Stephen is a man loyal to his ideals and to broad concepts such as the country or the people. He is dedicated to improving the scientific community’s understanding of the way the world operates as surely as he is to benefiting the countries he has aligned himself with over the years.

When it comes to these grand scheme convictions, little can budge Stephen from his chosen paths. He has made his lines in the sand and come to peace with the awareness it will doubtless cost him his life one day. What is a little more mercurial is his loyalty to people in a more direct sense.  

Stephen has lost everyone related to him. He has also lost what he believed to be the love of his life. For these reasons, he has issues committing himself too closely to others, for he is all too keenly aware of the lack of permanence such attachments provide.

Marriage, to him, is more like a binding contract than a commitment of loyalty – it guarantees certain amenities for both parties and is the social expectation of the era. For this reason, he generally does not hesitate to offer marriage to women of interest. He holds no loyalty or devotion to them, so much as an awareness that their company is tolerable enough to do the ‘done thing’ as it were. Needless to say, his rather unfortunate personality quirks and at times clear lack of passion tend to have these offers spurned swiftly, but he makes them all the same as he does recognize a wife would make matters simpler when it comes to sleeping during times ashore.

Though it would be like pulling teeth from a rabid bear to get him to own it in any spectacular or notable fashion, Stephen has committed himself in ferocious spirit to Jack Aubrey, and the men ( and boys ) of the Surprise.This is remarkable as it means he will stop at nothing under his power to ascertain their survival and wellbeing. This includes but is hardly limited to:

• Alleviating their debts on the sly  
• Manipulating the admiralty in their favor
  
• Making independant note of their creature comforts
  
• Providing said comforts when they are ill or injured
• Deceiving their rivals into abandoning disputes
• Killing outright those who would or have harmed them

And just straight up purchasing the Surprise so they can continue sailing together, through the use of both his fortune and his spyhatting connections to excuse the expenditure. To name but a few things. Stephen’s commitment and willingness to go above and beyond for those whom he considers himself loyal is very much part of the reason he does endeavour to avoid making such commitments in the first place.