Roland Vlocke
The Liberators are no longer operating in Champions Online. Roland Vlocke however still exists and remains active. For more information see the United Liberators Coalition page.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Overview
Roland Vlocke is the CEO of Vlocke Aerospace Industries and a former administrator of the United Liberators Coalition, and an enemy-turned-ally of the Liberators. Since 2014, Vlocke had been responsible for funding the Liberators, and eventually merged many of his assets with them when he became an administrator of the newly-created ULC. He has since dedicated his full support, and now personally oversees the day-to-day operations of the organization at the Phoenix Complex on Gull Island. A mysterious man who prefers to keep out of the public eye, he and the company he maintains appears to be another straightforward aircraft manufacturer upon initial inspection, but there are rumors that Vlocke and his company are involved in matters that run much deeper than simple aircraft factories. A man of immense wealth, Vlocke is used to getting things when he wants them and the way he wants them, and tends to use his expansive resources to ensure his plans succeed. In early 2016, it was revealed that he was a member of the Serpent Institute and in mid-2016 he became one of the founders of the United Liberators Coalition. At the end of 2017, the Coalition dissolved and he returned to running his own company, now free of funding the Liberators and free to do his own projects.
History
Dimensional Diving Suit
In 1991, Roland Vlocke was well on his way to becoming the CEO of Vlocke Aerospace Industries. His father Stephen Vlocke was terminally ill, and had already groomed his son to be the heir of his corporate empire. During this time Roland did everything he could to follow in his father's footsteps, learning how to fly various types of aircraft, learning how to build them, and more importantly, learning how to compete against other manufacturers that threatened his company's rightful place in the aerospace industry. His father's illness had left the company reeling from a major blow due to his absence, costing it valuable contracts that went to Boeing and Lockheed-Martin instead. Despite the immense responsibility and pressure to boost his company back up, Roland found interest in being a superhero.
In the aftermath of Dr. Destroyer's Attack on Detroit, the news of fame and glory for superheroes spread across the United States, and the world. Vlocke decided that the time was ripe to begin using his vast technical knowledge to develop a suit that would enable his non-powered human form to be capable of achieving what no one else had done before: almost-unbeatable stealth by phasing out of the dimension itself. Vlocke had created the Dimensional Diver Suit, a set of power armor that could create dimensional rifts, or subspace pockets that he could sink into and hide. Vlocke used the suit to do both good and evil. He would practice his combat skills and fine-tune the suit's systems by targeting petty crooks and assisting the police, or in more extreme cases occasionally helping PRIMUS deal with the superpowered villain of the week. More unsavory instances of use included sneaking into rival corporations' headquarters to conduct corporate espionage, and dealing devastating blows to his rivals.
However one day, the heist went awry. His stealth was compromised and the suit failed to open a dimensional rift, leaving him vulnerable to weapons fire. Gunfire and attacks from security personnel damaged the powered armor badly, and short-circuited its electrical systems, almost fatally injuring Vlocke in the process. Managing to bypass several systems and engage the dimensional generators at the last minute, Vlocke barely escaped with his life, and afterwards swore never to use the suit again. On the public front, Vlocke gave up his ambition of manufacturing aircraft for large airlines and government entities, instead focusing his company on producing products for the private sector and superhero organizations. By 2001, hundreds of different super groups, private entities and individuals across the world were using his vehicles.
Meeting the Liberators
In 2013, Vlocke was approached by Tony Griffins for his assistance in funding the Liberators. Vlocke agreed, on the condition that Griffins would submit monthly reports of the activities his organization became involved in, and kept track of resources used. The Liberators from that point on received approximately 50% of its funding from Vlocke, and the other fifty percent from PRIMUS and other groups and sponsors. Resources and donations were sparse and tight at times, but Vlocke's financial backing ensured that the organization kept afloat. During this phase Vlocke was largely disinterested in the Liberators and considered the amount of money he contributed monthly to be pocket change, but his attitude shifted drastically when he noticed that the Liberators acquired a technologically-advanced gunship captured from Okita Technologies, that threatened to rival his own aircraft and upset the balance of power.
Conflict
Vlocke approached Griffins and demanded that he hand over the aircraft (by this point dubbed the Phoenix) immediately. Griffins, suspicious of Vlocke's intentions, needing the plane for his own use, and reminding Vlocke that he was only a sponsor, not a superior, refused. This resulted in funding being cut to the Liberators, and Vlocke attempting to take the plane for himself by force with the use of a private military. Griffins responded by threatening to attack Vlocke in retaliation for what he percieved to be a threat against his team, and both parties had started to gear up to fight each other when PRIMUS suddenly intervened and was able to mediate the conflict. Griffins was allowed to keep the Phoenix in his posession, having been declared its rightful owner, but its advanced antimatter reactor and weaponry would be confiscated and removed, to be stored at a secure government holding facility to prevent reverse-engineering or use by dangerous parties. The Phoenix, no longer of any interest to Vlocke, was reduced to capabilities no greater than other contemporary aircraft belonging to other supergroups. A month later, Vlocke and Griffins repaired their relationship, and funding was restored.
