Lo'ukieron Kinhasa
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| [[Image:|300px|]] | |
| Lo'Ukieron Kinhasa | |
| Player: Chakravanti | |
| Origin: | Magic |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Mastermind |
| Threat Level: | ' |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Confidential |
| Known Aliases: | ' |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | ' |
| Height: | ' |
| Weight: | ' |
| Eye Color: | Brown |
| Hair Color: | Light Blonde |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | USA |
| Occupation: | CEO of LK-IPS |
| Place of Birth: | Confidential |
| Base of Operations: | Confidential |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | Confidential |
| Known Powers | |
| Umbral Refraction | |
| Known Abilities | |
| ' | |
| Equipment | |
| ' | |
| ' | |
Still a work in progress.
Contents |
Personality
Lo'Ukieron Kinhasa does many things that you'd expect of an "evil" man. He lies, he cheats, he steals. As the chief executive officer of an internationally known (and sometimes hated) company Lou is ruthless and efficient. In person, he's far more easygoing, not nearly the greedy, murdering, moral-less monster he's sometimes portrayed as. He acts with a sometimes frightening amount of objectivity, able to utterly distance himself from even the most heinous of crimes while still considering himself "a good person". Despite his current "villain" status, his association with Arachnos and other villain groups is more for convenience than for any philosophical similarities.
Abilities
Security Detail
Being the CEO of an international corporation who deals in the dangerous business of weapons development and independent contractors (mercenaries) has its advantages. Like having your own cadre of trained, heavily-armed, security personal authorized to operate within the borders of most nations, including the United States (the Rogue Isles of course, have no issue with yet another group of armed men roaming their streets). Lou's bodyguards are typically ex-military, with a few disgruntled Longbow; all receive extensive combat training as well as training with numerous weapons. They are armed with the latest weapons LK-IPS has to offer, making them at LEAST as well armed as a typical Longbow patrol (and often many times better).
In addition to the standard security troops, Lou always has a small team of special forces operatives nearby to respond to any "super-powered" threats to his person. This black-clad troops operate in two man teams, using suppressed weapons and a variety of special munitions to incapacitate threats. The leader of the special forces team is code-named "Omega Zero", a large, quiet man who wades through combat with his custom LK-102 weapon system (LK-IPS' version of the weapon used by Longbow Nullifiers) and its veritable arsenal of death.
Umbral Refraction
Lou typically doesn't carry weapons, after all, he's the CEO of a "reputable" corporation who keeps him well-protected with private security personnel. That's not to say Lou is unarmed however. Lou possesses a unique ability to tap into a dark energy. In most respects this ability resembles the underworld-fueled powers used by some other heroes and villains, however, Lou's "Umbral Refraction", as he calls it, achieves similar results without the oftentimes harmful resonance associated with underworld energies.
Lou has been witnessed performing all manner of feats using his dark power. His gaze can cause paralysis in all but the hardiest of heroes, he can turn regular shadows into a roiling cloud of darkness making combat for his enemies all the more difficult, he's even developed a way to tap into a person's energy, drawing small amounts off to heal himself and nearby allies.
Lo'Ukieron Kinhasa never understood why he had powers. Early on, Lou could see into a second world, which he calls the umbra, running almost exactly parallel to our own. Everywhere he looks he sees a second darkened, color-less, and subdued world on top of the actual one. For many years Lou was prone to headaches and occasional seizures from his constant double-vision. He now wears specially-designed glasses with tiny dimensional filters built-in to filter out the second dimension from his sight to prevent the side-effects.
This "umbra" is, in fact, a small pocket dimension that collided with our own. Because of its small size it was unable to maintain its individuality and began warping itself to mirror our reality. The actual point on which the umbra contacts our own is Lo'Ukieron. He exists as the spatial point where the second reality intersects the real one. Lou can freely see and interact with both this second dimension and our actual one. Most of his powers result when he pulls aspects of the umbra into our world.
Lou's most powerful manifestations result when he pulls aspects from one dimension and into the other. This gives him teleportation-like movement, the ability to pull obscuring "shadows" into our world to conceal himself and others, and the ability to pull strange dark entities into the real world where they can unleash havoc upon his foes.
