Chimeran

BIOLOGY The Chimeran Ascendency is comprised of a composite species, the titular Chimera. Separately, a Chysyk is simply a large bipedal insectoid species and Justarii is a species of fungus; neither capable of achieving sentience on their own. Yet when an adult Chysyk drone plays host to large enough growth of Justarii, sentience is achieved and a Chimeran individual is “born”. The lifespan of a Chysyk is approximately 25 human years, with only around 20 of which considered optimal conditions for symbiosis. A culture of Justarii can outlive multiple generations of Chysyk, spanning around 120 human years. All Chimeran individuals possess a body mass of approximately 65% Chysyk and 35% Justarii (give or take 5% in either direction) – with the Chysyk forming the “skeleton” and a Justarii culture as the “meat/shell”. Both contribute to brain capacity. Chimeran individuals do not experience pain from piercing or bludgeoning, but experience heightened pain levels from burns.
Ever since the Tenebrian Empire discovered memory capacity and the concept of identity were stored within the culture of Justarii, Chimeran individuals have come to view the Chysyk more as vehicles, with a thriving genetic engineering industry within the Chimeran Ascendency for customized Chysyk. However, while memory seems to be carried by Justarii, personality is carried by the Chysyk. For example, there have been recorded instances of a culture of Justarii being successfully transplanted onto an unbonded Chysyk upon host-death. Perfect memory recall was achieved, but whereas the previous Chysyk host had been very serious, the new host body was of the jovial sort and thus the individual adopted a more laissez-faire approach to life afterwards.
Chimeran reproduction is markedly dissimilar from most galactic races. Modern Chysyk pupae are hatched from eggs in House-sponsored birthing creches. Justarii are capable of both sexual and asexual fertilization, but most simply choose asexual reproduction as a matter of efficiency. In both cases, a new culture of Justarii simply buds off from the parent and is mentally distinct. A culture of Justarii is capable of surviving without a host for up to two weeks without memory degradation and up to a month (depending on culture size) until complete death. A single culture of Justarii is capable of being hosted by two or more Chysyk bodies, but the effect is detrimental to the Justarii: simply being hosted by two bodies rapidly causes insanity, while three or more bodies causes greatly diminished intellectual capacity that becomes exponentially worse as the number of hosts increases. As such, inhabiting two or more hosts is a serious cultural taboo, going as far as to consider it a capital offense.
Being as they are a composite species that share a brain between two organisms, Chimeras are highly resistant to mind-affecting abilities. As such, it is also very rare for a Chimera to exhibit MES sensitivity. Those that do possess unusually potent abilities and are highly honored members of society, holding specialized intelligence and SpecOps positions within the military hierarchy.


SOCIETAL STRUCTURE/GOVERNMENT Chimeran society is organized via a clan structure. Towns are typically organized around and governed by a single House, with the largest cities typically composed of a single Great House and some of its Bannermen (Lesser Houses). Since gender isn’t a social construct that concerns Chimeras beyond breeding Chysyk, Houses aren’t matriarchal or patriarchal. Instead, they are a meritocracy and organized under a Doyen (roughly, an elected king) and their Exemplar - the most trusted advisor and one who best champions the espoused ideals of a House (roughly, the prime minister). The capital city of Eclipse, built on the site where the Doyen and Exemplars of the Chimeran Great Houses surrendered to the Tenebrian Empire and swore fealty, is populated by the ruling Great House and holds estates belonging to every officially recognized House.
Currently, all Chimeran Houses are sworn to follow the leadership of House Lux under Grand High Doyen Adze-Skean and Grand High Exemplar Jaxton Ryder. Doyen and Exemplar ranks are as follows in order of lowest to highest: standard Doyen/Exemplar, Greater, Grand (state-level), and Grand High. House Lux is the first House to attain Grand High ranking since the Tenebrian Empire invasion, thanks primarily to the influence of Jaxton Ryder and his command over the surviving Tenebrians.
The military is organized in a similar fashion. Each House sponsors their own standing military force, most of which they devote to the common defense. The least affluent Houses normally cannot afford to field more than an army platoon or starfighter flight. Equipment quality and training standards are established by the ruling House. Forces which are devoted to the common defense fall under the command structure of the Houses to which they swear fealty. For example, House Lux may command any unit in the Chimeran military, while a Greater High-ranked House cannot issue legally enforceable orders to lesser ranked forces if said forces do not belong to one of their Bannermen in the hierarchy.
The concepts of honor and discovery are two important drives of the Chimeran civilization. They pursue respect. As a result of their defeat at the hands of the Tenebrian Empire, Chimeras now believe that strength is an avenue to respect and that knowledge is a direct avenue to amass strength. As such, military and STEM professions are very popular. Additionally, whereas dying in service of something greater than oneself is considered to be a noble end, finding a way to survive (while still acting honorably) is a fate the Chimeran people value most.

RELIGION Religion is not currently an important aspect of the modern Chimeran civilization. This was obviously not always the case. Pre-Tenebrian War, Chimeras were heavily involved with ancestor worship. Particularly, Chimeras venerated what they call “Paragons”. Paragons are exceptionally famous or highly influential deceased Exemplars who contributed something of great importance to the Chimeran people. After the war, the Tenebrian occupying force aggressively pursued a campaign to break the people of their old belief structures. While they were not wholly successful, with enclaves of religious holdouts spanning their homeworld, the Tenebrians at least managed to shift the societal focus more towards technological discovery. However, under the direction of House Lux, Paragon worship has begun to work its way back to relevance.
Technology Chimeran Technology uses a lot of "local varieties" when it comes to living and unliving materials. They are Mandate Tech Level 4 in their own way and indeed due to being visited by Mandate officials Pre-Scream and even pre fall of the Mandate, they were able to base some of their own technological advancements off human design. What could not be manufactured seems to be grown- for example power cells have metal caps but the filaments inside are something like jellyfish fronds rather than copper wire for conductivity. Everything follows a technological design or blueprint humans and others would find recognizable, but purpose grown plants or micro-organisms are used in place of chemicals, catalysts, energy sources, and so on. Their armor is purpose grown Chitin, fastened over thin sheets of metal to keep the shape, and so on. The only thing that looks entirely inorganic is the air systems for their space suits- due to the unique challenges to life hard void presents.
The truly unique thing about them seems to be their anatomy and the connection between the vehicle organism and the mind- something far more pronounced than what is seen in other sentient species even though on an abstract enough level, the mind and body are different entities with the mind in control.