Roland Steele

Man in Black
Enforcer of Code Nine
New World Order Operative, HQ #WV3200

Description


~Roland Steele's vocation appears obvious. The attractive and strong-bodied African-American fits a custom-tailored black suit, complete with a bone-white button-down dress shirt, sharp black tie, and crisp dress shoes. Roland maintains a conservative hair cut, his black hair trimmed close to the scalp, which is not uncommon for a man waning the end of his twenties. Roland even sports a moustache, likewise kept short. His lean figure and imposing height match muscle for weight. Bright brown eyes survey the scenery from behind dark streamlined shades. His swaggered gait and the curl of his lips display a streetwise attitude despite his professional attire. While Roland maneuvers smoothly and remains attentive, his disarming smile and relaxed veneer helps him to blend back into the crowd and quickly be overlooked.~

OOC: Appearance 3; Cloaking 2

"Surrender wasn't a polite request."

"I mean, let's be honest, there's nothing polite about the Bullish Industries Tier-9 Thermal Vaporizer.
Is there."

History


Social Student

Roland Steele derived from a pretty Middle American heritage. Born in 1974 in the suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri, it seemed like he would lead a fairly normal life. His father, Dwayne, was a teacher of social studies in elementary school. His mother, Elle (Eleanor), stayed at home to raise Roland and his older brothers, Devin and William. Grandpa Steele -- Murphy -- also lived in the house. He always had good common sense advice for Roland and his brothers.

And their middle class homes sat in decent neighborhoods. The Steeles moved a couple times, but always stayed in the St. Louis area. While they didn't go to church, Roland's parents made sure their children understood moderate views on the world. They also instilled good moral values, particularly a respect for the family. Roland was the only real athlete of his siblings; Devin played a little hockey, but ended up pursuing a life in politics (later to become a state representative). William, on the other hand, was quite the dancer (and very gay), and ended up in show business in Chicago. Roland excelled at basketball meanwhile, and puzzled over what his academic forte might be.

Maybe it would be social studies like his father. He impressed his dad with an early grasp and appreciation of the various social studies, such as history, anthropology, and politics. Roland also seemed to have a good head for puzzling out twisted designs, schemes, and conspiracies, making him the best crossword gamer in the family.

Roland's dreams fueled some of his wonder, however. He had a recurrent dream of an ancient Crusader, but not a soldier of Richard the Lion-Hearted. Oh, no. He saw himself as a Moor, charging the ramparts of Spain in the name of a Muslim Empire. While young, Roland just enjoyed the violence of his dreams. But as he grew older, he grew more analytical of these recurring visions. What did they mean? Whatever they meant, they influenced Roland's overall world views quite a bit. While hardly Muslim in belief or practice, he did believe in the authority of a single state. Whether one calls it an empire or religion, or a religious empire, Roland didn't care. He agreed that peace could be achieved only by the rule of a single entity. Nationalism in all its many hues and shapes and sizes, large and small, fueled far too much discord. He was becoming a believer of the power of the state over everything else.

Official Empowerment

That was probably why Roland sought to become a policeman. In 1992, when he turned 18 and graduated from high school, Roland applied and was accepted to the Missouri State Police Academy. There he excelled, getting through the academy just fine. Of course, his potential was noted. Both the Ventrue clan of vampires and the New World Order branch of the Technocracy observed Roland's exceptional skills and investigative intellect.

During a "live fire" training exercise in St. Louis, ghouls (who looked like normal men to him) of the Ventrue snatched Roland off the street and into an alley. Before they could haul him off to be indoctrinated undesirably, Men in Black -- agents of the NWO -- burst onto the scene and shot the ghouls dead. Confused and frightened, Roland could only laugh as the MiBs right there told him of the conspiracy of vampires and other monsters in the world. So they offered him proof.

That night, the MiBs used the ghouls' bodies -- and the blood they shared with their undead master -- to lure the vampire to a site of ambush. Roland watched in horror as the monster arrived, its evil and predatory nature clear. It became patently obvious when the agents sprung their surprise, blasting the vampire down with special incendiary rounds. The vampire's final furious expression, fangs and glowing eyes, terrified Roland. He stood frozen in stark realization and recognition of a need to combat such horrors. He needed to protect people from such things, to regulate such dangers from threatening humanity.

The Academy

So the New World Order pulled Roland out of the police academy, "erased" his true Sleeper identity (social security number and the like), and placed him in the NWO academy located right there in St. Louis. It was like a four-year college, he was warned, because he would be trained in academic and physical methodologies. Roland didn't mind. He looked forward to this "top secret" agency.

Yet Roland discovered that it felt like brainwashing and indoctrination to obey without thinking. Realizing that, he still didn't rebel. He went with the flow, learning all he could. And when it came to certain realities and beliefs that the NWO held dear, Roland drew his own conclusions and formed his own ideas. Luckily, his deviance was not prominent. He still excelled on all his tests, which partly tested his intellect and largely his level of obedience.

