Shieldmaiden

## Origin

Shieldmaiden, The American Knight, is Aisha Russel, current holder of a sacred relic Aegis of Avallach - an indestructible shield from times of King Arthur. She has a white Irish father and a Syrian mother. The Shield, together with Excalibur are the key to Holy Grail, which is why they're never supposed to be carried together by he same person.

During American Revolutionary War, wielder of the Aegis sided with the revolutionaries, while wielder of the Excalibur didn't, and so last two Shieldmaidens have served USA since then, while their counterpart Swordmasters remain loyal to the UK. Current Swordmaster is a SAS operative.

Aisha was born during Irish Potato Famine in 1845, and her family ran away to USA, where she became candidate for wielding the shield after old Shieldmaiden died during early years of Civil War. She took up the mantle, and secured the victory for the Union - since then, she has a strong distaste for people flowing rebel flag, as she saw some of her friends get killed by Confederates.

She lives till this day, as the shield grants her extended lifespan, and enhanced strength and reflexes. She uses a traditional weapon of the Order of the Grail, the Hurlbat throwing club, which she uses for tossing or bludgeoning.

She fought during WW2 as American supersoldier, and faced off against Crimson Butcher's and his Thule Society superhumans many times, and lost a sidekick and a descendant, her grand-five times son Squire (John Russel), who was supposed to be the next Shieldwarden in event of Aisha's death.

After the war, Shieldmaiden helped form spy organization Epoch as branch of the UN and hunt down remnants of Thule Society. Unbeknownst to her, Epoch is actually continuation of an ancient society that is the militant arm of the Illuminati, a secret society that behind the scenes protects the world from threats.

More recently, she was a founding member of the superhero team Task Force Dagger, together with Transistor, Dasbog, Wulver, and the superhero couple Alice and Cheshire, who have power of shrinking and growing by manipulating spacetime around their bodies.

Afterwards, an alternate version of Squire turned up as an assassin trying to kill Aisha. He was sent as an agent of the imperial power of the British-American empire Oceania from another reality, in which world three such ultra-authoritarian powers - Oceania, Eurasia and Dongya ("Eastasia") are in an eternal deadlock, and Oceania developed a technology to conquer other dimensions to gain an advantage. Oceania was created as a fascist evolution of British Empire, which in this reality has never declined because of a mystical Mason ritual in 19th century where multiple prostitutes were sacrificed in London (failed versions of this ritual in other realities, including ours, are known as "Jack the Ripper" incident). However Aisha succesfully manages to convince this alternate John to see the light and abandon the Party line, and together they stop the invasion - and John, now calling himself the Veteran, fights crime on this Earth, but also strengthens the underground resistance movement Brotherhood back on his Earth, hoping to one day end the pan-fascist rule.

## Personality

Personality profile
Aisha is patriotic in her own peculiar way. Her views were considered radical in her time, radicalized by her hatred of British imperialism, but as an immortal she is now a relatively mainstream progressive, though with occasional reactionary blind spots. She's a devout Muslim and a hijabi, as such she prefers to not reveal her hair to men in public

* **Likes:**                    Liberty, potato dishes, Irish-Middle Eastern fusion cuisine, industrial metal
* **Dislikes:**                Authority, prejudice

## Powers and abilities

Aisha is one of the best martial artists in the world, surpassed only be the likes of Inquisitor. However, she could easily match up to him, as she has enchanced strength, reflexes and agility, while also wearing state-of-the art armor, including chainmail from a lightweight titanium alloy, and a partial polymer plate armor.

She uses a special Hurlbat throwing club, which is blunt despite its axe-like appearance, and the indestructible shield Aegis of Avallach.

She also carries an M1911 Colt as a sidearm for emergencies - she is a crack shot and prefers to shoot to wound, or even shoot out guns from enemies hands if possible - rather than kill. She carries spare armo, first aid kit, and variety of explosives, including door breaching charges and flashbang and tear gas grenades in her carrier pouches.

**Weaknesses:**

Her enhanced strength comes from exposure to the shield, and her powers will fade over time if she is separated from the shield.

## Notes

* Shieldmaiden is an open source character created specifically for use by anyone. Feel free to use it any way you wish however, you must give the creator, Ada "ShinoSarna" Mackiewicz, credit.
* In universes where their gender is swapped, his name is Alan Russel, the Shieldwarden.