Without the addition of a Y chromosome in the womb, Kassen would have grown up receiving a less comprehensive education, but still apprenticed in her family business, working the shop while her father was out. When the draft was called, her father was called to war, as the family had no suitable sons to serve.

When Dinnlan's defense failed, her city was one of the first to be sacked. The destruction and looting was minimal, as the Beletan soldiers were under strict orders to preserve Dinnlan's infrastructure and skilled labor for its eventual fold into the Sovereignty of Beletam.

With no word from her father, he was presumed dead, and Cassie's mother was wracked with anguish over the loss of her husband and the head of their household. Cassie did her best to take over the family store; struggling, but making enough income to keep her and her mother fed. Behind her polite service to her customers (many of which were Beletan soldiers and settlers), she spitefully cursed the Sovereignty of Beletam for her misfortune.

Her mother died of unknown causes less than a year later, and with the extra funds from having only one mouth to feed, Cassie began secretly stockpiling poisons, made by one of her suppliers who shared her keen hatred of Beletam.

She currently runs a very successful apothecary in her family store, and offers special deals to Beletan soldiers; and lacking a husband, this has made her very popular among the occupational soldiery.

A census study decades years later would note a strange tendency of Beletan soldiers in the area to die of slow-developing, crippling ailments.