Jase Hylas was born to a moderately wealthy family on Leonis. The Hylas Combine was one of the most widespread agricultural empires on the planet and had fingers in co-op and collective farms, as well as various corporate holdings all over the planet. His childhood was very comfortable and he was something of a 'golden boy' to his parents, combining fierce intelligence and musical talent with a very personable manner in a way that allowed him to fairly sail through childhood and adolescence with enviable ease.
College, on the other hand, was another matter. Away from the shelter of the family holdings and the rarefied social circle thereof, Jase became more and more aware that his family, like many other wealthy families and corporations on Leonis were moving away from agriculture and into the business of war. He started to rebel as only the privileged and sheltered can rebel, helping found a group that called themselves 'The Sowers of Peace'.
Being exposed to the counterculture also awakened an interest in drugs in Jase and the education he was pursuing in biochemistry, hoping to grow better and stronger crops, soon developed into the platform from which he could launch his personal investigations into newer and better highs. Two years into his graduate studies, Jase was caught making and pedaling a designer hallucinogen/euphoric and expelled. His family's money kept him out of jail, but it was made clear to him that his activities, both drug and anti-military related, needed to stop if he wanted to stay in the lap of luxury.
Jase chose his ideals over comfort and in his anger at his father, society in general and himself, he lead the Sowers to engage in more and more blatant and illegal acts, including sabotaging ships being built and in one notorious case where he was arrested, but not convicted, for spiking the life support system of a destroyer about to go out for her first cruise with an airborne euphoric, resulting in several minor injuries, a few unplanned pregnancies and the first (and only) Colonial Fleet rave. If an impromptu one.
It was while in detention under suspicion of that crime that Jase that a fellow inmate suggested that Jase take his case to the public as a protest singer. Given that he -really- disliked being in jail (and getting beaten on occasion by some understandably disgruntled military guards), he took the idea to heart, spreading a message of peace and non-violence through music.
He was actually beginning to gather some planetary-level fame when the Cylons launched their suprise attack and just like that, the world was done. Jase survived and fell into habitual and heavy drug use, managing to hide out in the ruins of the university he'd previously attended, using a rough basement lab to brew himself enough drugs to stay in oblivion most of the time. When his safe haven was longer safe, he ended up as one of the refugees at Aquarian Pete's Gentleman's Club, stoned out of his mind with no idea how he'd manage to survive.
For weeks, his fellow refugees assumed that he was silent, withdrawn and occasionally ill and shaking because of mental trauma. In truth, Jase was slowing coming down off the chemical cocktail with which he'd nearly killed himself. As his brain and body chemistry has balanced out, he's become more aware of his surroundings and more and more convinced that this whole 'war' thing is a misunderstanding and mistake. If the military would just try to make peace, humanity might have a chance to survive. But so far, nobody seems willing to explore that idea.
But making people listen to him is what Jase does best. And this is just a really, really tough crowd waiting to won over.