Chimera

The Chimera are an alien humanoid species featured prominently in the Resistance series of games. Originally, it was thought that gruesome Russian experiments resulted in the creation of the Chimera (seeing as how they first appeared out of Russia), however the Chimera themselves claim to be the original inhabitants of Earth, and they also claim to be, "the evolution of man." Whether or not this is true has yet to be seen. In the Resistance universe, the Chimera have invaded Earth seemingly for the sole purpose of eradicating humankind and reclaiming Earth for themselves; however, in Resistance 2, their reasons for invading the Earth are found to be more complex than that. The Chimeran invasion of Earth seems to have been started shortly after the Tunguska Event occurred, lending a bit of mystery as to their true origins.

Biology
Noted physical characteristics of the Chimera include their having between two to six bright yellow eyes, greatly varied anatomies, and grayish-green skin. Their metabolism is another one of their more interesting aspects, as it is twelve times that of a normal human's. This enhanced metabolism grants them extraordinary regeneration abilities, speed, and strength.

The side effect of this trait is that their bodies tend to overheat, which literally cooks them from the inside out. It is because of this that Chimeran soldiers have artificial cooling devices painfully implanted on their backs in order to survive. This suggests that Chimera are not being created under ideal conditions. The Chimera tend to thrive in very cold temperatures and there have been successful attempts by the Chimera to alter the Earth's climate to suit their needs. As a direct result, temperatures in certain locations such as London have been reduced to sub-zero temperatures, resulting in those areas being frozen during July. The biology of the Chimera is detailed even further in SRPA files XX458199 and DNA548781PA.

The genetic make-up of the Chimeran virus appears to have been specifically designed to attack and modify human genes, suggesting that there is something more to the Chimera than is already known.

The Chimera reproduce through parasitism, converting other species into various Chimeran soldiers by sending Crawlers and/or Spinners (both being small, insectoid-like Chimera) in a Spire missile to infect any creature near the crash site where the Spire lands. The conversion process (which normally goes very slowly) is greatly augmented with many giant conversion centers, which artificially speed up the conversion of mass amounts of Humans into Chimera.

In Resistance: Fall of Man, it appears as if conversion centers are where all humans infected with the Chimeran virus are taken to be transformed into Chimeran soldiers. In Resistance 2, however, the Chimera only use conversion centers to create their more advanced troops, and they appear to now be located within Towers and starships of the Chimeran Fleet, instead of being separate buildings altogether. Most of the general population of areas they take over are now converted into Grims by Spinners; many soldiers, however, appear to be taken to these conversion centers, perhaps because soldiers are more battle-hardened than most civilians are.

The psychology of the average Chimeran troop appears to be very limited, with only the Angel caste (and now Daedalus) having advanced thought. However, SRPA file XX458198 suggests that normal Chimera may in fact retain vestigial memories of their previous life. The objects detailed in that file were normal items such as soap bars and toys, which were found to be carried by the Chimera that had been killed in battle.

Culture
In Resistance: Fall of Man, a leadership caste exists within the Chimera, which consists of the Angels. Angels possess a telepathic link to all Chimeran soldiers, through which they presumably issue commands. Without this link, the Chimera under that Angel's control rapidly begin to die off in a matter of days, or even minutes. To prevent this, groups of Angels are linked together through a series of Towers, which are powered by nuclear fission. Should the main Tower of this network of Towers be destroyed, it is capable of creating a chain reaction that, as a result, would destroy all the other Towers linked to that main Tower.

In Resistance 2, Daedalus has overthrown this leadership caste of Angels, deeming them too inefficient to be of great use to the Chimera anymore. Instead, he institutes a new leadership caste of Chimera, which now include Primarchs and Overseers as the main leaders of the Chimeran army. A Primarch usually has control over 30 to 40 normal Chimera, and Overseers normally control about 12 Primarchs, making for a much more efficient leadership system.

Little is known of the culture of the Chimera, but it is, in combat situations at least, known to be brutal, with intelligence reports stating that Chimera will often caniballistcally devour their own kind, usually wounded or dead Chimera.

They are hostile towards Humans and are known to infect their enemies with a parasitic form of their species, known as crawlers. Enemies are then converted into various Chimeran castes depending on the level of infection and number of bodies. This basically classifies them as a parasitic/invasive species who are now fighting a war for control of Earth.

