Ashake (Joint Venture)

Ashake is an ancient Egyptian sorceress, worshipper of the goddess Ma'at (one of the many nameis of the Vishanti known as Oshtur), and a distant ancestor of the X-Man known as Storm. This is the Joint Venture Universe version of the character.

Daughter of the Sorceress Supreme
By the time Ashake was born, her mother, Ayesha, had already ascended to the position of Sorceress Supreme. Ayesha herself won it from the previous holder of the title, a cruel woman who had gone only by the name "Salome" by the time of her downfall. The mantle of Sorcerer Supreme was a sacred charge, its bearer tasked with protecting the world from hostile otherdimensional forces, and Salome had perverted it for her own power.

Thus it was that, when Ashake sought to be taught in the Mystic Arts by her mother, the lesson of never using magic to overpower others was drilled constantly into her mind. And so she and her mother wandered the world, protecting Earth against mystic threats while working to make the lives of those around them better.

But Ayesha was getting older, and had taught Ashake everything she could. Eventually, 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.

Ashake mourned her mother, but swore to carry on her legacy, Sorceress Supreme or no. She pledged herself and her family line to her goddess, Ma'at the Bright Lady, known in times long past and in the present day as the Vishanti Oshtur, Goddess of Magic,

She fashioned the Staff of Khonsu, the Egyptian Moon God, to facilitate her magics, and wrote everything she had learned of magic on one of the Sacred Scrolls of Thoth, continuing her journey alone to unlock as many mystical secrets as she could. The Scroll bearing her knowledge, and that of her mother, survives to this day, and is called the Arcane Annals of Ashake in her honor.

Ashake's Vision
Ashake was given a vision by Oshtur when she reached her twentieth year. She dreamed of an empire, covered in flawless white marble, spanning most of the world and stretching to the heavens. But at its foundations, the empire's marble facade was crumbling, to reveal corrosive black filth and sullen red flames. The higher and farther the marble Empire reached, the further the filth and the fire spread beneath it. Taking this dream as a warning, she set out on her journey with newfound purpose and a new destination: Rome.

Reign of Luna Regina
By the time Ashake arrived in Rome, it had been ruled by its Empress, Julia Drusilla Luna Regina Caesar, for some time. Things on the surface seemed peaceful -- citizens were productive, there was trade and labor, massive monuments and structures were being built -- but beneath the surface, just as in Ashake's vision, horrible things were happening. Luna Regina's priestesses of Diana, the Roman Goddess of the Moon, would drag citizens off in the dead of night once a month, and sacrifice them to their God-Queen.

Overthrowing the Moon Queen
To be disclosed

Powers
Ashake was the Sorceress Supreme of Earth, the fifth person to bear that title since the Vishanti Agamotto. As such, she was the ancient world's most experienced and powerful sorceress. Her regalia as Sorceress Supreme included:
 * Eye of Agamotto
 * Jewel of Isis - A brooch hidden within the folds of her cloak that bore the Ankh of Isis on one side, and the Eye of Horus on another. Both of these in tandem enabled her to fly, like falcon-headed Horus, and heal others' wounds and illnesses, like his mother Isis who resurrected her husband from the dead.
 * Scroll of Thoth (the Annals of Ashake)
 * Staff of Khonsu - A staff with a crescent moon on it, an item forged by Ashake herself. This sacred magical focus stored power in its moon-shaped figurehead, which would increase in size from the tiniest sliver of a crescent to a completely round, full disc. That energy could then be released in a variety of powerful, stunning ways. The Staff, despite being named after the Egyptian Moon god Khonsu, could be used to make contact with any being with a strong affinity with the Moon, and was the tool Ashake used to speak with the Goddes Artemis and call her down to destroy Selene's Roman Shadow-Empire.
 * Sandals of Bastet - A pair of sandals with cats engraved on them. With these, Ashake could move as quickly, agilely, and noiselessly as one of those sacred beasts herself.