Byzantine aristocrats, who had lost their Thracian, Thessalian or Peloponnesian estates, came to Nicaea and Theodore gave asylum to them. He could only finance a simplified state administration, but he invited former high-ranking Byzantine officials to Nicaea. His wife's uncle, the blind Basil Doukas Kamaterosa former "logothetes tou dromou" (minister of foreign affairs)assisted him in setting up the new administrative system. He hired a Calabrian pirate, John Steiriones, to command his fleet in the Sea of Marmara. Theodore had great confidence in his brothers. He made them military commanders and rewarded them with court titles.