Fatigue and Sleep

Even the wolf lies down. Only the dead and the foolish walk through every night.

In game

How the days wear you down, and how rest and sleep pay it back.

Fatigue is how worn down you are. It builds slowly through every waking hour and quickly when you push yourself.

What wears you down

Being awake. Standing, walking and working all add fatigue at the same steady pace. At that pace alone, it takes more than a week to wear you out completely.
Running. Ten times the pace of walking.
Swimming. Forty times the pace of walking. A long swim spends you fast.
Jumping. A little with every leap.
Hunger and thirst. An empty belly or a dry throat can each double the pace.
Injury, venom and illness. Each makes fatigue build faster. See How the Vitals Interact.
Burdens. Some Burdens weigh on everyone near them. See A World Unseen.

Sit down (R) and fatigue stops building and starts to fall, at twice the pace walking adds it. Any movement stands you up.

Sleep pays back faster than sitting: three times the pace walking adds it. A full night's sleep repays about a full day of ordinary wear.

Find a bed. Aim at a bed within reach and press RMB.
Eight hours. You sleep for eight hours while the world hurries on around you. You cannot act until you wake.
Not too often. Eight hours must pass between lying down and lying down again.

Hunger and thirst keep counting while you sleep. You wake hungrier and thirstier than you lay down.

How well rest pays you back depends on the state you are in while you rest.

Hunger spoils rest. The emptier your belly, the less sitting and sleeping repay.
Thirst spoils it too, though less.
Toxin and illness spoil it as well. See Poison and Sickness.

Eat and drink before you sleep.

Kneeling in worship at an altar can lift fatigue: sometimes a little, sometimes a great deal, sometimes not at all. See A World Unseen.

A slower body. Fatigue hinders your movement and your reactions. Stay rested to stay at your best.
Slower healing. Half spent, you mend at two-thirds the pace. Fully spent, at a third.
Mistakes. Past about seven-tenths spent, a tired body slips up. Keep moving and now and then you stumble. Swing a weapon or tool and now and then it slips. Each costs a little Injury, never enough to open a wound, and the more spent you are, the more often it happens and the more it hurts.