"Kites rise highest against the wind - not with it."
- Winston Churchill
To be strong in Idalos requires conviction and determination. It requires consistency, perseverance, a good diet and a greater want. Strength can augment many things. It can be used as a supplement to labor - such as with heavy lifting, or the manipulation of objects and structures. It can even be used for the sake of entertainment, as many have claimed to have seen great shows where a man has wrestled against stalwart foes, such as predatorial animals and beasts. Anything that requires great force is something that strength can be applied to. Primarily however, strength is learned and mastered by those who wish to use it for the purpose of martial combat. - Winston Churchill
Strength affects three things directly - the force that your body can apply to an object or other thing, the proper usage of your muscles to exert more strength than they would otherwise be able to, and the ability to cancel out physical force with your own, which is something that can be done even defensively to an extent. For this reason strength and resistance are often seen as supplementary to one another, as someone with the hardened and perfected body that comes with a masterful knowledge and practice of strength can often find their body as if stone in the face of obstacles.
As a note, strength affects your musculature and applies to your entire body. While arm strength is obviously notable, your legs and other places on your body will become more muscular (if you're training this skill evenly and correctly), defined and powerful as you expand and go deeper into this skill. It should be noted that someone with a great degree of strength is notable to others. You simply cannot be extremely strong without evidently having that manifest in your body. This doesn't mean you must appear as an utter bodybuilder or a hulking mass of meat, but one with great strength will have very defined and likely larger arms and legs, at the minimum.
Training
To train strength, the user must exercise frequently and maintain a nutritional diet with significant protein balanced with the desired caloric intake. Health experts such as doctors can provide the aspiring strong individual a proper exercise regimen based on their body type and other factors, though ultimately the trainee will learn what benefits them as well as their limits. Lifting heavy weights with both your arms and legs is necessary, and a smart bodybuilder knows to balance this with the muscles on their back, abdomen, pectorals, thighs, etc.
Very lithe, but very strong, individuals exist and this is often due to their body type. The training regimen is the same, though this often goes hand in hand with agility rather than being solely larger and more powerful than others.
Novice: 1-25
A novice of strength is someone who has invested some degree of time and energy into mastering their body. While they are not significantly stronger than others around them, they can certainly apply more force than others with no time invested into their physical strength. Their body will likely become more defined as they have probably begun developing a training regimen at this point. It is also likely that Novice practitioners of strength are merely those with jobs that involve heavy lifting and other such things, thus the development of strength is natural, but not exceptional or as practiced as actual bodybuilders and those who endure strength training.
Competent: 26-49
Those competent in this ability have begun to have the fruits of their labor manifest across their body, with their muscles becoming more toned and defined. They are notably stronger than others and will be able to lift heavy weights without too much strain. Their muscles strengthen to reduce the physical drawbacks of heavy lifting, and they become notably more capable of applying strength to their muscles. Even someone with smaller and lankier arms than another might be able to out muscle them if they know how to apply their strength properly. The punch, kick, bash or tackle by someone who is competent in the manifestation of their strength is certainly much more powerful and deadly than someone without this training.
Expert: 50-75
An expert of strength is someone who can be spotted in a crowd. The definition and some would say perfection of their musculature is notable. Someone with this degree of strength is often removed of muscle and bone issues as their physical form has been strengthened significantly by their strict diet and training regimen. They tend to be very healthy individuals with developed body types, though even smaller men and women can be experts of strength, as a true expert knows how to use what they have to great degree. At this stage, the individual can lift extremely heavy objects and apply a great deal of force behind their movements. Wielders of this degree of strength have been known to be able to break bones with singular blows, with the force behind the movements of their body exceptional. They can apply so much force as to cancel other demonstrations of strength out - a fist meeting someone's elbow would likely leave their arm fractured rather than your fist so much as bruised.
Master: 76-99
A master of strength is a person who is, really, only limited by the mortal form. They know how to near-perfectly apply the muscles in their body and have through great effort, perseverance and a continuous dietary and regimental lifestyle, become living examples of the great power that mortals can exhibit. Some of the greatest masters of strength across Idalosian history have lifted weights of over 600 kg, quite literally capable of wrestling bears and great monsters with their unbelievable usage of applied force. With a single punch these exemplars of physical prowess can dismantle bones and can leave a man dead or near death from just that one blow. With training in weaponry or unarmed combat, their ability to damage and rip through objects and flesh is unrivaled, save for by Legends of this skill. When applying physical force versus another, masters of strength will always oust their foe, and there have been stories of men punching maces mid-swing and the mace becoming bent and mangled while the fist remains in good shape.
Legendary: 100
A legendary practitioner of strength is one with a body that is perfectly attuned to their potential. They reach the height of what their genetics allow, and some would say surpass their genetics. Their body is perfectly defined and their ability to use the muscles they have as well as demonstrate force is unbelievable. Legendary users of strength have been said to have tackled gigantic beasts to the ground, killing them in a few solid blows. They have lifted and thrown great boulders and have slashed through reinforced plate mail with a light swing of their blade. One of the greatest wielders of strength in history, Vakarion of Rharne, was said to have bashed Ilaren in a tavern brawl, applying so much force that the Immortal fell temporarily unconscious. Shortly after the action, she raised his hands to the crowd and named him a Hero of Rharne, one of the few who could come close to besting her.
These individuals, however rare, are followed by tales of their inhuman demonstrations of strength and the brutalized state of the bodies of their foes.
Credit: Alistair (Incubus)
