Here are some facts characters and NPCs might know about Tilingkoot if they succeed with an appropriate Skill Roll:
N/R: Tilingkoot first appeared in 1987 (no one knows why);
he and the villain Roi D’Hiver create a “Black Winter” in Quebec but were narrowly defeated by two superheroes.
K/R: Tilingkoot is known as the
“demon of the Lost”;
some of his powers involve deception, misdirection, and manipulation.
-1: Tilingkoot has the power to create areas of shadow.
-4: Tilingkoot also has the power to summon spirits and monsters.
-10: Tilingkoot was summoned by, and may work for, Kigatilik.
Background: The demon of the Lost, Tilingkoot plagued Indian nations across Canada from the earliest days. It was he who made people lose their way in the forests, placed false hopes in their minds to ensnare them, and then devoured them. The Blackfoot hero Api-Kunni, taking advice from his friend Beaver, trapped Tilingkoot in the center of a beaver dam.
Whenever he tried to escape, the beavers repaired the dam and made it bigger, so Tilingkoot no longer plagued the peoples of the forest.
This is the way that things were until modern times, when the slayer of spirit doctors, medicine chiefs, and angakkuq, Kigatilik of the Inuit, searched the Land for allies. He found one in Tilingkoot and freed him from his captivity.
For twenty years, Tilingkoot has terrorized Canada. He’s tried to drown the land in shadow and freeze it in eternal winter. He’s been opposed by every major superhero during that time, and even a few foreign superheroes (and villains).
Every few years he comes up with an insanely grand scheme, which
barely fails. Then for a time he scales back his plans, living his role as a demon that waylays and devours unfortunate travelers, while mulling new strategies. And even he is not sure what part he may have to play in Kigatilik’s long-term schemes....
Personality/Motivation: Tilingkoot is a larger than life demon. He views humanity in the same way that cats view mice: toys to bat around for awhile, then devour. He has no pity or any other emotions save hunger and malice, nor is he capable of devel-oping any positive traits. He’s a monstrous god who mocks people as he torments them.
Quote: “Have you lost your way? Perhaps you should look behind you, little creature.”
Powers/Tactics: Tilingkoot is a demon/god with vast magical powers that he uses in a particular sequence. First he Mind Controls a victim to make him forget all landmarks and the like, then he uses his Darkness, and finally his Mental Illusions to lure the victim to his doom. Tilingkoot is also a patron of other creatures who destroy and harm.
He can boost the scale of someone else’s destruc-tive powers that affect an area.
When he’s not “playing,” Tilingkoot summons local monsters or spirits (such as a loupe garou or wen-di-go) and lets them tackle his adversaries while he departs. But since the creatures have to be native to the environment, this power isn’t always as effective as he might like.
Campaign Use: Tilingkoot fills the niche of the big bad mystical bad guy for a Champions game that uses North American aboriginal cultures. To promote a more mythic feel, his powers are a little different than most master villains; if you want a more traditional villain than “demon of the lost,”
remove the limitations on his Mental Illusions, and perhaps give him some other Mental Powers.
To decrease Tilingkoot’s power level for a lower Total Point campaign, limit his Summon to 8 crea-tures, reduce his Damage Reduction to 25%, and remove his Shape Powers Multipower. To increase it for a high powered game, boost his Damage Reduction to 75%, increase his HKA to 2½d6.
Appearance: Tilingkoot appears in the form of a 6’7” tall, muscular, dark-skinned man with the head of a demonic black bear. He wears a rawhide loincloth with a belt of skulls, and boots and gloves to match.
