Onward to part four of my biography of the Supervillain Kineto, the biggest big bad of my friend William Corpening's 'Age of Champions' campaign from the 1980s and early 90s. As I have run a number of Champions RPG campaigns in my own variations of this world, I've used the character of Kineto a good number of times. He is honestly my all time favorite Superhero Comic Book style Supervillain. Here's why...
To continue...
Sometime in the late Fall or early Winter of 1986, Adamant and Kineto part ways after a particularly intense argument. After a bout of excessive drinking and drug use, Adamant went on a rampage through New York City, ending with a one-on-one battle with the alien superhero Starguard. This was followed by Omni knocking Adam out telepathically and moving him to a secure super-prison facility. Later, Omni and several other members of the UNTIY New York team manage to convince Adamant to enter rehab as a part of his rehabilitation.
For an expanded version of this story, see this post.
Roughly three months later, an emergency situation arises in New York City as an escalating series of electronic and mechanical malfunctions play havoc with the city's infrastructure. Traffic lights change rapidly and at random, subway trains nearly collide due to signal and track failures, and many neighborhoods lose power. Things continue to worsen as the police, fire department, and emergency services are pushed to their limit! Eventually, the Mayor calls in PRIMUS and UNTIL to assist. UNTIL sends Superheroes from UNITY New York to aid the Big Apple. With the help of our heroes the city is able to stay just ahead of the situation but only barely.
Meanwhile, the Superheroes Nightforce and Christian Scaramangler investigate the cause of these cascading catastrophes. Through their detective skills and technological genius the two men are able to determine the culprit to be...Kineto! Using a combination of his powers and the hacking of various computer systems by his associates, Kineto was able to rest control of the city's most important operations. Livid with the reveal of this information, Omni called out Kineto using Broadcast Telepathy, insisting his actions were 'Dishonorable' and labeling him a coward.
Omni certainly knew how to press Kineto's buttons by this time. Kineto flew with his entourage to appear before Omni and after a brief duel of taunts and sharp words the UNITY Heroes and Kineto's supervillains came to blows. Eventually, Omni simply asked Kineto, "Why did you do this? What was the point?"
What followed was a speech by Kineto now referred to as 'Kineto's Manifesto'. Paraphrasing it to the best of my memory, it went like this:
"My point and goals will be made clear.
The problems we nudged forward were not 'Super-problems'. No danger was paranormal in nature. Accidents happen, systems fail, and no machine works perfectly forever. All these mundane difficulties combined together threatened the safety of the people of the city but they were undeniably mundane.
In the end however, no equally mundane force could stop them. No regular Human, valiant and brave though they may be, could do anything to prevent or remedy the issues. It wasn't until Superhumans got involved that the day was saved. That is what we do. That is who we are.
I advocate Super-Humanity be given dominion over normal Humanity. Superman must rule over Man for Mankind's own safety and continued well being."
A hero scoffed, "Right, 'Ruled by Superhumans'. Who? You?"
"No fool. By someone with the greater-than-normal ability to do so. Think...who do you want to balance the World Economy? Would you prefer someone good at Mathematics, Economics, and Accounting or someone good at Mathematics, Economics, and Accounting with Super-Intelligence? Who is best to fight Forest Fires? A Firefighter with many years of experience or someone who can Command Fire? Imagine someone who could talk to the flames, tell them to cease, and know their origins instantly. Isn't that a better choice?
How well has baseline Humanity handled the world so far?"
I will never forget this moment. Omni's Player literally, physically duplicated the above meme. The table went quiet. Many of the players looked at each other and shrugged, some nodding.
Imagine that in a society, the majority group of people that make up that society represent the standard mental and physical capabilities of those in that society. Now imagine there is a smaller group of people who are objectively SUPER capable. Yeah, might be a good idea to have them in charge of certain aspects of said society.
The message was captured on film and audio by numerous communication outlets and news services, broadcasting the Manifesto live to millions of viewers across the US, Canada, and beyond. Within hours it had spread to affiliates around the world. Within a day, there were very few on Earth who had not seen or heard Kineto's speech.
