Editing Awnshegh (section)

==[[Chimera| The Chimaera]]==
Danita Kusor was once a half-elf wizardess, one who tried to become immortal and eternally young via alchemy and necromancy without using divine power. Perhaps addled by self-experimentation with her elixirs she theorized that, while no one species could regenerate fully, a blend of various humanoid and non-humanoid factors might let her create a potion that could restore life to a corpse. In the process, she committed several murders, went into exile and created a husk of stitched-together parts that she tried to animate with magic and alchemy. After fighting with and killing an awnshegh known as the Iron Troll, both she and her creation absorbed some of its power, causing the latter to come to life as the minor awnshegh called the Binman. Said Binman wasn't happy with it, though, and it shattered its restraints, drenched Danita in mutagenic alchemical sludge and tried to kill her. The two struggled before she drove the creature off, but her little dip had already altered her body and mind. Believing that the Iron Troll's death-energy had suffused not only her but every potion in her laboratory, she had the bright idea to fill a huge bathtub with all her mixed-together potions, dragon's blood, and the saliva of a [[displacer beast]] before diving in. What came out was a hideous mish-mash of half-elf, dragon, and displacer beast: the awnshegh now known as the Chimera.

The Chimera is physically and mentally unstable, able to shift between her original half-elf shape and the mixed-up "beast form". Her beast form is shifting and changing over time, a process seemingly exacerbated by killing and absorbing the powers of various heroes who show up trying to get rid of her. Both her forms are capable of speech, though her beast form is considerably more feral and less intelligent, and both are quite insane. She ''isn't'' Invulnerable, for a nice change, but she does have Regeneration, enhanced senses, a variety of spells in human form, and a variety of monster powers in beast form, including flight, claws, and fangs. Two of her many limbs always remain as human arms even in beast form, with which she wields daggers and wands. Her transformations are somehow tied to the phases of the moons; her wild mood swings stabilize as the full moon approaches.   

Her Holding, the Chimaeron, is mostly governed by a Council of Leaders, town mayors and officials who are largely escaped criminals from other nations; they do what she commands whenever she bothers to involve herself in politics. She controls all Sources within, though, only playing cat and mouse with some wizard brothers for fun.  It is a haven for criminals from other nations, including bandits, smugglers, and pirates. Ironically, the original incarnation of the Council formed when the locals tried to unite to rid themselves of the Chimera, only for her to co-opt the process and seize control. Local legend has it that a nascent ehrshegh may be forming in a cave deep in the mountains, a huge bear-man called the Bruin, who will one day kill the Chimera and drive out the evil that infests the Chimaeron.