Chimera - the Old and the New
by Dan Reid, from the Chimeracon I program, April 8, 1984
For an indefinite number of years B.C. - before Chimera - there existed off and on something called the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Fantasy and Science Fiction Club. By 1981 this group had nearly become extinct, perhaps as a result of oxygen starvation induced by frequent repetitions of the organization's name. It looked as if the Old Club, which then numbered only two Old Ones, would go the way of Neanderthal man, but with no assurance of any Cro-Magnon successors.
Fortunately, the Old Ones defied the entropic oblivion, and in August 1981 they managed to obtain fresh, young, and - most importantly - impressionable young stock. One of the Old Ones, namely Danny Reid, took upon himself the gargantuan task of honing from this nascent material a New Club. The demons of Apathy, Ignorance, and Mundane-ity were bested, and soon instead of two Old Ones there were twenty New Ones. They were the Chimerans; indeed, one of their first tasks was athe selection of "Chimera" - representative of fantasy, magic, and diversity itself - as their name and symbol.
Such was the New Ones' progress that after 1 1/2 years the Old One Danny transferred all his poewr to the young, New Hero, Robert Hurt, who has since led Chimera. The Old Ones are still present in body, but the Old Spirit is now unnecessary. With ChimeraCon, Chimera emerges from its Old roots and childhood into full-fledged maturity.
by Danny Reid I,
Lord Fatherer, Chimera
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