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 humans and the Chimera. The Cloven are first mentioned in Resistance: Fall of Man, and first physically appear in Resistance: Retribution. There are conflicting reports of their nature, as they have been seen to act very savagely, yet possess advanced technology (although this technology is believed to have been created by a different species and the Cloven are simply using it).

Origin
Beginning in 1927, the Chimera began their attack on Russia. It is during humanity's first conflict with the Chimera, Russia's military was inefficient in combating the alien threat, especially in having human soldiers being vulnerable to the Chimeran virus. Russian scientist Dr. Fyodor Malikov worked on using Pure Chimeran DNA that he discovered from the site of the Tunguska Event and created an experimental vaccine which shows promise in creating a resistance to the virus. The Russian government, desperate to stem the Chimeran tide, ordered many surviving soldiers to be vaccinated with Dr. Malikov's vaccine. The experiment initially worked, as the soldiers demonstrate a strong resistance to the Chimeran virus and were more effective in fighting the Chimera. However, some soldiers began to exhibit erratic and violent behavior. Gradually by September 1930, nearly 90% of the soldiers exhibited advanced mutations and severe insanity in which they became AWOL and banded together into small groups and roam the Russian countryside preying on other humans. Becoming as much of a threat as the Chimera, theses mutated and insane soldiers became known, and officially referring to themselves as the "Cloven".

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.

The Angry Night
On the day of their transformation and madness, known to the them as the "Angry Night", the Cloven intended to escape westward. Once reaching western Russia, the Cloven took over Moscow. Their activities in the capital city were reported by survivors that they kill, cannibalize, and kidnapped ordinary people. For reasons unknown the Cloven only abducted women; however, these abductions are somehow connected to the "Leben Geist". Following the destruction of the Red Curtain, the Cloven migrated to Europe and settled discretely in many secluded locations, 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 the Chimera's invasion of Britain.

Throughout 1951, the Cloven were frequently noticed by the public due to their barbarous acts which includes cannibalism and gruesome remains they leave in their wake. This caught the attentions of various human government organizations in which attempts in making 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, most especially of their keenly interest in Gray Tech artifacts. As of January 10th, 1953, Colonel Rachel Parker regarded to Major Richard Blake that the Cloven are increasingly cooperating with the Chimera. The Cloven's intentions still remains currently unknown.

Appearance
Cloven physically resemble a normal human, but some move and act like animals, crawling on all-fours and using growls and roars to communicate. Their common appearances are having pale skin, bald head, and worn-out gray fatigued uniforms.

In Resistance: Fall of Man multiplayer, the Cloven are equipped with 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.

Culture


Cloven possess a very ritualistic society, completely based on the death of their foes and themselves. 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 unknown if the Cloven bury their dead or not. However, in spite of their insanity the Cloven still clinging to some remnants of their previous human lives. Evidences supporting this are their attachment to listening musics from old phonographs, and keeping broken figurines and photographs that are found on makeshift altars and shrines.

Also, the Cloven became interested in the Gray Tech components after observing humans and Chimera partaking in an desperate arms race to obtain these artifacts of unknown origin which they each believed could defeat the other. After realizing the significance of the Gray Tech components to the other races, the Cloven began collecting them 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 female 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 also 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 personnel, 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 provoked or 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 passably 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 Aftermath Map Pack 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 during a action button sequence. Also, the Cloven can be killed for Skill Points in Luxembourg and the Paris catacombs. 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.