LK-IPS
LK Industries and Protection Services
Lou is the CEO (although not chairman) of LK-IPS, a joint weapons-development/production and private military contractor. The company's original name, Integrated Protective Services (IPS) was changed when Lou officially took over control of the company. Originally, IPS was a small PMC that supplied personnel to disaster relief efforts in troubled areas around the world, as well as the development of various non-lethal technologies. Despite its small size, it maintained its market presence through its reputation as a very ethical, humane PMC.
On May 23rd, 2002 the first Rikti war began. Within the first 2 weeks over 70% of IPS' field personnel were killed or injured attempting to help evacuate and protect people. On June 17th IPS suspended all activities and more or less disbanded. It was assumed at the time that the company was dissolved; although with the fate of the human race very much at risk no one noticed.
In 2004 Lo'Ukieron Kinhasa took over as CEO of IPS, changing it's name to LK-IPS (although he maintains to this day that "LK" isn't just his initials). Within months Lou took the crumbling remains of IPS and transformed them into the lean business it has become today. Claims of illegal bookkeeping and illicit funding surround the company's revival, but to date, no charges have been filed.
Since Lou's takeover LK-IPS has mostly abandoned its original ethical stance in favor of more "financially advantageous" policies. LK-IPS' legal department actually employees more people than it's R&D branch as it strives to cover-up all manner of crimes ranging from data theft to kidnapping. Because many of LK-IPS' victims are criminals themselves many heroes overlook LK-IPS in favor of more sinister plots.
Currently, LK-IPS is split into two main branches, LK-Industries and LK-Protection Services.
LK-Industries
LK-I manufactures all the equipment used by LK-PS, as well as the weapons and equipment sold to other groups throughout the world. LK-IPS' research and development efforts are also under the LK-I domain, focusing mainly on small arms and body armor, although LK-I maintains a small nuclear reactor in a remote part of Western Utah for research purposes.
LK-I now produces roughly 13% of the special purpose ammunition used by Longbow, 24% of the Vanguard's conventional arms, and has contracts with numerous individuals throughout Paragon City and the Rogue Isles (a common joke among LK-I employees is that many of their "special projects" are intended for Black Scorpion or other well-known super-villains). In addition, LK-IPS hires out contractors to support military operations around the world.
LK-Protection Services
LK-PS provides military contractors to almost anyone willing to pay. Most LK-PS mercs are hired to assist with logistics in hot spots around the world, providing supplies and performing other duties to support more active military units. LK-PS is also responsible for the safety of the company's CEO, Lo'ukieron Kinhasa; as well as support his more illegal endeavors. Operating in a support role gives LK-PS, and through LK-PS, gives Lou, insight into the operations of numerous groups who occasionally hire them.
LK-PS takes full responsibility for the actions of its employees, and refuses under any circumstances to turn over any information authorities. While operating in the field all LK-PS employees operate under total anonymity, no real names are used and all material identifying employees' real identities is strictly off-limits. This makes it almost impossible for charges to be brought against an individual LK-PS contractor. This isn't to say LK-PS simply hides from its mistakes, in the event that the company feels its contractors have legitimately screwed up LK-IPS makes every attempt to make ammends, but again, refuses to turn over any information on the offending individual. It is believed that LK-PS deals with any problem employees "in-house".
History
No official records actually detail Lou's birthplace or date (he's seen to that). He retains his US citizenship due to a legal technicality that LK-IPS' legal team exploited during the last trial (the last in a series of 4). Lo'Ukieron seems to have "appeared" on the list of the board of directors of IPS shortly before it dissolved. This is the first mention of him before his takeover of IPS in 2004. Questions about his past have been answered (when they're answered at all) with all manner of contradictory and patently-false statements. Further adding to the mystery, all of the board members of IPS who served during the time when Lou first appeared are all dead or missing now.
Lou has been the driving force behind LK-IPS' rise to success, he works tirelessly to further the company's goals. His dedication goes so far as to personally supervise many of the more morally questionable actions of his company (there's an entire branch of LK-IPS mercs who do little more than steal and erase incriminating video footage). Throughout the Rogue Isles and Paragon City Lou leads squads of LK-IPS troops on raids, kidnappings, and even the occasional bank robbery; the legal department works tirelessly to keep the majority of any charges from getting past a grand jury, and has been effective so far. Lou is personally responsible for roughly half of his company's inventions and breakthroughs, although about half of those are "discovered" through theft.
