Cloven

The Cloven are an unknown faction of Human/Chimera hybrids who were formerly human beings that were experimented with Chimeran DNA by Dr. Fyodor Malikov; they are hostile to both the Chimera and Humans. The Cloven are first mentioned in Resistance: Fall of Man, and have made their physical appearance in Resistance: Retribution. There are conflicting reports of their nature, as they have been seen to act very savagely, yet possess advanced technology.

Origin
The Cloven are one of several experiments that Dr. Fyodor Malikov worked on using Pure Chimeran DNA during Russia's first encounter with the Chimera. The Russian government allowed Malikov to experiment on many Russian volunteered soldiers in order to allow them to become immune to the Chimeran virus, and to turn the tide of the war against the Chimera in their favor. Though the experiment initially worked, as time went on the soldiers became erratic and eventually lost their sanity entirely. Thus were the Cloven born.

Though the Cloven did not physically change into Chimera, the psychological stresses of their Chimeran condition drove the Cloven insane. The Cloven were able to hold on to their individuality, though, and as a result have traits of both Chimera (inhuman noises, parts of their DNA, eating their dead) and Humans (appearance, Russian dialect). However, the Cloven have no known alliance with either group, and are hostile to both.

Third Faction
During Russia's downfall, the Cloven intended to escape westward. Once reaching western Russia, the Cloven had taken over Moscow. Following the destruction of the Red Curtain, the Cloven migrated to Europe and settled discretely in many secluded locations in Europe, such as Paris' underground catacombs or abandoned towns. Furthermore, the Cloven later expanded to Britain by either hitching on refugees ships that were bounding to Britain or having followed the underground tunnels which the Chimera had dug under the English Channel during Britain's invasion.

Throughout 1951, the Cloven were often noticed by the public due to their barbarous acts including cannibalism and gruesome remains they leave in their wake, which remains a concerned for human government organizations. Human contact with the Cloven further ended in violence. Through the entirety of the Chimeran War, the Cloven were rarely seen engaging in any conflict. However, it is appeared otherwise as a detachment of Cloven fought against the Chimera and were witnessed by British soldiers near Lancaster. These Clovens actually lured the Chimera they fought to York where they deliberately coordinated a conflict between the Chimera and American forces during Operation Deliverance, allowing the operation to end in failure.

By the later half of 1952, the Cloven had been more militant in attacking the Chimera, and have been plundering and recovering Chimeran weapons and technologies, and are keenly interested in Gray Tech artifacts. Their intentions still remained currently unknown.

Appearance
The Cloven's appearances are mostly the same: pale and bald. Some of them wear uniforms similar to those of the British, but gray in color. They may also wear helmets with the Russian letter Д (D), and sometimes they are seen wearing a bandanna to cover their faces and the color of their eyes.

Cloven physically resemble a normal Human, but some move and act like animals, crawling on all-fours and using growls and roars to communicate.

Culture
Cloven have a very ritualistic society, completely based on the death of their foes and themselves. As seen throughout Resistance: Retribution, they listen to music. The Maquis believed that it connects them to their past. The Cloven decorate themselves in the blood of their victims and use the bones of their foes in gory rituals, but not the bodies of their own fallen - Cloven strip the flesh of their fallen comrades for feasting and store the bones away - it is not known if Cloven bury their dead or not.

Also, during the time of the Chimeran invasion of Europe, Gray Tech components were discovered by both the Humans and Chimera, forcing both races to partake in a desperate arms race, both trying to find these artifacts of unknown origin which they each believed could defeat the other. The Cloven began to curiously watch the Humans and Chimera as they fought over the artifacts, and they soon realized how the Gray Tech was significantly worthy to the other races and started collecting the artifacts for themselves. However, the Cloven never seem to construct the Gray Tech components for any sort of offensive weapon or any other military use, but instead they worship the components by taking the Gray Tech to a ritual chamber and singing and dancing around the object. According to James Grayson, since the Cloven had collected so much Gray Tech components, and if they had reverse-engineered the components instead of holding rituals for the objects, they could have wiped out all the other combating races themselves.

