The Strix

The Strix were the oldest society of vampires in existence, which was founded in the Middle Ages by Elijah Mikaelson, one of the Original vampires. Under the leadership of Tristan de Martel, the group expanded into one of the most powerful organizations in the world, responsible for countless wars, assassinations, and plagues throughout history. Until the initiation of Marcel Gerard in the early 21st century, the Strix was made up exclusively of vampires from Elijah's sireline.
==History==
Elijah, along with the help of his protege Aya, created the Strix in the 12th century with the intent of gathering great minds in an effort to build a better future. However, Elijah had to abandon the society when Mikael descended upon him and his family. Begging Aya to run with him, he left the Strix behind to be slaughtered by his father. Aya revealed that she did not die due to the efforts of Tristan de Martel, who took over leadership of the Strix. When Elijah returned a few centuries later, he was horrified by the tragedy his father left in his wake, thinking that Aya was deceased. He later discovered that his society had survived under the leadership of Tristan, and realizing it had become a "collection of ego-maniacal sociopaths" rather than the ambitious, aspiring minds he had dreamed of creating a better world with, he left them behind.
==Throughout The Originals Series==
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The Strix are first encountered in I'll See You in Hell or New Orleans when Tristan sent Aya as a representative to Marcel in order to offer him a chance to join them. At first, Marcel refused, resulting in a fight between them which resulted in Aya poisoning him and taking him to their headquarters. The meeting was interrupted by Elijah, who grabbed hold of Aya's heart in an attempt to force her to state her and the Strix's intentions for his city. Tristan then arrived in order to diffuse the situation, explaining to Elijah that they were in the midst of a war with Klaus' sireline and his life was at risk, which meant all of their lives connected to him were also at risk. Tristan stressed caution since Lucien Castle had also come to the city, warning Elijah that Lucien would stop at nothing to eliminate Tristan the Strix.
In A Walk on the Wild Side, the Strix held a party both so that their various members could meet in one place, and as a possible initiation for Marcel. Tristan told Marcel that he had to find who took has his daylight ring before sunrise, and kill the one who had it. If he succeeded, he would be welcomed aa member of the Strix, and if he failed, he would die. Marcel later discovered that, while Aya was the one who took the ring, Mohinder - a vampire of renown battle capability who fed on the vampires he defeated-possessed the ring. The two fought, and Marcel defeated him by tricking him into feeding on him, and unwittingly taking in the venom of the werewolf bite Marcel had convinced Hayley to give him earlier. Despite using his cunning to defeat the much older vampire, Marcel refused to kill him, realizing that the Strix wanted Mohinder dead the whole time, and were just using Marcel's initiation as an excuse to do it. Tristan revealed that Mohinder had been conspiring against the society and killed him before welcoming Marcel into the Strix as the first member not from Elijah's sireline.
In Beautiful Mistake, Tristan sent a legion of Strix led by Aya, to retrieve Rebekah as part of their plan to bring all of the Originals together so they could trap them all and ensure the vampire species' safety. Aya had trouble finding Rebekah's original body so she killed her as a witch to force her spirit back into its original body. With her witch body dead, the cloaking spell hiding Rebekah's body wore off and she came out of her coffin, surprised by the ambush. She clashed with Aya and the Strix and despite having been in a coffin without blood for six months, held her own, defeating many of the Strix and holding off Aya. However, more Strix arrived. Freya came to Rebekah's aid and snapped all of the Strix's neck with magic, giving Rebekah time to flee. Aya tricked Rebekah into trusting a Moroccan witch and used the witch to keep Rebekah down while she daggered her. They put her body back in a coffin and prepared to send it to Tristan but were betrayed by Aurora, who had members of her own sireline, take the body for her own plans.
Meanwhile, in New Orleans, Shen Min was sent to kill Hayley, so she could no longer protect Davina, who the Strix needed for their plans. However, Shen Min was taken captive by Hayley and Marcel, who Shen Min realized was not loyal to the Strix. After a failed interrogation, Shen Min broke free and prepared to kill them before Elijah arrived and overpowered him. When questioned on what Tristan and the Strix were planning, Shen Min chose to die rather than reveal the society's secrets, taking off his daylight ring and burning to his death.
In Out of the Easy, Tristan and Lucien's alliance was brought to light by Klaus and Elijah during a Thanksgiving dinner. They explained the killings Lucien had been committing in New Orleans were part of a common tactic used by the Strix over the centuries; using the fear of a serial killer to help control a city's populace. According to Tristan, the Strix were responsible for famed serial killers like Jack the Ripper and the Son of Sam. When Klaus threatened Tristan, Tristan reminded him that if anything happened to he or his sister, the Strix would descend upon the city like a plague of locusts, killing anyone in their way.