The valuable technology confiscated from the Phoenix was later stolen by a mysterious faction that broke into the secure storage vault. Vlocke denied any knowledge of who the culprits were, and offered to assist the federal government in finding them.
Shiuedao Island
As a gesture of goodwill, Roland Vlocke offered to take Tony and Raelin to his private island resort in the South China Sea on an all-expenses paid vacation. Despite his good intentions, the trip ended in disaster when his private jet crashed into the water. Tony and Rae struggled and managed to swim to a nearby deserted island and save the unconscious Vlocke, but could not save the two pilots, one of whom had died on impact and the other who died shortly after. Tony and Rae set about devising a plan to return to civilization and awaited rescue while they explored the island, discovering a long-lost tribe of manimals. They learned that the island was named Shiuedao Island, and that it was colonized by a shipload of manimals from the 1800s from the first Dr. Moreau, and then taken over for use by a supervillain as a base in the 1960s, who introduced more manimals to the island. Their arrival, arrival of the Liberators (who had also crashed) and introduction into society triggered a civil war within the village between a faction that wanted to leave to explore the outside world, and a faction that was fearful of it and wished to remain isolated. The cause of the plane crashes was determined: the supervillain's base had a still-functioning nuclear reactor, which in turn supplied a powerful EMP field around the island. The Liberators were later rescued by older planes that were less susceptible to the field, and the nuclear reactor was replaced with another power source to ensure that the field would remain operational, with an automated beacon warning travelers to avoid the area. However, the damage had already been done.
Despite the fact that Vlocke was unconscious most of the time due to Rae putting him cryogenic stasis with her powers, he felt an immense level of gratitude towards the Griffins and their relationship became stronger in the aftermath.
Bleeding Fist
In 2015, the Liberators faced one of the worst crises they had ever encountered. A powerful anti-metahuman organization calling itself the Bleeding Fist had emerged from the shadows and was in the process of a campaign to obliterate the world's metahuman population, considering them 'genetic abominations' and wishing to cleanse the gene pool of any DNA that may have allowed the possibility of metahuman abilities to manifest. The Bleeding Fist fought the Liberators in several locations around the globe, including Washington, Montana, and Texas of the United States, Taiyuan Province and Hong Kong of China, Dresden of Germany, and numerous other locales. The Liberators sought to eliminate the Fist's bases, while the Fist was determined to exterminate the Liberators before they could figure out the core strategies of their campaign. Vlocke lent his financial assistance and personally joined in the final battle where the Liberators besieged the primary Bleeding Fist headquarters complex in Antarctica.
Vlocke strongly considered donning the Dimensional Diver power armor due to how severe the situation had become. However despite preparing it for battle and testing it privately in his own facilities, it was never deployed, and the Liberators still remain unaware of it as of 2016.
Vlocke also acquired Norton Aircraft Co. during the campaign, assimilating that rival company into his own empire after it was discovered to be corrupt and working as a front organization that secretly served the Fist by producing hovercraft for them. Interestingly enough, Roland Vlocke manufactured the signature aircraft of one of the Liberators' situational allies against the Fist: the Eagle One jet belonging to the Golden Eagles was custom built by VAI.
Exposed
In early 2016, the Liberators encountered a secretive organization possessing armored vehicles, armed personnel in black combat armor, and hoverplanes, all emblazoned with a strange emblem. Further research and intelligence from an escaped prisoner (who had fled these captors) revealed to the Liberators that this organization was called the Serpent Institute. A secret society with a formidable fleet of personnel and vehicles, with highly advanced technology, the Serpent Institute for the Preservation and Study of Unusual Anomalies and Artifacts was an organization dedicated to containing and researching powerful and often dangerous items. The Institute, revealing itself to the Liberators, demanded that it hand over the prisoner, with the threat of war if they failed to obey. When contacted by the Liberators about the incident, Vlocke was incredibly evasive and shifty, accidentally saying that the Liberators were going to attack the Institute's base of operations in the Rockies, without the Liberators having said that it was in the Rockies, only telling him that they knew where it was. Vlocke ordered the Liberators not to engage, and insisted that they hand over the prisoner. Griffins and the Liberators refused, suspicious of the Institute's intent and MO, and of Vlocke's shifty behavior and seemingly murky past. The Institute responded with the attempted assassinations of both Griffins, Lionel Blacke, and Skarius Snowtalon.
Vlocke was horrified when Institute Director Helena Wolfe ordered the assassinations, having come to greatly respect and admire the Liberators by this point, going as far as to beg her to give them another chance. He was aghast when he had discovered that the attempts had taken place without his consent or input, and launched immediately into a rage-filled tirade at Wolfe, one of the few times where he became outwardly furious. When the surviving Liberators initiated an attack on the Institute's headquarters, the Vault, Vlocke did nothing to stop them, staying in the deeper levels of the facility and awaiting his fate. However the prisoner the Liberators sought to protect betrayed them, revealing itself as EX-1101, a non-corporeal entity that had hijacked the body of Site Director James Whitehurst. It was at this point both the Institute and the Liberators realized that the other side were not the enemy, and laid down their weapons. Despite several black eyes and hard feelings, the two organizations managed to put aside their anger at each other to turn their attention to securing the numerous containment breaches the Vault suffered, and capturing EX-1101. Vlocke at this point finally admitted to the Liberators that he had been a part of the secret society for decades.