Formulating his own opinions was actually encouraged by one of his instructors, Roland found. Jason Staggum was the man's name and he oversaw much of Roland's "public interaction" training. There he excelled in physical aspects, such as gunplay and general athletics. He learned how to apply advanced scientific concepts, methods, tools, and devices in the field. He was no lab geek, but he understood the machines' use well enough. What Roland didn't realize was that the elbow space Instructor Staggum allowed was due to his special, Enlightened status. Most of his fellow cadets were not so Empowered (some weren't even born human beings, just clones!).

At least Roland remained a popular cadet despite of his advantage. He was outgoing and guileless. In fact, his truthful nature made his attempts to tell fibs quite entertaining. With Staggum's guidance, Roland learned to turn his extroverted behavior to good use when dealing with "public incidents". UnEmpowered citizens, or Sleepers as the Technocratic Union called them at times, could be misled from the truth by telling them the truth in such a ridiculous manner that they'd never believe it. With that obstacle out of the way, Instructor Staggum assured Roland that he would become one of the greatest Men in Black to ever live. In 1995, Roland had a personal epiphany of self-confidence. He knew that his instructor's confidence was well placed. He knew he was indeed someone important, or better put could become someone important. It was pride, not arrogance, that would define his final Path. Graduating at the top of his class in 1996, Roland Steele was ready for the world and all its shadows.

Top Cop

Roland began official work for the New World Order and the Men in Black in his hometown. He was not supposed to contact his family anymore, but still dropped them a line now and then anyway. He even went to his grandfather's funeral. But all he could tell his family was that he worked for the government now. And he knew that wasn't true. The NWO was run by private organizations that had close ties to the government, nothing more.

But sometimes, he wished he did work for the government. His first assignment included the leadership of a team of lower-ranked MiB (clones, he was told). They were a general enforcement team on call for emergency need only. Thus, Roland witnessed a lot of bad things, but could not intervene until he was ordered to. He rarely got to engage Reality Deviants (RDs) -- the monsters he learned all about. The few chases and shoot-outs in which he found himself, Roland easily lost his temper, got stressed out and flustered. Perhaps it was just the fact that he was young and inexperienced. Watching all those criminals and monsters just go on by really began to bother him.

At least he found a distraction that worked well at first. He grew skilled at interrogation, learning how to trick and frighten Sleepers into revealing their ties to RDs. Most often, those Sleepers had no clue that their RD connections were abnormal freaks. So Roland didn't hold them liable for that, but even common criminals annoyed the would-be cop. So he kept at his training and studies, and Roland was always eager to learn and experiment with new scientific Procedures. He would even beta-test other Enlightened Personnel's ideas, if they didn't have the guts to face down the possible backlashes of their own designs.

Of course, Roland's own activities reaped undesired consequences, too. In 1999, his team ran afoul of what turned out to be Ventrue-controlled mafiosas. Roland captured and interrogated several of the guidos before turning them over to the police with evidence of their illegal misdeeds. To Roland's disgust, even with evidence stacked against them, they were turned loose back on the street! That's when Roland had another sharp realization: whether he viewed himself as a hero or not, he had to do the right thing. And doing required action.

And action Roland took. He led his team on a vicious warpath that cut through mobsters and their vampiric backers alike. The restaurant where they were all camped out was burned to the ground. Only one of his teammates fell in that nasty gun battle (and his body dissolved into an unidentifiable puddle of organic goo, the soulless clone that he was). That entire family of mobsters was plucked out, right up to their undead capo. Was Roland rewarded and commended for his bravery? Not at all. He earned a stern castigation from the St. Louis Symposium of the Technocracy. Of course, Roland then suspected that the mob family he wiped out, despite (or even because of) its vampiric backing, had been an interest of one of the other Conventions. He doubted it was a tool of his New World Order, but perhaps the money-hungry Syndicate had something to do with it.

Proving Grounds

Unsurprisingly, Roland was redeployed to a new Symposium to avoid further complications. Kansas City became his new home and it cut him further off from his family. (He could and did still call them occasionally at least.) Instead of being given a team of enforcers, Roland was assigned a partner. A fellow Enlightened Man in Black, Elliot Skye was almost the opposite of Roland. Where Roland was energetic and sometimes stressed out, Elliot was easygoing and relaxed all the time. He helped Roland tone down his activity, and this was good. Because the New World Order was interested in only maintaining the status quo in Kansas City. The Pogrom was not to be enforced at all unless gratuitous deviance was observed (e.g., some sorcerer trying to rip a hole in the dimensional barrier in order to conjure some demonic alien from beyond).

