communications

THEODORE BENJAMIN GRAYDON was born to Ceceli (Cece) and Tycho Graydon on October 10th, 2908 in Chicago’s Central Core.  His mother Cece, was a UEE Citizens Services liaison with the city of Chicago and as such, Graydon was exposed to the underbelly of the Empire at an early age.  The Graydon family, out of their own pockets, often helped those that were left behind or ignored by the government and that left a lasting impression.

An avid Sataball player from a young age, “Theo” steadily rose through the club team rankings and was actively recruited by several universities for a full scholarship.  As an only child, his desire to stay near to home led him to choose Northwestern University and settle in on a general Communications degree while he pursued a Sataball “career”.  His career looked promising as he earned a starting position towards the end of his first season and was in the running for the Arvan Scoval Trophy (The Best Collegiate Forward) when he suffered a devastating injury.  While the injury was repaired with the best medical care to be found, Graydon’s dream of becoming a professional Sataball player was over.

Graydon turned his full attention to his studies and changed his major to Mass Communication and Journalism.  He enjoyed writing and the research involved in exploring issues thoroughly.  He became the editor of The Daily Northwestern his Junior year and was active in both student and local government; working on a city council campaign and a mayoral campaign during his last two years at Northwestern.  Thinking a political career might be somewhere in his future, Graydon decided to apply for Law School and was accepted at Columbia University in New York.  During his three years at Columbia, Graydon became deeply interested in political philosophy, motives, the structure of government and how it related to those it governed.

After graduating, he decided to follow his original career plan in journalism, accepting a staff writer position at the Terra Gazette.  This placed him squarely in the emerging cultural and political center of the UEE.  After four years as a staff writer and four more as the main political writer for the Terra Gazette it was time for a change, time to “cash in” on the experience and contacts built up over the preceding eight years.

Graydon accepted an offer to be a principal at Farwick & Chan Strategies, a firm specializing in corporate strategic planning, communications and political strategy for the candidates that could afford them.  After four years of perfecting his craft, Graydon decided he was ready to enter the political fray himself by signing on as the Communications Director for then UEE Senatorial candidate Suj Kassi, a Tevarin and retired UEE Naval officer with hopes of changing the UEE from within.  After Suj’s upset win in the election of 2946, Graydon stayed on as his Chief of Staff and his work to change things from within began in earnest.  Setback after setback did little to dampen Graydon’s enthusiasm until he saw that even the “outsider” Suj was slowly being corrupted by the influencing tendrils of the UEE.

Realizing that change from within was never going to be possible, Graydon began looking for ways to influence things from without or for an opportunity to start anew from the ground up.  He found that opportunity with the fledgling Aurora Republic and he interviewed for and accepted the role as the Director of Communications for the Republic.  Since that day he has been using his knowledge, experience and contacts to further the growth of the Republic.