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A Cloven soldier from Resistance: Retribution

The Cloven are an enigmatic faction of human/Chimera hybrids who were formerly soldiers of the Imperial Russian Army that were inoculated with an experimental vaccine to the Chimera virus derived from Pure Chimeran DNA by Dr. Fyodor Malikov. There are conflicting reports of their nature and agenda, as they are hostile to both humans and Chimera, and have been seen to act very savagely, yet possess less advanced technology than those used by the Chimera.

The Cloven are first mentioned in Resistance: Fall of Man, and first physically appear in Resistance: Retribution.

History[]

Origin[]

Beginning in 1927, the Chimera began their attack on Russia. From the very beginning Russia's military was severely inefficient in combating the alien threat, as thousands of human soldiers fell victim to the Chimeran virus and then later converted into Chimera.[1] Russian scientist Dr. Fyodor Malikov worked on using Pure Chimeran DNA that he had discovered from the site of the Tunguska Event and created an experimental vaccine which showed promise of resisting to the virus. The Russian government, desperate to stem the Chimeran tide, ordered almost all surviving soldiers to be inoculated with Dr. Malikov's vaccine despite the unknown long-term effects.

The vaccination initially worked, as the soldiers demonstrated a strong immunity to the Chimeran virus and were more effective in fighting the Chimera. However, some soldiers began to exhibit erratic and violent behavior. Gradually by September 1930, nearly 90% of the soldiers exhibited advanced mutations and severe insanity, with the majority deserting before banding together into small groups, roaming the Russian countryside preying on other humans. Becoming as much of a threat as the Chimera, these mutated and insane soldiers became known to European intelligence, and began referring to themselves as the "Cloven".[2]

Though the Cloven did not physically change into Chimera, the psychological stresses of their Chimeran condition drove the Cloven insane. The Cloven were able to hold on to their individuality to an extent, and as a result have traits of both Chimera (feral manners and cannibalism) and humans (speaking in their Russian dialect).[3][4][5] However, the Cloven have no known alliance with either group, and are hostile to both.[6]

The Angry Night[]

On the day of their transformation and madness, known to them as the "Angry Night", the Cloven escaped westward. Upon reaching western Russia, the Cloven took over Moscow.[7] Their activities in the capital city were reported by survivors who fled to Europe, stating that they killed, cannibalized, and kidnapped ordinary people. For reasons unknown the Cloven only abducted women; these abductions were somehow connected to the "Leben Geist".[7] After the Red Curtain was breached by the Chimera, the Cloven migrated to Europe and settled discretely in many secluded locations, such as the underground catacombs of Paris or abandoned towns.[8] The Cloven would later reach Britain by either hitching on refugee ships that were fleeing to Britain or following the underground tunnels which the Chimera had dug underneath the English Channel during their invasion of Britain.[9]

By 1951 the Cloven were beginning to be frequently noticed by the public due to their barbaric acts and the gruesome remains they left in their wake. This caught the attention of various human government organizations who attempted to make contact with the Cloven. However, their attempts to approach the Cloven invariably ended in violence. Throughout the entirety of the Chimeran War, the Cloven were rarely seen engaging in any conflict. However, it appeared otherwise. A detachment of Cloven fought against the Chimera and were witnessed by British soldiers near Lancaster. These Cloven actually lured the Chimera they fought to York where they deliberately coordinated a conflict between the Chimera and American forces during Operation Deliverance, allowing the operation to end in failure.[10]

By the later half of 1952, the Cloven were growing more aggressive, directly engaging the Chimera and plundering their weapons and technologies, with a particular interest in Gray Tech artifacts.[11] SRPA and British intelligence had recommended all human soldiers not to engage the Cloven unless attacked.[12]

On January 10, 1953, Colonel Rachel Parker informed Major Richard Blake that the Cloven were becoming increasingly cooperative with the Chimera.[13] The Cloven's intentions still remained currently unknown; however, the last remnants of the Cloven's human nature were likely beginning to vanish, with their Chimeran DNA taking over.

Description[]

Cloven

A Cloven from R:FoM multiplayer.

The Cloven physically resemble a normal human, but act ferally, crawling on all-fours and using growls and roars, and can speak in a normal Russian dialect to communicate. Their common appearances are having pale skin, bald heads, and worn-out grey military uniforms in varying states of repair, from mostly intact, as seen in Resistance: Fall of Man to indeterminate rags in Resistance 2 and Retribution.

In Resistance: Fall of Man multiplayer, the Cloven are equipped with helmets with the Russian letter Д (D), and sometimes they are seen wearing a bandanna to cover their faces and the colour of their eyes.

Culture[]

Cloven Shrine RR

A Cloven shrine

The Cloven possess a very ritualistic society, completely based on the death of their foes and themselves. The Cloven decorate themselves in the blood of their victims and use the bones of their foes in gory rituals, but not the bodies of their own fallen - Cloven strip the flesh of their fallen comrades for feasting and store the bones away. It is unknown if the Cloven bury their dead or not.[14] For some reason, the Cloven seem to venerate Dr. Fyodor Malikov, their creator, and have photographs of Malikov stuffed in the mouth of deceased Cloven.[15][16]

In spite of their insanity. the Cloven still cling to some remnants of their previous human lives. They appear to have an attachment to listening to music from old phonographs, collecting Russian paintings or artwork, and keeping broken figurines and photographs that are found on makeshift altars and shrines.[17][4][18] The Cloven have a preference for an an old Russian folk song, "Down the River Mother Volga", which is played on old gramophones near their shrines. It is unclear why the Cloven play this song.[17]

Shrine

James Grayson discovering a Cloven shrine.

