Aisha (Joint Venture)

Ayesha of Balobedu is an ancestor of Storm's who was Sorceress Supreme. This is the Joint Venture Universe incarnation of the character.

Daughter of the Faltine
The Faltine are an ancient race that live apart from the physical dimensions in a state of pure energy. Typically, when Faltine reproduce, they split in a process similar to cellular mitosis, creating an exact duplicate of themselves.

But long ago, in ancient times, one Faltine had the curiosity to explore other realms. He crossed over into the physical plane, assuming a corporeal form that would survive the journey. Though his true name is unpronounceable to the human tongue, he would come to be called "Izulu-Ilanghabi", or "Sky-Flame" by the ancient people whom he discovered.

Izulu-Ilanghabi, in his corporeal form, protected and nurtured the tribe he had landed in, his energy powers translating into mighty sorceries. Eventually, he met and fell in love with one of the daughters of the Rain Queen of Balobedu. They married according to Balobedu custom, cementing the bond between the Lobedu and Izulu-Ilanghabi's tribe, and had a daughter, Aisha.

Mystic Heritage
Izulu-Ilanghabi, having sired a human child, was now trapped in a physical, human form, with much of his legendary powers diminished. However, he did not mourn the loss of his power, for he felt the love of a family, something no Faltine had ever experienced before in all the long history of the race.

From birth, Aisha was different. Inheriting some of the power of her father, she also possessed her mother and grandmother's oneness with the planet she was born on. Therefore, while Aisha would never become a true Faltine like Izumi-Ilanghabi, she, and her descendants, would be heirs to the Faltine's power, as channeled through the elements of their mother planet, Gaea.

Growing up, Aisha learned magic from her father and control from her mother. Her mother taught her that all the elements of nature, magic included, were connected; that every action would have consequences, especially the actions of a daughter of such powerful magical lineage. Izulu-Ilanghabi, her mother said, was unique in that he was a being like unto a god, but possessed a love and compassion equal to his power. Aisha took these lessons to heart, and became a benevolent sorceress to her tribe.

Salomé of Nimrud
When she was old enough, Aisha left her tribe and wandered through Africa and Asia, learning new spells as she went, earning for herself a reputation as a mystical and spiritual healer -- what we wold think of today as a "fairy godmother". Eventually, her travels took her east, to Assyria, where she learned of Salomé of Nimrud, the Sorceress Supreme. At first, Aisha was excited. Surely the Sorceress Supreme could teach her all she ever wanted to know about magic!

However, upon arriving in Nimrud, Aisha was dismayed. The very same worship that her people had given her father out of love, Salomé was demanding the people of Nimrud give her out of fear. Worse, her reign had been extended for hundreds of years thanks to the assistance of a dark ally -- her apprentice, Selene, with a horrible power to steal life force that did not come from any magic. Salomé was using this stolen life force, along with the demonic energies wielded through evil pacts with Zarathos, the demon of vengeance, and Mephisto, the lord of the dark bargain, to extend her lifespan and her reign far beyond what it should have been.

Aisha was torn -- she wanted to help, to free the city from Salomé's barbaric rule, but she knew, even with the power she'd inherited from her father, that she could not face sich a powerful, treacherous being alone. At a loss for what else to do, she prayed to anyone who would listen...and someone did.

The Bright Lady
Aisha was granted a vision, of the Earth herself appearing before her as a towering, beautiful woman. The woman introduced herself as "Ma'at", the spiritual quintessence of goodness, balance, truth, and justice. In truth, this was Oshtur, Mother of the Vishanti and the founder of magic itself, and it was she who had led Aisha to Assyria in the first place.

Salomé, she told Aisha, had once been Semiramis, a protector of Earth and worthy of the title of Sorceress Supreme. But when she grew hungry for more power, she contacted demons from other dimensions, and in so doing, violated the sacred trust of the mantle. The Sorcerer Supreme's task, Ma'at explained, was to protect Earth from dark dimensions that wished it ill, and to that end was granted power far beyond most mortal sorcerers. In making deals with demons, Salomé had abused that power and her position, and therefore no longer deserved either.