In The Other Girl in New Orleans, after Tristan was captured by the Originals, many members of the Strix planned to invade the Mikaelsons' house to rescue their imprisoned leader. Aya chose the newly recruited Marcel to lead the attack, given his history with the Mikaelsons, he could get into the compound under the pretense of friendship. Marcel led the mission and some Strix members saved Tristan while others battled Elijah and Hayley, many getting killed in the process. Their mission was a success and Tristan was freed, which earned him Marcel's gratitude, which Marcel used to move himself closer to the Strix's inner circle. 
In Savior, three members of Strix were sent to retrieve The Serratura from Freya Mikaelson. In the process, they poisoned Freya, and two of the members were killed by Jackson Kenner but one of them escaped with the Serratura.
In A Ghost Along the Mississippi, Tristan and the Strix forced Vincent to activate the Serratura in exchange for Freya's pendant containing Finn's spirit. Tristan double crossed Vincent and held him captive with the threat of Finn possessing him again. The Strix took Hayley and Jackson prisoner in a plan to lure the Mikaelsons to a location to imprison them with the dark object. Tristan soon after killed Jackson by ripping out his heart in front of Hayley as revenge for Hayley's part in torturing him during his captivity. Vincent freed himself from the Strix with Elijah's assistance and together they kill the Strix escorting Aurora and take her captive, to gain leverage over Tristan.
In exchange for his sister and the medallion, Tristan met the Mikaelsons at their location with an army of Strix to attempt to overwhelm them and imprison them once he had his sister back. When freeing Aurora, she took the activated medallion and attached it to the wall of the storage container they were in, trapping Tristan within the impenetrable barrier. After walking out, it was revealed the Freya and Vincent used magic to make Cami look like Aurora, and was unaffected by its power from being in transition. A horrified Tristan ordered the Strix to attack, but Elijah's warnings, and Marcel's advice convinced Aya to order the Strix to stand down instead of going to their deaths fighting the Mikaelsons. The Mikaelsons informed Tristan that they would drop the storage container in the sea so Tristan would drown over and over again for all eternity, effectively removing him as the leader of the Strix.
In Wild at Heart, Aya called a meeting of the Strix's inner circle to discuss their future now that Tristan had been removed as leader, and ensure that the remaining Strix would follow her loyally. To root out any potential threats, she had the witch Ariane determine who had ill intentions for her and might try to seize control from her in Tristan's absence. Aya also took interest in the young New Orleans witch, Davina Claire, using her hopes of reviving Kol Mikaelson as a bargaining chip to try and get her to join them in a backup plan Aya had now that the Serratura and hopes of sealing the Originals away had been removed.
In Dead Angels, after learning about a weapon that was still out there that they could use to threaten the Originals, Aya called a meeting of the Strix to discuss plans on how to find and utilize the potential weapon. However, their meeting was interrupted by the arrival of Elijah, who explained that Aya couldn't just take leadership now that Tristan was gone, that it was up to him, the society's founder and patriarch, to decide who was fit to lead. Elijah suggested himself, wanting to take back the ancient society that he had created. He pulled out the original Strix charter, the rules that the society had been founded on to solidify his candidacy as leader. Aya refused him, having written the charter with him centuries ago, she cited that a "game of kings" could be played to determine the new leader of the Strix: whoever held the charter at midnight would be made the new leader. 
Aya challenged Elijah to a duel for possession of the charter, and leadership, and Elijah accepted. The two went to Marcel's gym where they fought inside the ring. Aya scolded Elijah for thinking he could ever be leader again after abandoning the Strix while Elijah reiterated that Tristan was a terrible leader and had warped the Strix into a pale reflection of what he and Aya had originally dreamed it could be. While Aya tried desperately to defeat the more powerful Original, she presented him to the Strix as someone who would always put his loyalty to his family over loyalty to his sireline. Elijah, growing tired of her resistance, prepared to end the fight but was stopped by Marcel, who snagged the charter while they were busy fighting. Marcel reminded him that it only mattered that someone held the charter at midnight, not that they had to fight for it, before fleeing into the city with it.
Marcel used his extensive knowledge of New Orleans to keep himself well hidden from Elijah and Aya, knowing locals would safeguard him inside of their homes, while not allowing the Strix to be invited inside. Elijah caught up with him but not before midnight came and Marcel declared himself the new leader of the Strix. Elijah initially seemed furious at Marcel's ploy and prepared to kill him before being reminded that the charter was clear in its rules. Just because he had used deception and cunning instead of a show of brute force, didn't matter as long as he held the charter when the deciding time came. Elijah spared Marcel and watched with Aya and the rest of the Strix as Marcel became the new leader. That night, Elijah visited Marcel and the two were revealed to have planned the events that took place, with Elijah helping Marcel become leader so the Strix would become allies, more willing to follow a new member than the founder that had abandoned them. Later, Aya asked her new leader if he was ready to lead the Strix to freedom, as she had a plan to sever the sirelines from the Originals.
