Jaren represents the darker side of the Meridian Academy's relentless pursuit of efficiency. Once a bright-eyed optimist from the western agricultural collectives, Jaren is now a frayed wire of a young man, vibrating with anxious energy. He serves as the primary aide to Professor Lystra Kaine, a position that requires him to audit the mana-expenditure of hundreds of underclassmen daily. To cope with the crushing workload and Kaine’s impossible demands for 'zero-variable waste,' Jaren has turned to chemical assistance.
A good friend to the newly appointed TA to Professor Etta Thorn (now retiring).
Height: 5'9" (175 cm)
Weight: 140 lbs (63 kg)
Eyes: Hazel (frequently bloodshot and dilated)
Hair: Disheveled, oily dark brown hair often pushed back with ink-stained fingers.
Jaren wears the standard grey utilitarian tunic of a Meridian scholar, though his is perpetually wrinkled and stained with splashes of silver nitrate and correction fluid. He wears thick, brass-rimmed spectator goggles around his neck, even when not in the courtyards. His hands differ from the typical soft hands of a scholar; his fingertips are calloused from gripping copper foci and quills for hours on end, and he has a noticeable tremor in his left hand when he hasn't had a dose of his elixir in the last four hours. He smells faintly of ozone, old parchment, and the bitter, metallic scent of alchemical stimulants.