Linden Vihrantus

 is an antagonistic Rider fought in Monster Hunter Stories Ultimate. He is the founder and leader of The Children of Gaia.

Description
Linden Vihrantus is a tall, thin Wyverian man with tan skin, gold eyes, long, brown hair with two strands standing up high into the air, a long, pointed nose, and a large pair of black specs that cover his eyes. He wears green-tinted Arderopac equipment, making him look druid-like, and wields a Nature-elemental version of the Ancient Dragon Wood Bow in battle.

Personality
Like the group he founded, Linden is obsessed with protecting nature above all else, and is immensely hostile to those he views as being harmful to nature. He most notably despises the Hunter's Guild and its associates, viewing them as bloodthirsty psychopaths who enslave, torture, and slaughter innocent monsters for fun, and seeks to overthrow them and put 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 anger him into staging terrorist attacks. He is also extremely anti-industrialization, and seeks to convert human settlements into forested areas for monsters to live in, whether people live in them or not. A proud zealot of a man, he imposes strict, punishing rules on his followers that, in his eyes, make them better than the Hunter's Guild and their associates, like forbidding the consumption of anything that isn't derived from plants or natural sources of water and forbidding the use of modern medicines and technology, and will spend a good portion of his time preaching about how important it is to get rid of the Guild and separate Riders and Monsties, and will fly into a mad rage if anyone questions him, attempts to change the subject, or does anything he deems as "unnatural". He also orders his followers to spread "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. In addition, he likes to write tabloids making all sorts of ludicrous claims about various figures and items as a means of generating income.

Like the group he follows, Linden's activism and devotion belie his hypocrisy and self-righteousness. Despite decrying the perceived abuses of Riders and Hunters alike, he, along with his followers, 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). While he passes himself off as a concerned individual who just wants to help the environment, his true personality is that of an impulsive, short-tempered, attention-seeking bully who uses his activism as a front to indulge in activities he considers thrilling, like controlling as many people as he can with his influence, or using a mind-controlled Xipec Auztecol to bury villages and towns with suffocating flora, and considers himself above all others. Prior to him founding the group, he made unfounded and outright libelous stories about others to achieve easy prestige, and lashed out at anyone who criticized or sued him over it. Due to him being obsessed with getting what he wants however he wants it, he is also a mood swinger with a short temper, getting furious over minor inconveniences. He is also shown to be cowardly despite his attempts to strike fear in people's hearts, tearfully begging for his life when defeated despite being more than willing to badmouth his enemies and fleeing from stronger opponents.

Background
Before he founded The Children of Gaia, Linden Vihrantus was a reporter from Yukumo Village who travelled the world in pursuit of the big scoop that would make him world-famous. Taking a liking to nature over how unique it was, he enjoyed writing about the various flora and fauna he encountered, but he felt like he shouldn't have had to work for his fortune due to wanting it right away, and partook in yellow journalism in an attempt to obtain easy money and prestige. Such yellow journalism included false claims that ground-up Monoblos horns would make men more fertile, false studies that claimed questionable herbal mixtures could cure all diseases, scare headlines accusing various Hunter's Guild associates of violently silencing their critics, and unverified reports about Hunters killing their Poogies after they didn't earn rare monster materials from petting them before a hunt. His violent outbursts toward anyone who questioned him and refusal to name sources did nothing to endear himself to the general public as well, who viewed him as a sensationalist hack and a bully, and eventually, he was fired from his publishing agency for impulsively punching the Jumbo Sweetheart, who sued him for defamation following unverified reports that she was having an affair with the Jumbo Chief. Angry at losing his job and blaming Jumbo Village as a whole for said loss, he vowed to find the big scoop that would give him the prestige he sought and make the village pay for ruining his life, and wandered deep within the Verdant Hills in an attempt to find said scoop. Here, he would find what he needed.

