Chimera



The Chimera are a parasitic, alien species. Originally, it was thought that gruesome Russian experiments resulted in the creation of the Chimera, due to their invasion starting out of that country. However, the Chimera themselves claim to be the original inhabitants of Earth and to be "the evolution of man". Whether or not this is true has yet to be seen. It is known that the Chimera invaded Earth seemingly for the sole purpose of eradicating humankind and claiming Earth for themselves; however, in Resistance 2, their reasons for invading the Earth are found to be more complex. The Chimeran invasion of Earth seems to have started shortly after the Tunguska Event occurred, lending a bit of mystery as to their true origin.

History
The true origins of the Chimera are unknown, but it is known that at least 60 million years ago the Chimera, or their creators or "parent" species, controlled Earth and possibly other worlds, implying that Earth was at one time a colony of the Chimera. It was during that era that the Chimera was at war with another alien race. It is unknown what the outcome of this war was, but it is believed to be very devastating such as the Chicxulub Crater being an example of this, which forced the Chimera to leave Earth. Remnants of this war known as Gray Tech were discovered by human scientists to conclude that the non-Chimeran artifacts may have some ties to the Chimera's absence on Earth.

For some unprecedented time, the Chimera returned to Earth during the Tunguska Event in 1908. 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 across the world. Some towers even happened to be under major population centers, such as London, Paris, and Chicago.

From the moment of their arrival on Earth, they proceeded to infect and/or kill almost every living organism in Russia before making themselves known on 1927 and conquering the country by the late 1930s. Knowledge of the Chimera's existence was hardly known to the world due to the fact that Russia had undergo a stringent isolationist policy which kept the world entirely ignorant of this. Though, Western intelligence agencies were becoming more keenly aware of the events transpiring in Russia such as cold weather changes, but initially mistaken the Chimera as a byproduct of a Russian military experiment gone wrong. During the 1940s, the Chimera had patiently building their forces before breaking through the Red Curtain and swiftly invading Europe on December 1949. In a matter of weeks, continental Europe was conquered before the United Kingdom, the last European nation, was eventually invaded after the Chimera dug under the English Channel, easily overwhelming its defenders. Noted changes in the environment/climate of Britain and the excavation of many Chimeran Towers by the Chimera happened shortly after their brutal takeover of the country. However, it wasn't until the United States' intervention during the Battle of London resulted in the decimation of the Chimera throughout the United Kingdom and the knowledge of the Chimera's delicate hive-like connection to the Angels through the destruction of the Chimeran Tower network caused a turning point for humanity which led to Western Europe's liberation during Operation Overstrike.

Despite of these human victories, the Chimera were quick to learn from their failures and made progressive changes in evolving newer and stronger strains and advanced technology to advance their onslaught over the western hemisphere. Through these changes was their new leadership under Daedalus, a former human being known as Jordan Adam Shepherd who was a severe mutated byproduct of Project Abraham. It was under Daedalus that the Chimera were able to invade Canada, Africa, and South America within two years before setting their complete focus on the United States. The Chimera's goal through these invasions was to activate the tower network across Earth and were finalizing their intentions on the unactivated towers remaining in America. Ultimately, the Chimera invaded the U.S. on May 15th, 1953, deploying a fleet of Chimeran airships which totally decimated the country and its military by June. By this time, the Chimera activated the tower network and channeled its energy towards the Chicxulub Crater which is being harness by the Chimeran fleet's flagship in an effort to open a wormhole. The remnants of SRPA attempted to stop Daedalus's and the Chimera's intentions by destroying the flagship through a nuclear fission bomb. However, the detonation of the bomb only "kick start" the tower network surging all energy toward New York City. In which a wormhole opens over the city. Apparently, the Chimera's intentions was to transport Earth to another part of space, presumably allowing more of their species to occupy the planet en-mass.

By 1957, the Chimera had taken total control over Earth with a much larger army without the need of capturing and converting human beings, and are in the process of exterminating what is remain of the human population and as well with the goal of terraforming Earth as their new home. Furthermore, the Chimera had removed some of the Chimeran strains such as Grims from the Chimeran military structure and are considered 'feral', becoming hostile to it's own kind as a result.

