“ | Scorpia was all over the world. It had brought down two governments and arranged for a third to be unfairly elected. It had destroyed dozens of businesses, corrupted politicians and civil servants, engineered several major ecological disasters, and killed anyone who got in its ways. It was now responsible for a tenth of the worlds terrorism, which it undertook on a contract basis. Scorpia liked to think of itself as the Microsoft of crime - but in fact, compared to Scorpia, Microsoft was strictly small time | ” |
—Description of Scorpia |
SCORPIA was a Private Intelligence Agency whose name stood for: Sabotage, CORruPtion, Intelligence and Assassination. It was run by a board of ex-spies, whom come from different factions and found the "International enterpise" at the end of Cold War. The operation head was chosen alphabetically.
Operations[]
Although it only officially appears in SCORPIA, the organisation is retconned into in the first book Stormbreaker. It is revealed in Snakehead that SCORPIA provided Herod Sayle with samples of the R-5 virus for his plan of exacting revenge against the British Prime Minister, and sent Yassen Gregorovitch to Sayle Enterprises, apparently to assist with this project. Yassen shot and killed Ian Rider before the latter could return from Sayle's base. He then did the same to a guard from this company after the latter made a mistake. When Alex Rider foiled Sayle's plans, Yassen then shot the villian; he claimed Sayle was an embarrassment to their group and was told to kill the villain. In fact, Russian Roulette reveals he had orders to kill Alex Rider, who he ended up sparing.
In the novel SCORPIA, the organization gives Julia Rothman the task of commanding a scheme to sabotage the US-British alliance. She pretends that she wants Alex Rider to join SCORPIA, but instead she plans to kill him (to get back at his father who had double-crossed them long ago). Due to Rothman underestimating him, Alex Rider succeeds in destroying SCORPIA's plans, stopping the project. SCORPIA then hired a sniper to assassinate Rider. Although the marksman shot the boy, Rider somehow survived and the assassin was himself killed.
In Snakehead, SCORPIA next puts Major Winston Yu in charge of an operation aimed at creating a tsunami off the coast of northwestern Australia. Yu once again underestimates Rider, making the same mistake that Julia Rothman committed. The plan fails when Alex Rider thwarts it.
Now desperate to regain its worldwide reputation, SCORPIA returned in the ninth and final novel, SCORPIA Rising, in which Razim tried to blackmail the British government into returning the Elgin Marbles to Greece. It was destroyed out of shame of failing once again to the hands of a mere schoolboy. By this point, the organization was a laughing stock to its other counterparts and became disbanded soon after.
Known Members[]
There were originally 12 executive members, but one died of cancer, two were killed and one murdered by Julia Rothman with scorpions before the events of SCORPIA.
Each member will have their name, nationality, role (if applicable) and current status.
Original executive board[]
- Zeljan Kurst (Yugoslavian) (Incarcerated)
- Julia Rothman (British; Welsh) (executive for Operation Invisible Sword) (Deceased)
- Major Winston Yu (British; English (paternal)/Chinese (maternal) (executive for Operation Reef Encounter) (Deceased)
- Max Grendel (German) (Deceased)
- Levi Kroll (Israeli) (Deceased)
- Dr. Three (Chinese)
- Brendan Chase (Australian)
- Mikato (African/Japanese)
- Jean Picoq (French)
- 3 Unknown (Deceased)
Executive board members that joined between Snakehead and SCORPIA Rising[]
- Abdul-Aziz Al-Rahim (Iraqi) (executive for Operation Horseman) (Deceased)
- Seamus (Irish)
- Giovanni Grimaldi (Italian) (Deceased)
- Eduardo Grimaldi (Italian) (Deceased)
- Monsieur Duval (French)
Staff at Malagosto[]
- John Rider (Undercover) (Deceased)
- Oliver D'Arc (French) (Principal) (Arrested)
- Eijit Binnag (Thai) (Botany teacher) (Arrested)
- Gordon Ross (British; Scottish) (Weapons teacher) (Arrested)
- Karl Steiner (South African) (Psychiatrist) (Arrested)
- Professor Yermalov (Arrested)
- Desmond Nye (Somali) (Principal, predecessor to D'Arc) (Deceased)
- Hatsumi Saburo "HS" (Japanese) (Martial arts teacher) (Presumed deceased)
- The Countess (Italian) (Disguise training) (Presumed deceased)
Assassins[]
- Yassen Gregorovich (Russian) (Deceased)
- John Rider (British; English) (Undercover, Deceased)
- SCORPIA Guard (Deceased)
- Ash (British) (Deceased)
- Nile (British) (Deceased)
- Klaus (German) (Arrested)
- Walker (American) (Arrested)
- Amanda (Israeli) (Arrested)
- Colette (French) (Deceased)
- Sam (Israeli)
- Marat (Polish)
- Leo (insanitized)
Associates/resources[]
The following lists people who have worked with or for SCORPIA in any capacity, including subsidiaries, such as Major Yu's snakehead.
- Harold Liebermann (Deceased)
- Bill Tanner (Australian) (Deceased)
- Charlene Hicks (Australian) (Arrested)
- Isabel (Australian) (Arrested)
- Jacko (Aboriginal Australian) (Arrested)
- Quombi (Aboriginal Australian) (Arrested)
- Swain (Australian) (Arrested)
- Wilcox (Australian) (Arrested)
- Yannis Ariston Xenepolos (Greek) (Deceased)
- Julius Grief (British (outwardly)/South African (paternal)) (Deceased)
Areas of expertise[]
- Sabotage
- Corruption
- Intelligence
- Assassination
- Genocide
- Blackmail
- Vice
- Drug trafficking
- Pyrotechnics
- Smuggling
- Fearmongering
- Espionage
- Human trafficking
Trivia[]
- SCORPIA is very similar to SPECTRE from the James Bond series. This is very likely intentional on the part of Anthony Horowitz, since Alex Rider is heavily inspired by James Bond.
- Herod Sayle got his supply of the R5 virus from SCORPIA, suggesting he had some connection with the organization. This is further proved when Yassen Gregorovitch pretended to work for him by killing Ian Rider and then killing a guard from Sayle's organization when the latter made a mistake.
- Harold Liebermann, of Consanto Enterprises, was in charge of creating the nanoshells used in Operation Invisible Sword, but was killed because SCORPIA suspected betrayal.
- SCORPIA owned the island Malagosto, where they trained their future agents on. However, at the end of SCORPIA Rising, the island is in Italian hands.