The Cloven seem interested in Gray Tech components, after observing humans and Chimera partaking in an desperate arms race to obtain these artifacts of unknown origin, which they each believed could defeat the other. After realizing the significance of the Gray Tech components to the other races, the Cloven began collecting them for themselves. However, the Cloven never seem to construct the Gray Tech components for any sort of offensive weapon or any other military use, but instead they worship the components by taking the Gray Tech to a ritual chamber and singing and dancing around the object. According to James Grayson, since the Cloven had collected so much Gray Tech and if they had reverse-engineered the components, they likely could have wiped out the Chimera and humans themselves.[11]

The Cloven have a hive mentality, working in small packs. If members of these hives are killed, the whole pack becomes less effective and the Cloven descend deeper into insanity, eventually becoming savage, brutal, animal-like fighters.[19]

Symbols[]

Cloven Symbols

Several Cloven-made symbols can be seen throughout the campaign levels and on concept art for Resistance: Retribution. The most common one is a circle with three stripes. Sometimes the Cloven mark areas with red crosses or handprints. A hammer and sickle can also be seen on concept art images and in-game. The purpose of these symbols is unknown, although it could be used to mark their own territory. It should be noted that the Cloven mainly use blood to create the markings.

Evolution[]

Both the Maquis and British intelligence believe that the Cloven are undergoing some type of evolution - as are the Chimera, presumably as a side effect of Daedalus's new evolutionary changes.[12] An example of this evolution was believed to be the Leben Geists (Living Spirit), named by German Maquis.[20][7] However, a diary entry recovered by James Grayson contradicts this theory, as the Cloven individual writing it (presumably before he lost all coherence) mentions the Leben Geist as pre-dating them.[3] It's possible that the Cloven are starting to evolve into something similar to the Chimera, but this is unknown.

Technology[]

The Cloven possess technology that far surpasses anything so far seen from either the Chimera or humans. A demonstration of this was seen when a a Leben Geist took down a Goliath within seconds and after being hit multiple times.[21] In another development, a female Cloven being held at a British laboratory escaped when, according to the surviving guards, she turned invisible (similar to the Chameleons' cloaking devices). The guards also reported that she was able to withstand over 40-50 bullets before escaping.[22] There have also been accounts in which large Chimeran bases, sometimes occupied by over 400 Chimera personnel, have been destroyed in a single day. In these accounts, the wounds on the dead Chimera appeared to have been inflicted by small, short knives, and torn apart with bare hands.[23][24][25] It is believed that the Cloven are reverse-engineering already existing Chimeran weaponry and modifying it into their new and far more advanced weapons.[26]

Appearances[]

104848 08 01 08 10 56 49

A Cloven skin from Resistance: Fall of Man multiplayer.

Resistance: Fall of Man[]

Main article: Resistance: Fall of Man

The Cloven are never seen in-game, but are mentioned several times in the Intel documents. However, they do appear as an unlockable multiplayer skin when the player registers on myresistance.net and uses the unlock code.

Resistance 2[]

Main article: Resistance 2
Resistance 2 Cloven (multiplayer only)

The Cloven multiplayer skin as seen in Resistance 2.

They are mentioned in an Intel document, a letter from Rachel Parker who mentions that the Cloven are cooperating with the Chimera and that British Intelligence is sending two captured Cloven to SRPA for study.[13] The Cloven are passably mentioned by Dr. Malikov while being rescued by Nathan Hale in Station Genesis, in which Malikov considers his experience with the Cloven a "long story". Furthermore, several Co-Op Mode Intel documents that are unlocked reveal more about the Cloven and their capabilities. The Cloven multiplayer skin appears again in multiplayer via from the Aftermath Map Pack DLC.

Resistance: Retribution[]

Main article: Resistance: Retribution
Resistance Retribution Cloven face

The Cloven make their first actual physical appearance outside of multiplayer in Resistance: Retribution. They are seen more often in the Paris catacombs level, but are never encountered as a hostile enemy or ally to James Grayson, only with the exception of one Cloven that actually attacked Grayson during an action button sequence. Also, the Cloven can be killed for Skill Points in Luxembourg and the Paris catacombs.

The Cloven replace the Chimera as one of the opposing factions in the five multiplayer modes in Retribution. They are the only playable faction in Deathmatch. In Assimilation, there is one Cloven at the start and the rest are Maquis soldiers. The Cloven's objective is to kill all soldiers before the timer ends, while the Maquis's objective is to have at least one soldier alive by the time the timer ends. All killed soldiers are converted into Cloven fighters upon respawning.

Resistance 3[]

Main article: Resistance 3

On their way to New York City by train, Dr. Malikov told Joseph Capelli about the many poor decisions he made and lists a few of them, which included the Cloven.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • The word "cloven" is the past participle of the word cleave, and the adjective word for something divided or split. The Cloven's name is appropriate as they are a "species" entirely and genetically split from both humans and Chimera
  • The name Cloven is likely derived by British Intelligence from the fingers of the soldiers, which revealed in bloodied fingerprints on intel documents, and stated by British soldiers are "cloven" or slashed down the center by knives and left to heal into a gap down the center of their fingertips.
  • A British soldier nonchalantly presume that the Cloven can be turn into Slipskulls after being infected.[27]

See Also[]

References[]

Enemies in Resistance: Retribution
Chimera Advanced Hybrid · Boiler · Brute · Carrier · Hag · Hybrid · Leaper · Siren · Slipskull · Steelhead · Titan
Machines Hammer · Hunter Drone · Patrol Drone · Worker Drone
Other Cloven
Bosses Angel · Burrower · Chrysalis · Dropship · Mother · Roland Mallery
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