Chimera
Should a dream come to shape, would it be tall or small? Would it reach for your hand and ask you to dance? Would it be blue or chartreuse or golden or white? What if it stands with rills of hair that glisten in a collage of hues?
The question is needless. It is not a matter of should, nor would, nor if, which all reside in hypothesis.
The truth is that Dreams are, and they are in the form of chimeras.
Basic Information
Anatomy
by ZeirosLion
Genetics and Reproduction
All chimeras are intersex with functioning penis, testicles, vagina, and ovaries. At the start of sexual maturity, gametes form with menstruation occurring approximately every 55 days. As with most mammals, procreation requires the fertilization of an ovum by sperm cells. When an adult chimera is pregnant, production of both sperm and ova is ceased. Hormones trigger the activation of the mammary glands in the chest for the period after birth that a kit (infant chimera) must nurse. The enlarged mammary period lasts for around four years after birth, and most kits are weened off of their parent at the age of three. The gestation period lasts ten months.
Growth Rate & Stages
Ages 0 months to 3 years:
-infancy
-lives off of nursing milk of child's bese
-referred to as a "kit"
Ages 4 years to 13 years:
-childhood
-developmental period for psychological growth
-can be viewed as early (4 to 7) and late (8 to 13)
Ages 14 years to 19 years:
-transitional period from childhood to adulthood
-culturally significant period for career training
-sexual maturity begins
-physical changes become more apparent
Ages 20 years to 42 years:
-young adulthood and the very beginning of it
-marked as the age of adulthood and legal independence
-culturally expected to begin career field and deeper understanding of self
-sexual maturity has peaked, body fully capable of impregnation and birthing
-more than likely will have spent time contemplating family life
Ages 43 years to 78 years:
-docile period
-parenthood begins
-filial roles solidify
-authority roles crystallize
-expected to have intrinsic understanding and the capability of sharing deep thoughts
-philosophic, religious, and career status tend towards increasing in importance
Ages 79 years to 120 years:
-cultural expectation to understand deep dreams of self, others, and creator god Ouseltomex
-transference of knowledge and skills to younger generation through verbalization
-if proficient enough, can do direct transfer of knowledge and internalized experiences
-increase in duration of sleep as individual's soul and mind go closer to Ouseltomex
-begins to "see" into Ouseltomex's eyes which have long since been shut
Ages 120 years to death:
-life conclusion through reflection of one's meaning and purpose
-likely to become crystallized in the actions one has committed in life
-acceptance of one's deeds is preferred in this moment
Additional Information
Facial characteristics
Chimeras develop prominent tusks that grow from the lower jaw. The tusks are a form of four canines that extend in length as the chimera reaches sexual maturity. Most individuals begin to notice tusk growth after eleven years. The first tusks that grow are the kit tusks that will fall out around six months after reaching appropriate length. Four more months will pass and then the adult tusks will grow in their place. These tusks cannot be regrown, so an adult chimera must take the utmost precaution in care and hygiene to maintain these teeth. The nerves at the end of the tusks numb after five years, which allows for parts of the enamel to be shaved away for maintenance. With the change in fashion trends, the presence of a long set of tusks varies in aesthetic value. In modern times, the outer larger tusks are often covered in a metal plate that stylizes the individual. A fashionable length for the outer tusks tends towards the five to nine centimeter range.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Capable of showing psionic abilities induced by ritualistic and meditative training.
Can "consume" the subconscious thoughts of other species with no negative effect on other species.
Able to transfer echoes of the soul and mind into others.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
The last two letters of all chimeras' names are -ex. Names can be simple three letter affairs (e.g., Lex, Dex, Vex) or longer strings that flow in a particular cadence (e.g., Grirex, Mykex, Kevowex).
Surnames are created by the first two letters of an individual's parents in order of alke-bese-oume. The ending of the surname is dictated by the last parent's syllable sound. If it ends in a vowel sound, the ending is a single -l. If it ends in a consonant sound, the ending is -el.
