Tue 10 May 2022, 00:12
I want to tread carefully here in reply to your question. Short answer: There is NO limit to Fatigue + Load. The true limit is Load. However, the Weary condition applies EITHER at maximum Load, or when the combined total of Load +Fatigue 》 Endurance.
Long Answer with rationale: As far as I am concerned, the Load limit is linked to your Strength attribute.
Whilst fresh, you can pick up Gear to this Load limit, and then the maximum is reached.
At the point of maximum Load, your muscles are on the brink of no longer holding the weight. (You are at that point described as "the last straw on the camel's back".) A bigger shield or a heavier weapon is beyond you. The weight of all the Gear you have uses all your Strength when you move. At maximum Load, you apply maximum Effort, and with some pain, you can move (and, presumably, even fight). Just.
That pain shows itself as being Weary because you have reached a Strength constraint.
Being Weary doesnt really make your muscles shrink. It's the moment when maximum Effort is going through your muscles, when every bit of energy your circulation system can deliver PER SECOND is going to those muscles. You have in fact reached a Power constraint.
In humans, that power constraint causes lactic acid to build up and it Hurts to continue. In such situations, many bodies react to this muscle pain by working at lower Power. [Only proper athletes work through this pain barrier to develop their muscles further I am led to believe.]
Now, going on a Journey means travelling across terrain with differing demands on the muscles at different times. (Some roads are more bumpy or steep than others!). Picking up Fatigue represents - for me anyway - producing lactic acid while going over the steeper or harder bits. Now, the Load has not increased, but the power constraint is working overtime while going uphill or moving across sticky mud. Lactic acid because of extra power demands is creating the Weary condition, without changing the Load. Same effect but different origin.
This then is the key bit for me: When Weary, your muscles can still carry the Load, it just hurts while you do it. And the more lactic acid you have built up in your limbs, the longer it takes to recover.