No Fear Makes Meat Queer

Bala'orasian bugbears, like all other kinds of bugbears, are ferocious, intimidating, and savage. They take pride in that reputation, and they go to great lengths to reinforce it in front of other species. They find excuses to publicly display their strength and stamina, they bully other bugbears and other species, and they try hard to inspire fear in all living creatures that can see them, even other bugbears.
Part of this mystique manifests as a myth about the food that Bala'orasian bugbears consume. They firmly believe that food is healthier for them, as well as tastier, if the creature felt fear just before it died. This food myth has infused every area of their society, and every social caste. Decades ago, the Bala'orasian Bugbear Bureaucracy paid a group of scientists to analyze meat from a corpse that felt fear just before it was killed and meat from a corpse that felt joy just before it was killed. The scientists claim they found incontrovertible evidence supporting this myth with fact. However, if anyone asks to see the data, the scientists say that, since the government paid for the study, they own the data and you will have to ask the government to see it. Every bugbear knows the phrase "no fear makes meat queer." Bugbears are conditioned to hesitate and be reluctant to kill a creature that is not afraid; it is very deeply ingrained and entrenched into their culture.
In truth, there is no difference between meat from a corpse that felt fear just before it was killed and meat from a corpse that felt joy just before it was killed. But bugbears will probably never admit to that; again, they like to inspire fear and terror in other species, and this myth certainly helps them achieve that goal. The myth is not logical, but very few myths are.

Image generated by DeepAI. (2024). AI Image Generator. DeepAI. https://deepai.org/machine-learning-model/text2img