Making amends
Griffins and Snowtalon were furious at Vlocke for being secretive, and for being indirectly involved in their assassination attempt, as well as his failure to communicate. Griffins refused to speak to Vlocke for several days, and Vlocke then attempted to make up for his mistakes by completely paying for the destruction of Griffins's car that had occurred during the assassination attempt, as well as restoring funding. Eventually, the two would once again see eye-to-eye, and returned to friendly terms. Vlocke's current relationship with the other Liberators is unknown.
As Administrator
In the aftermath of the Institute-Liberators war, leaders of the Institute and the Liberators, along with Vlocke, Blackfrost, and Brian Thomas met at an undisclosed location underground and decided that the threats they were all facing had changed, and that their respective organizations were now ready to face more powerful and widespread crises. A new organization was formed, called the United Liberators Coalition, a permanent alliance in which the Liberators were now backed by the combined forces of the Institute and the resources of both Vlocke Aerospace Industries and Frost Futuretech, with PRIMUS Silver Avenger Thomas serving as a liaison to provide a government stake and oversight.
Vlocke pledged to have his company contribute to the funding of Liberators Tower a brand new facility designed to accommodate the now homeless Institute assets and personnel. He personally bought Gull Island, and transferred ownership to the organization shortly after. Tony Griffins took leadership with the title of Director, with a board of administrators advising and supporting him, that included Vlocke. Vlocke has moved into the building, and now runs VAI from Liberators Tower, and manages the day-to-day operations of the organization and financial matters. His personnel assisted the Liberators in maintaining their aircraft, the complex, and repairing damaged assets. The Dimensional Diver Suit was kept at a vault in the facility but was moved back to his personal mansion after the Coalition's dissolution in 2017.
The End
Vlocke remains CEO of VAI, and continues manufacturing planes to this day.
Personality
Vlocke generally has an amiable personality and is easy to get along with. A philanthropist in his spare time, he is also generous with his wealth and donates frequently to causes that he deems worthy. He has a tendency to remain calm and collected in most situations, though rarely he will display fits of anger when something he considers unforgivable happens, such as the assassination attempts on his friends' lives. He also has a tendency to demand things, and become aggressive and difficult to work with when his agenda conflicts with another's. He will go to large lengths to get his way, and his morals, while well-intentioned, are somewhat questionable.He has a tendency to be vague and non-specific, and gives off the vibe that he has a lot to hide, whether that may or may not be actually the case. However he is reliable and has a code of honor, believing that one must always behave like a gentleman.
Relationships
Tony Griffins
- Powers - Pyrokinetics, munitions, flight.
- Likes - Engineering, being with The Liberators, tinkering, aircraft
- Dislikes - The word 'manimal', criminal organizations, government bureaucracy, racists
- Basics - Swift is the Director of the United Liberators Coalition and his direct superior. His relationship with Tony is rather interesting, having a long and rocky history. Despite their past differences, Swift trusts Vlocke enough to do the right thing and counts on him to have his back, while Vlocke has gained an immense respect for the fox over the years and supported the founding of the ULC and appointment of Griffins as its director. After its dissolution, Tony went from being Vlocke's superior and employer to an employee, but Vlocke does not view this change as significant, having seen Tony more as a close friend than anything titles may suggest.
Raelin Griffins
- Powers - Cryokinetics, munitions
- Likes - Cooking food, snuggling, anime
- Dislikes - Losing control of her powers, racists
- Basics - Raelin's relationship with Roland has been more or less stable and friendly, with Vlocke often inviting both she and Tony to dinner and other events, and Rae often having casual conversations with him. Vlocke feels that he owes a life debt specifically towards her because of her using her cryokinetic abilties to hold him in stasis after sustaining a grievous injury on Shiuedao Island. She now works as a test pilot for VAI and is on the board of its design division.
Hellion MK.II
- Weapons/Powers - Chest Cannon, Dual Hand Beams, Wrist Bolters, Technopathy, Strength, Speed, Questionite Shell and Kendrium Skeleton.
- Likes - Music, Foiling Evil Plans, Combat Training, Technology
- Dislikes - Wealthy People, Mechanon, Demons, Evil
- Basics - Hellion Mk. II is a sarcastic robot from an alternate universe somewhat similar to this one. Hellion's aggressive personality puts him at odds with Vlocke, and he has historically been sarcastic in the man's presence. He has a profound lack of trust and respect for the CEO of Vlocke Aerospace Industries, and feels that the Liberators should refrain from getting too close.