70 n Kigatilik Hero System 6th Edition
Val Char Cost Roll Notes
25 STR 15 14- Lift 800 kg; 5d6 HTH damage [2]
25 DEX 30 14-28 CON 18
15-20 INT 10 PER Roll 13-20 EGO 10
13-35 PRE 25 16- PRE Attack: 7d6 8 OCV 25
8 DCV 25 8 OMCV 15 8 DMCV 15
5 SPD 30 Phases: 3, 5, 8, 10, 12 18 PD 16 Total: 18 PD (10 rPD) 18 ED 16 Total: 18 ED (10 rED) 16 REC 12
55 END 7 20 BODY 10
80 STUN 30 Total Characteristics Cost: 309 Movement: Running: 12m
Flight: 44m
Cost Powers END
165 Powers Of The Lost: Multipower, 165-point reserve 4f 1) Images Of False Safety: Mental Illusions 14d6 0
Invisible Power Effects (to Mental Sense Group; +½), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +½); Mandatory Effect (only works on targets subject to at least EGO +20 Mind Control; -½), Set Effect (makes target think he’s in someplace safe; -1½), Only Affects Targets In Tilingkoot’s Darkness (-½)
6f 2) Evoke Loss: Mind Control 13d6 0 Telepathic (+¼), Invisible Power Effects (to Mental Sense Group; +½), Reduced Endurance (0 END;
+½); Mandatory Effect (EGO +20; -½), Set Effect (forget all familiar places, become lost; -1)
11f 3) Bring Forth Lost Spirits: Summon up to 64 spirits/
monsters built on up to 400 Character Points 16 Expanded Class (see text; +¼), Weak-Willed (-2 on EGO Rolls; +¼); Summoned Being Must Inhabit Locale (-½)
97 Evoke Darkness: Darkness to Sight and Hearing Groups
12m radius 3
Personal Immunity (+¼), Reduced Endurance (½ END; +¼)
45 Demon Claws: HKA 2d6 (3d6 with STR) 4 Penetrating (+½)
46 Ceremonial Blessing Of Destruction: Aid Destructive
Powers 10d6 30
Expanded Effect + Variable Effect (all Destructive Area-Affecting powers simultaneously; +4); OAF Expendable (heart of a hero, Extremely Difficult to obtain; -2), Extra Time (6 Hours; -3½)
54 Shape Powers: Multipower, 54-point reserve 4f 1) Unseen Form: Invisibility to Sight, Hearing, Mental,
and Smell/Taste Groups 1
Reduced Endurance (½ END; +¼)
5f 2) Altered Form: Shape Shift (Sight and Hearing Groups, any humanoid shape), Cellular, Imitation,
Instant Change 5
Costs Endurance Only To Change Shape (+¼)
4f 3) Spirit Form: Desolidification (affected by magic) 4 10 Spirit Body: Resistant (+½) for 10 PD/10 ED 0 60 Spirit Body: Physical and Energy Damage Reduction,
Resistant, 50% 0
10 Spirit Mind: Mental Defense (10 points) 0 10 Spirit Resilience: Power Defense (10 points) 0 37 Spirit Body: Life Support (Total except for Diminished
Eating, plus Longevity: Immortality) 0
44 Spirit Swiftness: Flight 44m 4
10 Spirit Senses: Discriminatory for Smell/Taste Group 0 20 Spirit Senses: Targeting for Smell/Taste Group 0
Talents
24 Universal Translator 17-Skills
3 Acting 16-3 Conversation 16-3 Concealment 13-3 Contortionist 14-3 High Society 16-3 Interrogation
16-2 KS: North American Indians Culture 11-3 Mimicry
13-3 Shadowing 13-3 Stealth 14-3 Tracking
13-Total Powers & Skills Cost: 698 Total Cost: 1,007
400 Matching Complications (75)
25 Distinctive Features: Aura Of Ancient, Absolute Evil (Not Concealable, Causes Extreme Reaction [fear]) 15 Hunted: Celestar (Infrequently, As Pow, NCI, Capture/Kill) 20 Hunted: RCMP Steelheads (Infrequently, Mo Pow, NCI,
Capture/Kill)
10 Hunted: Ravenspeaker (Infrequently, As Powerful, Kill) 25 Psychological Complication: Sadistic, Loves To Play Cat
And Mouse Games (Very Common, Total)
10 Psychological Complication: Hates The Light (Common, Moderate)
5 Vulnerability: 1½ x BODY from those who reject (i.e., are unaffected by) his Mental Illusions (Uncommon) 5 Vulnerability: 1½ x STUN from those who reject (i.e., are
unaffected by) his Mental Illusions (Uncommon) Total Complications Points: 75
Experience Points: 607
Champions Villains Volume One: Master Villains n Kinematik 71
Background/History: Very little is known about the personal history of the mutant supervil-lain Kinematik. He first appeared on the world stage in 2004 when he attacked (and partly damaged) UNTIL’s super-prison the Guardhouse, announcing that he was “freeing mutants held in oppression by norms.” Four mutant supervillains escaped during the assault; two of them, Blindside and Overdrive, became followers and supporters of his cause.
