Fortov Kazinski

Fortov Kazinski is the middle Kazinski brother, a year older than Zorian, and six years younger than Daimen^[1]. He's very charismatic and can often be found being pursued by women^[2]. He's characterized as "unable to focus on a task, no matter how critical"^[1] and "plenty smart, just lazy"^[3]. He chose to enroll at Cyoria's Royal Academy of Magical Arts after getting a promise from Daimen that the latter would help him with his studies, but Daimen's budding career, as well as differing expectations in regards to what kind of support, made that impossible^[3]. Instead, his time at the academy was filled with vice and excess as Fortov fell victim to the big-city life^[4]. His father considers him a failed student wasting his time and his parents' money^[5]. He is a reasonably talented violinist, but not a prodigy^[6].

Growing up, Fortov has a generally negative relationship with all of his siblings, partially due to the generally dysfunctional nature of the Kazinski family, though not helped by his own actions, such as burning some of Kirielle's drawings as a "joke"^[7]. He's perceptive enough to notice Zorian's negative opinion of him, and does his best to stay away as a favor to Zorian^[8], though still seeks him out on occasion, such as when he asks Zorian to create an anti-rash potion for Ibery Ambercomb^[9], who he pushes into a patch of purple creeper toward the end of the looping month^[9][10] as she was trying to kiss him and "wouldn't take no for an answer"^[11]. Supposedly, Fortov is so bad at cooking that he can't make vegetable soup without ruining the cookware^[9].