Daily Life
We all know how Dynasts name themselves. Patricians use the same model, though the breadth of family numbers increases by a factor of about 50. Slaves have names from all over Creation and are hard to pin down. Peasants tend to have simple one-word names in High Realm. These sound descriptive and special to the parents, but to Dynasts, every farm thrall seems to be named something random and badly pronounced, like "Razzit", "Bussoyness Cycle" or "Fishstick". Most citizens tend to do the same thing, but they consult an astrologer or midwife before picking the words used. As such, they end up with names expected to describe them, like "Talented Smith", "Three Horses Bowing", "Lord's Crossing's Hopeful Promise" or "Cherry Blossom from Lesser South Arjuf". Some citizens mimic their betters and take the name of their clan (Blackthunder, say, or Ardensia).
Of course, outside the legions and the order, Dynasts never interact with peasants and rarely with civilians. The patrician class exists for the very purpose of acting as the relevant intermediatary. The idea of speaking to a peasant directly is a risque personal liberty or a strange quirk, mainly because of its inefficiency- your average Dynastic merchant-prince doesn't know what their clothes or food cost, and the average slave overseer has only the vaguest idea of what any hundred slaves did with their day.
The most visible instance of this is meeting etiquette- slaves and peasants must grovel when within twenty feet of a Prince of the Earth, and a civilian kneel within 10. Patricians and dynasts can stay on their feet and show respect with a very low bow.
For the dynast, no outfit can be more fashionable for daily use than armor. The appropriate colors, cuts and styles of a given season are decided by a complex system involving house, season, age and aspect, requiring a Diff 2 Socialize roll to dress appropriately. Legs and torsos are covered by social convention, but the youth of House Sesus and Nellens seem to be dismissing this tradition in preparation for summer.
The basic foods for the rich are dishes like stir-fried vegetables and chickens in sauces, spiced breads with dipping sauces, pickled or sugared fruits, sushi and vegetable curries with rice. Generally, the method of serving is to prepare a mix of large bowls of simple fair from which everyone takes their fill mixed with a series of courses of very small specially prepared dishes that are delivered hot and are to be eaten in a prearranged order. These small dishes are the standard by which the mean is judged by and every decent chef should have a signature dish that they serve with every meal. As a dragonblood, the only way to escape eating your chef's specialty without insulting your own household-keeping skills is to dine out or hire multiple chefs.
Everyone under Resources 4, even the Dynasts, treats meat as rare. Patricians and unexalted dynasts have it once or twice per week at the largest family gatherings, while Exalts (expected to eat meat once a day as a sign of draconic unity) make do with a nominal serving of something cheap, such as a sliver of venison or a specially prepared nugget of pork in special herb breads dipped in wine. Those with Resources 3 can afford to have real rather than nominal amounts meat at every meal without giving their seneschals stress migraines. Beef, river dragon, siaka and condor are all considered noble delicacies and are prices accordingly. One the signs of extreme wealth is to keep a master chef who specializes in a beef or siaka dish on retainer and House Catahk's makes as much money importing beef as they do slaves from Harbourhead.
Much more important than food is drinks. The social rules regarding drinks are very complex, and most dynasts spend a year of their primary school education being forced to fetch drinks for an older relative or family friend attending their school, risking teasing or beatings until they learn the social customs without being explicitly told. Some sample rules include: - A tea ceremony is the most important unofficial social ceremony in the Realm, and to mispour or misdrink is an immense disgrace - Green, brown and blue teas are never to be had with food - Blue teas are only to be made in china kettles - If tea is offered, no other drink can be offered along with it - Beer is never to be drunk or offered to a dynast unless they are wearing their armor
House V'Neef has rendered all the classic guides to wise drinking obsolete with the extremely successful introduction of wine- an alcoholic beverage with a variety of tastes rivaling those of tea, with a wide range of prices and an associated attitude of refinement.
Cats, rats, peregrines and very large lizards are commonly kept as pets, while dogs, horses and austriches are considered to noble to be treated as playthings in that manner. Instead, these grand beasts are bred and sold for great sums as bodyguards, hunters and mounts, companions not allowed to go to waste. Blackstaff mastiffs are the most popular hunting dogs at the moment, while the fireman and thunderstride horses of Cynis Four-Hoof Glory Rider are peers of the elite nomadic horses used by the Lookshy legions.
Similarly, portee ivory dogs, songbirds and monkeys are kept by dynasts of a non-military bent and there is a growing subculture of salons held by dynasts devoted to these creatures. It is noted that Sesus Nagezzer is very, very fond of his four tiny simian companions.
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