Character Dossier: Jacen Kastareon

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Jacen Kastareon is the commander of the permanently-stationed Pioneers forces on the island of Kastareia, the only son of Lady Jina Kastareon, and the former heir to House Kastareon. A tempered man with no political ambitions of note, he was removed from the house succession after his younger sister's Oath of Citizenship. He has spent his time ranging the island of Kastareia in his capacity as the commander of Kastareia's Frontier Force, the permanent detachment of Expeditionary Forces and Elyreian Pioneers that have been settling the island of Kastareia and making the wild forests more tame for his people.

Personal Life
Jacen was born as the first son of Lady Jina Kastareon and husband Major Sorven Tartigar. The famously fiery red hair of the Tartigar lineage came out in spades in the young Jacen, and his temperamental childhood made many believe his fiery spirits was going to be one to contend with growing up. As House Kastareon were still relatively new and being established on the island of their namesake, Jacen was instead tutored by House Vaelans in New Volaria. While he was too young to be a peer with the future Princess Kaerys II, Jacen grew up to be good friends with the young boys Koren and Korus Vaelans, who were much closer to his age.

Jacen and Koren in particular became inseparable friends, and Jacen would often go with the boys to Vaelanstone for holiday or vacation. When some children began to make fun of the more diminutive Korus for their more introverted lifestyle and love of music and arts, Jacen was always the first to the young boy's defense. Jacen's rambunctious personality was always a driving force in their antic, and he often pushed to include Korus in their shenanigans.

When he became a teenager, Jacen returned to be schooled in Fort Kaerys full time, though he kept correspondence with the Vaelans boys throughout schooling. During his service in the Youth Pioneers, a terrible storm struck the islands and devastated remote communities in Kastareia. Public records do not indicate what Jacen saw during rescue and recovery efforts, but he came back a humbled young man, and immediately re-enlisted to the Pioneers full time upon his Oath of Citizenship.

Disinheritance and Distinguishment
Jacen dedicated themselves to the Pioneers, and after many discussions with family and friends, requested that he be removed from the House Kastareon line of succession in favor of his younger sister, Jina. The request was eventually granted, generating rumors and casting suspicion and doubt on the young man in many noble circles. Free to pursue his own path in life, Jacen fully dedicated himself to the Pioneers, and steadily climbed the ranks through hard work and distinguished acts.

Owing to the small size of the permanent Pioneer presence in Kastareia and his position as the eldest of the Kastareon children, Jacen was eventually given responsibilities in the Pioneers themselves when Lady Jina created the Kastareon Frontier Force, which would act as a local command structure for military and paramilitary forces on the island. He has taken to his duties with a somber seriousness, and under his guidance infrastructure projects have been completed in record time granting utility and service access across the island by ground transport. While Kastareia's forces are small in number, the large area they must cover with their smaller numbers means they are some of the most motorized and mechanized groups in Elyreia outside of the military itself.