Training with Augmentation of the Body

[Andnoa]

Training with Augmentation of the Body and Potential Training Regimens for Acolytes and Imperials.


By Apprentice Tutam

As per my previous work (seen in the acolyte archives1), I have made a point of trying to find unconventional methods that would allow for training to be accomplished with limited resources. Within this document I would aim to prove that skill in the force can be trained with minimal resources and it is only the limitations in creativity or imagination that hold a force sensitive back from constant advancement. This is also a direct rebuke of so many Acolytes I have been approached by since my ascension, who have viewed my ascension through the prism of 'luck' rather than through hard work and constant self improvement. Luck is a crutch for the weak and the stupid and it is only through great effort and passion can a being advance in the Dark Side. To rely on fate or the galaxy to provide for you does not show your strength nor does it allow you to grow. To draw upon you anger and hatred, your pain and passion would lead to many skills that set the Sith apart from the rest of the galaxy. As an example of this, in my second trial I removed the hand and lower arm of a man with a gun to my chest before he could even react to my attack by this method in conjunction with the Cho Sun mark of contact from Shii Cho. Through my skill in this technique he stood no chance in a direct confrontation with me. Methods to advance to this level are as follows:
Method One: Exhaustion Based Training.
This is a simple method though it is available in nearly all scenarios. The great weakness of Augmentation as a power is the draw it places upon the body. The aim of this training is to mitigate this. To train by this method you need only find an activity that would place strain upon the body and draw on the force to augment your body in a limited way, not attempting to sprint through your energy reserves but make them last as long as possible. In this example, I will be using jogging around Sunfall base in a perimeter sweep.
This will begin easily enough and for the first few minutes (if you have a non-pathetic level of physical fitness) you will feel no great burn of energy. To those with knowledge of such things, this would be identical to aerobic fitness training but as well as drawing on your body the dark side would provide you with a secondary energy source. Continue to work, to push yourself. If you feel that the pace is not sufficient and that you can go faster, further or quicker do so. As fatigue begins to set in, you will begin to benefit more and more from the augmentation. This is a trap to fall into however as the relief provided by such would come at the expense of your stamina. Though your body may ache your connection to the force being drawn upon in such a manner will exhaust you mentally. To benefit from this training you must push through even that. Ideal training would keep you on this line as long as possible. You will be at your limit but by remaining there for long periods of time you will gradually increase this limit. Continue until you can go no further. Repeat this as often as you are free to do so and you will find your stamina will increase.
Method Two: Burst Based Training.
In my previous work on Telekinsis, I threw rocks and this will become somewhat of a theme. Orsus has many rocks and debris torn from the city by war. The goal of this method is to pick up and hold high above your head large pieces of this debris. You will work in sets and repetitions and these numbers will be determined by just what you aim to achieve. If you wish to train your strength, you will lift the heaviest rocks often as few as five times in a row with large waits in between doing so. This will allow you to have bursts of power when needed and is my preferred method for doing so. If you wish to train your stamina, as with method one, you will attempt to lift smaller weights but doing so in larger sets of fifteen or twenty repetitions with much shorter breaks between sets. This will allow you to apply less force but for a much longer period of time.
Another way of improving this training is by targeting certain muscle groups for maximum impact. As someone who does not have biceps or indeed many arm muscles at all, it is of no use to me to train my arms as cybernetics will not benefit from this. Instead it is of far more use for me to train my existing muscles such as torso based ones, shoulders and hips. This can be adapted into a training regime by placing these muscles under stress from the training. Legs could be trained by laying on your back, holding a rock with your feet and pushing it up and down. It is also an option to do sit-ups for the stomach area or squats with heavy rocks held in the arms or on the back to train the legs. This method, as the other one, is an option for imperials as well, though without the force all they do is train the body.
Method Three: Precision Based Training
This will not directly train the body but the co-ordination. It is not enough for a Sith to have physical strength if they lack the grace to apply it in a direction of their choosing. Wild flailing will lead to defeat in combat. This method would have similarities to my earlier work in that it involves throwing debris at a target, though this time with the body and not with telekinesis. This will be achieved by setting up a target (here a medium sized stone some forty meters away) and propelling a rock towards it. Nearly all can throw that far without force augmentation, you may state, but force augmentation would provide a unique challenge in this. If you use all the strength and speed it provides with no control, accuracy will prove an issue. To use both strength and speed in conjunction with precision will prove a challenge but one worthy of overcoming. The debris is then thrown at the target with a view to hitting it as hard as possible while maintaining a good hit. In this case a good hit would be discerned from a hit that is perpendicular to the target and producing of a large 'crack' sound of stone on stone. This method is also suitable for grenade training for the Imperials, though I would suggest using a dummy grenade of the same size and weight as a live one so that the muscle memory can be honed further.
Conclusions
To train the body is essential to all who would seek to serve the Empire. We will win through not only superior technology, philosophy and creed, but the superiority of each individual fighter over the bloated or malnourished that the republic has been known to send. Strength of body in conjunction with strength of mind would be a vital step upon the road to this. We must be capable of going further, faster and doing more than any of the republic or other such vile foes could dream of. The sith code supports this action as well through the third line "Through Strength, I gain Power.". This in turn leads to the fourth line "Through Power I gain Victory" and a proof of my point. Though there are many kinds of strength, I would struggle to find a Sith alive who does not believe that martial strength is not one of the most important of all.
Controlling Force Augmentation and using it is a superior method of accomplishing this. As a power it would grant both strength and speed (in moderation when compared to Force Speed) and provides both an excellent starting point for any who would take the martial path as well as a keen focus with which to maintain the body. Both of these paths would lead to Victory.
Addendum
As with my previous essay, it has occurred to me that by providing this knowledge to the acolyte pool may grant them power that they have not earned. My rebuke of this would be that this document does not actually grant them any power and in fact only by training thoroughly will they gain anything from this. These methods contained would not give any tangible improvement after just one attempt and it would still require strength of passion to gain anything from this. My last document was read and learnt from by some but I still see an inherent weakness within the acolyte pool. So many think that because they were born lucky enough, they deserve all the power and respect in the Empire. This is a lie and a mark of the mentally weak. There are quadrillions in the galaxy, thousands and maybe millions who are force sensitive. What sets the Sith apart from these inferiors is a strength of will and passion. It is not enough to rely on luck. It never will be. I am reminded of a motivational poem by acclaimed poet Apprentice Eoj Otisopse (here roughly translated by another from the original Sith):

Try to be best, because you're only a man and a man has to learn to take it.Try to believe though the going gets rough that you have to hang tough to make it.History repeats itself, try and you'll succeed.Never doubt that you are the one and you can have your dreams!You're the best, around and nothing will ever keep you down.

Glory to the Empire.