Jerzac (Jay) was the son of a merchant. His father made a decent living and the family was comfortable. He's the oldest of four children, having two sisters and a brother. His mother would take care of the home and help his father with the book-keeping end of the trade business, balancing logs and keeping an ear out for lucrative trade routes.
He had a high amount of respect for his parents and would often accompany his father on business dealings, to groom him to take on the family business when he got old enough. There were times where his father's shipments would be targeted by vandals and even pirates. Jerzac was there during some of those encounters. They caused him a lot of fear, but as he got older that turned into anger, both at those preying on his family, but also at his father. His father was a stoic man, considered himself to be a pacifist. He would carry a small side-arm, but wouldn't venture into using it or trying to use violence or pay for security to protect their business. He'd say "It just isn't worth it son. We need to focus on keeping ourselves safe and healthy, nevermind trivial things like possessions. And besides, the Guild has good policies to cover us in these circumstances". Jerzac never came to accept with the way his father handled this.
Then came his last trip with his father. Jerzac was about 15, they had been contracted to move a small-time politicians property from his old residence to a new home. They also had a stock of medical supplies they needed to deliver to the same system so it made sense, two birds, one stone. But during the trip they were boarded by pirates. They killed his father, stole the cargo, stripped the ship and took Jerzac. They weren't just pirates, but also dabbled in slave trade.
While captured Jerzac met Rice Laga. The two realized the danger they were in and worked together to figure out a plan to save themselves. Along with a few other prisoners they managed to break free of their cells, kill the crew (losing some of their comrades in the process) and took over the ship. From there they decided to start new lives, and became smugglers.
Business was good. Jerzac had a knack for it, growing up learning from his father he understood how to be a salesman, and through his own experiences learned to think on his feet, and when that wasn't enough he's a smooth talker. In the worst cases a few greased palms always helps. After starting to see some real success they started getting bids for some seriously lucrative jobs, which tend to be exponentially more dangerous. As time went on they began to butt heads on who really was in charge. Eventually a run went south for Jerzac, Rice had double-crossed him. Rice planned to kill Jerzac at the drop and take control of the crew. Jerzac barely escaped with his life.
Since that day Jerzac has been scraping by, trying to get back into the business. He's always regretted not returning to his family, but is afraid of what they would think of who he's become. He dreams to finally hit the "big score" and be able to return to his family retired, with worry free finances, and to care for them as his father had.