Theodore Radcliffe

Theodore Yichen Radcliffe is the eldest son and heir of Edwin Radcliffe and his wife, Daiyu.  His father, who had inherited his title from his late father, is a proprietor and owns several institutions across town, the most notable being a shop that sells imported goods, particularly those from China.  As a child, Theodore often found himself travelling between China and England, partially for his father’s business and to visit his mother’s family.  It was an insistence of hers that they travel to her home at least once a year.  His younger brother, Jasper, was actually born during one of those visits.  When he and his twin sister, Kitty, were 10 years old, they both fell gravely ill.  Theodore beat the illness faster than his twin, who made a recovery that one could consider miraculous after the family had begun to prepare themselves for the worst.  After this happened, their family dynamic had changed.  Having come close to losing his heir, Edwin rarely let Theodore out of his sight and he decided it was time to start preparing him for the role he would eventually assume.  When he deemed him to be ready, he started involving Theodore in the business side of their trips to China, which he actually grew to love.  He became more and more involved as he got older, starting to make his own independent journeys to his father’s colleagues in his mother’s home country and eventually making some colleagues of his own.  He also took up Chinese martial arts, courtesy of a colleague of his.  He heard through letters when his sister Helena, the eldest in their family, made her societal debut and again two years later when Kitty made hers.  The next time he was home after that announcement, his mother very strongly suggested that Teddy should begin searching for a wife of his own.  He agreed, on the condition that he would be allowed to return to China to tie up some loose end and then join the following season.  A year has now passed and he has returned home to fulfill his promise to his mother.

## Personality

At his core, Theodore is a businessman.  He keeps himself and his space organized and ensures that everyone, even people he’s known for mere seconds, know they can count on him for just about anything.  He's also confident and well-spoken, in more than one language.  He gets to know people and gains their trust and confidence in him.  Theodore is an organized individual but he’s also a perfectionist which can come as a blessing and a curse.  On one hand, it leads him to ensure there are no mistakes in his business interactions because he ensures everything is to his standards before it is seen by other people but can also cause him to come off as controlling to people who don’t know him well.   Ironically, as much as he wants people to know they can trust him, he has a hard time trusting other people and often expects the worst from them.  To earn his trust is a task which is not easily accomplished and once that trust is broken, it’s extremely difficult to earn back.  Theodore has a tendency to treat his emotions as undesirable.  He holds them back, believing that show others those emotions will lead him to being perceived as weak, a perception he already suspects people of having due to his childhood illness.  His family, especially his twin, is important to him.  Having almost lost Kitty when they were younger, he feels a sense of protectiveness towards her and will write letters to her frequently when he is away to make sure she is okay.