History
The true origins of the Chimera are unknown, but they are suspected to have been brought to Earth in the Tunguska Event. Evidence suggests that the Chimera have been planning for this to happen for a long time, as shown by the excavated Chimeran Towers which were long buried in England (and, subsequently, around the world as well).

From the spot of their arrival on Earth, they would proceed to infect and/or kill almost every person (if not every person) in Russia and, in 1949, proceed to overwhelm all of Europe in a matter of weeks. Eventually, they dig under the English Channel and invade Great Britain, easily overwhelming the defenders. Noted changes in the environment/climate of Great Britain and the excavation of many Towers by the Chimera happened shortly after their brutal takeover of England.

However, it is known that at some point in the past, at least 60 million years ago, the Chimera or their creators were at war with another race. It is unknown what the outcome of this war was, but it left many artifacts behind on Earth and possibly shattered the Chimeran home planet. One of these artifacts was recovered from a tower designated Alpha-3, located in Chicago. The object recovered was neither Chimeran nor human technology, and is believed to be remnant of a past war over 60 million years ago. Another such object is believed to have been at Chicxulub Crater, where the Chimeran Fleet was headed. The object can be seen this document, Intel 18. These objects came to be known as Grey Tech.

Chimeran Strains

 * Hybrid
 * Crawler
 * Leaper
 * Menial
 * Cocoon
 * Carrier
 * Howler
 * Steelhead
 * Titan
 * Slipskull
 * Leaper Pod
 * Gray Jack
 * Hardfang
 * Roller
 * Widowmaker
 * Advanced Hybrid
 * Angel
 * Hag
 * Grim
 * Ravager
 * Fury
 * Chameleon
 * Spinner
 * Leech
 * Mauler--Possibly a misspelling of Marauder, as the description is almost exactly the same for both of them.
 * Boiler

"Boss" Chimera
These Elite Chimera take a lot more to bring down than standard Chimera.


 * Daedelus
 * Krakens
 * The Swarm
 * Mother Spinners
 * Leviathan
 * Marauders
 * Angels

Pure Chimera
Dr. Malikov reveals that there are very old "pure forms" of Chimera. These Chimera are not created by parasitism as Hybrids, Titans, Steelheads, etc. are, but are in fact the original form of them. Malikov experimented with these apparently in Russia and used them to create his Cloven soldiers. He also injected Jordan Adam Shepherd and Nathan Hale with strains of this "pure form" of Chimera, resulting in Daedalus and the more-powerful-than-normal Sentinel, Nathan Hale.

There are many theories circulating around what role the Pure Chimera have in the invasion of Earth, and their war with an unnamed species that appears to be the overall backdrop for this war between Chimera and humans. It is theorized that the Towers also have something to do with these Pure Chimera or this unnamed alien species that they have fought or are currently fighting. In addition, the planet/moon celestial bodies seen at the end of Resistance 2 are theorized to have something to do with these Pure Chimera. It is also postulated that the Pure Chimera will fight them in Resistance 3.

Technology
Chimeran technology is far superior to even 21st century technology. Chimeran weapons are capable of doing things no human weapon could ever do, such as ammunition homing in on enemies (the Bullseye), or tunneling through walls (the Auger). The Chimera also possess the ability to manufacture and field a large fleet.

Hand-held Weapons


 * Bullseye
 * Bullseye Mark II
 * Auger Rifle
 * Auger Mark II
 * Arc Charger
 * Reaper carbine
 * Splitter
 * Hedgehog Grenade

Chimeran vehicles are powerful, and outfitted with powerful weaponry. The Stalker, for example, is shielded in armour that most human weapons cannot penetrate, and comes with powerful weapons, including anti-aircraft batteries. The Chimeran Goliaths can fire shock mortars and Spire missiles directly into hostile territory, and their enormous size also serves a major negative psychological role to the Chimera's enemies on the battlefield.

Vehicles


 * Stalker
 * Goliath

In Resistance 2 and Resistance Retribution, it is revealed that Chimera can also build and use robotic A.I. Drones that can attack enemies. They are usually small, outfitted with powerful weapons, and have the ability to float and levitate.

Chimera's Connection to Modern Biology
It is possible that the Chimera are caused by a PNA (Peptide Nucleic Acid) based virus or perhaps PNA itself. PNA is an artificial polymer, which is not known to occur naturally on this Earth. PNA is robust enough to survive high temperatures (100°C) and a PNA-based virus would be the most likely to survive atmospheric entry.

Chimera as Seen in Resistance: Fall of Man
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Chimera as Seen in Resistance 2
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