Contacts
Contacts are people who are willing to provide the character with information, though they are unlikely to offer any service beyond that. Each level of Contacts includes a specific individual, for whom you should work out a description, and a surrounding "halo" of lower-grade connections throughout a social stratum. If you have a specific contact in the local cathedral, for instance, you can also get at least rudimentary information out of some vicars, deacons and altar boys in the area. If your contact is the harbormaster, you can count on getting some information from sailors, longshoremen and tavern-keepers nearby. The difficulty of rolls to extract information from these secondary contacts is always greater than ones involving the individuals with whom your character deals most often, however - at least 7, and perhaps higher, depending upon how rapidly you want the information or how esoteric the information is.
When your character needs information in the utmost hurry, roll Wits + Contacts against a difficulty of 7. Each success produces a distinct piece of information relevant to the topic. Your character needs potentially useful people in the area for this to work, though. (Even the best roll is unlikely to turn up anything if your character is searching for advice on conditions in the Mediterranean Sea among Scottish peasants, for instance.) To gather information over time, your character can put out queries and wait for the results to trickle back in. Roll Charisma + Contacts against difficulty 7. Each success produces one specific piece of information and takes a week to come in. You can shorten this time to three days per piece by raising the difficulty to 8, or one day per piece by raising the difficulty to 9.
1): One major contact and two or three secondary contacts.
2): Two major contacts and about five secondary contacts.
3): Three major contacts and eight to 10 secondary contacts.
4): Four Major Contacts and 10 to 15 secondary contacts.
5): Five major contacts and a great many secondary contacts (almost anyone in the general field of expertise in the area may share some information).
