Khadijah Khan

NAME: Khadijah Khan

BORN: 1045 AE, Limmea

AFFILIATION: Empire

OCCUPATION: Prime Heiress, The First Sister

FAMILY: Igor Khan (father), Sofia Khan (mother), Alec Khan (brother)

Khadijah Khan is a secondary antagonist in the comic series ELZA and the protagonist of her own spin-off series KHADIJAH.

Early life

Since her early years, Khadijah was obsessed with knowledge, in a stark contrast to her twin-brother Alec who was mostly neglecting tutors and preferred sports mixed with military training. Both siblings were perfectly aligning to compensate for each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Some Nobles by the court were joking that whoever of them will inherit the Imperial throne, the other one will have to remain nearby to maintain the balance. That idyllic childhood have abruptly ended.

When Khadijah was merely 13 years old. She have witnessed how Alec together with their mother was mercilessly torn into pieces by revolting shipbuilders during infamous riots on Zirkon. This shocking experience seeded a deep trauma inside of her soul, and changed Khadijah forever.

Khadijah’s father, Igor Khan have suffered this loss almost similarly to his daughter. Sofia, his wife was handling most of the domestic affairs while he was focused on winning the war and Alec with his military genius was his father’s favorite child. This mutual loss have bonded Igor with his only known daughter Khadijah like never before.

Soon, Khadijah took place of her mother by the throne – as a 16 years old woman she already became proficient in dealing with governors and other stakeholders among the Imperial elites. Newfound closeness to her father made Khadijah develop skills that were previously possessed only by her twin-brother, like competence in military tactics, close combat and piloting.

As Khadijah’s father have adopted an irrational fear to lose her, she became gradually more confined to the Royal Palace on Limmea. Some rumors state that Igor Khan even adopted praxis of sharing the bed with his daughter as he was afraid to wake up and realize that his daughter was assassinated while he was carelessly asleep. This partial loss of freedom did not bother Khadijah much though as she was too consumed with her studies and work with governmental affairs.

During all her life, Khadijah’s most admired historical figure was the First Imperial Monarch, Unmesh Khan himself. Extensive knowledge about his remarkable life, and her deep personal trauma from loss of her mother and brother to a bloody riot, made Khadijah obsessed with a vision of truly uniting all Imperials. She believed that Empire could be much more then just a bunch worlds bound merely by shared economical interests and fear of violence, into one single shared entity devoted to an absolute common cause. Once and forever.

The Religious Journey

Based on her historical studies, Khadijah considered introduction of religious fundamentalism as one of possible means to achieve her vision for a complete oceanic unity among the Imperials. When she was eighteen, Khadijah joined an all-female sect of Sakshi Bahanen that worshipped an extreme version of Limmean common religion, Oceanism.

One of the hardest parts of joining them for Khadijah was escaping her father’s oversight and committing a pilgrimage to a chain of holy sites all across the Limmea. After completing this cleansing journey, Khadijah earned the respect and recognition of her newfound sisterhood. The completed pilgrimage did also grant Khadijah an audience with All-Mother, leader of the Sakshi Bahanen. During this meeting, Khadijah pledged her allegiance to the sisterhood and promised to give them all financial and political support that was in her power.

Khadijah performs her sacred pilgrimage across Araszin deserts. The Huntress is keeping eye her future Empress as the only security detail allowed on this ritual.

The All-Mother welcomed Khadijah’s support with open embrace. Under the patronage of the Imperial Prime Heiress, Sakshi Bahanen began its rise to become a commonly recognized confession. In two years since Khadijah’s joining, the sect have taken over the Water Temple in the heart of the Imperial Capitol and Khadijah was recognized as its High Priestess. It enabled her to lead the most important ceremonies and grow her influence as a religious leader.

Igor Khan did not like his daughter’s religious ventures at first, but war and the civil unrest took all his attention during Khadijah’s introduction to Sakshi Bahanen. Later though, his skepticism was overshadowed by blind belief into his daughter’s judgment.

Khadijah Khan followed by two of her fanatically loyal bodyguards from the Sakshi Bahanen Order.

Prime Heiress of the Empire

During the 1070:s A.E. Khadijah Khan is enjoying her position of power as an informal head of the Imperial state and a religious leader worshipped like a messiah by billions of the Imperials. Still, a feeling that something is missing in her plan does not leave her psyche. It leads Khadijah towards search for risky and unconventional means for achieving her vision for total unification of humanity under the Imperial rule…

Behind the Scenes

As a concept, Khadijah Khan is almost as old as Elza herself as their prototypes were lovers in the original short story by pre-ENTIA. As her character got more fleshed out, Khadijah became more self-sufficient and in the end potential of her story grew so much that she rightfully deserved her own comic series.

Gallery: Khadijah Khan in Comics (Concept)