Chimaera

Ah, the Chimaera. Our greatest creation, and the proof of our excellence in terms of creating new life. Few ancestries can claim to approach the magnificence of the Chimaera.

— Lucia Aurelia, Bataari High-Geneticist

The Chimaera are a very famous and notable ancestry, as they stand as the only truly biological ancestry with artificial origins, and were created by another mortal ancestry, at that, that being the Bataari. They're an extremely variable ancestry, and the parent ancestries listed to the right are those that play a part in the most famous Chimaera examples, rather than an exhaustive list of possible lineages - the reality is that the Bataari have yet to find a limitation with regards to what ancestries can be fused into a chimaeric result.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Anatomically, the Chimaera greatly vary in just about any way imaginable, but typically they are all defined as bipedal bestial creatures with the elements of multiple other ancestries mixed in; often, a Chimaera will have a 'base ancestry' defined, which most of their appearance is based upon, and the other constituent parts of a Chimaera are layered on top of that, creating a multi-faceted hybridized creature.

Biological Traits

Not unlike their anatomy, the biological traits of Chimaera are extremely variable, and typically based more on the origin ancestries that make up a given chimaera than anything intrinsic to the chimaera themselves... that said, it's not entirely false that all chimaera have intrinsic unique qualities that no other ancestry has, and that generally takes the form of their Chimaeric Magic, reflected in their Chimaera Ancestry Class.
Chimaeric magic is a unique form of magic that the System recognizes and assigns to them, and it reflects in their ancestral Abilities allowing them to emulate almost any other kind of magical Essence with very minor drawbacks, typically a higher Magia cost and limited refinement possibilities.

Genetics and Reproduction

Chimaera are - surprisingly enough - actually able to reproduce, though they cannot create more of their own kind in this way; they are able to reproduce with any of their constituent ancestries, along with any ancestries those ancestries are also able to reproduce with, and through this connection they can sire offspring of those other ancestries as if they were a regular member of any of their component ancestries. This doesn't let them sire more of their own kin however, which makes Chimaera unable to sustain their own lineage in any way.

Additional Information

Geographic Origin and Distribution

The Chimaera as an ancestry originate from the grasslands of northern Thrain - home to Thelan Lappinar and the Bataari that created them, and as such they tend to be native to that specific region of Thrain, though some of them travel beyond Thrain in an attempt to get as far from the Bataari as they possibly can.

Average Intelligence

By and large, Chimaera intelligence is quite high, though it can of course vary considerably from individual to individual - one of the most famous Chimaera that exists, Celosia, for instance, is... rather infamous for thinking with her desires over her rationality. Still, they're generally quite intelligent (even Celosia is very intelligent), they just don't always choose to use their intellect appropriately.

Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Cervyr
• Fique
• Foxian
• Hippogryphae

Lifespan

Between 100 and 500 years, on average

Average Height

Chimaera range from 6 feet to 8 feet in height, with the exact height depending on the whims of the Bataari geneticist behind their creation.

Average Weight

Typically, the Chimaera range from approximately 150 pounds to 350 pounds, but are typically around 200 pounds.

Average Physique

Like most aspects of the ancestry, the average physique of a chimaera depends on the Bataari creating them, but it tends to be based on the origin ancestry; more physically fit ancestries will produce more physically fit chimaera, and so on.