The Cloven have a hive mentality, working in small packs. If members of these hives are killed, the whole pack becomes less effective and the Cloven descend deeper into insanity, eventually becoming savage, brutal, animal-like fighters.

Evolution
Both the Maquis and the British intelligence groups believe that the Cloven are undergoing some type of evolution-as are the Chimera, presumably as a side effect of Daedalus's new evolutionary changes. An example of this evolution was believed to be the Leben Geists (Living Spirit), named by German Maquis. However, a diary entry recovered by James Grayson contradicts this theory, as the Cloven individual writing it (presumably before he lost all coherence) mentions the Leben Geist as pre-dating them.

Technology
The Cloven possess technology that far surpasses anything so far seen from either the Chimera or Humans. A demonstration of this was seen when a single entity believed to be aligned with the Cloven, called a Leben Geist by the Maquis, took down a Goliath within seconds and after being hit multiple times. In another development, a Cloven being held at a British laboratory escaped when, according to the surviving guards, she turned invisible (resoundingly and likely similar to the Chameleons' cloaking devices). The guards reported that she was able to withstand over 40-50 bullets before escaping. There have also been accounts in which large Chimeran bases, sometimes occupied by over 400 Chimera, have been destroyed in a single day. In these accounts, the wounds on the dead Chimera appeared to have been inflicted by small, short knives, and torn apart with bare hands.

It is believed that the Cloven are reverse-engineering already existing Chimeran weaponry and modifying it into their new and far more advanced weapons.

Encounters
A British soldier guesses that the Cloven can probably turn into Slipskulls (a type of Chimera), although due to how the conversion process works (the strain is determined by the number of humans used), it is likely that they are used to create a wide variety of Chimeran strains. Cloven are cannibalistic - much like the Chimera - eating their dead so that Crawlers do not infect them. One Intel document describes Cloven who are captured by the Chimera will bite their own veins to kill themselves, rather than be infected. This implies that the Cloven may be able to be infected further with the Chimeran virus. When the Cloven are found dead, they have been found with a picture of their creator in their mouths. It has been revealed through the Intel of Resistance: Retribution that their creator was none other than Dr. Fyodor Malikov.

A group of Cloven who attacked (and practically destroyed) a Chimeran base in England are also said to have killed four Titan Overseers, ripped their hearts out, and used their blood to write "The Angels sleep" in Russian.

Why the Cloven became so hostile to both humanity and Chimera is unknown, but it is presumed that Dr. Malikov was unable to keep the Cloven under control and the Cloven became rebellious, creating their own faction and attacking Chimera and Humans.

In a recent report, Colonel Rachel Parker of British intelligence ordered that troops are not to attack any Cloven in the field as the Cloven, although they are erratic and frightening, do not appear to attack Humans unless fired upon first.

In-game appearances
In Resistance: Fall of Man the Cloven are never seen in-game, but are mentioned several times in the Intel documents. However, they do appear as an unlockable multiplayer skin when the player registers on http://myresistance.net and finds the unlock code.



In Resistance 2 they are mentioned in one Intel document from the main campaign: a letter from Rachel Parker mentions that the Cloven are cooperating with the Chimera and that British Intelligence is sending two captured Cloven to SRPA for study. The Cloven are passively mentioned by Dr. Malikov while being rescued by Nathan Hale in Station Genesis, in which Malikov considers his experience with the Cloven a "long story". Furthermore, several cooperative Intel documents that are unlock reveal more about the Cloven and their capabilities. The Cloven multiplayer skin appears again in multiplayer via from the downloadable content on Playstation Network.

The Cloven make their actual physical appearance in Resistance: Retribution. They are seen more often in the Paris catacombs level, but are never encountered as a hostile enemy nor ally to James Grayson, only with the exception of one Cloven that actually attacked Grayson. Also, the Cloven replace the Chimera as one of the opposing factions in the five multiplayer modes in Retribution.

Trivia

 * The word "cloven" is the past participle of the word cleave, and the adjective word for something divided or split. The Cloven's faction name is appropriate as they are a "species" entirely and genetically split from both Humans and Chimera.