Physical Traits
Physical characteristics of the various forms of Chimera include 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 being. 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. In order to counteract this effect, Chimeran soldiers have artificial cooling devices implanted on their backs in order to survive. This suggests that the 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. Since after 1951, under Daedalus' command the Chimera have been created and more adapted to more warmer regions and thus ridding any use of cooling devices unless necessary.

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. It is noted that all Chimeran strains are apparently male until the events of Resistance: Retribution, it revealed that infected female humans were kept in storage and be used for converting into newer and exclusively female strains, such as Boilers and Hags.

Reproduction
The Chimera reproduce through parasitism, converting other species into various Chimeran soldiers by sending Crawlers and/or Spinners (both being small, insect-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 also, artificially, speed up the conversion of massive amounts of humans into Chimera.

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

Psychology
The psychology of the average Chimeran troop appears to be very limited, with only the Angel caste (and later 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
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 devour their own kind, usually wounded or dead, and are known to eat human beings as well.

Architecture
On Chimeran vehicles, weapons, buildings, and ships, there are usually three bright lights arranged in a triangle which appear to be completely aesthetic in nature. Additionally, there is often a curious mix of lights, grating, and solid metal where simple plates of metal would do. It is unknown whether these attachments serve a purpose.

Leadership
In Resistance: Fall of Man, a leadership caste exists within the Chimera, which consists of the Angels. The Angels possess a telepathic link to all Chimeran soldiers, through which they presumably issue commands. This gives an impression of a hive-like mentality among the Chimera. 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 Chimeran Towers, which are powered by nuclear fission reactors. Should the main hub tower of this network 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 replaced/limited 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 forces. A Primarch usually has control over 30 to 40 lower ranking Chimera, and Overseers normally control about 12 Primarchs, making for a much more efficient leadership system. This makes it much harder for the Chimera to be stopped, compared to the original method where complete power was vested into an Angel.

In Resistance: The Gathering Storm, it is explained that the Chimera species is described as being part of a "great whole"; in which lesser units serve the larger ones. This hierarchy can be seen in Resistance 2, when a Titan knocks (and kills) two Hybrids out of its way.

Chimeran Strains
Among the varied Chimeran strains, each served their specific roles in combat. Such as Hybrids being the most predominant form of infantry and Menials serving as base and facility personnel. Among some are made specifically in siege warfare and others, in higher roles in the Chimeran hierarchy, skilled in leadership. Also, certain Chimeran strains seem to be phased out by newer, more effective strains extraordinarily fast.

Pure Chimera
Dr. Fyodor Malikov revealed 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 the Chimeran species. Malikov apparently discovered and experimented with these creatures in Russia and used their genetic materials to create his Cloven soldiers. He also injected Jordan Adam Shepherd and Nathan Hale with strains of DNA from this "pure form" of Chimera, resulting in Shepherd's transformation into Daedalus and Hale being a more-powerful-than-normal Sentinel.

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 airship fleet.

Chimeran vehicles are powerful and outfitted with deadly 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.

In Resistance 2 and Resistance Retribution, it is revealed that the 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.

Speculation
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 Chimeran 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. So far the Resistance series currently reveals little information on the Pure Chimera, but it will be sometime revealed in a larger role in future installments of the series.

Chimera's Connection to Modern Biology
It is possible that the Chimera are caused by a PNA (Peptide Nucleic Acid) based virus. 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 likeliest to survive atmospheric entry.

Trivia

 * The Chimera come from an idea in I-5/Girl With A Stick of a fantasy race named 'the Silestials' that imposed their architecture and style onto the I-5 work and their structures were dark and shiny and called 'Chitness'.


 * The Chimera are variously referred as the "Deathless Plague" by the Italians, the "Angry Night" by the Russians/Cloven and derogatorily "Gorillas" and "Stinks" by British and American soldiers in Resistance: Retribution and The Gathering Storm, respectively.