Upon reaching the end of the thick forest that lined the lower regions of the area, he came across a mysterious laboratory funded by a sect of the Hunter's Guild that was hidden within it, and being curious, he took a look into a window there. To his horror, there were many unethical experiments taking place within the laboratory. Such experiments included the vivisection of monsters 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 true monsters, whether they partook in the unethical experiments or not, and wrote down everything he witnessed and made sketches of everyone involved before ousting them to the general public. Upon his report, he was praised for heroically exposing the horrid actions committed, even if he was a sleazy jerk who was primarily motivated by fame, and upon realizing that he had found the big scoop he had always wanted, he took advantage of it, founding his own special anti-Guild group, travelling the world to spread his message, and converting those who were moved by the tragic tale into it.

Deciding that the incident within the Verdant Hills wasn't enough to give The Children of Gaia the influence it needed, he changed the original message, which was about the evils of the Guild, to vilify anyone he 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, and created his own tabloid, known as Shizensu, to generate income, continuing his act of publishing sensationalist stories, like claiming that the Kokoto Chief killed his wife and used a Monoblos attack to cover it up, that the Caravaneer and The Man were ex-lovers, and that Nitroshrooms could cure weight loss. He began to impose a large and strict set of policies that were intended to ensure that no one within 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 him and the group gaining a heavily mixed reception from the public at best, with many decrying them for their extremism and sanctimony, and some groups who supported some of their ideals, like preventing cruelty to monsters and promoting environmental awareness, condemned them for distorting the message they were trying to tell and making it look bad to the public eye. However, he was largely unabashed by the furor directed at the group, deciding that the publicity caused by their scare campaigns were exactly what the group needed.

One fateful day, he and his 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, with the most notable target being Jumbo Village, 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
Like his subordinates, Linden Vihrantus specializes in the Nature element, utilizing a modified Ancient Dragon Wood Bow 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. His Monsties of choice are Duramboros, Hanolente, Rikituszok, Forokururu, Arderopac, and Inagami, and through a mind-control device, he exhibits control over a Xipec Auztecol despite them normally not being Monsties.