Examples:
Lex Alfosol = Lex, child of ALex-FOrex-SOvex-l
Dex Miluthel = Dex, child of MIrrex-LUcex-THaurex-el
Gender Ideals
Chimeras do not subscribe to any solidified idea of gender. Gender is not prescribed to kits before, during, or after birth, and are referred to with infantile pronoun sets that they are expected to change upon reaching early childhood. After this, the pronouns for use of an individual are entirely to that chimera. Should they elect for one, two, or all conceivable pronouns, it will be so, and all are encouraged to find what is right for them. What would be seen as gender expression bears no meaning for chimeras. Bodily features such as smooth faces, body hair, long or short hair on the head, curvy bodies, squarish bodies -- these are seen as the ways an individual expresses ideals of themself, not labels of a gendered dynamic. Musculature is likened to willingness to commit to labor, for example, whereas lither bodies are often viewed as that of a thinker. "Masculine" and "feminine" are not in the chimeric vocabulary.
Relationship Ideals
A relationship is often seen as functioning best in the form of a triad. Titles for these roles are alke, bese, and oume.
Alke are the ones responsible for the impregnation of another. It is their sperm that fertilizes the ovum of the other partner, the bese. Bese carry the child through the ten months of gestation and follow with three to four years of nursing. During the early stages, a bese is assisted in childcare by their alke but predominantly by the oume. The third piece of the triad, oume are vital in the raising of children. In centuries past, oume were the teachers of children, but now most take to attending to children's care along with the respective alke and bese.
These roles pertain in their relationship to the child and not to each other. This is to say that who is alke, bese, or oume can change in a relationship from child to child. As an example, Lex Alfosol's parents during his conception were Alex as the alke, Forex as the bese, and Sovex as the oume. For Lex's younger sibling, their parents were Sovex as the alke, Alex as the bese, and Forex as the oume.Average Technological Level
At present, chimeras have a unique fusion of art and technology. It was at hands that modern technology was founded thanks to the discovery of the power source liquid somnafluid. Somnafluid has been in use since the start of the 600s. Its massive energy output and seemingly endless reservoirs underground have lead to centuries of power that has changed the course of architecture, infrastructure, industry, and leisure for chimeras. Great cities are powered by networks of the liquid, and machines large and small spur to life with containers of somnafluid in great supply.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
The cultural environment of chimeras encourages the preservation of healthy relationships. This extends to the relations with other cultures and species. With the passing of a century after the Illucid Struggle, there are efforts to foster positive relations with the moets and tetrandrs. Results and feelings are mixed for differing reasons.
For the moets, it is common for chimeras to possess deep sympathy for them. Moets have long played the mediators of affairs on the continent, serving as impartial bodies with no stake in the religious-centric conflicts of chimeras and tetrandrs. However, with the Illucid Struggle, they found themselves put under threat of financial subjugation to the tetrandrs who acquired their technology by way of threats. Moets turned away from the tetrarchy and aided chimeras in repelling the brutes of conquest. Mutual fear has fostered likeness in the two species. Yet, at the same time, there lives a quiet sense of blame against the reptilian women. It was the moets who provided the means with which the tetrandrs could instigate their conquest. Records have confirmed communications years prior to the Struggle between Nukhetian and Macheiran dignitaries. In current events, many chimeras remain suspicious of the moets' commitment to peace because of these troubled realities.
It is the tetrandrs where chimeras are facing the most divisive opinions. Centuries before the Illucid Struggle, the two people have had a nonexistent relationship. Every now and then, the two species would travel to and fro each other's nation, often in the trade of meats and crops. It was not until the discovery, utility, and proliferation of somnafluid, a precious material for energy, that tetrandrs took a deeper curiosity. In seeing the varied uses and infinite potential of it, tetrandrs sought to use somnafluid as fuel for war machines. Chimeras were always cautious of the fuel's export rates, so it was limited to the tetrandr nation of Macheir. Contracts were given that would establish a business relationship between chimeric suppliers and tetrandric buyers. They were shot down at each attempt. Discontent with policy and finding its technology-bound nation on economic collapse, the tetrarchs of the time took matters into their vice. Such was the beginning of the Illucid Struggle. Now, nearing a century after the war, the current governments of the Slumbering Home and Macheir make attempts to work together in healing wounds that still ache. Chimeras remain ever wary and vigilant of their four-armed neighbors, and are wont to continue for years to come.
Scientific Name
Deimis phos oneiris
Lifespan
125 years
Average Height
150 centimeters to 300 centimeters
Average Weight
50 kilograms to 150 kilograms
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Just as the very land they call home, chimeras come in a marvelous variety of colors in their skin, hair, and eye colors. There are no colors able to be to perceived that chimeras do not have. The pigment of their skins are often singular, but rare conditions do allow for mottled blends of colors. The hair and eyes, however, are always heterochromatic. Only under the condition of albinism does a chimera have a limited color palette.
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