Chimaera

Summary

Before the baarham were exiled out of the world, their sciences were pushing boundaries unbound by ethics or morals. Of their myriad projects, one of them attempted to tackle the barrier of interspecies reproduction–allowing mothers to birth anaxials like humanity, not genetically pure offspring. The organizers believed such new blood and bodies could push the baarham's abilities beyond their current forms.
Uncountable–and frankly, untracked–amounts of people were sacrificed, producing amalgamated horrors beyond sanity or description. Still, the baarham mage-seers continued on, picking apart the most ideal specimens and piecing together new ones. Through trial and error, the first pure, stable creatures that could survive the creation process were made. Then, satisfied they finally had some progress, they refined their new monstrosities.
The finalized product would be called the 'chimaera', a slave-species comprised of the best of the best the baarham could acquire. Thorough conditioning was imprinted into the wild monsters, giving them a semblance of rigid sanity amidst their instinct-driven torture of an existence. In the end, enough of a suitable product was made that they were authorized for large-scale production.
Vast quantities of these new monsters were birthed and shipped across baarham territories, their first trial of usage to be disposable soldiers. Yet, before they could be put into action, the baarham were ripped out of Veltrona.
The chimaera, now without their mistresses, became lost. As the baarham's Dominion collapsed, the chimaera broke out and fled into the wildernesses. Between natural instinct and the scraps of culture the baarham installed into them, they struggled to survive. Small families and larger tribal groups developed, but just as quickly tore each other apart or dispersed.
Nature, as they say, took care of the rest.
The ones that survived picked up more and more aspects of culture and understanding. Generations later, the chimaera had become wholly functional people as any other monsterkind. Divorced of deep history, their innate pride bid them to carve their own place out in the world. Belligerency became a norm for them, as the chimaera are desperate to establish something that is 'theirs'.
Nonetheless, they are perhaps the most misunderstood and abhorred monster species thanks to their 'artificial' origins. Discrimination is common, and huntresses are frequently employed to kill them on sight. Many religions also consider them abominable and sacrilegous. For the chimaera, they were born into struggle, and so they struggle still against the world trying to kill them. It really isn't that different for them what the justifications are. They'll fight against everyone all the same to carve out their home.
Incidentally, the baarham's original purpose for the chimaera ultimately failed, as the new species kept producing more of itself. This, in itself, could be seen as remarkable, but all the mage-seers, scholars, and records of the project were lost in the exile. The baarham who have returned and know of the chimaera have done well to keep away as a whole, trying not to entangle themselves in a 'past mistake'. In many ways, their vague resemblance to Sorcerer King Ghown is a constant, thorny reminder of their past evils.

Basic Information

Anatomy

An artificial species of bipedal humanoids, the chimaera are an amalgamation of several other species into one complex form.
Built upon a human-centric body, the parts of dragons, baarham, mertakan, muurun, and nebubis were fused together into a five-way mess. Respectively, the compositions is as follows:

Human torso, neck, and head.

Muurun instincts; a lion's mane grows out of the neck.

Dragon wings on the back; forearms; internal organs.

Nebubis legs; tall ears atop the head.

Mertakan tail; the scorpion-stinger tail is augmented in size. The tip is reinforced, making the entire appendage act like a hydraulic spear. No venom is present.

Baarham horns jutting out from the forehead; horizontally slitted eyes. Bone growths cover their faces, giving them a skull-like appearance.

They are mildly sexually dimorphic, with the women having an enlarged breasts and wider hips. The sexual dimorphism of their 'component species' are also present: women having fluffy fur and armored scales, men having sleek fur and interlacing scales, etc. Generally, both sexes are physically fit and supremely strong, being natural born weapons engineered to purpose.
Their colors are all over the place, but usually trend toward darker and neutral tones. It is, ironically or not, usually in line with baarham tendencies. Dark skin tones in the deep browns and blacks compliment black and red furs. Flairs of other colors appear, either as an accent or replacement, on all their different body 'parts'. Many chimaera have different looks and appearances as a result, even within the same family.
Hybrids simply do not seem to inherit anything from their father, as it's impossible to distinguish anything from ordinary chimaera chaos. Notably, male chimaera do not pass on their traits to other species mothers, though they can successfully reproduce still as per that species' normal rules.

