Believer - Rank 6 in the House of X's leadership, an original Mutant with the ability to produce pheromones that respond to the passion in others - increasing their strength, will, and overall attributes the more passionate they are to whatever ideal Believer is currently preaching, but also making them more set in their ways, less likely to listen to reason, and more reckless as a result of the high created by this passion - as well as making them more likely to listen to what he says. Named Elijah Stryker, he is the son of William Stryker, a notorious anti-Mutant fundamentalist who leads the Purifiers, a fundamentalist organization who considers the mere existence of Mutants to be an affront to God Almighty and not part of his plan for the world. He grew up a very normal life for a christian human child, and was a very true believer in God, as well as loving his father and the passion he had for the script. However, when his mutation manifested and his eyes became like burning coals, the already Anti-Mutant William was horrified, and intended to kill his son for the good of the world. However, his mother stepped in, trying to stop him, and the young Elijah's cries for her to help him lead his mutation to influence her, making her strong enough to overwhelm Stryker physically - something that shouldn't be possible. He managed to shoot her in the head, but also realized the value of his son's mutation, and that he could use it for his own purposes. After painlessly killing his infant daughters and elderly grandparents, he kidnapped his son and began to prepare to form the Purifiers.

Once the Purifiers were formed, he set up an intricate device to exploit Elijah's mutation, a sort of mechanical podium the young boy would be stuffed inside, harvesting his pheromones and outputting them through the podium, while connected to the speaker at the top. This would allow Stryker to utilize his son's pheromones for his own purposes, to make the Purifiers stronger and stronger, and unwilling to abandon the ideals of God in his eyes. For many years did Believer waste away in this box, being used as a living prop. But he did not despair, for he still had faith in the Lord, and that the Lord has a reason for everything, and that the Lord would have to save him one day. For years in the box all he did was pray, and pray, and pray, in elegant ways, never losing his sense of language as a result. His communions with God were regular, and he was certain God was listening to him. He believed that this was all a test from God - a way of hardening him, making him understand suffering so he could truly empathize with those who suffers - a living Martyr. From within his box he could hear every sick speech his father spit out, and he became convinced that the biblical holy people weren't Jews - they weren't even humans at all, instead, the chosen people of God were Mutants. That was why all these prophets could do such wondrous things, while all their enemies could do were parlor tricks. As such, this belief, combined with his prison inside the box, lead him to hate Man, seeing them as fearful creatures that shied from God's light.

His work as his father's "mouthpiece" went on for many years, until he was eventually a young man, around 19 years old, when he was finally set free. The House of X attacked one of his father's rallies, and in the chaos he couldn't secure Believer's box. In the aftermath, the box was broken open and they found Believer, discovering him to be the way Stryker was influencing his flock. Elijah was in awe, he was finally saved - he was right, his prayers weren't for nothing, God had sent someone to save him. And that someone was Sage - thus, he immediately swore fealty to her, seeing her as a messiah who came to save him from the hell he had become trapped in. He thus became one of her most loyal servants, and the primary morale officer of the House of X, owing not only to his mutation but also his enthusiasm for the House and its cause. As well, he was the main spokesperson for the House in general, doing most of the speeches due to both his natural talent and how Sage freely admits she's not one for big motivational speeches. Alongside Wither, he also operates as one of the main recruiters, using his passionate talent for words combined with his eternally optimistic outlook to sway Mutants to the cause, unaware of the trap - the lock that Wither functions as.

Believer is an extremely optimistic and cheerful person, almost never becoming unhappy or sad, having a constant smile on his face and with passion and joy in his every word. He believes that God will always deliver Mutantkind to safety, and that as Sage is the chosen of God, she can do no wrong. He believes Sage is Cassandra's successor completely, and often gets extremely angered when anybody suggests she isn't - even Sage herself, though in such a way that could be described as a supporting friend getting angry that their friend would sell themselves short like that. He tries to keep good relations with every member of the House, even ones that really want no part of his company like Xorn. He loves every Mutant and especially every member of the House of X, but recognizes that the path they follow requires sacrifices, so he's willing to toss them aside or even support incidents like Genosha, even if he sheds a tear while doing so. He almost never insults other people, instead only complimenting them, with the sole exception of humans, who he of course hates by now, and isn't unhappy to show it at all. He considers their only value being that they can bring Mutants into the world, but will act nice in a condescending manner to any humans who have come to serve mutants - either genuinely like Sublime, or only in his warped perception like Moira McTaggert.

