Chimeria

Chimeria
[[Image:|thumb|center|200px|{{{1}}}]]
Established	{{{established}}}
Motto	may come when the inhabitants learn to read
Neighbours	live a long way away
Geographical Features	mud, peat bogs, more mud, wattle and daub longhouses
Population	robust
Size	variable depending on who won the last border skirmish
Capital	{{{capital}}}
Type of government	effective anarchy
Notable Citizens	{{{notablecitizens}}}
Imports	jewels, gold, wenches, cattle
Exports	Heroes
National Anthem	We're Going To Cut Your Tonkers Off (accompanied by beating of spear-butts on shields) and The Dewy Dewy Fog
Books	informally imported and used as firelighters and cigarette papers

Mentioned in The Colour of Magic and Jingo, "Chimeria" is a mist-shrouded homeland which exists only as a place for heroes such as Hrun the Barbarian to come from. Apparently, like Skund, it moves around a bit and is impossible to precisely pin down. Current wisdom enshrined in The Compleat Discworld Atlas is that it is Hubwards of Llamedos and neighbours Hergen and has allowed formerly landlocked Llamedos (which in the time of The Discworld Mapp was inland) access to the coast and for Pant-y-Girdl to become a significant seaport. The Compleat Discworld Atlas notes "the mist makes it hard to tell for sure" where Chimeria begins and ends, and notes that Sealy Bay is notorious for shipwrecks of vessels disorientated by fog and mist. The borders are "ill-defined" and the prevailing foggy gloom makes surveying well-nigh impossible. the language appears to be Llamedosian or something related, as the country has male-vocie choirs which are a hit at Eisteiddfods.

Annotations

Chimeria is a direct parody of the Roundworld author Robert E. Howard's Cimmeria, whence comes Conan the Barbarian, who is the model for Hrun. By the next book in the series, TP had Cohen the Barbarian as his parody, but Hrun was the prototype.

"Chimeria" also evokes the Greek myth of the Chimera, the mythical monster, and something "chimerical", ie existing on the very fringes of objective physical existence.