..Chimera Info..
Class Type: Required Basic
Prerequisites: None
Student Age: Trainee
Class Format: Lecture
Instructions: As you read through the lecture, answer the underlined questions that the instructor asks the class. Then, PM any additional questions you have to either Catspaw or one of the apprentices who are cleared to teach this class. You will get a response. Based on that, ask your next questions and the process repeats until the student has a good understanding of the material. Be sure to keep a record of all your questions and answers so you can put them in your journal. Next, complete the
worksheet and you're done.
..Catspaw's LectureA man sauntered into the classroom, preceded by an enormous brindled cat. The cat leaped onto the windowsill and made herself comfortable there as she surveyed the gathered students with her glassy green eyes. While she is busy looking over the roomful of youngsters and most of them are occupied looking at her, the man took off his cloak and draped it over a chair. He then reached into his shirt pocket with his right hand..his human hand..and removed a marker. As they waited for stragglers to continue filing into the classroom, the man carefully wrote one word on the whiteboard. Chimera.
"Hello Class. I am Loremaster Marron Catspaw. Out of class, you can refer to me as whatever you like, but in class you will address me as Loremaster, Loremaster Catspaw, or sir. Why? Because it's proper and polite, just like how you're supposed to say please and thank you, and how you call strangers Mister and Miss."
"Now," he said with a warm smile "We're going to talk about Chimera, obviously.
What is a chimera? First, let me introduce you to my chimera." He gestured to the brindled cat, who nodded in greeting. "This is Quil. She is a pard behemeth. She is my partner and she has abilities that help me do my magic. Some people have chimera that help them fight. Some people have chimera that help them find things and some people can even ride their chimera. What you and you chimera can do is completely up to the two of you.
What do you want to be able to do with your chimera?" Of course, that wasn't entirely true. The bosses of FactS definately had ulterior motives and each chimera would be trained to fufill a specific function. He, Catspaw, recognized that he was a tool of FactS, but a powerful one as was befitting of his ancient rank. Besides, the kids didn't need to know about the cycles of life and death this early on. It was best to let them have their own hopes and dreams and tell them that they could be anything. And that, was the ideal shared by primary school educators everywhere.
"There is no 'typical' chimera." he continued "Each and every one of them is unique. You chimera will be specifically picked to fit you. To make a chimera, a little tiny piece of an animal is brought here from another world. Then, we have to regrow it in a tank, like a big clear egg. You'll get to see it when you go to visit the lab. A lot of time, things here in this world will affect the growing chimera, so even if two pieces of the same animal are used, the results may be quite different.
Even though no two are exactly the same, there are five different basic types of chimera. The Behemoth, the Dragon, the Phoenix, the Sprite and the Leviathan.
What type do you think your chimera will be (and why)? Like I said before, Quil is a behemoth chimera. That means that she has two pairs of limbs, a head and a tail, and she breathes air and walks on land." he explained, writing each point on the board underneath the Behemoth heading. "She's also covered in fur and she has teeth. Behemoth chimera like to live in places like hills plains, where there's plenty of room for them to hunt the things they eat.
A Dragon chimera has three pairs of limbs. To tell, you have to look at the skeleton because some of them have evolved to only use one or two pairs." As he spoke, Catspaw began illustrating the whiteboard with different skeletal structures and limb pairings. It was important that they understood that what they saw was not necessarily the structure underneath. "They are normally covered in scales and they like dry and warm places like deserts.
Phoenix chimeras usually have four pairs of limbs, at least two of which are wings. They come from places with a lot of wind, so they can stay in flight for a long time. Some kinds of phoenix chimera stay in the air for their entire lives.
Leviathans are water chimera. Most of them breathe water and have only one pair of limbs. They usually have smooth slick skin, but some of them have scales or feathers.
Sprite chimera are really special. Spellmaster Vixeneye's Weaver is an example of a sprite chimera. They're usually very small. At the moment, scientists aren't sure exactly what to classify them as, but they all have one thing in common. They're small and they all have a huge amount of magic.
You see, chimera are different from normal animals the same way that you and I are different from other people. We have this special kind of energy called 'magic', and that's what lets us do things that other people can't do. Magic manifests itself in ways that affect both our minds and our bodies. That's why many people with magic end up looking a little different than normal humans. This, for example" he said, holding up his paw "Although I'm actually right handed, I use my left for normal writing and drawing. The magic from the cat's paw makes my writing do strange things, so I should only write spells with it. Some people have more magic in their blood than others and some people are a lot better at controlling it than others.
What magical things sometimes happen to you? It's your magic that will influence the development of your chimera.
Many aspects of a chimera's abilities will be exclusive to you. The chimeric bond for example, is a side effect of sharing magical blood. The greater your magic, the more receptive you will be to chimeric bond." It was also important to start them young, as it was much easier for children to learn to control magic than adults, as that complex process of thought hadn't been shut off yet.
"That's what allows you to understand your chimera. Your chimera, of course, will be able to understand you perfectly. It might be a little harder for you to learn how to use it, but the chimeric bond should be innate to you the moment your chimera becomes conscious, even if it hasn't been taken out of the pod yet." It had been a torturous and painful process that involved several blood transfusions for him, after all, but they were much younger and the techies had improved their methods a lot since his time.
"Quil and I were brought together much earlier, before a lot of this was discovered, so I have no clue what she thinks, but she still knows what I'm thinking. You and your chimera shouldn't have that problem. Your chimera will be grown with a small amount of your blood in its pod fluid. Once it is born, it won't be able to survive without your magic, but in return for that, a chimera partner will have many things to offer you."
