Children of the Forest

Children of the Forest (Russian: Дети Леса) are a faction in Metro Exodus. Most of them are hostile towards Artyom, especially the Pirates.

Overview
Children of the Forest are a group of children who were stranded at a scout camp when World War III occurred. Raised by their camp master, whom they have come to call "Teacher", they developed the skills necessary to survive any threat the wilderness may present. Be that the changing weather, fierce creatures, bandit attacks, or unwelcome guests.

They formed a tribe in post-apocalyptic Kazakhstan, created sometime after 2013. Children of the Forest wear primitive clothes made from items found in nature, similar to the nomadic tribes of the past. The faces of cult members are hidden by masks made from the skulls of mutants in order to instill fear in the hearts of their enemies. As hinted at by their name, they tend to live in woodlands and other areas that remained clear far from the urbanized centers of humanity's former glory now poisoned by radiation.

The Children of the Forest developed a justice system called the Forest Court that is mostly used to judge outsiders and trespassers to determine whether they are hostile or not. If they are not hostile, they are allowed to pass through the territory peacefully while the hostile ones are either imprisoned or executed.

As the attacks of bandits intensify overtime, resulting in the death of many members, the Children of the Forest become divided into two subgroups with conflicting views of the Teacher’s lessons: the Pioneers and the Pirates. The Pioneers prefer to lead a peaceful and isolated lifestyle and only kill bandits while letting peaceful trespassers pass through. The Pirates on the other hand actively attack strangers and engage in looting as well as ignoring the Forest Court multiple times. Artyom has an opportunity to talk to some members of the Children of the Forest, earning moral points along the way according to choices made.

Metro Exodus
When Artyom and Alyosha's railcar is derailed as they are scouting the Valley, they are both rescued by the Children. While Artyom is secretly rescued by Olga, Alyosha is taken captive by the Pioneers and is set to stand trial, though he later manages to escape. Throughout the level, Artyom will be forced to pass through several camps occupied by the Children. Choosing a stealthy approach and either only knocking them out or avoiding them completely will earn positive moral points. After Artyom's fight with the bear, Olga and a few other Children will confront Artyom and Alyosha. If Artyom showed restraint in dealing with the Children, they will simply see the pair off, while Alyosha warns Olga that the dam is about to burst and to evacuate the Valley with the rest of the Children. If Artyom was merciless, however, Olga and the Children will be much more hostile, and will banish Artyom and Alyosha from the Valley. They will also shoot at the pair as they are ziplining away, resulting in Alyosha getting shot with an arrow.

If Artyom and the Children parted ways on friendly terms, bandit radio chatter can later be heard aboard the Aurora that confirms the Children did, in fact, evacuate the Valley.

Trivia

 * The Children of the Forest resemble the Lost Boys from Peter Pan, and were possibly inspired by them.
 * The Children of the Forest is the only faction in Metro Exodus whose leader is named, but never shown.
 * Despite the Pirate are more aggressive to an outsider even Artyom compare to the Pioneer, they questioning whether their method of surviving and brutal are moral to what the Teacher had taught them. Some of the members considered willing to spared the outsider and Artyon but also warned them not to trespassing their territory in contrasted to the Pioneers who willing to take the outsider and bandits as their prisoners for trial or even looted their stuff but occasionally let them go.
 * The Children of Forest are also resemblance of Jackal Clan in RAGE considered their appearance and often used more bows and clubs.
 * Although their tactics and attacking the player are nearly similar to the bandits owing their lack of guns but made up shooting enemy with their crossbow stealthy, hit and run tactic which is attribute to their guerilla skills and set up traps that are almost invincible compared to the traps in metro and other region.
 * Even though the Pioneers and Pirates are often taunted each other about what the Teacher taught them, they occasionally worked up together albeit with limited interaction and some hostile behavior to dealt with the intruder mainly the bandits and bystander like Artyom. This is heavily evident on during their routine life around their camp especially at night where they argument about their surviving method.

Gallery
Дети Леса Діти Лісів