constant escape
winter withered, warm
Well it does seem like pasty is the popular and preferable state to be in, so that could be a good argument for the reason behind it.
Perhaps it maps on to power. The powerful can avoid the weather and weariness, and thus are higher on a scale - but on the absolute scale of material quality of life, not the relative scale. So the benchmark of average pastiness rises over time, but so does the difference of pastiness from most pasty to least pasty (and at some height pastiness advances abstractly, rather than literally, bodily).
Perhaps it maps on to power. The powerful can avoid the weather and weariness, and thus are higher on a scale - but on the absolute scale of material quality of life, not the relative scale. So the benchmark of average pastiness rises over time, but so does the difference of pastiness from most pasty to least pasty (and at some height pastiness advances abstractly, rather than literally, bodily).