Rivals test each other inside the rituals of politeness. A warm embrace with sweet words can be an attempt to crush the other man, and the proper answer is to return the courtesy with greater force. Hostility and good manners happen in the same gesture, and the stronger party wins without breaking etiquette.
The hero's most trusted companion is openly greedy, sly and a habitual liar, yet stays steadfast to the hero alone. The vices that make him dangerous to everyone else do not weaken his loyalty to one person. In this world a man can be untrustworthy in general and completely trustworthy in particular.
A master trickster's reputation does much of his work before he lifts a hand. Great kings and champions are expected to tremble at the mere mention of his name. Fame built on cunning becomes a weapon that unsettles enemies in advance.
Cunning is treated as an honored craft. Its master marches in the hero's procession with grand titles, fine clothes and a kit of special tools, and his schemes are praised like feats of arms. Guile is a recognized form of heroism, not a shameful substitute for it.