>>5782903It came to a head in your Advanced Chimerism class, towards the end of the year. The final practical examination which the proctor required was the vivisection of a jackalope, a creature captured and imported from the northeast, towards the Bloodrise mountain range and the less-populated baronies of that cold and hilly, kobold-addled place, and then the reverse-engineering of such a creature through Chimerism of a living deer fawn and rabbit.
“Of course, merging of adult and juvenile tissues will produce an unstable product,” the proctor reminded you all, “nothing like the, well… What one could ALMOST, if ignorant, call the ‘natural chimerism’ of the jackalope, though in truth there is nothing of the deer in that horned hare. Just coincidental resemblance! But to be able to see something rare, and make something to match its capabilities—even if it only lives long enough to brief serve its purpose—is the essence of chimerism: the creation of a living tool, weapon, or subject for medicine.”
You stared down at the terrified jackalope, a rare beast of the hidden places, bound here by iron loops and shackles to a smooth and lacquered wooden table in the magically-sterilized, lab within your ivory-white, artificial tower. You looked at the cages deer and rabbits, which would soon be processed into facsimiles, to better understand the theory of how to replace the jackalope with human-made imitations—to be used up, and then killed and disposed of when done.
“Such techniques are necessary,” your proctor reminded you all, “for the defence of the kingdom and its Pax Argentum—the Paladins’ Silver Peace. They’re necessary for the advancement of magical understanding, and biological understanding, and thus of the noble arts of medicine and magecraft themselves! So still their senses, still your own hearts, and get to work—show me what you can do! Prove that nothing natural nor supernatural is beyond a skilled and determined magus!”
What did you do?
>Did as your proctor instructed, and set to work for the betterment of your knowledge[Chimericism ranks up, can henceforth attempt to make chimeras without aid]
>Did as your elven-heart commanded, and freed the wild things in this place with elemental aid[Arcana roll to see how successful you are and whether you get found out, ranks up Courage]
>Left the class in confusion and disarray, trying to reconcile what it right, with Logan Pearce following after you[Rank up Natural Philosophy]
>Write-in 