"Most bizarre of monsters is the dreaded Chimera; it's body is a size of a house, and has wicked claws longer than daggers. It's tail lashes like an iron whip, and it's huge leathery wings carry it through the air. This loathsome creature has three heads. One of them is horned, like a head of a ram; the other is like that of a vast lion; the third head is the most frightening of all. It is that of a scaled Dragon, and it belches forth noxious smoke and scorching fire."
- —Grimoire Beterricus[3a]
A Chimera on the hunt.
The Chimera (pl. Chimerae), called a Khimar in the Arabyan tongue,[7] is a three-headed, mutant beast that is one of the most fearsome of all the monstrous children of Chaos, a beast whose progenitors were so warped that it is now impossible to say what manner of creatures they might once have been.[1a][2a]
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History
Origins
The exact origin of the Chimera is a thing of myth and speculation. Some attribute the creation of the Chimera to the deeds of an evil king of the ancient realm of Calia from the south of the Old World who made a pact with the Dark Gods, mutating himself into the first of these Chaos beasts.[4a] Others believe them to be the spawn of Galrauch, the first of the Chaos Dragons.[5a] Still others state that the Chimera is formed of the raw stuff of Chaos and has no true material birth.[6a]
Role
A Chimera on a rampage.
Like all monsters that dwell in or near to the Realm of Chaos, the Chimerae take many bizarre shapes. However, Chimerae are more susceptible than most monsters to the twisting power of Chaos. The heads of some Chimerae breathe fire in the manner of Dragons, whilst others sprout razor-sharp fangs or jaws that drip with a poisonous slime.[1a]
Most Chimerae possess a fiendish tail that ends in a snapping maw possessed of an intelligence and hunger of its own. There are even some Chimerae, like those that dwell among the spires of the Bloodshriek Citadel, that are said to have bathed in the coruscating Winds of Magic at the summit of the Known World. The skin of these "Bloodshriek Chimerae" is an ever-shifting pattern of bright colours and hues, turning translucent one moment before running like molten wax to cover and heal the rips and gashes in its tainted flesh the next.[1a]
Regardless of their exact form, all Chimerae share a savage and unpredictable nature, and wherever their tri-throated roars are heard, death and carnage are surely not far behind.[1a]
For much of the time, when the Winds of Magic are at relatively low ebb, Chimerae are rare and seldom seen -- even in the frozen Chaos Wastes. There might be tales of such beasts guarding mountain passes, lurking in the black depths of the Drakwald Forest or having been pressed into service as mounts by favoured Champions of Chaos, but most such reports are eventually discovered to have confused the Chimera with some other creature of Chaos, like the Manticore.[2a]
Some scholars of the Old World have postulated that in times of magical dearth, Chimerae simply abandon the mortal plane altogether, to instead hunt prey through the rich and sorcerous fields of the Realm of Chaos. Others believe that Chimerae are not creatures of flesh and blood at all, but rather monsters called into being only when the Winds of Magic are at their most fulsome -- savage emissaries sent by the darkest of the Dark Gods. Regardless of where the truth lies, none can argue that when a Storm of Magic bursts, the tri-throated roars of hunting Chimerae are never far behind.[2a]
A particularly powerful Chaos Lord, or an insanely brave Chaos Sorcerer, may sometimes try to bind a Chimera to their service, for the sheer carnage they can wreak upon the battlefield is a spectacle bound to attract the attention of the Ruinous Powers. It is said that only those sorcerers truly favoured by Chaos will have any hope of binding such a creature to their will, and a champion may spend a lifetime searching for a Chimera, and never succeed, or else find their prize and be torn apart by it moments later. However, those few who succeed in their quest have at their disposal a monstrous creature of unbridled destructive potential.[1a]
Notable Chimerae
- Blackfang - Blackfang is a Chimera of the Annulii Mountains who was defeated by the High Elven Everqueen Alarielle.
- Oblast Beast - The Chimera known as the Oblast Beast periodically devastates Kislev and has the body of a great bear with the heads of a falcon, a boar and an Ice Dragon.[6a]
Miniatures
.jpg "Warhammer Fantasy - Chimera (1).jpg (100 KB)")
.jpg "Warhammer Fantasy - Chimera (2).jpg (93 KB)")
.jpg "Warhammer Fantasy - Chimera (3).jpg (94 KB)")
.jpg "Warhammer Fantasy - Chimera (4).jpg (82 KB)")
Sources
- 1: Warhammer Armies: Warriors of Chaos (8th Edition)
- 1a: pg. 37
- 2: Warhammer Expansion: Storm of Magic (8th Edition)
- 2a: pg. 87
- 3: Warhammer Rulebook (6th Edition)
- 3a: pg. 51
- 4: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Tome of Corruption (RPG)
- 4a: pg. 115
- 5: White Dwarf 274 (UK)
- 5a: pg. 58
- 6: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: The Imperial Zoo (RPG)
- 6a: pg. 66
- 7: Gotrek and Felix: Two Crowns of Ras Karim (Short Story) by Nathan Long