Chimera (Resistance)
The Chimera are a species that appear within Resistance: Fall of Man game.
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History
The Chimera were a species of unknown origin though their history was traced to around 60 million years ago where there existed a race of beings known as the Pure Chimera. These aliens had once colonized the planet Earth and had established themselves with a foothold on that world with them seemingly creating a Chimeran Tower network at some point. However, they eventually came into conflict with a mysterious unknown alien race with war erupting between the two over the planet. The outcome of this era was not known but it was believed to had devastated the Chimera with the scars of this conflict being evident on the surface as the Chucxulub Crater being a product of the war. In the aftermath, the Chimera were forced to abandon Earth with the Chimeran Towers being buried over the centuries whilst their enemies also similarly disappeared though left behind a series of devices known as Gray Tech. Since that time, the state of the actual Chimera was not known as they remained removed from Earth for millions of years until the 20th century. The Chimera's return to Earth was heralded in the year 1908 during the Tunguska Event when seemingly small asteroids or comet-like fragments descended on the planet. These were believed to be some form of space craft used by the Chimera to deposit their genetic material on Earth. Upon their arrival on the world, the Chimera began infecting other living organisms within Russia with their growing numbers leading to the death of more humans. This period of disturbance in Russia remained a secret due to the strict isolationist policies made by the government until the year 1927 when the world first became aware of the parasitic alien invaders. By the late 1930s, they had managed to completely conquer Russia with Western intelligence initially believing the aliens to be products of Russian military experiments that had spiraled out of control. The next stage of the alien invasion began in the 1940s when the Chimera amassed their forces to break through the Red Curtain and beginning the invasion of Europe on December 1949. Their swift invasion led them to conquering much of continental Europe with only the United Kingdom being the last free nation. The aliens later struck at England by digging under the English Channel thus allowing them to storm the defenders. During this time, the Chimera also began excavating the Chimeran Towers with this period also seeing climatic changes as the aliens being altering the environment to become colder to suit their needs.
With the conclusion of the war, a number of changes began to affect the Chimera. One such change in their strategy was no longer seeking to capture humans and convert them into Hybrids but rather killing them where they left the bodies to rot. Another change was a splintering among their kind between Feral Chimera and Military Chimera.
Overview
Biology
In appearance, the Chimera were a parasitic species who appear as Humanoids with a level of strength greater then regular Humans with noted distinctive characteristics being their two to six yellow eyes. The mutations led to unidentifiable as human organs. Their genetic code was noted to be complex with some aspects of their DNA seemingly designed to attack and recombine human genes. This parasitic organisms were driven by a hive mind with infected struggling to control themselves as they succumbed to this collecive intelligence.
Another noted trait was their metabolism which is twelve times greater then Humans which alows grants them an extraordinary level of regenerative abilities. A second heart was common among Hybrids to maintain rapid pulse.
A side effect of these benefits was that the Chimeran bodies tend to overheat making them literally burn themselves out from the inside out as their bodies are cooked as a result of their hyperactive bodies. This resulted in the Chimera being implanted with cooling apparatuses that are placed on their backs which allows them to survive for extended periods of time. These heat-exchanging devices integrated into circulatory system to lower blood temperature and prevent necrosis.
As such, the Chimera tend to thrive in colder climates and have a difficulty in hot environments. This necessitated them in altering the climate of Earth to better suit their needs.
They fed on the carcasses of other creatures including humans and intelligence reports indicated that they engaged in cannibalism of their own kind with them devouring the wounded or dying.
Life Cycle
The Chimeran life cycle begins with the small beetle-like Crawlers which carry different strains of the Chimeran virus. Once released, the Crawlers move about in swarms and attempt to sting any Humans present in the existing environment. Those that are infected fall into a coma and await collection by the Chimera typically which is done through the Carriers. Those Crawlers that fail to infect a host begin to evolve into a Leaper.
Typically, the Chimera are capable of evolving naturally after the infection of the host though they do make use of the conversion process to accelerate the creature to maturation at a fast rate. Multiple bodies are required to make the larger strains of Chimera with the Hybrids having the fastest gestation period. As they continue to age, the Chimerans physiology reaches a point where they begin to outgrow their bodies and become Gray Jacks. As they approach death, the Chimerans cooling apparatuses slowly begin to become faulty and their body begins to produce numerous toxins which can infect and kill a Human that has suffered a melee strick from the creature.