Biological Traits

Engineered Weapon – Chimaera are walking bastions of strength, durability, and endurance. Arguably comparable to dragons, they're pound-for-pound able to give anything on Veltrona a run for its money.
Wild Magic – Though comprised of magically gifted species, chimaera cannot form complex spellcraft. They're simply too wild and unwieldy, so they're stuck with simplistic but incredibly powered up spells instead.
Enhanced Predator Senses – Heightened senses designed to seek out life in any form means they can smell, hear, and feel the magical signatures of others with disturbing ease.
Instinctual – Chimaera have strong and powerful instincts, a vestigial remnant meant to make them 'easier to control'. Instead, they're naturally arrogant and prideful, entirely willing to fight-to-the-death over even slight offenses if not placated. Controlling this response, as well as others sociably handling it, is vital for engaging them.

Civilization and Culture

Relationship Ideals

Chimaera are difficult romantic partners, largely because of their instinctual nature. As confrontation triggers their aggressive responsiveness, disagreements can quickly escalate out of control. It can be troublesome to manage, and not even a developed 'awareness' of it is sufficient. The throes of anger, after all, cloud the mind in its own way. Establishing a language that lets both parties express what they want around this problem is vital for long-term relationships.
Building on those foundations, it becomes easier to live with the chimaera because of a 'mellowing out' effect. That is, they gain tolerance toward their spouse(s) over time, so the hair-trigger sensitivity of confrontation eases up. Notably, eases up, not 'is gone'. The stress of navigating their response in that context can become burdensome, and its an ever present stressor.
They do love affection deeply, be it emotional and/or physical. A deeply primal response to it helps to 'cool off' their hot nerves. Arguably, it is the root cause of what allows them to mellow out in the first place. However, opening them up to the point that starts to work is quite difficult. The affections expressed by a chimaera, thusly, speak quietly but carry tremendous weight in their minds.
What they ultimately seek in their potential partners is as endless as any other species. Different chimaera have very different preferences, though. It's believed their varied and mixed physiology gives them all sorts of possible inclinations. While it can be hard to distinguish from normal 'person preferences', some commonalities do arise. For example, one with a stronger nebubis-based mind may seek hierarchial relationships with clear boundaries. A mertakan one would take toward predatorial hunting. A muurun one takes on an aggressive, domineering, and self-centered approach. So on, so forth.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

Largely living in family or small group units, many Chimaera have narrow, insular world views. As their broader species is both recent and without 'much' history, their foundations are limited. It is common to borrow from their neighbors and their ways, taking these things on for themselves instead. Hence, knowing how chimaera think and live really depends on where they're from. These cultural clues then go through the chimaera psyche, producing their unique mannerisms.
They're often both physically active and adventurous, going far away from home in search of things. Some choose to train as martially-capable warriors, while others want to learn of the world. These roaming tendencies become their main source of conflict with other species. Unknowing of their norms or uncaring, a chimaera visiting can stir up all kinds of matters. Once their natural aggressiveness gets set off, and an incident of some variety will follow.
It becomes easy to see why they have such a rough and unfriendly relationship with many peoples.
However, a lot of chimaera are willing to brave the differences. If not easily at first, then overtime, learning about other people and their ways. In doing so they start to navigate the strange world of 'others', learning more of themself in the process. It isn't uncommon for amalgamations of many different cultures to show up for older chimaera. They pick and choose the parts they like the best, embodying them fully. Some may make some rather strange choices in the area, much to the bemusement of others.

Earth Origin

Greek Mythology