Improving the Wellbeing of the Community
How active improvements can earn Virtues and later become rooted Merits through community review.
Direct donations are one path toward a title in the community, but they are not the only one. Another path is to bring real improvements to the wellbeing of the community through effort, delivery, and achievement.
Direct donation is automatically awarded with rooted Merits. When someone contributes through initiative and results instead, they may earn Virtues. Virtues can be converted to rooted Merits immediately on demand, or they are automatically converted to rooted Merits after four years.
This path is different from donation because it requires review. Improvements to the wellbeing of the community need to be examined by existing community members, and Virtues are granted through that review process. In other words, contribution through work is recognized by community judgment rather than awarded automatically.