Yannik is tall for his apparent age, handsome in a severe, still-growing way, with a straight back and a face that seems to be holding a thought at arm's length. His short, pale blond hair is combed into precise lines; damp weather makes it spring up at the crown. Vivid blue-grey eyes study doorways and ground as readily as faces. He moves with the economical, drilled steps of an infantryman, then stops abruptly when he catches an echo nobody else can hear. He smells distinctly of beer, saddle soap, and rain-dark wool, and does not realize how strongly the beer clings to him. His wool coat is carefully brushed but badly fitted at the shoulders, altered more than once by someone trying to make it last. The one immaculate item is a small wooden horse, polished smooth from constant handling, hidden in his breast pocket.

Yannik is exacting about practice but unexpectedly indulgent toward animals; he can lecture a companion over a missed drill and then spend an hour coaxing a nervous dog to eat. He is handsome and self-possessed at first glance, yet his focus slips toward the past whenever the ground seems to murmur. Around Alfred he becomes prickly and competitive, while a good beer or a familiar routine makes him warmer and almost boyish. He wants to improve himself, but can mistake relentless self-correction for virtue.

Yannik says he was raised by an older brother, but cannot remember the man's face and resents being told what that childhood must have been. He has collected names for himself over the years; Ludwig is the one he uses most when he wants to sound certain. He remembers a formative night from his revival only as pressure, darkness, and the distant uproar of many lives ending. Unknown to him, Gerhard, a black-haired, blue-eyed figure he still searches for, brought him back through cruel magic fed by the deaths of Germanic tribes and nations Vesperkin had judged unfit to lead or work beside him. Yannik was later shaped by an infantry contract and an unforgiving training routine. A breach in a stone road during a march taught him that the earth sometimes carried voices: since then, he has heard muffled, unplaceable sounds beneath his feet, especially when exhausted. He completed his contract and is now restless, seeking work and adventure without knowing what could replace the regiment's structure. His brothers include Willem, Matthias, and Emil, whom he calls brothers whether or not they accept the name. He also resents Soren, Berwald, and Arthur, whom he does not consider brothers and expects to follow the customs he knows. Alfred, a western Placeborn tied to the thirteen American colonies, is a cousin and a reliable source of irritation; despite their arguments, they seek each other's company to keep their spirits steady. Yannik has no clear answer for why the people around him keep changing while he remains sixteen.