Conversion
Once infected by the Crawlers, the Human body enters into a coma-like state where they collapse to the ground and collected by Chimeran forces. They are placed within Conversion Centres that are quickly established and transported through a series of tubes which transported the bodies from one stage of conversion to another. While this is happening, the virus begins to change the bodies of the victims from the inside out eventually turning the Human into one of the Chimeran creatures. The Conversion Centres themselves simply speed up the process of transformation.
During the second stage, the Human bodies are wrapped in an organic cocoon which begins to enhance the conversion process. The strain of the creature inside is determined by the strain of the Chimeran virus used. Each Chimeran creature is developed through a separate strain with the Hybrids, the most common type, having the shortest gestation period. The more beastial creatures take months to create and are made from multiple Human bodies. While gestating, the cocoons are transported through the complexes in glass cylinders until they are ready for maturation.
The final stage of the conversion process is taken place in the birthing chamber at the conversion centre. The Human engulfed in a cocoon is transported into the chamber where machinery begins to cool the cocoon thus opening it allowing the newborn Chimeran to emerge. A mechanical claw grabs the body putting him in the air where another device places the apparatus into the body. The process appears to be quite painful to the creature and, once complete, is taken away to be added into the Chimeran army.
Culture
Society
Initially, the Chimera contained a leadership caste within their ranks which consisted of the telepathic Angels. These members of the species had a telepathic link to all Chimeran soldiers through which they issued commands and controlled the invasion effort giving them a frightening level of coordination. However, this strength was also a weakness as the loss of a link meant that the Chimera under that particular Angel's control began to die off in a matter of days or even minutes without the telepathic guidance. In an attempt to combat this, the Angels were grouped together and linked with one another through the Chimera Towers which served as their command and control bases.
The command structure of the Chimera was, however, drastically altered when Daedalus took command of the species. His first act was overthrowing the leadership caste of Angels as he deemed them too inefficient to be of great use to the Chimera. Becoming the guiding intelligence for the race, he created a new leadership caste within the Chimera that consisted of Primarchs and Overseers who served as the main leaders of the Chimeran army. Unlike the Angels, these were not a unique subtype of Chimera but were existing Chimera who's mental faculties were enhanced to allow them to command their brethren nd thus included Titans and Steelskull leaders. A Primarch typically controlled 30 to 40 normal Chimera whilst the Overseers were known to control 12 Primarch's thus creating a much more efficient command chain.
For a time, they made use of Menials that did mundane work such as construction and maintenance. However, these converted humans burnt away quickly due to their higher metabolisms which made it inefficient as the Chimera struggled to find humans for the conversion process. As a result, they started to use automation with them beginning to rely on Drones for construction works.
When the Chimera controlled Earth, it was shown that a division had occured among their kind. The race had splintered into two branches namely military and feral. Feral Chimera lived in the wild where they were concerned with surviving and breeding with them actively fighting Military Chimera. Military Chimera were noted to engage in campaigns to hunt down Feral Chimera.
Chimera technology made use of controls that operated under a unique seven symbol combination that employed a twenty nine symbol alphabet. It would take five point right billion years to try each combination though a subtle series of patterns governed the controls.
Types
- See Chimera strains.
Technology
Technologically, the Chimera were a highly advanced species with technology beyond that of mankind.
Due to their high metabolism, they developed cooling apparatuses that they implanted into the bodies of their kind in order to regulate their bodies in hotter environments.
On a medicinal level, it was noted that they had developed and cultivated a symbiotic bacteria that complemented as well as amplified their natural healing abilities. This serum was known as Sym-Bac that was bacteria suspended in a viscous yellow fluid that was destroyed following use and thus necessitated further injections to treat any new injuries.
