Cloven

The Cloven are an unknown faction of Human/Chimera who have been experimented with Chimeran DNA by Dr. Fyodor Malikov, and are hostile to both the Chimera and human beings. 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.

Appearance
The Cloven 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 wearing a bandanna to cover their faces and 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.

Origin
The Cloven are one of several experiments that Dr. Fyodor Malikov worked with using Pure Chimeran DNA. Though they did not physically change into a Chimera, the psychological stresses of their Chimeran condition drove the Cloven insane. The Cloven were able to hold on to their individuality, 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.

Culture
Cloven have a very ritualistic society, completely based on the death of their foes and themselves. Cloven in Resistance: Retribution 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 in a desperate arms race in 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 only instead to worship the components by taking the Gray Tech to a ritual chamber and start singing and dancing around the object. According to James Grayson that since the Cloven collected so much Gray Tech components, and that if they had reverse-engineered the components instead of holding rituals for the objects, they could have wiped out all the other combating races (see Treasure Trove).

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. An example of this evolution was believed to be the Leben Giest (Living Spirit), known 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 Giest as pre-dating them.

Technology
The Cloven possess technology that far surpasses anything so far seen. A demonstration of this was when a single entity believed to be aligned with the Cloven, called a Leben Giest by the Maquis, took down a Goliath within seconds and after being hit multiple times (see SRPA Intelligence Memorandum 15). In another development, a Cloven being held at a British laboratory escaped when, according to the surviving guards, she turned invisible. The guards reported that she was able to withstand over 40-50 bullets and managed to escape (see SRPA Intelligence Memorandum 11). 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 (see SRPA Intelligence Memorandum 10 and Memorandum 13).

It is believed that the Cloven are reverse-engineering already existing Chimeran weaponry and modifying it into their new and far more advanced weapons (Cited from an Intel Document).

Encounters
A British soldier guesses that they 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 (cited from an Intel document: Conversion). 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 leader in their mouths (cited from an Intel document: Stranger). It is unknown who this leader is, or even if he is still alive.

A group of Cloven who attacked (and practically destroyed) a Chimeran base in England are also have said to have killed four Titan Overseers, ripped their hearts out, and used their blood to write "The Angels sleep" in Russian. (see SRPA Intelligence Memorandum 10)

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 Parker of British intelligence order 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 (see SRPA Intelligence Memorandum 9).

In game appearance
In Resistance: Fall of Man the Cloven are never seen in game, but are mention several times in the Intel documents. Though they appear as an unlockable multiplayer skin.



In Resistance 2 they are mention in one Intel document in 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. And is passingly mention 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 unlocked from cooperative play reveals more about the Cloven and their capabilities. The Cloven multiplayer skin appears again in multiplayer via from the download-able content on Playstation Network.

The Cloven make their actual 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 replaces 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.