Aisha's Faltine blood and her lifelong connection to the world's primal life force, Ma'at said, made her the best person possible to lead the good sorcerers of the world to band together, drive Salomé out of Assyria, and end her reign of terror that had gone on too long. Thus, with Ma'at's blessing and Oshtur's aid, Aisha assembled a coven of magic users from all over the ancient world, forming one of the earliest Sorcerer's Circles.

Together, the Circle laid mystic siege to Nimrud, freeing its citizens from the grip of fear with the Light of Truth, a power that Aisha was granted directly from the Goddess herself. The uprising was costly, but ultimately successful, and Salomé was dragged into Mephisto's Realm as payment for her demonic power, though Selene, the apprentice who had extended her reign so unnaturally, escaped. The Eye of Agamotto and Book of the Vishanti then passed into Aisha's hands via Oshtur herself. The message was clear; having saved the world from evil, inherited the sacred trust of the Sorceress Supreme.

Sorceress Supreme
Most of Aisha's time possessing the mantle of Sorceress Supreme was spent repairing the damage Salomé had done to the name -- replacing the legacy of fear with one of virtue and of valor. She became a priestess of Ma'at, spreading the teachings Oshtur had imparted to her throughout the known world. And finally, she took a husband, and they had a child, Ashake, who to Aisha's delight was born with white hair and blue eyes, just like her mother.

Oshtur appeared before Aisha one last time at Ashake's birth, saying that they had now forged a covenant. So long as Aisha's line remained true to the faith of the Bright Lady, they would have her blessing and her favor, and the mark of that favor would be on their hair, in their eyes, and in the perpetuation of their Faltine heritage.

Twilight Years
Aisha spent the last years of her life raising and teaching Ashake as she herself had been taught, ensuring that the lesson of never using magic to overpower others -- so that the world might never see another Salomé -- was drilled constantly into her mind. And so she and her daughter wandered the world, protecting Earth against mystic threats while working to make the lives of those around them better, just as Aisha always had.

But Aisha was getting older, and eventually, the time came when she had taught Ashake everything she could. Bidding her daughter farewell, she passed away peacefully, and the regalia of the Sorcerer Supreme -- the Book of the Vishanti and the Eye of Agamotto -- left to find their new master. No one coule possibly have predicted that the best canddiate for Aisha's successor would be her own daughter.

Legacy
Aisha's line kept the covenant for thousands of years, always revering the Goddess, or the Bright Lady, in many names and forms, unaware that they were all incarnations of Oshtur. Even today, her descendant Ororo, while not a sorceress herself, possesses both great inborn power and an unwavering faith and devotion to her Goddess.

Powers
Sorcery: As the daughter of a Faltine, Aisha possessed great mystical potential, and as the daughter of a Rain Queen of Balobedu, she possessed a special link with the Earth that helped give it shape and focus. Aisha was the fourth person to hold the title of Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, and as such was given powers and artifacts fashioned by the Vishanti, the founder of magic, themselves, to use in defense of Earth against mystical threats, or threats from other dimensions. Earth Link:  Aisha's heritage as the granddaughter of a Rain Queen created a link between herself and the primal life force of Earth's biosphere. This bond with the Earth provided Aisha with spiritual and material sustenance, with an almost empathic sense of living things. Aisha also possessed the ability to sense and detect life-force, and could discern sickness and ill-health in other beings, people, plants, and animals alike. She could sense any natural phenomena about to occur, including earthquakes, natural storms, etc. Aisha could also sense movement in the medium of air or water.
 * Eye of Agamotto
 * Book of the Vishanti
 * Scroll of Thoth - One of the last artifacts Aisha found as Sorceress Supreme. A Scroll of Thoth is literally endless; it can contain an infinite amount of writing. Whole libraries are said to be contained in a single scroll. Moreover, one does not read the information contained in a Scroll of Thoth; one experiences it, first hand, like a memory imprinted directly into the mind. She eventually bequeathed this to her daughter, who would turn this scroll into the Arcane Annals of Ashake.
 * Personal Paraphernalia: Aisha, like the Sorcerers Supreme before and after her, wielded several artifacts that belonged wholly to her, either by creation or by the bond she forged with them. Most of their names have been lost to time, sadly; however, since no record exists of these artifacts, there also exists no record of their destruction.