He believes in a sort of sense of destiny, but not fate. He believes in free will, and that every living being, including humans, have a choice in what they do in their life - but the way their life intersects with others is destiny, the will of God. Thus, whenever he comes face to face with the X-men, he thinks this meeting is destined and as such has great significance, and always asks them to come join the House of X, where destiny is made, emphasizing how their choice is their own and that refusal will have consequences, rather than acting like their refusal was also part of the path chosen by God. His talent to look on the bright side of things adds to the quality of his speeches, as he can make even major defeats seem a little less bad by highlighting what good was accomplished nonetheless. In the event of a total defeat, he will instead focus his speeches on mourning and revenge, riling his flock through passionate anger rather than passionate adoration - to put it simply, you just can't beat him when it comes to his ability to spin any given situation into a speech. He even proudly talks about killing disenfranchised Mutant enemies, saying how their death will make them a martyr and Snapshot's propaganda network can manipulate the footage to make it seem like the work of rival terrorists or humans, letting him spin their death with his snake's tongue as well.

He is incredibly friendly to everybody he meets, ally or enemy, and as such gets along with Amaranth in this regard. He never thinks Mutants are truly off the path - instead just being misguided, and if given the right stimuli or situations will understand the truth and come to serve the House of X like the lord intended. He will never insult his foes, and will even praise their resolve or skill when facing them with his personal congregation of Marauder bodyguards, often becoming genuinely sad and lamenting how he'll have to kill them or worse if they keep resisting his offers to join him. He is not an idiot however, and is very cunning, not only when it comes to manipulating his followers but also manipulating his foes - if he can sense what they're passionate about, he'll turn his mid-battle speeches in the direction of that passion, making them get hit with the positive effect of his mutation - but also the negatives, such as shortsightedness and recklessness. His religion can no longer be recognized as Christianity, and is its own weird fucking thing, with a variety of unique elements like calling God "she" due to how Cassandra and her successor are both female, treating snakes as an object of reverence, and rejecting all historical holy symbols like crosses in favor of the eye of providence. He also thinks that Humans stole the truth of God out of envy, and that all religious humans recognize this in some way - that they're just pretenders to the throne of God's chosen people, and it fills them with hidden shame.

Even outside his mutation, his charisma shouldn't be underestimated, as he can stir people with his speeches and just general attitude even over screens and radios, where his mutation would have no effect, and even outside his role as a member of the House of X has a massive congregation of followers, especially in third world countries, ensuring a semi-steady supply of willing recruits from such territories. His attitude towards people with latent X-genes is that they are to be seen as children of God - but only if Sage or another source activates their X-gene. He sees people with no X-genes at all as ancient enemies of God and thus in need of eventual destruction, particularly his father William Stryker. He vastly mourns his mother, as her latent X-gene is why he was born as a Mutant, and sees her as a martyr of even greater importance than himself. However, above even her are his siblings, who could have mutated themselves had his father not killed them too when he became a Mutant - an eternal sign of Man's cruelty and fear. His chapel in the HOX base at Mt. Fuji as such has prominent shrines to all of these Martyrs. While he wants people to recognize the truth naturally, he is not beyond letting them be tortured or forcefully integrated into the House of X, as he believes it's the only way some people will see the light. As with killing Mutants, he will often have a sad tear and flowery, mournful speech whenever this happens, while also not making a move to stop it in any way.

He wears a snazzy, dark red suit with rose-colored vine patterns all over it, with a bright red tie and salmon pink undershirt, as well as eye of providence-themed cuff-links on the cuffs of his sleeves. He wears a simple black belt with an X-shaped buckle at the front, and his shoes are black with elegant golden patterns on them. He wears a catholic priest's stole on his suit, black in coloration with red tassels along the sides, and bright red X designs at the bottoms of the stole. This is despite the fact his father was protestant - another way of mocking daddy dearest. His skin is pale and almost yellow-ish, with scale-like marks randomly scattered throughout it, while his hair is slick and dark red in coloration, looking almost like a collection of snake's tails. He wears pitch black sunglasses with golden rims over his eyes, as he still has traumatic memories about his father's reaction to seeing his eyes. His teeth are sharp with prominent fangs, while his tongue, musculature, and blood are all various shades of black. His eyes are glowing and look reminiscent to burning coals, with slit pupils in the center and black sclera all around them.