Post by bjsutter on Mar 7, 2013 1:13:46 GMT -5
Inspired by the thing about pegasi a few threads down, I've decided to try my hand at describing the far-off Chimera Kingdom now that Blue Yonder's been there and come back a changed pegasus.
The general feel of Chimeria is ancient Egypt, with ancient Greek and Persian influences. Fitting the "chimera" theme, they combine multiple inspirations into a single united whole, both from ancient cultures and from the belief system of Hermeticism.
Chimeria is thousands of miles away from Ponyville in a roughly eastward direction, across an expanse of ocean. A thousand years ago, give or take, this is who Pegasopolis was at war with, a constant struggle on land, sea, and air as the two kingdoms battled for territory and control. The chimeras were led by King Trismegistus the Thrice-Mighty, a mage whose command of the Three Great Arts (about which more later) was as great as the magic of either Celestia or Luna. The pegasi sent a champion - Bellerophon - to slay Trismegistus, and the mage-king's death dealt a severe blow to the chimeras. There was no one with a fraction of his power who could serve as a replacement, and so the kingdom fell into ruin as the nobles squabbled over who would take over the throne.
The surviving chimeras are descendants of that ancient ruined kingdom, and still resent the pegasi for causing their downfall, even if it wasn't their fault, and even if Chimeria is better off for his departure - Trismegistus was a tyrant who demanded the skies be clear at all times, the land thoroughly mined for alchemical ingredients, and shrines erected in every town and along every road to supplicate the spirits. This is no way to run a kingdom, of course, but the chimeras never starved thanks to their mastery of magic.
The Three Great Arts are astrology, alchemy, and theurgy, and the chimeras were pioneers in all of these fields. Astrology allowed them to divine the trends of the future by examining the stars and planets (so long as the skies were clear), alchemy allowed them to directly transform stones and scraps into food and drink (although it took a lot of esoteric ingredients to do so), and theurgy allowed them to converse with the spirits and call down their powers (so long as there were enough shrines). Chimera nobles are still trained in at least one of these three, but none have mastered all of them since the ancient days of King Trismegistus.
Physically speaking, chimeras come in two basic varieties, one with two heads and one with three. Two-headed chimeras have the front half of a lion and the rear half of a goat, with both heads facing forward; they're a little larger than ponies and more sturdily built. The three-headed ones add a dragon head to the other side as well as a large pair of draconic wings.
The two-headed chimeras (lion/goat) make up most of the population, and have names like Beck-and-Call, High-and-Low, or Beasts-and-Birds - two words joined by 'and' into a phrase. Their minds are united - a chimera is a single individual, not two sharing a body. The three-headed ones are parallel to Equestrian princesses - a special lineage destined to rule the others - and have Greek or Roman-derived titles.
Chimeria, nowadays, is struggling to drag itself into a more modern age. They resist outside contact, refusing to even let explorers take rubbings of the hieroglyphs in their ruins for fear that the secrets of the Three Great Arts will escape. None of the three-headed nobles would dare leave Chimeria, but some of the younger two-headed ones have become curious about the world outside, and one might just show up in Ponyville at some point...
The general feel of Chimeria is ancient Egypt, with ancient Greek and Persian influences. Fitting the "chimera" theme, they combine multiple inspirations into a single united whole, both from ancient cultures and from the belief system of Hermeticism.
Chimeria is thousands of miles away from Ponyville in a roughly eastward direction, across an expanse of ocean. A thousand years ago, give or take, this is who Pegasopolis was at war with, a constant struggle on land, sea, and air as the two kingdoms battled for territory and control. The chimeras were led by King Trismegistus the Thrice-Mighty, a mage whose command of the Three Great Arts (about which more later) was as great as the magic of either Celestia or Luna. The pegasi sent a champion - Bellerophon - to slay Trismegistus, and the mage-king's death dealt a severe blow to the chimeras. There was no one with a fraction of his power who could serve as a replacement, and so the kingdom fell into ruin as the nobles squabbled over who would take over the throne.
The surviving chimeras are descendants of that ancient ruined kingdom, and still resent the pegasi for causing their downfall, even if it wasn't their fault, and even if Chimeria is better off for his departure - Trismegistus was a tyrant who demanded the skies be clear at all times, the land thoroughly mined for alchemical ingredients, and shrines erected in every town and along every road to supplicate the spirits. This is no way to run a kingdom, of course, but the chimeras never starved thanks to their mastery of magic.
The Three Great Arts are astrology, alchemy, and theurgy, and the chimeras were pioneers in all of these fields. Astrology allowed them to divine the trends of the future by examining the stars and planets (so long as the skies were clear), alchemy allowed them to directly transform stones and scraps into food and drink (although it took a lot of esoteric ingredients to do so), and theurgy allowed them to converse with the spirits and call down their powers (so long as there were enough shrines). Chimera nobles are still trained in at least one of these three, but none have mastered all of them since the ancient days of King Trismegistus.
Physically speaking, chimeras come in two basic varieties, one with two heads and one with three. Two-headed chimeras have the front half of a lion and the rear half of a goat, with both heads facing forward; they're a little larger than ponies and more sturdily built. The three-headed ones add a dragon head to the other side as well as a large pair of draconic wings.
The two-headed chimeras (lion/goat) make up most of the population, and have names like Beck-and-Call, High-and-Low, or Beasts-and-Birds - two words joined by 'and' into a phrase. Their minds are united - a chimera is a single individual, not two sharing a body. The three-headed ones are parallel to Equestrian princesses - a special lineage destined to rule the others - and have Greek or Roman-derived titles.
Chimeria, nowadays, is struggling to drag itself into a more modern age. They resist outside contact, refusing to even let explorers take rubbings of the hieroglyphs in their ruins for fear that the secrets of the Three Great Arts will escape. None of the three-headed nobles would dare leave Chimeria, but some of the younger two-headed ones have become curious about the world outside, and one might just show up in Ponyville at some point...