Compromise and Conceit

Chimaere are artificial life forms, built in a laboratory by magicians and quickened with magical and Demonic forces. They could be built in almost any form, and were used in circumstances where a conveyance more specialised than the simple horse was required. They are correspondingly more expensive, and are mostly the province of large companies, the military and wealthy landowners. Although common varieties are described here, many companies and landowners have their own specially developed “signature” chimaerae, which can take on almost any form available in the imagination of a mage. 

Some companies specialise in the creation of Chimaerics, and many run bespoke departments which can build chimaerics upon request. Chimaerae are not usually under the scrutiny of the government, so people requesting a specially designed creature need not have much fear of their plans being interfered with by the security apparatus. However, construction of specialised chimaerae is a very expensive and time-consuming task.

The Royal Mail Swift Delivery Raptor, commonly known as the Postal Falcon, was used exclusively by the Royal Mail service to deliver urgent or important documents to distant locations. About 5’ in length and 11’ from wingtip to wingtip, the Postal Falcon was characterised by a ferocious temperament, fast flight and great endurance. It was designed with claws, wing redundancy, sharp teeth and a venomous tail to make it a difficult target for thieves and wild animals, endowments which also made it rather troublesome to keep. Special handlers called peregriners had to look after these birds, and they were an expensive investment for the Royal Mail indeed. A Postal Falcon can deliver a maximum of 11 lbs of weight over a range of 250 miles, at an average speed of 40 miles per hour. The creature is quite intelligent and can be trained to fly between a maximum of 4 different locations (usually Royal Mail stations). All have inbuilt passive detection systems, so those which fail to reach their destination can be tracked and retrieved. The Postal Falcon  became less useful as a delivery animal, and more useful to the military, as the railway lines expanded in the late 19^th century, and was slowly phased out of normal service. It was one of the first Chimaerae to be built and used extensively, entering service first in the late 18th century. 

(Note: obviously the idea of chimaerae owes something to China Mieville, who wrote about them in Perdido Street Station. My Victorian Infernal world owes a lot to China Mieville, which fact will be mentioned again in future).