Tropes that Apply to Them

 * Ain't Too Proud To Beg: When defeated, he'll beg the player to be merciful to him.
 * All-Natural Snake Oil:
 * To build up funds, he has his group peddle immensely expensive containers of questionable herbal mixtures that they claim can cure any and all diseases and disorders. The player can purchase some for themselves if they so wish, and if they use it, they'll find that not only is this claim a lie, it also doesn't do anything when used. To add insult to injury, the mixtures cost 10,000z per purchase.
 * He has a strong stance against modern medicine, believing it to be unnatural, and advocates only using products he endorses to cure illnesses. This results in victims of the sham, including the group's own members, dying from not getting proper medical treatment. Hypocritically, he'll use modern medicine on himself when afflicted with illnesses.
 * Animal Motifs: Was modeled after mosquitoes in terms of appearance, which reflects his habit of harassing, defaming, exploiting, and harming others for his own gain.
 * Arc Villain: He's the leader of the primary villains of MHSTU's early High-Rank campaign, using a mind-controlled Xipec Auztecol to forcibly convert towns and cities into forests, whether people live in them or not. The most notable victim of this act is Jumbo Village.
 * Animal Wrongs Group: He founded The Children of Gaia, whose main intentions are getting Riders to release their Monsties into the wild, believing the relationship between Riders and Monsties to be a form of slavery, and overthrowing the Hunter's Guild, believing them to perpetrate abuse towards monsters. However, that doesn't stop him from owning Monsties and abusing monsters, among other things.
 * Cowardly Boss: In the first two fights against him, he'll flee if his health's reduced to less than 50% and only has one Heart left, or if his subordinates are defeated before he is. Each time he flees, he'll have full health upon being fought again. He stops fleeing once the 3rd battle commences due to being cornered by the player.
 * Cut Lex Luthor a Check: He founded his own tabloid that goes by the name of Shizensu following the creation of The Children of Gaia, and used it to garner funds for his group's plan to convert entire towns and cities into forests. The player can purchase some from him prior to Xipec Auztecol's attack on Jumbo Village if they so wish, with each copy costing 2,000z. After the attack on Jumbo Village is committed, they become notably less successful due to their association with a terrorist group, and this eventually results in the group's profits taking a notable hit. Some NPCs point out that if he had just focused on writing the tabloid, which was legitimate and marketable despite the outright lies it told, instead of committing crimes like kidnapping, assault, and murder, he would have been more successful, and would have avoided getting killed by the vengeful Xipec or the player.
 * Dirty Coward: Despite his short temper and large ego, he's a huge coward, shamelessly retreating from danger and trying to curry favour from those he badmouths and torments.
 * In the first and second fights against him, he'll flee the battle upon having his health depleted by 50%, leaving his subordinates and Monsties to pick up the slack for him.
 * Despite taking glee in the fear and torment he causes within Jumbo Village after Xipec Auztecol's attack converts the village into a forest and causes the villagers to slowly perish from suffocation, starvation, illness, and drained lifeforce, he immediately takes off with Xipec Auztecol and goes into hiding deep within the Verdant Hills once he attracts the attention of the Guild Knights, leaving his subordinates there at their mercy.
 * He has no problem using dishonorable tricks on the player, like directly attacking them when Rider Battles forbid Riders from attacking each other and ganging up on them with his subordinates, but will cry and moan about how unfair the battle is if the tables are turned.
 * When cornered and defeated for the last time, he'll tearfully beg the player to spare him despite badmouthing them and attempting to kill them before.
 * Do with Him as You Will: Regardless of whether the player chooses to spare him or kill him, the Xipec Auztecol he once controlled breaks free from his mind-control device upon defeat, and enacts revenge by using its plant beam to trap him within a parasitic tree that drains his life force. Once this happens, the player leaves him to his fate.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Despite largely using the report on it for his own gain, he was legitimately horrified by the gruesome experiments that took place within the laboratory he stumbled upon in the Verdant Hills. However, as shown by the actions of both him and The Children of Gaia, he isn't much better than them.
 * Evil Is Petty: He impulsively punched the Jumbo Sweetheart after she sued him over an article accusing her of having an affair with the Jumbo Chief, then blamed her for the attack. This reckless act results in him losing his career as a journalist, and he blames Jumbo Village as a whole for the loss of his job despite him directly being the cause behind it.
