[Dragaera] Unstoppable Force vs Immovable Object

[Jon Lincicum]

Scott Schultz wrote:
 > > Howard Brazee wrote:
>> Remember, we are not on Earth.   It is possible that the emperor can 
>> take on a persona which is in their society is untouchable, as everybody 
>> pretends not to recognize him "on holiday".
>>     
>
> That's easy. She acquired him before she was an Empress; assuming that
> "today's" Laszlo is the same person that Paarfi wrote about. Zivra, as I
> recall, had no idea that she was a Phoenix, let alone that she was the
> de-facto heir. Whatever it was that brought Zivra and Laszlo together, it
> was unimpeded by the trappings of State that tend to impede the Emperor. 
>
> Can an Emperor go visit Valabar's if s/he wants? Sure. A Dragon Emperor, for
> instance, might insist on such a public appearance as a signal of confidence
> in his own strength. Is it likely to be simple, or easy? I'd say that's
> unlikely. If the Emperor enjoyed Valabar's that much, it would make more
> sense to hire a Valabar-trained chef or even put part of the family on
> retainer as Imperial Chef or something. This sort of rigamarole is a big
> part of the reason why a Dragon aspires to be Warlord rather than Emperor.
> The Emperor has way too much crap to deal with and hardly any of the "fun"
> work.
>
> Getting back to the original question - Let's assume the Empress graced
> Valabar's with her presence. I'd expect that Mr. Valabar would treat her the
> same as he treated any other guest, observing rightly that she was there
> based on the house's reputation and that she would be expecting a certain
> kind of experience. I don't think he'd ask her what she desired. He'd offer
> the typical menu choices and then make a decision to accommodate her or not
> if she requested some other meal. (I'm picturing the seen in _Get Shorty_
> when Danny Devito's character ignores the menu and asks for scrambled eggs
> with capers in them. *heh*)
>   
I'd just like to point out that, as Howard put it, we are *not on Earth*...

Dragaerans, by most accounts, do not gather a huge amount of pleasure 
from eating. They do not get fat (with the occasional exception, like 
Belly--who was chided about how he ate "like an Easterner") and the 
Dragaeran that can cook well is (by Vlad's accounts, anyway) extremely 
rare.

Hence, eating out at a fancy restaurant likely does not have the same 
sort of prestige factor that we place upon it. Sure, Dragaerans do go to 
Valabar's, and they can certainly tell that it is better food than 
they'd get elsewhere... But eating in general just doesn't have the same 
cache' amongst the Faerie as it does for humans... So going out of one's 
way to go to a particular restaurant is maybe not as important to them 
as it would be to us.

I'd say it's quite possible that Zerika *did* visit Valabar's before she 
became Empress, however, seeing as she was raised by a wealthy family in 
Adrilankha... So maybe she does "order out" on occasion--though I'd say 
it's far more likely she just gets "Mr. Valabar" (and some of his staff) 
to show up and cook her a meal in the Imperial kitchens from time to 
time. After all, I bet the palace's cooking facilities are just as good 
(if not better than) Valabar's.

To the left, however, I'm sure that Zerika is concerned about nor 
appearing too decadent. Given her house's reputation, I'll wager she 
tries to limit her vices to maintain her reputation as a reborn Phoenix, 
rather than a decadent one.

Majikjon