After a moment of dramatic silence the battle continued, with tension and harsh words from both sides eventually leading to punches being thrown. In the end most of Kineto's allies were defeated and captured. Kineto himself escaped, leaving behind a world of frightened normals and questioning Supers.
Kineto wouldn't appear again for quite a while, eventually returning to strike against the United Nations in an effort to convince them of the natural superiority of Superhumans and his point of view. Over the next few months he would make several attempts to boost his power, his resources, and get more and more Supers over to his way of thinking. For many Supervillains, this wasn't too much of a leap. For Superheroes it was a harder, though not always impossible sell. He amassed a number of 'neutral', low-power Supers who felt Kineto's Manifesto gave them potential purpose and direction.
Sometime later while regrouping from one of his confrontations with UNITY, Kineto was approached by a mysterious man calling himself Faust. Faust claimed to be Kineto himself from a Parallel Earth, one where his abilities were mystic in nature and obtained through the detonation of an arcane artifact. There, in this more magically attuned alternate universe, Faust was essentially 'The Sorcerer Supreme'. He said he had achieved the dream of having a child, a son, and he could give that to Kineto for a price. While the details of their deal are unclear, Kineto agreed and Faust used Black Magic and Demonic Powers to 'birth' a son from a pit of Alchemic Mud, Blood, and Fire.
This was not completely unlike Hermes, The Druid. The Druid developed an instant dislike and distrust of Faust and his plan. Hermes tried to warn is 'father' but as with most things he brought up to Kineto, The Druid's 'nervous ramblings' were ignored.
'Doyle Kennison' / Inferno
The child, named Doyle (Irish surname meaning Stranger or Visitor with dark undertones), displayed the powers of Super-Strength, Flight, and near Invulnerability in addition to some unique magical abilities. Doyle's skin was incredibly hot, ranging from 100 to 500 degrees on average. He can deliver a massive blast of flame and heat with his punches and kicks, igniting objects and people upon contact. He took the name Inferno.
Kineto took Inferno on a number of small missions where the latter was quick to take offense and come to blows but otherwise behaved himself. He aged rather quickly (a factor common to Kineto's clones and other created offspring). When he reached his late 20s to early 30s within a week or so he seemed to stop.
One mission had Kineto and Inferno travelling to Ireland to enlist the aid of another magic practitioner called Witchcraft. When Witchcraft seemed indecisive about whether or not to side with Kineto, Inferno attacked her, trying to force himself on her as well. Kineto fought him off but realized it wasn't easy to do; Inferno's abilities were resistant to Kineto's powers because of their arcane nature. Kineto apologized to Witchcraft, assuring her this would never happen again.
Inferno proved to be increasingly short-tempered and incredibly aggressive. When Kineto called upon Faust to explain the reason for this and ask what could be done, Faust merely laughed. The whole thing was in fact a ruse - Faust was absolutely a powerful mage but he wasn't a Kineto variant and he wasn't from another Earth. He simply fooled Kineto into helping him gain access to an ancient grimoire and allowing him to create a powerful minion out of Kineto's own blood. Faust then commanded Inferno to attack Kineto, aiding his homunculus with spells from the grimoire.
Just then Witchcraft showed up with several UNITY Superheroes in tow, revealing she'd been looking into the situation ever since her encounter with Inferno. She actually got the heroes to help by promising to help take down Kineto when in fact her plan - which worked perfectly - was to aid Kineto in escaping while UNITY fought Faust and Inferno. She eventually joins Kineto's movement, though sometimes her motivations are unclear. She seems to just like and appreciate Kineto's near-fatherly attitude towards her.
As Kineto and Witchcraft departed, Faust cast a rote allowing him to do the same, briefly changing in appearance to reveal a costume and visage not unlike the devil as depicted in 15th and 16th century plays. This has lead many to believe he is in fact The Devil or at least a devil or demon of some sort. As he vanished Kineto heard voices: his wife Maggie drowning, the painful cries of the disintegrating Kate/Terminatrix, and venomous curses and accusations hurled at him by Adam. All his failures, torturing him at the edge of his perception.
Faust is a Grade-A bastard. I'm just saying.
Following these events, Kineto and company laid low once more. He would not appear again until...
Stay tuned!
AD
Barking Alien
