The Chimneypeople are a race of Chimeras from the Bullydale Wastes.
Overview[]
The chimerical race of Chimneypeople mimic humans in most respects, including a variety of ages and two main genders. The primary physical difference separating Chimneypeople from humanity is that the Chimneys possess a much higher internal body temperature, usually around the boiling point of water. It causes a slight seepage of steam to escape continually from a Chimneyperson's ears, nose, and mouth (especially when one speaks), as well as from a specially evolved duct atop a rather elongated head. From this last steaming duct the Chimneypeople derive their name.
Because of the steam problem, Chimneys always wear hats when attempting (futilely) to disguise their identities. They also wear earmuffs (or headphones) in season. Chimneys love to wear warm clothing of extremely garish prints (plaids, paisleys, checks) and dark glasses, but not for any practical reason. Rather, it seems to be simple bad taste. They have no known sense of humor, which tends to make them intensely funny to others.
In the Bullydales, they were smiths and chief toadies, and they figure in a number of stories as goats and straight men. Those few Chimneys to emigrate from the Wastes have gone mercenary and now serve the highest bidder as assassins and arsonists. Many are self-employed as petty crime bosses. They seem to be obsessed with diamonds and are known to do anything to get them. Rumor has it that diamonds are a vital component of the Chimney diet in the Bullydales, and occasional consumption is still necessary to keep their internal furnaces burning at peak efficiency. As mercenaries, they work for anyone, even the fomorians and other avowed enemies of the Dreaming. They are often highly skilled professionals and can command extraordinarily high prices.
Chimneypeople are solitary, very territorial creatures, and they renegotiate any contract that forces them to cross paths with another of their kind. Whimsical changelings point to the "similarities" between the Chimneypeople and the Men in Black as yet another example of the magicians taking a perfectly good faerie idea and draining all the fun out of it. Needless to say, the Chimneypeople don't know what you're talking about.
References[]
- CTD. Dreams and Nightmares, p. 69.