En Sabah Nur
Ein-Saba Nur was born in 3000 BCE, near the Egyptian Valley of Kings to the tribe of Akkaba. The birthing process triggered his latent metagene and the young baby manifested with a visibly malformed appearance. He was abandoned in the desert and rescued by Baal of the Crimson Sands.
Nur was taught by Baal that the pharaoh Rama-Tut was in actuality a human from the far future, Nathaniel Richards. His magical 'sphinx' was in fact a time-vessel from some 40 millennia in the future. Nur attacked Rama-Tut, forcing him to retreat into the timestream, and took control of the time-ship. Damaged by Rama-Tut, the vessel could not operate the time-displacement drive, rendering it into merely a lavishly advanced conveyance for Nur. It contained a crucial machine-- the sarcophagus chamber, a device that could restore Nur from death itself if necessary. Using their own technology, Celestials reached across time and space to speak to Nur from the far future. A bargain was struck, imbuing Nur with awesomely advanced Celestial technology in exchange for an eventual promise of servitude. Armed and armored with Celestial technology, Nur became something much more than 'merely' a mutant.
With his new power, Nur seized the throne and declared himself Pharaoh, a role he occupied for several centuries. He was ousted some five-hundred years later by the arrival of Nabu, one of the First Gods. Nabu empowered an avatar with the power of Fate, and backed by Nabu's strength, this first incarnation of Doctor Fate expelled Nur from his rule.
Nur fled Egypt and wandered the world for a thousand years. He visited many other cultures and encountered many long-lived immortals. To his humbling chagrin, Nur found that his immense powers were no substitute for the legendary skill of the Kherans or the might of the Inhumans, who were among the few fully capable of doing him real harm. He realized that force of arms was not the only means of conquest and started plotting a goal for total domination of the world that would take millennia to unfold. After all, what is time to an immortal?
The seeds of his goal were established as religious cults all over the world. He would frequently disguise himself as a local god, creating cultists who worshipped him as a deity. He mated frequently, producing blood descendants with a portion of his power. The Clan Akkaba and their servants, the Riders of the Dark, clashed often with the forces serving Vandal Savage and the Purifiers, creating a long-lasting and bitter enmity between the two immortals. Neither could kill the other, so they resorted to a millennia-long game of trying to out-maneuver each other.
In 1292 BCE, Nur returned to Egypt and attempted to overthrow Ramesses II. He was defeated by Prince Khufu and Princess Chay-Ara, armed with Nth-Metal weapons. They were assisted by Teth-Adam, the future King of Unified Egypt and Khandaq. In retreating, Nur assassinated Khandaq's royal family and implicated Khufu and Chay-Ara in the attack. Teth-Adam flew into a blind rage and killed his in-laws with his bare hands, only to later discover Nur's treachery. Teth-Adam swore revenge on Nur, an oath that he has not forgotten to this day.
For another 2000 years Nur wandered the Earth. He met the New Gods Thor while he was posturing as that very individual; Nur won the first round of combat, but Thor used his own blood to empower his axe to break through the Celestial armor given to Nur. Once again, the First Mutant was forced to withdraw from the field and nurse his wounds in his time-ship.
It was in 1080 AD that Nur found something he'd sought for centuries: a Celestial science vessel, hidden high in the mountains of Mongolia and 'protected' by another immortal. Nur defeated Garbha-Hsien with ease and entered the vessel, which reacted to his Celestial armament. Inside, he began expanding the scope of his understanding of Celestial technology. During this time, another incarnation of Nathaniel Richards persisted in attacking his Clan Akkaba, killing off thousands of Nur's offspring. During one battle, Nur ripped off Richard's arm and was shot in the head with a high-powered energy weapon. Believing Nur dead, Richards bid his majordomo Ozymandias to remember 'there is always someone stronger' and returned to a different place in the timestream. Ever loyal, Ozymandias pulled Nur's corpse into the Celestial vessel and tucked him-- and the arm-- into the regenerative sarcophagus from the time-ship. Nur was exposed to the T-O Virus in Richard's blood. The Celestial bioweapon combined with Nur's powers to turn him into something even more awesome than before, a living machine imbued with Celestial technology. Richards panicked and flung Nur and the vessel deep into space, which set Nur adrift in the stars for almost two thousand years. It also gave him ample time to study and master the Celestial tech, including corrupting 'Ship' into doing his bidding without question.
