What’s in a name? The ‘chimera’ in Blood Chimera.
Chimera. Def.
1.
A fire-breathing she-monster in Greek mythology
with the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a serpent.
2.
An illusion or fabrication of the mind.
3.
An individual, organ, or body part consisting of
at least two genetically distinct types of cells.
Back when I first starting to build up the world in which I
would eventually set Blood Chimera, I was doing a whole lot of research on
monsters of all sorts. I came across a theory that the Chimera of Greek
mythology (born of Echidna and Typhon, slain by Bellerophon with the help of
Pegasus) was originally based on phantom fires often spotted near the volcanic
mountain Yanartas in present-day Turkey. The idea was that ancient Greek
travelers would see this spouts of flame and assume the source was a
fire-breathing monster, rather than what it really was: volcanic gas vents.
Which is pretty cool. Kind of brings to mind a Halloween
haunted house except the Greek were scaring themselves by seeing nature’s
special effects. “Ahhh, a monster!”
I’ll admit though: that last definition of chimera was the
one I found really intriguing.
In the natural world, chimerism (usually) happens when
embryos recombine in the womb, which isn’t necessary as rare as one might
think, but goes largely undetected. Heterochromia (having eyes of a different
color) is one possible manifestation of chimerism (turns out it’s not always a
groovy mutation, Professor Xavier,) as is hermaphroditism and unusual patches
of skin and hair color. There have been
several important legal cases that occurred because a parent didn’t test as
parent to their own children, and in the process discovered that he or she was
a chimera. And yes, human/animal chimera are possible (although it takes some
tinkering in a lab and is legally frowned on by just about every nation.) We’re
talking real Island of Dr. Moreau stuff here.
Naturally, given how my mind works, the first thing I
thought about was how elegantly this would explain so many mythological
creatures. Mermaids? Check. Centaurs? Not a problem. The Minotaur? Hell yes.
Even the Pegasus from that version of the myth up above could be explained as a
horse/eagle chimera. Thus, the shapechangers in my story became chimeras,
although depending on which animals they knew how to blend, in what combination,
and how good they were at controlling it, they might self-identify as very
different kinds of monsters.
Including some monsters who haven’t walked the earth in a
very long time.
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