#finally i return

[keilemlucent]

y’all my new pc came 🥺

[gettingitwrite]

Chimera: What are They?

Worldbuilding

I’ve been talking about these chimeras for a while now, and figured it was a time to give an explanation as to what they actually are. Besides, it means I get the chance to write about my favourite topic: genetics.

What are they?

There’s a very important distinction to make here: the chimeras in Chimera are not, actually, chimeras.

The definition of a chimera is an organism made up of two or more genetically distinct cells (so, in our case, there would be cells with human DNA, and completely separate cells with the animal DNA). This wouldn’t work in Chimera for a number of reasons. Most of them are plot related and verge on spoiler territory, but one reason is that it would completely screw up the part where animal traits are passed from parent to child.

In the world of Chimera, ‘true’ chimeras (in a biological sense) were the first attempt at creating supersoldiers (more on that, and the origins of the chimeras, here). But after it didn’t work, they turned to a different method. Because the project that eventually gave rise to them was Project Chimera, the name stuck even though it was inaccurate.

How where they created? (Conversion)

Much like in my other WIP Rabid, the chimeras were created by splicing specific animal genes into existing human DNA. During the process of conversion, these genes are inserted into every cell in the human body.

But wouldn’t it be easier to start with a single cell, and grow chimeras from embryos?

Well obviously. But during the war, that wasn’t an option. They needed soldiers, and they needed them now. And I’ll be honest, this is a process that isn’t possible in the real world (at least not yet). However, this is a novel about human-animal hybrids—a 100% scientifically accurate approach was never going to work.

In the world of Chimera, conversion is a process that takes anywhere from three days to a week to complete, during which the individual undergoing conversion is kept unconscious and most of their bodily functions are regulated for them. Needless to say, the survival rate in the beginning wasn’t great.

Types of Chimeras

There are two types of chimeras: functional and aesthetic. Simply put, they are split into the chimeras created during the war, and the ones created after.

The chimeras converted as part of the war effort, the functional chimeras, were given physical enhancements—increased strength, speed, aggression, etc. Things such as tails, claws and the ears of certain animals were only ever inherited incidentally, and were an unintended side effect of the conversion process being used at the time.

The aesthetic chimeras were all those that came after (with a few exceptions that we can’t talk about yet). They have extra ears, tails, claws, fangs, but none of the related traits that come with them.

In the modern-day world of Chimera, there are very few purely functional chimeras anymore. Most are a mix of the two, or purely aesthetic. They can be counted as an aesthetic chimera even if some of their animal traits replace parts of the regular human body (Hart’s legs, for example).

Examples of functional chimeras in the plot include Medusa (fangs and related venom organs), Wolf (enhanced strength and sense of smell) and Mallory (she was one of the few that not only had wings, but also the related muscle and skeletal adaptations to actually use them).

Aesthetic chimeras (or those who have undetectable functional traits) include Val, Blake and Fawn.

Types of Animals

DNA from almost all animals imaginable was, at some point, used for conversion. And yes, this includes creepy crawlies, though most of those were used for function, not for their looks. And, thankfully, they were very few.

(Listen, this is my world and in my world, bug people don’t exist. That’s just disgusting)

The approximate spread of types of chimeras are:

75% mammals

10% mixed (traits from multiple groups)

5% birds

5% reptiles

>1% fish

Those fish chimeras may or may not end up in the plot later on. These are the ones who had mermaid dreams, and were willing to follow through with giving up life on land to live in the ocean. There were a couple thousand of them initially, though now they’ve been reduced to two semi-underwater colonies (as not all offspring have aquatically adapted eyes) with around a hundred members each. All of them wear permanent tracking bracelets, supposedly for their safety buy in reality it’s because the government doesn’t want to lose track of them. A few have managed to get away over the years, but not many.

Letting the tag squad know about this little bit of worldbuilding here: @lynnafred @theprissythumbelina @violet-clouds-and-skies @incandescent-creativity @sirilikestowrite @madmooninc @morrigans-ink-0124 @micastarsandmirrors @chaos-reign @tawnywrites @theshadowsofthenight @youdontneedoxegyntoburn @thecaffeinewriter

Let me know if you’d like to be added/removed from the tag list :D

[protectmetatron]

because I can….? 

[clown-abyss]

legend says posting lolbit will heal the heart and soul (its me im legend)

[melongumi]

[JAWS MUSICAL STING RIGHT BEHIND U]

[thewoof-blog1]

Sorry I haven't posted in a very long time. I haven't had much time with school and my development team to draw very much. I got a Note 4 and I use Autodesk sketchbook so I have been able to draw on my free time in California!

[ekusas-art]

my sweet lil peri, my smol child

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