great.
There may in the end be a lack of some definition. There isn't a set limit of 'this is a game, these are its boundaries'; we're shooting for open role-playing and we don't want limits but we want players to learn what little there is and grow from there. I mean, maybe someone will want to assassinate one of the Emperors at some point, I don't know. As staff we're there to ponder what any number of infinite possibilities will work towards such ends and how it might be possible so we can respond to proceed in that direction.
I know the house system is questionable. I want to point out we've always intended for periodic skill gains outside of Valor/Reputation, similar to Winter Phase, but rather Seasonal. Technically in one or two seasons, those using the econ system will have enough points in House Skills that the chance of 'debt' to the state will be removed. Barring a series of super bad roles, everyone will just make gains for trade or use in building additions, the debt is reflective of a new house starting and its meant to simulate house building in the game from the ground up rather than just coming into well established house (even though thematically they are well established).
ETA - Okay that wasn't real quick, sorry. Similar, all criticism is fair and valid, we do need to know where we may be failing or where we can improve.