Since Roland knew he was on thin ice as it was, he didn't want to piss off his superiors in Kansas City, too. It would assure a quick trip back to "Room 101" for some involuntary psychological conditioning. So he kept his nose to the pavement, buddying up with Elliot and learning the city. Through independent patrols and occasional joint-actions with local police, Roland became better acquainted with the city. Elliot was Roland's only friend at this time, too. He was too busy trying to make himself small and unnoticeable so the Union didn't punish him further.

All the while, Roland yearned to do more than maintain the status quo. He just stayed quiet about it. He let Elliot rub off on him, cooling him down some. In return, he encouraged Elliot to develop, too, helping the Caucasian fellow to come out of his shell and live a little. He learned that he and Elliot were a lot alike, except Elliot came from an FBI background instead. Elliot helped Roland see more of the city and what it could offer. And Roland helped Elliot get laid (without having to pay for it). They were great partners for several years. Roland never suspected a thing. When they separated to take care of their personal lives, Roland assumed Elliot went home and got some sleep. But the man was moonlighting with something shadier.

The Steele-Skye Scandal

It was inevitable that Roland find out what. It was just tragic that he had to find out the hard way. In 2003, Roland shifted their assigned patrol on whim (or maybe instinct), despite Elliot's insistence that they stay on track. Roland drove them down the river wharves, and that was where they stumbled across a drug deal involving some major organized crime players -- local mafiosas and Mexican gangsters. It was too big a deal to ignore and the police wouldn't arrive in time. Roland forced the confrontation, sneaking up on the gangsters with Elliot backing him up. His partner was reluctant the whole way.

And when the hot lead began to fly, Roland was shocked to find that the only bullet to hit him was in the left shoulder…from behind. Roland wheeled to duck what he thought was his partner's careless fire. But the intent was clear as Elliot aimed to fire again. Roland had no choice and shot first, putting his own partner down. The surviving gangsters fled, leaving Roland with nothing but blood and the horror of his own partner and friend dead at his feet. Elliot was dirty and had been all along. Perhaps he was simply corrupt or maybe he served some greedy interest beyond the MiB -- like the Syndicate. Perhaps it was just paranoia, Roland thought. But then again...

Then again Roland had to tell his superiors the truth. So he did: it was friendly fire. Roland was placed on a leave of absence while the investigation pended. The entire affair, particularly ballistics, was thoroughly reviewed. Roland feared he was sunk this time. Off to Room 101, right? He spent the next month drinking himself silly with tequila and other booze. After thirty days, the investigation was concluded. To his shock, Roland was cleared and set back to his duties alone -- no new partner. But not a word was breathed about the tragedy. Whatever happened, whoever his partner was, it was kept hush-hush.

Before the Storm

While picking up his duties as a solo act, Roland realized things in the Union were too dirty to just ignore and play off. He would play along quietly for now. Roland took the next few years to learn the in's and out's of Kansas City even more. The nooks and crannies Elliot avoided, Roland dug right into, and thereby connecting with more police and the criminals they hunted. This way, he better scoped out the presence and locations of the local Reality Deviants.

Roland still watched for the most violent and dangerous ones as always, but Roland knew one day he would have to go after them all. He refused to surrender to apathy as Elliot did. His new, quieter approach was the result of a new understanding in 2004. The mission had to be methodical and approached with strategy. Justice could be denied if it was handled stupidly and blithely. Patience was the key, Roland schooled himself. And in the time during which he laid low on the Union's radar, Roland prepared himself for the shit storm to come.

Significant Other


Roland encountered Reginia "Gina" Santiago back in July of 2005. The Man in Black intercepted a Reality Deviant of the vampiric persuasion as it tried to use Reginia's connections to gain access to the local National Guard military base. Roland destroyed the RD, but Reginia was exposed to the supernatural. Instead of taking action to remove her memory of the event, Roland was attracted to the firecracker of a young woman, and ended up seducing her instead. Now in addition to enjoying her company, Roland realizes her connections to the base--her father being the commanding general on that base--could give him access to miltech. How can he turn down this twin benefit? Of course, Roland and Gina's relationship is based solely on passion and relaxed companionship at this time. Taking it any further might require that Roland first revise his entire lifestyle. But for her...he would.

Reginia

Weakness
It's On!


To Roland, there can be no compromises or treaties. He affords no mercy for Reality Deviants, the enemies of the human race. Hell, anyone branded an enemy of humanity's safety, including common criminals among the Masses, can find themselves targeted by Roland's questing wrath. Unfortunately, in addition to how this endangers Roland's life and limb, it flies in the face of current Union Protocol. The Pogrom is currently not meant to be pursued so vicariously.

Likelihood of Corruption


Average.

Roland has a good heart, but his bold attitude and confrontational nature can put him at odds with entities capable of twisting and corrupting this MiB into the very thing he despises.

Links

More on Roland

Character Profiles

Wealth of Science

E-mail me!

Main Character Hub

Back to Game Hub