On SWLOR, your characters start off as no one, nothing. Alone, factionless, you begin to find your way through the world. You level up, make friends, join factions, make enemies. But your progress on this server need not stop at Skill Level 350.
Rather, after your character has been around for at least 2 weeks you are free to submit a ticket to pursue “mastery” in a given skill, ability or technique. This can range from force powers and lightsaber forms, to skills like slicing, dogfighting, ship command and tactics, stealth, sniping or breaching tactics. There really isn't a limit to what is allowed, though some powers or skills such as Psychometry will either simply not be offered to players or will be very difficult to get.
Characters of particular rank in a faction will often also be accelerated through early masteries, with them earning one in only a week (more on time to earn later), and DM's can offer “masteries” sometimes as a reward for participation in plots or for other reasons. These free ranks do not count toward your total accrued ranks.
Each time you earn a rank, you will be provided an updated list of your masteries, and prompted to select a new skill to pursue. You can change from one skill to another without penalty and without resetting timers.
Each rank received will also be accompanied by a general explanation of what the rank entails, and sometimes will be accompanied by loot. However, please do not pester DM's for loot, as not all masteries can be adequately portrayed through what is available in the toolset (how would we even portray the slicing skill?). Any DM loot granted from a skill rank can only be used by the PC who received it unless the item indicates otherwise.
In general, the following are the ranks:
First, your character must have been on the server for a minimum of 2 weeks. After this period of time has passed, you may submit a ticket requesting a certain skill. The DM team will then respond, letting you know whether or not you're approved to pursue the skill, any other caveats they want to place on it, and when you will have earned it.
The DM team is free to require additional time for a skill, as well as to lower the time your skill requires. For example, a DM is within their rights to reduce the time it takes for you to earn a rank in Shii Cho, for instance, based on some accomplishment of yours in a plot or event, or for training others, or for just being an awesome person. It is purely up to the DM or QM if they choose to deduct time.
Your first rank will generally take 2 weeks, and each rank after that, regardless of whether you pursue the same skill or take ranks in multiple skills, will take an additional week. So Shii Cho 1 takes 2 weeks, then rank 2 takes 3 weeks, but going and pursuing Force Lightning 1 afterward would still take 4 weeks.
There is at present a cap of 8 weeks on the time it will take to acquire any rank. Any time you pursue Rank 5 (Grandmaster) it will require 5 months (not counting DM adjustments) and each PC can only have a single grandmaster skill. Players of higher rank may be permitted more than one grandmaster skill at the DM team's discretion. As the “Grandmaster” rank basically puts you up on par with a lot of canon characters, the DM team will be VERY particular about whether you are permitted it.
Basically, everything is possible, barring some things the DM team will not allow players to receive. Please note that the DM may tweak your request. For instance, if you request a very particular ability, the DM team will generally treat it as you requesting a broader mastery and add in a note to our log that you have “mastered” a particular subfield of it. Wanting to master “Hyperdrive Repair” for instance would probably result in us just putting you down as pursuing “Ship Engineering" with a note added as to your focus.