She first appeared in Giant Sized X-men #1, when Professor Xavier recruited her to his new team. When he found her, she was acting as a goddess to an African tribe, but she was born in Manhattan and grew up in Cairo. Her parents, N'Dare and John, were killed in an explosion which also trapped her in the rubble, leaving her with severe claustrophobia.
After learning the thieving arts in Cairo, she traveled inland and adopted the role of goddess. Later, after several years acting as leader of the X-men[?] after Cyclops' departure, she was transformed into a child and returned to stealing, when she met Gambit. She brought him to the team and was restored to her adult state.
She has gone through many changes in appearance and most recently has lead the team looking for the Books of Truth[?]. On this search, she enjoyed a brief flirtation with Davis Cameron (Slipstream[?]) and was kidnapped by the intergalactic warlord Khan who wanted to make her his queen. Despite being badly injured she was rescued and brought back to Earth to recover.
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump