Saturday, August 22, 2009

Yadri Tippits: Conditional Perfection

Just need to get this down. I thought it up yesterday at dinner and told myself to go home and type this up immediately. Note "yesterday at dinner".

I was at Subway eating dinner. I drink Diet Coke but I always mix something else in to add a tinge of flavor (just a small spritz totally changes the taste for me). I like to start off with Sprite or Dr. Pepper and then move towards Cherry Coke (if I want sweet) or Barq's Root Beer (if I want bite). Too often Subway will have Coke Zero instead of Dr. Pepper and it really limits me (I will mix Sprite and Cherry Coke but neither goes with Barq's, so I go from 6 flavors to 3).

Anyway, as I was mixing my drink, I noticed someone looked at me adding two different flavors to my Diet Coke. They were not watching me or giving me a disapproving look, but it did bring the concept of conditional perfection to mind.

Conditional Perfection is a label I give to things that are perfect in certain circumstances but not others. If I want a sweeter drink, such as when I get a Turkey sub, Cherry Coke and Sprite make the perfect drink. But if I get a Roast Beef sub, Cherry Coke and Sprite are no longer the perfect drink; instead, I want Barq's Root Beer.

In a world where the Gods of Law oppose the Gods of Chaos, is there room for conditional perfection? Would one not assume that the Gods of Law have a set and unchanging ideal of perfection? I oppose any relation between Chaos and Perfection but sterility and uniformity do not account for differing circumstances.

Yadri Tippits, a priest of Derrgan, the Wandering God, has long had the quirk of collecting rain water from the petals and leaves of various plants. For one who's palate is properly cleansed and sensitized, these waters provide a myriad of tastes and combinations that can accentuate and perfect any meal. Of course, to the boorish and uncouth drinker, they all taste like water.

Yadri uses his waters to teach the lesson of conditional perfection (along with food, music, painting, and other arts). "Which is perfect," he would ask, "the red wine or the white? Each is perfect in its own place: the red wine with steak, the white with fish." This music is perfect for joyous celebration while this is perfect for sorrow. If you switch them around, neither seems perfect.

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