No Eric, you’re not making it more confusing, but you are answering a different question ~ one that I am not asking.
I understand perfectly well why using !important makes CSS behave differently.
What I am trying to understand is what makes, for example, a combination of [default] epik-darkblue work together with [custom body class] epik-pink, without the addition of !important, but not [default] epik-darkblue together with a combination of [custom body class] epik-black, only with !important?
That’s what I am trying to figure out.