Kazi Tallibast stands 6 feet 5 inches tall, a broad-shouldered leonine veteran whose dark caramel fur has faded to pale gold around the muzzle and forearms. His golden brown eyes are steady and tired, and a clean scar cuts across his left eye without damaging the eye itself. His mane is thick, black at the roots and sun-bleached at the tips, usually bound low with red cord so it does not obscure his vision. He moves with a measured, slightly favoring gait, as though every step is placed on a battlefield map only he can see. Despite his size, he is unnervingly quiet, often appearing beside people without them hearing him approach. The contradiction is that his hands are huge and callused like a laborer's, yet he handles cups, letters, and wounded animals with exquisite gentleness.

Kazi is patient with frightened people and impatient with people who make others frightened for sport. He can be unexpectedly tender toward strangers in distress, yet become cold and formal with friends who ask him to come home. In a fight he is precise, almost serene, but afterward he becomes withdrawn and counts the dead aloud. He dislikes being admired, secretly needs to know he is still useful, and has a dry sense of humor that appears only when he feels safe. His compassion is deliberate rather than effortless, which makes it stronger and more fragile.

Kazi was born in the salt-grass terraces of Tallibast, a Leonin settlement on the western rim of the Island of Whym. His mother repaired fishing nets, while his father served as a ceremonial sword bearer who had never killed anyone. At nineteen, Kazi joined the Whymite Shore Guard after raiders burned three coastal villages. He became known not for shouting or glory seeking, but for walking directly into places where everyone else was retreating. During the Battle of Red Narrows, Kazi's unit was ordered to hold a bridge long enough for civilians to escape. The commander's final order was to abandon the wounded when the bridge began to collapse. Kazi refused. He carried seven soldiers and eleven civilians through falling stone while his closest friend, Osamu Virelo, remained behind to seal the gate. Osamu died buying Kazi the seconds he needed. Kazi emerged with the scar across his eye and a blade recovered from the commander's corpse, a butcher's cleaver style greatsword called Carver. The sword had belonged to the executioner-priests of an older Whymite dynasty. Since Red Narrows, Carver has grown sharper with every life taken, and Kazi has become increasingly afraid that the weapon is not merely feeding on blood, but learning his grief. He now travels between settlements as a protector, escort, and reluctant mediator. He secretly sends much of his pay to the families of the dead, including the family of the commander whose order he disobeyed.