Cathedris Themesong

Chimeric Limbs

Prosthetics for the mad or desperate

When Ichor gets on or in animals, you get yourself Rendlings. Catalurgists, who need Ichor, get around that by making themselves a Thymalladus to process the stuff -- but even that can go wrong. That's when you get yourself the true monsters: Chimeras.
— Citizen of Soom-Shida
  Bone and flesh from the nightmares of humanity, held in place and limited with metal and technology -- Chimeric Limbs are new, terrifying, and incredibly useful.   Chimeras occur during the creation of Catalurgists, generally when the Ichor is being introduced to the Catalurgist's body for the first time. True monsters are then formed, human and beast fused with a hate for itself so strong that they don't live much longer after formation. This leaves behind a twisted, terrifying corpse -- and a few victims from the event -- that the people of Soom-Shida have recently figured out how to use.  

Waste Not

  When a Chimera forms and dies, a part human, part Rendling corpse is left behind. They are mostly human-shaped, with enlarged bones and monstrous musculuture. New limbs, appendages, and things grow out of unexpected places. These corpses also have the interesting property of decomposing at a very, very slow rate -- some believe they don't decompose at all. In the past, any Chimera that was formed was simply cremated. In Soom-Shida, the corpses are chopped up, and limbs are harvested.  

New Life for Old Limbs

In the event of lost limbs in Cathedris, for much of history the injuried mostly had to make do with what they were left with. Some would replace legs with wooden appendages, affixed with leather straps, but that was the extent of prosthetic technology.   Chimeric limbs attempt to mimic that which was lost, by affixing limbs harvested from Chimeras onto human patients who have lost their own.
 
Care must be taken however, lest the Chimeric limb take over and corrupt the patient it's affixed to -- a very real danger. These monsterous prosthetics are thus combined with technology to both help reinforce and control the limbs; electronic limiters are placed along muscles and veins, while the bones are often combined with metal for structural support. Anyone granted a Chimeric limb will have to properly care for it for the rest of their life, as well.
You absolutely must take proper care of your limiters. Ensure they are powered and properly maintained, unless you want the arm to take control of you.
— Prosthetic consultation

Thymalladus

Built of twisted science and monsterous genetic engineering, the Thymalladus is the artificial organ placed within willing or often unwilling subjects that turns them into Catalurgists -- it grants them the abilisty to process Ichor, and do Catalurgy. The organ is an abomination of tubes and wires all mingled with chunks of Rendling innards, and as such, is incredibly dangerous to have transplated into someone.   If for any reason the patient's body rejects the Thymalladus, there is a slighly rare chance of a Chimeric Event - Log #31 -- when the human patient mutates into a Chimera.  

Shady Mimicry

Snakes, sensing any emerging industry, will never pass up a chance to make some quick cash. Reports have recently come in from smaller cities within Hansun, and it's neighbouring country Deyhun, that shady merchants have begun offering Chimeric Limbs at severely reduced prices. For the most part, these cheap limbs have been discovered to consist mostly of old animal parts, or sometimes even bits of Rendlings themselves.
I was promised that my new arm would be better than the original -- but there I was, 3 days later, with the thing rotting off of me.
— An unfortunate patient.

Comments

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Jul 12, 2021 07:45

Counting down until someone starts intentionally creating Chimeras to harvest limbs from the poor corrutped bastard. :D   I really like it - it's such a cool way of making horrific transhumanist augmentation based on the ichor and the rendlings. Such a great cool article - perfect for your return to civilization! Welcome back! :D


Creator of Araea, Megacorpolis, and many others.
Jul 12, 2021 09:08 by Stormbril

It's a perfect business plan! Open up two connected businesses: "Carl's Calm and Quick Catalurgist Conversion Center" and "Ryan's Readily Remade Replacement Limbs and More"   No one will suspect a thing!   And thank you as always Q <3 :D Your pointers early on helped me steer this in the right direction, quite happy with these limbs! Happy to be back from camping, here's to now SUMMER CAMPING!

Jul 13, 2021 13:46 by Amélie I. S. Debruyne

The possibility of the prosthetic arm taking over and starting to control you is terrifying!   Do the chimera appendages start slowly decomposing once they're attached to some, since you say that the corpse themselves can start decomposing after a while? Or is it like normal biology and once they get attached to a new body they can get food from it, and start chemically communicate with it, hence the risk of taking over?   I'm with Q, I think some people would want to create chimera until they could get exactly the right appendages with the right shape from them :p Though they better keep their "patients" unconscious rathe than face the possibility of having an angry catalurgists go after them XD

To see what I am up to: my Summer Camp 2024.
Jul 13, 2021 17:52 by Stormbril

Once they're attached, it's mostly good! It's definitely like normal biology with a bit *extra* -- it gains nutrients from the host body, and then the limiters ensure that it doesn't gain any more.   haha, you're right! there's definitely some black market "artisan" chimeric limb shop, where they custom order in specific shaped parts xD

Jul 13, 2021 14:55 by Avalon Arcana

Oh gosh, this sounds terrifying. You know things are bad when people are purposefully putting things on their bodies that could corrupt and take over them. Gosh. Horrible....but also wonderful :)

You should check out the The 5 Shudake, if you want of course.
Jul 13, 2021 17:53 by Stormbril

Terrible, dangerous, scary... but think of the power and utility over regular wooden/metal prosthetics!

Jul 20, 2021 00:33 by E. Christopher Clark

I love this concept, and I loved reading "Chimeric Limbs are new, terrifying, and incredibly useful" in the voice of a 1980s infomercial salesman. (Which is to say nothing about your article, just something about my love for speaking/reading in cheesy voices to make chilling concepts that much more eerie to my twisted brain.)

Enroll in Yesterland Academy today!
Jul 20, 2021 05:12 by Stormbril

Thank you so much! :D And that voice is probably pretty fitting, especially if you dial it back a few years to a slicked up 1800's-ish salesman trying to sell you the newest in bone-saw technology xD

Aug 9, 2021 11:17 by Dr Emily Vair-Turnbull

Hmm, yes, I think I'll stick with the wooden version, thanks. :D   Thymalladus is a cool word and a really interesting concept. :D

Emy x
Explore Etrea
Aug 9, 2021 17:26 by Stormbril

Yeah.... same here, I think D:   And thank you! I really enjoyed setting up all the Catalurgy stuff, so it was fun expanding on it this SC :)

May 8, 2022 07:12 by Sailing Ocelot

Ahhhh this is a very dark world! Spooky concept!!!

~~~~~~~~ SailingOcelot
May 19, 2022 16:21 by Stormbril

Yesssss, I love playing around with dark and spooky themes in this world! It's great fun :D

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