 * Flunky Boss: In the 1st and 2nd battles against him, he'll have one of his subordinates assist him and his Monsties in battle. The first subordinate uses a Leucomra, wears Yukumo armour, and utilizes a Yukumo Burst Gunlance, carries while the second subordinate uses a Forokururu, carries a Euphoric Bloom Hunting Horn, and wears Rikituszok armour.
 * Garden Garment: He wears Arderopac armour under the justification that Rooted Wyverns, like plants, have no nervous systems, and thus, cannot feel pain. While true for plants, it is unclear if his logic applies to Rooted Wyverns.
 * Green Thumb: He specializes in the Nature element, using a Yukumo Strongbow that was modified to utilize Nature.
 * Hair-Trigger Temper: He has a short fuse to go with his big ego, getting violently angry over any sort of annoyance, and as a result, even his group members and Monsties are fearful of him. The most common annoyances for him are being criticized, not being paid attention to, or seeing the use of products he deems "unnatural".
 * Hate Sink: Nin10DillN64 did not intend for him to be liked, which is shown by his hypocrisy, extremism, and general sleaziness.
 * Hypocrite: Like the group he leads, he falls under this trope in a number of ways.
 * Despite claiming to be a protector of the environment, he uses smog-spewing airships to spread his messages, and has no problem with his subordinates throwing their merchandize on the ground and in waterways when it's no longer useful to them.
 * Although he claims that Monsties should be put back into the wild, he keeps Monsties for themselves. When called out on it, he claims it's not bad when he does it, since he's better than everyone else, and thus does not have to follow his own rules.
 * He's fully aware of the abuse and neglect his group puts monsters through despite decrying perceived abuse and neglect from Hunters and other Riders, and abuses his own Monsties, threatening them with death if they fail him, blaming them for his failures, leaving them to die to avoid getting killed by the player, and even beating them.
 * He hires meat-eating celebrities to represent his group despite claiming that eating meat is a vile act comparable to genocide and lynching. Monster bones can also be found in the garbage bin in his room, implying that he eats meat behind his group's back.
 * Despite his hatred for modern medicine and technology, to the point where he'll let his group's members die from injuries and illnesses instead of giving them proper cures and treatments, he'll keep them for himself, as evidenced by the many containers of modern medicine in his cabinet, the modern devices displayed in his room, and the mind-control device he plants on Xipec Auztecol.
 * Jerkass: He's arrogant, ill-tempered, crass, and sleazy, badmouthing anyone and everyone around him for no reason beyond a desire for fame and recognition, and only holds back the insults when he needs something from them, such as mercy, or a mind-control device.
 * Laser-Guided Karma: Whether spared or not, he ultimately dies at the hands of the Xipec Auztecol he brainwashed into working for him. It's especially karmic if the player spared him, since he tries to kill them in one last cheap shot as thanks for their kindness.
 * Kick The Dog:
 * Prior to him founding The Children of Gaia, he wrote articles defending the overhunting of Monoblos, an endangered species, claiming that their horns increased fertility in men, and punched the Jumbo Sweetheart when she filed a defamation lawsuit against him before blaming her for the assault.
 * He subjects the entirety of Jumbo Village to defamation, threats of violence, kidnappings, assault, and even murder and terrorism just because the Jumbo Sweetheart sued him for defamation prior to him founding The Children of Gaia.
 * He oversaw the kidnappings and deaths of many Monsties, taking them from their Riders, killing them, and dumping them into trash bins despite claiming to want to liberate Monsties. If this is brought up, he'll dismiss the player, claiming that domestication is a fate worse than death despite owning Monsties himself. Xipec Auztecol itself can be seen glaring at him when he says it, suggesting that it's fully aware of what it's doing despite being unable to do anything about it.
 * When fought the first two times, he'll ditch his subordinates and Monsties when the chips are down, claiming that his life is too important to waste babysitting such incompetent fools, and that they can just die if they're going to fail him.
 * When Jumbo Village gets covered in suffocating flora, he mocks the villagers over the suffering they endure, and even kicks and stomps on them to rub salt into the wound.
 * Knight Templar: He doesn't care how many people he harms with his actions as long as his cause is fulfilled, and is willing to sacrifice the very monsters he claims to protect for the sake of his cause.
 * Manipulative Bastard: He enjoys writing sensationalist and defamatory articles to manipulate people into thinking that what he says is true, and oversees the production of posters that show Hunters and Riders being cruel to small, cute monsters.
