Chimera (Resistance)

The Chimera are a parasitic, alien species featured prominently in the Resistance series.

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.

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 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 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 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.

History
The Chimera came to Earth in 1948. Landing in Russia, they proceeded to assimilate all the inhabitants behind the Iron Curtain before spilling over the border and taking Europe by storm. Due to their lightning-fast attack, only Britain was left unscathed. They have made it "over the pond" to America and Canada.

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.

Overview
The Chimera use a biological weapon that converts humans (and perhaps dogs) into Chimera variants. The virus is spread through contact with a carrier strain, such as the Crawler or Spinner. The virus imparts great healing, lightning-fast reflexes, and a highly efficient metabolism. However, their supercharged bodies generate such a massive ammount of heat that most Chimera need to be refrigerated constantly, lest they litterally stew in their own juices.

Variants

 * Advanced Hybrid
 * Alpha Grim
 * Angel
 * Boiler
 * Brute
 * Burrower
 * Carrier
 * Chameleon
 * Chrysalis
 * Cocoon
 * Crawler
 * Daedalus
 * Fury
 * Gray Jack
 * Grim
 * Hag
 * Hardfang
 * Howler
 * Hybrid
 * Kraken
 * Leaper
 * Leaper Pod
 * Leech
 * Leviathan
 * Mauler
 * Marauder
 * Menial
 * Mother Spinner
 * Overseer
 * Pure Chimera
 * Primarch
 * Queen Leaper
 * Ravager
 * Roller
 * Siren
 * Slipskull
 * Spinner
 * Steelhead
 * Swarm
 * Titan
 * Widowmaker