Hello, I am also relatively new.

My understanding of the rare talents differs from what you wrote, so maybe someone with a bit more insight might be able to correct either one of us.

Now, by my understanding it works as follows.

About 5% of characters have these rare talent (at least that is the number I see getting used most places). These characters are usually part of the story but if I understand correctly they don't need to be part of the story.

Additionally to the 5% chance of even having a talent the talents have prerequisites. So if you were going the blacksmith route and got a combat talent, you might never find out that you even had one to begin with since you would need a certain level of combat skill to activate it.

As I said, this is just how I understood it, someone please correct me if that is wrong.

Unless things have changed, the general idea is that up to 5% of "characters" will have talents. That is to say if you don't have one now, you might in your next life. Of that 5%, the talents will vary in nature and strength but will initially, in many cases, be dormant.

Each talent may take certain circumstances to "activate it" and make you aware of it's existence. If you happen to discover it, you can then develop it.

Talents may not be all good - there may be downsides and risks to any. It's likely the stronger the talent is, the greater the risk of a downside.

When discovering talents, some may be passive ie become apparent when crafting or doing mundane things. Others may require more exceptional circumstances to trigger, even a near death encounter. Where strong, rare talents are concerned, the engine may "decide" when to activate talents.

An example - The engine may look for a kingdom under threat. It may look for someone near the front lines, in the right circumstances. It might take story points into account and potentially allegiance. In short, it's not always about story points. Some talents that are more combat oriented may require combat to trigger. There's no point activating destructive wizardry in the middle of a kingdom at peace really..

In regards to building up story points, this can be done by anyone. Story points may also play a part in discovery, opportunities for promotion etc too. Story points can be earned not just through combat, but any part you play in Elyria, be it crafting, exploring and adventuring, discovering new things, managing your people etc.