Chimera



The Chimera (also known as the "Angry Night" by the Russians, the "Deathless Plague" by the Italians, and "Gorillas" and "Stinks" by British and American soldiers respectively) are a parasitic, alien species featured prominently in the Resistance series. 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 they also claim to be "the evolution of man". Whether or not this is true has yet to be seen. It is known that the Chimera have 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 than that. The Chimeran invasion of Earth seems to have started shortly after the Tunguska Event occurred, lending a bit of mystery as to their true origins.

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 across the world. Some towers even happened to be under major population centers, such as London, Paris, and Chicago.

After Arrival
From the spot of their arrival on Earth, they proceeded to infect and/or kill almost every person (if not every person) in Russia and in 1949 overwhelmed all of Europe in a matter of weeks with the exception of Britain. Eventually, they dug under the English Channel and invaded the island nation, easily overwhelming its defenders. Noted changes in the environment/climate of Great Britain and the excavation of many Chimeran Towers by the Chimera happened shortly after their brutal takeover of the country.

Interstellar War
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 alien 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 Chimeran Tower designated Alpha-3, located in Chicago. The object recovered was neither Chimeran nor human technology and is believed to have belonged to the unknown race that had fought against the Chimera. Another such object is believed to have been located at the Chicxulub Crater, where the Chimeran Fleet was headed. The object can be seen in this document, Intel 18. These objects came to be known as Gray Tech.

Empire
The Chrysalis claimed that the Chimera have taken over worlds other than Earth, implying that the Chimera have a widespread empire on other worlds. More disturbingly, this also implies that Earth was at one time a colony of the Chimera.

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 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.

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 civilians 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 overthrown/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

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

"Boss" Chimera
These Elite Chimera take a lot more to bring down than standard Chimera.
 * The Chrysalis
 * Daedalus
 * Krakens
 * The Swarm
 * Mother Spinners
 * Leviathan
 * Marauders
 * Angels
 * Alpha Grims
 * Queen Leapers
 * Primarchs
 * Overseers
 * Roland Mallery

Pure Chimera
Dr. 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.

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 probably a larger role in future installments of the series.

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.

Hand-held Weapons


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

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.

Vehicles
 * Stalker
 * Goliath
 * Burrower
 * Earth Mover
 * Hammer

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.

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.

Chimera as Seen in Resistance: Fall of Man
GArP5dZMn8A