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Storm is the descendant of an ancient
line of African priestesses, all of whom have white hair, blue
eyes, and the potential to wield magic. Her mother, N'Dare, was the princess of a tribe in
Kenya. She married the American photojournalist David Munroe and moved
with him to Manhattan, where Ororo was born, but her parents moved to
Cairo when she was only 6 months old. She lived there with her parents
for five years in happiness, until the war came. She lost her parents
during a bombing in which a building collapsed on the entire family,
killing her parents and trapping her for several hours. Wandering the
streets as an orphan, she soon was taken in by the Egyptian
Master-Thief, Achmed El-Gibar, and trained by him in the art of
thievery. Under his tutelage, she grew to be the best. She left him when
she grew old enough to survive on her own, and somewhere along the way,
she made her home near a tribe of East Africa, which worshipped her for
many years as a wind-goddess. By this time, her mutant powers had
developed, bestowing her with the power to call the wind, rains and
lightning down from the sky and bend them to her will. These powers also
allowed her to fly upon the winds. It was here that Xavier found her as
a young woman and enlisted her help to free the original X-Men from
Krakoa.
Over the years, she shed her innocence and learned the ways of battle,
coming to be a formidable combatant in hand to hand combat. She
eventually came to lead the X-Men in time, after Cyclops' departure from
the team, and proved to be quite capable of the job. Her true turning
from her innocence happened when Angel was kidnapped by a group of
reclusive mutants called the Morlocks. In her attempts to free him from
Callisto, the Morlocks evil leader, she was forced to fight her in
single combat, armed only with knives. Storm won that day, at the price
of her innocence, driving the knife through Callisto's black heart and
winning leadership of the Morlocks. Callisto would have died if not for
the Morlock healer, and Storm was forced to reckon with her actions. She
came to understand that sometimes circumstances go beyond mere good and
evil, black and white, but vowed never to take another life ever again.
It was during this period that she grew to be the strong and wise leader
of the X-Men that she still is today.
Storm did not stay with the Morlocks however, only visiting them on
occasion, letting them lead their own lives without her leadership, her
first loyalty still to the X-Men. She came to regret that decision when
Mr. Sinister and his Marauders invaded the Morlock tunnels and laid
waste to them all during the Mutant Massacre. The X-Men fought valiantly
to save as many of the Morlocks as they could, and many of their own
teammates were badly injured during the fight. Very few of the Morlocks
escaped death however, and Storm feels the responsibility for that to
this day.
Also during this time, she lost her powers for quite some time, when a
mutant named Forge was hired by the government to design a weapon which
would steal a mutants abilities. Henry Gyrich was sent to neutralize
Rogue, but hit Storm with the weapon instead when she leaped in the way.
She met Forge shortly after his weapon deprived her of her power, under
different circumstances. Not realizing that he was the man who had
designed the nullifying weapon, she fell in love with him, and he with
her. Their romance was doomed however, when she discovered him to be the
one who created the weapon which had stolen her powers, and she parted
ways with him. They met again during the Fall of the Mutants, where they
were both swept off to a perfect world by the Naze, effectively removing
them from the battle. While only moments passed on earth, they spent a
year there, the only two living creatures in existence. It drew them
together, and their love bloomed once more. Forge discovered a way to
return her powers to her as well, during their time there. When they
finally managed to free themselves of the world, she and the rest of the
X-Men were called upon to sacrifice their lives to save the world from
Naze's evil plans. They faced their deaths bravely, but remained dead
only for mere moments before the goddess Roma restored them to life for
their bravery. She made them invisible to all cameras and detections of
any sort and offered to send them anywhere they wished to go. Deciding
that the X-Men could move about more freely and accomplish more if the
world believed them dead, they had Roma send them to a remote complex in
Australia.
Meanwhile, Forge believed Storm dead, and she put him from her heart in
order to follow her goals with the X-Men as leader. The X-Men continued
operations in Australia, covertly and all was routine for a time. Then
the complex was attacked and during the battle, Storm was believed to be
shot and killed by an energy blast, the team even finding her body after
the fact. In truth, she was captured and reduced to a mere child by
Nanny The-Orphan-Maker, and was held captive by her for some time. She
escaped, wandering for a time, eventually landing in Cairo, Illinois.
Here she was confronted by the Shadow King. Having no powers in her
pre-pubescent stage, she would have fallen before him, had it not been
for the mutant Gambit. He helped her escape and return to the X-Men,
becoming a member of the team himself. Shortly after her return to the
X-Men, the entire team was swept off to the island of Genosha, where the
madman Hodge turned Storm into a mindless slave. Unbeknownst to Hodge,
however, the Genegineer changed the process and returned Storm to her
adult form, whereupon she regained her powers once again. She met up
with Forge again, following that, and he asked her to marry him. She was
going to accept, and leave the X-Men, but then he withdrew his offer,
believing she would refuse him, before she could answer him. They have
not spoken since.
There have been many battles since then, and Storm has proven herself a
strong and capable leader and friend to the team. With the recent
addition of her former foe, Marrow, to the X-Men, tension levels have
been high for the Wind Rider, though she seems to be coping well. She
still leads the team today, in tandem with Cyclops for a time, and now
once again on her own.
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