Since then, Kinematik has aggressively promoted his pro-mutant, anti-“norm” (normal, unmutated humans) viewpoint through violence and destruction. In 2007 he attacked Washington, DC to “protest” what he regards as America’s anti-mutant policies and biases; he and his followers were driven away by the Capital Patrol and the All-American, but the attack resulted in damage to several national monuments and the deaths of over a hundred innocent bystanders (including two Congressmen). The Institute for Human Advancement is one of his favorite targets;
the group’s rated him at #1 on its Mutant Threat Report every year since 2006.
Additionally, on several occasions Kinematik and his minions have clashed with large, powerful robots of unknown origin, but which the authori-ties suspect belong to Dr. Destroyer, Mechanon, or Interface. Why he’s come into conflict with these villains remains unknown. (These are actu-ally some of the IHA’s Minuteman robots [see CU 160], but they’ve never been linked to that organization.)
What no one other than Kinematik knows is that he’s not native to Earth at all... at least not this Earth. He comes from the same Earth that the former PSI supervillainess Lancer does, one where a world government hunts and oppresses people with superhuman powers. It began with anti-psionic persecution, and Estvhen Larris, whose mutant powers weren’t mental in nature, stood by and did nothing. But then the world government decided mutants in general, not just those with psionic powers, were a threat to “normal people.”
With clever propaganda it turned the people against all mutants, even ones once acclaimed as heroes; Larris, better known by the codename Kinematik, found himself reviled and hunted as a terrorist. Never one to take things lying down, he
used his vast powers to become the leader of the anti-mutant resistance.
Years of guerrilla warfare followed, but even Kinematik’s power and cleverness couldn’t save him forever. When at last the authorities were closing in with enough force to capture or kill him, he activated an experimental device and transported himself to this version of Earth. Here things were much better for mutantkind — but not good enough, according to his now-polarized worldview. He can see here the seeds of the anti-mutant hysteria that gripped his world, and he’s determined not to let those seeds grow and flower.
Personality/Motivation: Kinematik is a violently pro-mutant “patriot.” Once he was a true super-hero, fighting to save the world from crime and villainy. When his government turned against him, labeling him a “mutant menace,” he at first fought back as peacefully as possible, with the minimum amount of force necessary to protect mutantkind and get his message across. Years of persecution slowly but surely changed him, altering his opinions to far more extreme ones.
According to Kinematik’s current theories, which have circulated widely on the Internet through various essays and position papers he’s written, mutants represent the next and final stage in human evolution. They’re inherently superior to
“norms,” and as superior beings they should rule the norms. (And of course, Kinematik himself, as the spiritual and political leader of mutantkind, would rule the mutants, and thus Earth.)
Kinematik’s experienced the absolute worst side of humanity so intensly for so long that at this point there’s virtually no way to convince him he’s wrong. But he’s not so far gone that he can’t recognize fairness and compassion when he sees them. He has no problems lashing out at “norms”
as a whole, or in the abstract — you can’t fight a war without causing some collateral damage, after all — but when confronted with an individual who seems to treat mutants like anyone else he’ll be hard-pressed to harm that person. On the other hand, people who fight him directly (like most superheroes) are merely “tools of the anti-mutant bigots” and deserve whatever they get. His is very much a “you’re either with me, or you’re against me” sort of perspective.
