Vishanti - Fictional History

Fictional History

Little is known about the Vishanti's origins. All three are ancient and very powerful; "hoary" Hoggoth is likely the oldest; though Agamotto has claimed to be older than the Earth itself, he is in fact the son of Oshtur, who was among the ancient Elder Gods of Earth, spawning Agamotto years after her emergence. The Vishanti, especially Agamotto, have protected the Earth's dimension for billions of years. Thousands of years ago, the human known only as Aged Genghis sought out the Vishanti and asked them for knowledge and mystical power. In return, Aged Genghis would gather the most powerful mages and sorcerers on Earth every century to test them. The strongest would become Earth's Sorcerer Supreme. The Sorcerer Supreme would protect Earth's dimension for the Vishanti and fight their enemies and in return could call upon the powers of the Vishanti.

Presumably around this time, the Vishanti created or influenced the creation of the Book of the Vishanti as a counterpart to the Darkhold, a book of black magic created by the Elder God Chthon.

Near the end of the 20th century, the Vishanti and various other magical entities went to war. This war was known as the War of the Seven Spheres. During this war the Vishanti were matched against their counterpart, the Trinity of Ashes. The Vishanti expected Doctor Strange, Earth's Sorcerer Supreme to fight at their side, but when they mentioned that they expected the war to last for several millennia, Strange refused, not wanting Earth to remain unprotected for so long, and rejected the Vishanti's power. Nearly powerless, Stephen Strange was driven from Earth by the ancient sorceress Salome. Salome offered her services to the Vishanti in exchange for power. The Vishanti found the amoral Salome repulsive, but accepted her offer in their need for soldiers. Still, Agamotto warned Strange about the deal Salome made with them. Shortly afterwards, Strange found a new source of power: he tapped into the mystical power of the Earth itself. With this new power, Salome was defeated and the Vishanti approached Strange again and asked him to become their soldier, feeling that with this new source of power Strange was even more valuable and even threatened to kill him should he not comply. This time, Strange, feeling that he owed the Vishanti for all their support over the years, agreed under the condition that they would return him in time after the war ended to the moment he had left the Earth, so that the Earth would not remain unprotected.

Fought in other dimensions, the war lasted for 5000 years, but only a nanosecond passed on Earth. The Vishanti, apparently on the winning side, returned Strange to Earth. Several months after his return, Strange could call upon the power of the Vishanti again. A short time after the War ended, one of the principal artifacts involved in it - the Sphere of Sara-Kath - lighted upon Earth once more, to be dabbled with by Technomages who had no idea of its power. In studying it, they accidentally released an entity called Buel, a 'Gremlin-Lord', who had been imprisoned in another dimension. Dr. Strange managed to destroy Buel and the Sphere with the aid of Spider-Man.

At one point, the Vishanti were summoned by Doctor Strange to aid him against Sligguth, the minion of Shuma-Gorath. The Vishanti later appeared to the entities Kubik and Kosmos on their tour of the planes of existence. Agamotto also appeared to Doctor Strange as a talking caterpillar in the world within his amulet, and became the jailer of Silver Dagger after he was banished there.