In A Streetcar Named Desire, Strix from around the world flock to New Orleans to witness the sirelines of Elijah and Klaus be broken so they can finally be free. Ordered to protect the ceremony by Aya, the Strix are confronted by vampire huntress Rayna Cruz who easily kills the two guards at the front gate before making her way inside. The Strix attack her in greater numbers but she slays several more of their members while Klaus and Elijah are being rescued. Despite Klaus' sireline being successfully broken, Elijah's remained in tact, which kept the Strix's lives still connected to the Original Vampire. 
In An Old Friend Calls, more than a eleven members of the Strix went missing and two members, Isaac and Holt confronted Marcel about finding them. Marcel investigated the disappearances and found various corpses of the missing Strix members in a garbage disposal, scarred by werewolf bites and torn apart. When it was revealed that Hayley was killing the Strix members that had been involved in Jackson's death, Elijah stopped her from continuing her vendetta. However, to protect Hayley, Elijah killed the rest that were on her list and had Marcel frame Gaspar Cortez as the Strix had dealt with him in the past, and believed that he could be responsible for the murders.
In Alone with Everybody, the Strix feared Elijah's safety after rumors of the last remaining white oak bullet began circulating. They kept a close eye on him and he grudgingly agreed to allow them to guard the Mikaelson compound and put it on lock down, not allowing anyone in or out until the white oak bullet was found.
In The Devil Comes Here and Sighs, several dozen members of the Strix assisted Freya and Elijah in trying to subdue Lucien Castle and protect their sire at all cost. Lucien killed some of them by biting them while those who continued to fight and protect their sire were beaten to unconsciousness or getting their necks snapped.
In Where Nothing Stays Buried, Elijah was informed by The Strix that Lucien was heading to the Bayou.
In The Bloody Crown, Marcel, after becoming an Upgraded Original vampire, killed the remaining Strix leaders and members so he could kill Elijah without the Strix army coming to protect him.
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In Gather Up the Killers, it is mentioned that Alistair has been tracking down and killing members of the Strix to prove Elijah is still alive.
In Queen Death, all members part of Elijah's sireline died after he does, marking the collective end of the Strix as an extension of Elijah's sireline. Given the exclusivity of the Strix to his sireline — except for Marcel Gerard — it is likely that the Strix is now inactive.
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==Membership==
The Strix seek out talented individuals, and help them grow. Their numbers include artists, politicians, warriors, leaders and people talented in many other areas. They also have numerous vampire soldiers under their command.
Notable examples include:
*Tristan de Martel, the first vampire ever sired by Elijah, who is both leader of the Strix and credited by Elijah himself with influencing who he became. He is currently trapped in the bottom of the ocean thanks to the Serratura.
*Aya Al-Rashid, who is skilled in battle and in poisons, being able to create one powerful enough to temporarily take down vampires. She was also Tristan's second-in-command, however, following Tristan's fate, she acted as the leader of the organization for a short while before Marcel took over.
*Marcel Gerard, a vampire sired by Klaus (being the first of his sireline to have membership in the organization) who was able to create a powerful vampire community from the ground up after Mikael's assault on the city, and was able to temporarily be in complete control of New Orleans. He is currently the leader of the organization.
*Mohinder, a warrior who trained himself to go weeks without feeding and feel no ill effects. He fed off of the vampires he was about to kill, and is the one who trained Aya in combat. Unfortunately for him, Tristan became aware of attempts at treachery by him, and so had him killed.
*Shen Min, who was once the great conqueror, Genghis Khan's torture consultant. Shen Min was assigned to remove Hayley from being able to protect Davina Claire. After overpowering his captors, Marcel and Hayley, he was compelled to answer Elijah's questions, but chose to kill himself rather than reveal anymore information, holding on long enough to before his compulsion forced him to answer anymore questions by killing himself in sunlight via removing his daylight ring.
*The Sisters, who are a powerful dark coven of 'lost souls' witches that aid as the personal coven of The Strix. These are outcasts witches without a proper coven or a family who joined The Strix as consultants and personal witches, providing them with spells and predictions. According to Aya, the Sisters possess great skill in witchcraft.
==The Strix Charter==
In Dead Angels, Elijah crashes a Strix meeting and presents a book known as the Charter — their sacred law book — to Aya, then and current leader of the Strix. Elijah remarks that it has been over nine-hundred years since Aya last saw the Charter, meaning that since the Strix's creation, the Charter has been in the possession of the Mikaelson family.
The Charter is a scroll book containing the sacred bylaws of the Strix, created by Elijah Mikaelson and his protege Aya Al-Rashid over nine-hundred years ago during the creation of the Strix. Each member is bound to the laws and tradition of the Charter despite the fact that many may not know of its existence.
After its inception, the Strix were found by Mikael, and Elijah fled the Strix, taking the Charter with him and leaving his fellow members behind to die for his family. After Elijah fled, Lord Tristan de Martel became the Strix' leader and for centuries afterwards dictated the laws and regulations for the Strix to abide by after abandoning the Charter's teachings. 
After the fall of Tristan, the Strix fell under the reign of Aya, co-creator of the Charter. Elijah attended the Strix gathering and reinforced the Charter, making every member of the Strix abide by it — including Aya and himself. Believing that Aya could not properly lead the Strix, Elijah invoked a clause that would restore complete dominion to Elijah himself. In retaliation, Aya invokes on the right of the "Game of Kings" wherein the competing leaders will undergo a contest of cunning and strength of their own choosing (i.e. a duel, a game, etc.) The game was ultimately won by Marcel Gerard, who ascended to the role of leader of the Strix, with Aya and Elijah as advisors. 
*Ludum Regale (Game of Kings): A rule that says a member of the Strix can challenge the current leader in contest of either strength or intelligence. The leader is obliged by the law to accept and participate in this challenge and the winner becomes leader. The clause sates: "If our leadership is in doubt and politics proves divisive, a contest of strength and cunning shall determine the line of succession" and whomever holds the charter at the stroke of midnight, will ascend to leadership. 
*Sovereignty of the Founding Father: As the Strix was started by Elijah, he holds sovereignty over all over members, including then and current leader. The clause states: "In the absence of a worthy leader, charter shall be invoked, and complete dominion shall be restored to Elijah Mikaelson." Elijah attempts to do this to Aya in Dead Angels after she takes over from Tristan de Martel only to be challenged with a game of kings.
* Aliquid sub sole: Latin for "anything" and is a famous rite among the Strix. It is assumed that only the current leader can pass aliquid sub sole, if passed, the whole Strix order pledges to fulfill one command.
**Marcel Gerard is the only known leader to ever invoke aliquid sub sole.
==Leaders==
*Marcel Gerard (Formerly)
*Tristan de Martel † (Formerly)
*Elijah Mikaelson † (Founder; Formerly)
*Aya Al-Rashid † (Formerly)
==Members==
*Mohinder †
*Shen Min †
*Holt †
*Takahashi Fukuda †
*Arthur Bailey †
*Cadence Flynn †
*Claire Burnett †
*Isaac Pacheco †
*Robert Craig †
*Emil Blankenship †
*Lawrence Howard †
*Rowan Obi †
*Many Unnamed Members †
*† indicates deceased
==Affiliates==
* Unnamed Moroccan Witch (Possibly)
* Unnamed Obeah Witch †
===The Trinity===
*Lucien Castle †
*Aurora de Martel
===The Sisters===
*Davina Claire
*Ariane †
*Madison †
*Cynthia †
*Unnamed Members †
*† indicates deceased
==Trivia==
*The symbol of the group is of an owl. In Greek and Roman mythology, a strix was a bird of ill omen that fed on human flesh and blood. In ancient-Greek, strix means "owl".
*The cards they give out to recruits reveal the location of where they can be found by covering it in blood.
**The fact that Elijah knew how to reveal the location points to the theory that Elijah had something to do with the creation of the Strix.
*According to Klaus, he had always been excluded from their "club".
*Tristan de Martel is now imprisoned for eternity due to The Serratura, when his plan to use it to imprison the Mikaelsons for all time backfired, leaving Aya in command for a short while until Marcel took over.
*Although Marcel Gerard led the Strix, they still seemed heavily devoted to blindly following Aya.
**This seemed to be the case under the leadership of Tristan de Martel, given one simple command by Aya, each Strix member fled, forsaking Tristan as their leader.
*They also have encountered Rayna Cruz at some point as Aya knew who Rayna was when she showed up at the house where the Sisters were based in New Orleans. Rayna killed many Strix trying to get to Stefan Salvatore placing them in their own personal hells inside the Phoenix Stone. She was used as a distraction so that Hayley and Marcel could stop Davina along with the Sisters from doing the desiring spell on Klaus and Elijah. They are only half successful as Davina undoes Klaus' sire line.
*The Strix often employed scare tactics, creating a climate of fear to take better control of cities they were infiltrating; often by using serial killings to scare the public. Known serial killers they were said to be responsible for included: Jack the Ripper in England, the Son of Sam in New York City, and more recently, Lucien Castle in New Orleans.
==Gallery==
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==References==
==See also==
Category:Groups
Category:The Originals (series)
Category:The Originals Characters
Category:Vampire Armies
Category:Supernatural
Category:Vampires
Category:Undead
Category:The Strix
Category:Deceased