72 n Kinematik Hero System 6th Edition Quote: “Witness the obvious inferiority of the
norms, even ones with superhuman powers that let them ape their betters! And witness the ulti-mate fate of all who dare to challenge Kinematik, leader of mutantkind!”
Powers/Tactics: Kinematik has the mutant power to control the forces of momentum, inertia, and to a lesser extent potential and kinetic energy in general. For example, he can improve or retard a moving person or object’s ability to move, negate a person’s or object’s momentum with respect to the Earth’s rotation to fling it westward or rip it apart, and so on. (See the “Kinetic Energy Powers” sections of Champions Powers for plenty of examples; just ignore the powers that primarily involve friction or directly imparting energy to a target or object.)
Kinematik usually waits for his opponents to attack him so he can use their attacks against them, since the very nature of his powers makes them more “reactive” than “proactive.” But if necessary, he can open hostilities by cancel-ling opponents’ momentum as described above.
Nothing tends to impress the enemy so much as having one of their number “thrown” a mile or more away or suddenly ripped apart by unseen forces that only Kinematik can control.
Resources: Although Kinematik doesn’t have the sort of resources that the likes of Dr. Destroyer and Mechanon do, he and his followers have built up a tidy little “war chest” over the years through various crimes and schemes. They maintain several small but well-equipped bases in the US and Europe, but don’t have any high-speed transport. (If they need to get somewhere quickly, Kinematik can usually get them there, or close, by cancelling their momentum with regard to the Earth’s rotation.)
Campaign Use: As master villains go, Kinematik is slightly different — unlike most of his “colleagues,”
he’s not really set up to take on an entire superhero team singlehandedly. He could probably fight two or three heroes at once, but a whole team would likely overwhelm him. He needs followers
— other mutant supervillains — to support him and his cause, both on and off the battlefield. So far he’s recruited three dedicated “lieutenants”
(see below), but he could definitely use more. He’s made overtures to many mutant villains, some of whom consider his message carefully, while others reject him as a strident, hectoring fool.
The alternate Earth that Kinematik comes from could play a part in the campaign. Since two superhumans from there have already found there way to the Champions Universe, could more follow? Have the totalitarian authorities over there decided they’re tired of this Earth serving as an “escape route” for wanted criminals and are getting ready to come retrieve them? Might some heroes from the Champions Universe agree with Kinematik enough to return with him to over-throw the mutant oppressors?
If you want to make Kinematik powerful enough to fight your PCs on his own, you should do several things. First, he needs more protection, probably in the form of some Damage Reduction, more CON, and more STUN. Second, he needs some movement abilities (aside from the likes of Kinematik Teleportation); this might involve supplying him with a jetpack or broadening the special effects of his powers just enough to justify giving him Flight. Third, he his powers tend to be reactive, so you may want to expand them to cover friction control and other effects that let him start battles. If he’s already too tough, just whittle his VPP down to an acceptable level (keeping in mind that some powers of his special effect are unusu-ally expensive).
Another way to enhance Kinematik’s power (indirectly) is to make him a geneticist to rival Teleios. The difference is that unlike Teleios he’d only use his skills to bring out “latent mutations”
that exist in many people so they’d join his cause.
That way he could have large numbers of superhu-mans “on tap” for any of his schemes.
Associates, Allies, And Adversaries: Kinematik has teamed up with Gravitar and Holocaust to fight anti-mutant forces; he regards them as valu-able (if doctrinally “weak”) allies, and hopes to win them over to his point of view in time. He wants nothing to do with non-mutant villains at all, regarding them as “norms.”
If she’s still alive and in this dimension, Lancer is a natural ally for Kinematik. Realizing that she’s from his home realm, he’s made several attempts to track her down, with no success so far.
Appearance: Kinematik is a black man, 5’11” tall, short-haired, with an average build. His costume features metallic gold headpiece, shoulderpieces, gauntlets, and belt, a scarlet robe, and a scarlet cape hanging from the shoulderpieces.