The Chimera had a wide range of weapon technology that included:
- Auger : high penetrating rifles which fire a burst of transient radiation capable of tunneling through solid matter. The power of the weapon increases for every object is must pass through. This means that they are incredibly lethal due to their ability to ignore covering positions used by the enemy. Furthermore, an alternate weapon mode allows the energy the weapon generates to create a energy shield that is impervious to all weaponfire except for that originating from the Auger itself. Enemies are noted to suffer from damage if they attempt to move physically through the shield. One of its disadvantages was its low ammunition capability meaning that their users can quickly use up the weapon.
- Spire Missiles : deployed on their multilegged walker craft, the Spires are the primary method through which the Chimera attempt to spread their virus into the Human populace These missiles are inactive until launched at which point they fire into the enemy encampment and lodge themselves in the ground. Once secured, a panel opens allowing hundreds of smaller infection form Chimera to spread about and attempt to sting Humans around the target location. This allows the Chimera to incapacitate an entire region and take the unconscious Humans back for conversion. Its noted that there is no form of defense against the spire missiles.
Chimera also used automated technology in the form of Drones. Special drone construction factory were used to construct these machines. These came in a variety of forms for different roles:
- Patrol Drones : small floating Drones that were deployed in numbers. When destroyed, they sent shrapnel in various directions that could harm people around them.
- Shock Drones : these small relentless hunters operated normally in groups and used to scout areas around larger mechnical units such as Goliaths. Upon discovering a target, they locked and continued their attack until they were destroyed. For combat, they used a high-powered electrical discharge against their target.
- Shield Drones : these versions were used to work in conjunction with actual Chimeran forces and even called out for additional reinforcements. In the field, the Shield Drone sought out unprotected soldiers where they hovered overhead and began projecting an energy sield to protect the Chimera. Thus, the Chimera took no actual harm until the drone was destroyed.
In terms of vehicles, the Chimera had a wide range of craft at their disposal that included:
- Burrowers' : these armored transports were capable of inserting troops into the battle at a moment's notice. Whilst unarmed, they were capable of doing a great deal of damage through its excavating teeth on its face. This allowed them to break into enemy installations from underground and allowed the Chimera to storm enemy positions. Beyond combat, they were used in the development of Chimeran infrastructure and are also used to carve a network of tunnels throughout Britain to accomodate supply lines.
- Stalker : a walker design; one's who's technology was barely understood by the Chimerans enemies. They were a mobile heavy weapon platform which are equipped with anti-aircraft autocannon and a missile pod along with an anti-personnel gun. A single Stalker was quite capable of making friendly airspace into a no fly zone making air support impossible on the battlefield. They made use of a multi-legged walker mechanism which provided a superior maneuverability over all terrain. A Stalker was a heavily armored opponent and are quite resilient against enemy weapon fire. The one vulnerability of a Stalker was their partially exposed power core located on the rear of the hull making it possible to damage the walker.
- Goliath : another form of walker design used by the Chimeran armies and serve as a massive walking siege battery. They were used to subjugate entire cities which they do so by using concussion mortar batteries to soften up the opposition. These mortar barrages had a terrifying effect on enemy companies with entire groups broken up with some running to save their own lives. Scattering enemy divisions made them vulnerable to the second weapon within the Goliath's arsenal namely the Spire missile. These biological warfare missiles delivered payloads of Chimeran crawlers with a single successful missile strike capable of infecting thousands. Typically, the Goliath fired several such missiles to infect entire regions of Humans.
Chimeran industry was advanced enough that it allowed them to construct a ranger of craft that included:
- Dropships : a flying transport used to deploy Chimera ground troops into battle. The outer shell was protected by thick armor that was impervious to most attacks. In terms of armaments, a powerful plasma cannon was used to kill enemy forces.
- Aerial Battleships :
Another type of large orbital platform were the 10 kilometre long Terraformers that was a machine that was able to create strong weather patterns such as hurricanes that it used to dramatically change a planetary environment. They were used by the Chimera to terraform a world to make it more hospitable for their kind. A Terraformer was equally able to be used offensively as they could cleanse an entire region of life even if it resided deep underground. Chimera could use these machines in order to obliterate any forces that resisted their control.
Appearances
- Resistance: Fall of Man:
- Resistance 2:
- Resistance 3:
External Link
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