 * Mind-Control Device: He planted one of these on the Xipec Auztecol under his control after a successful ambush, bending it to his will.
 * Never My Fault: He refuses to accept any responsibility for his misdeeds or failures, instead blaming others for his mistakes. This was a trait of his even before he became a villainous Rider, as he impulsively punched the Jumbo Sweetheart after she sued him for defamation following a libelous headline and claimed she provoked him into attacking her when she clearly didn't.
 * Small Name, Big Ego: Even before he became the leader of The Children of Gaia, he had an overinflated image of himself, considering himself greater than everyone else and insulting and looking down upon other characters, including the player. In truth, he's little more than a petty, cowardly, short-tempered narcissist, and many other characters know it.
 * Straw Media Outlet: Prior to founding The Children of Gaia, he wrote sensationalist (and sometimes, outright defamatory) headlines in an attempt to earn easy prestige and fame, feeling that he shouldn't have had to work for it, and his publisher allowed him to do so until he punched the Jumbo Sweetheart following a defamation lawsuit. After founding the group, he started a once-popular tabloid called Shizensu that made similar headlines before his attack on Jumbo Village killed its sales. Such headlines include, but are not limited to:
 * "Instant Weight Loss! The New Nitroshroom Cure Doctors Don't Want You To Know About!"
 * "Shocking! Guild Whistleblower Murdered For Exposing Secret Child Slavery Ring In Minegarde Town!"
 * "Top Doctor Admits Herbal Remedies Cure Cancer And Other Deadly Diseases!"
 * "Castle Schrade Nobility Secretly Aliens? What The Guild's Hiding From You!"
 * "The Paragon Of Male Enhancement! What Ground-Up Monoblos Horns Can Do To Save Your Marriage!"
 * "Looking For A Good Time? New Research Shows Swallowing Juices Extracted From Cephalos Greatly Boosts Stamina!"
 * "Caravaneer and the Man: The End Of A Romance? Shocking Account Of Their Break-Up Battle!"
 * "The Fame And The Shame! See How The Jumbo Sweetheart Laid Her Way To Success!"
 * "Confessions Of A Stone-Cold Killer: How The Kokoto Chief Killed His Wife And Got Away With It!"
 * "Guildmarm Gives Birth To Baby Brachydios! The Man Builds Special Nursery In Bherna Village!"
 * "Trainers Hate Her! See How Single Mom Goes From Fat To Skinny In Just 30 Seconds!"
 * "Handler's 8-Hour Hell With Deviljho Girl: See How She Escapes!"
 * "Your Daily Horoscope: What Mercury Retrograde Means For You, The Environment, And Society!"
 * Social Darwinist:
 * He considers reliance on medicine to be a sign of weakness, and refuses to let anyone use treatments more complicated than the useless herbal mixtures his group peddles, which results in villagers and members alike suffering serious complications and dying from infections. When this occurs, he dismisses them as being too weak to live. Hypocritically, he uses it for himself, as shown by containers of medicine hidden in his headquarters and his habit of using Antidotes on himself when poisoned.
 * He enforces a "survival of the fittest" policy, claiming that the towns and villages he attacks deserve it for being too weak to prevent the attacks. However, he'll flee if the chips are down, and will beg for mercy after each defeat.
 * Too Dumb To Live: He tried to get a Xipec Auztecol to forcibly convert towns and cities, most notably Jumbo Village, into forests, believing that it would recognize him as an animal rights activist and do his bidding. It killed a large portion of his group and drove him off in response to their hypocrisy instead.
 * Ungrateful Bastard: If spared, he feverishly thanks the player for not killing him, then silently wanders off when the player celebrates the official end of The Children of Gaia. Once he gains enough distance, he draws out his bow and attempts to shoot them with it one last time, insulting them under his breath. Fortunately for the player, Xipec strikes him down with its vine beam before he can make the shot, encasing him in a life-draining tree and confining him to his fate.
 * Would Hit A Girl: He had no problem with punching the Jumbo Sweetheart after she filed a defamation lawsuit against him.

Notes and Trivia

 * Linden Vihrantus was partially inspired by Ghetsis Harmonia from Pokémon Black and White.
 * Because Linden is struck down and killed by the Xipec Auztecol he once controlled regardless of what the player does, choosing to spare or kill him does not affect the Karma Meter.
 * Credit for the tabloid articles pertaining to Castle Schrade's nobility, the relationship between the Caravaneer and the Man, the supposed cover-up of the Five incident, the alleged Nitroshroom cure, and the horoscope go to Kendasa, while credit for the (bowdlerized by Nin10DillN64) article pertaining to Cephalos goes to TheElusiveOne.
 * Linden mentions creating The Children of Gaia 6 years ago, making him 25 years-old when he founded it.