no it is not and no you can't unlock it. You can use loki to flash a recovery on it and then flash roms.
Loki is basically a bypass that allows you to have a custom recovery, right? Or is it just like a bootstrap/safestrap that requires you to have the stock ROM/kernel still installed?
And does Loki do a factory reset as if you had unlocked your bootloader?
when I flashed loki and recovery and root I did not have a factory reset so everything was still there. Also it allows you to flash roms you don't have to stay on stock
Coming from a Nexus, the procedure is a little different.
What you do is hook it up to the PC and run a script to gain ROOT. Then you download FreeGee and flash a Custom recovery. Pretty straight up. Doesn't require factory resets at all.
And I DO highly recommend using stock for about a week before you flash AOSP roms. The Stock rom is very nice, feature rich, and polished.