tyrantisterror:Bicorns, aka Sphinxes and ManticoresMediterran Sphinx - one of the first chimera

tyrantisterror:

Bicorns, aka Sphinxes and Manticores

Mediterran Sphinx - one of the first chimeras ever created, the original sphinx was crafted by the monster progenitors Typhon and Echidna, themselves two of the most supremely powerful chimeras ever crafted.  A lion with the head of a human woman, the wings of an eagle, and the tail of a serpent, this chimera combined the vicious killing power with flight, venom, and a devious human intellect.  Though tricky to create, its power as both a guardian beast and a dauntless assassin/hunter made it much desired, and sure enough, wizards set out to replicate it, creating sphinxes of their own.

Wingless Sphinx - getting the combination of elements right in the original sphinx recipe is difficult, so it was inevitable that some wizards would try to simplify the hybrid a bit to make its creation more manageable.  The most pared down sphinx reduces it to a lion with a human’s head, which is easy enough to create and still results in a highly intelligent animal minion with the raw killing power of a lion, though it lacks a bit in flair.

Winged Sphinx - slightly more complicated but still easier than the original recipe, the winged sphinx is a bit harder to create than a standard griffin, providing a moderate challenge in creation but with results that are more than worth it.  Though it lacks the venom of the Mediterran sphinx, the winged sphinx is still a force to be reckoned with both on the land and in the sky.

Manticore - the most popular variation on the sphinx formula by far.  Substituting a tiger for the lion bits and a scorpion for the serpent, while axing the eagle entirely, the manticore has a vicious cunning that even the clever Mediterran sphinx lacks, creating a brutal hunter of men that is as devious as any human killer and as durable as the striped terrors of Ruslovak.

Mantydrac - the one thing holding manticores back from being as commonly created as griffins is the fact that scorpions are not incredibly common in Midgaehim, which resulted in some wizards trying to substitute something in their place.  Of course, wizards being wizards, many went straight to using dragons as an ingredient, despite dragon chimeras often proving to be uncontrollable monsters.  Sting-tailed wyverns are most commonly used, since the venomous stingers on their tails are roughly analogous to those of a scorpion, and the wings they provide to the resulting chimera are also desirable.  Peludas, a special breed of lesser drake covered in spikey armor, are also often used, with their mace-like spike-clubbed tails also proving to be an adequate substitute for a scorpion’s sting.  While the resulting chimera is definitely strong, Mantydracs almost always turn their keen predatory intelligence against their masters before anything else, then strike out on their own to terrorize a world that was not prepared for them.

Mantygre - more prudent wizards will replace the scorpion in their manticore with other mundane animals that just happen to be more easy to track down.  With a mix of scorpion, goat, and, oddly enough, sharks, the recipe can be stabilized into a beast whose tail is bristling with sharp spines (and the added bonus of multiple rows of teeth) without losing the cunning that makes manticores so useful as monstrous servants.

Feral Manticore - of course, the sheer number of sphinxes and manticores produced over time eventually led to feral populations, and the variations on the recipe eventually blended as these feral populations grew.  Feral manticores can exhibit a whole slew of different elements: scorpion stingers on wyvern tails, dragon or eagle wings, venomous quills, fire breath, the sky is the limit for these dreadful man-eaters, making them a dangerous predator to encounter in the wild.