The Children of Gaia

 is an antagonist group of Riders fought in Monster Hunter Stories Ultimate.

Description
The Children of Gaia is a group of nature-worshipping militants primarily composed of Wyverians, with only a select few humans, Sea People, and Troverians taking part in it. Members of both sexes tend to carry equipment crafted from Rooted Wyverns under the justification that the plant-like monsters can regrow lost parts and do not sense pain like typical monsters do, with higher-ranking members wielding equipment from higher-level monsters. Linden Vihrantus, a tall, thin Wyverian man notable for wearing round, black specs and having a head of long, brown hair, leads the group, and sets himself apart from his subordinates by donning Arderopac equipment.

Personality
Obsessed with protecting nature above all else, The Children of Gaia are immensely hostile to those who pollute or harm monsters in any way, and are quick to resort to threats and violence if it means punishing those who harm nature, not caring who gets hurt as long as the monsters are okay. They especially dislike anyone associated with the Hunter's Guild, most notably Hunters and Riders, viewing the former group as bloodthirsty psychopaths who slaughter innocent monsters for fun and the latter group's relationships with Monsties as a form of slavery, and seek to separate them and put the Monsties back in the wild by any means necessary, whether it be propaganda, kidnapping, threats of violence, assault, or even murder. Even harm done in justified cases, like self-defense, euthanasia, the protection of innocents, or even conservation, are enough to incite their wrath. Notably anti-industrialization, they also seek to convert human settlements into habitats for monsters, whether people thrive in them or not. Highly devoted to their cause to the point of insanity, they refuse to consume anything that isn't derived from plants or natural sources of water, and will spend most of their time preaching about how important their goals are, becoming immensely hostile if anyone questions them, attempts to change the subject, or does anything they deem as "unnatural", like attempting to contain live viruses so they don't spread, or utilizing technology. They also tend to run "awareness" campaigns (in truth, these are just attempts to appeal to onlookers' emotions) that are considered by many to be amazingly stupid or in poor taste, like comparing the act of eating meat to genocide or lynching, the act of drinking milk to nonconsensual sex, throwing buckets of blood at anyone who uses monster equipment, claiming that they wouldn't support cures for deadly diseases if they used animal products, advocating the starvation of poor communities for the sake of "helping the planet", and hiring well-known figures to represent them.

However, despite what their activism and devotion might suggest, the group is immensely hypocritical and self-righteous in practice. Despite decrying the perceived abuses of Riders and Hunters alike, they have been observed keeping Monsties for themselves, polluting the environment with things intended to spread their messages (ex. empty bottles and smog-spewing airships), using the medicine and technology they condemn for themselves, hiring public figures who eat meat to represent them, being abusive and neglectful to monsters (ex. forcing obligate carnivores to take strictly vegan diets and beating them senseless so they'll produce the goods they want), vandalizing sacred grounds, and casually slaughtering most of the monsters they "save" and dumping their bodies in trash heaps, believing that domestication is a fate worse than death (again, they keep Monsties for themselves). Most of its members appear to sincerely believe the cause despite all this.

Background
The Children of Gaia was founded by a young Wyverian man who went by the name of Linden Vihrantus, who started the group after exposing a sect of the Hunter's Guild that was using a hidden laboratory to enact unethical research on monsters, like vivisecting them without the use of anaesthesia, injecting them with diseases disguised as vaccinations to study their effects, forcing infected and non-infected individuals to breed so they could test the spread of diseases, and starving and dehydrating them to determine how long they could go without food or water before dying. Traumatized by the events he witnessed, Linden began to see the Hunter's Guild and its associates as the real monsters, whether they partook in the unethical research or not, and came to the conclusion that the only way to prevent abuse like this from occurring ever again was to have the Guild overthrown by any means necessary, with the ends justifying the means. Once he made up his mind, he travelled the world to share his story with anyone who would listen, amassing an ever-growing following who were moved by the tragic tale.

Over time, the original message, which was about the evils of the Guild, was changed to vilify anyone who was deemed harmful to nature, from Hunters and Riders, who were respectively seen as mass murderers and slavers, to scientists and industrial workers, who were deemed to have a severe "disconnect" from nature that needed to be duly punished. The group began to impose a large and strict of policies that were intended to ensure that no one in the group would ever stoop to the level of the "filthy parasites" they condemned on anyone they encountered, like forcing people to only consume plant matter and water, even if they were inedible, banning the use of modern technology and medicine under the guise of them being seen as pollutants, and only allowing the use of monster parts if they were gathered from Rooted Wyverns, as the monsters were thought to regrow their parts and be unable to feel pain due to them being purported to lack nervous systems. The group also took to creating various ads and committing various crimes to spread their message under the idea that any publicity is good publicity, ranging from the petty, from splashing people who wore fur with blood and accusing meat-eaters of supporting genocide and lynching, to the outright heinous, like kidnapping and later killing Monsties and allowing people to die from preventable tragedies if it means not using animal products. This sort of behaviour has led to the group gaining a heavily mixed reception from the public at best, with many decrying them for their extremism and sanctimony.

One fateful day, the group encountered a notably powerful Rooted Wyvern by the name of Xipec Auztecol, which served as a guardian of forests. They went up to the monster and requested its help in converting cities and towns into habitat for monsters, not caring if there were people currently living in them or not. However, Xipec was immediately distrustful of them due to their hypocrisy and self-righteousness, and attacked them in response, resulting in many of the members getting killed by it, with the survivors fleeing before it would be too late for them. Noticing that a man by the name of Lord Hepskor was granting people special devices that could control the minds of monsters in exchange for obedience, they visited him in his headquarters and begged him to grant him one of the devices so they could enact their goal, claiming that Xipec left them with nothing. Taking pity on the once-proud team of militants, he offered to give them a device under the condition that they don't target any Draconis Automata settlements, and they agreed. They decided to put the device to the test by taking down Xipec in an ambush, then planting the device on its head. Once it awoke, the giant Rooted Wyvern obeyed Linden's every command without question, and realizing this, he sent it to destroy anyone who would dare oppose the group of militants, finally having the power to enact his goals full-scale. But little did The Children of Gaia know that one would-be victim, a curious young Rider with a Felyne for a companion, would serve to be their final downfall…

Abilities
The Children of Gaia specialize in the Nature element, utilizing a variety of Nature-based equipment and Nature-elemental Monsties. They all display some degree of ability in combat, and use their Monsties to enact their goals. They are also shown to be experts at appealing to people's emotions, using all manner of propaganda to turn onlookers to their side.

Notes and Trivia

 * The Children of Gaia were primarily based on PETA, ALF, and Team Plasma from Pokémon Black and White.