Karou has been with Lysander for a long time, and it shows: The regal raptor has a scar crossing his left eye, twin to the one that runs under his master's eye patch, although the hawk was lucky enough to keep his vision. A few other small scars and other old tokens of battle can be picked out here and there on the noble bird's wings, legs, and cruelly hooked beak.

The familiar is a glossy, brilliant bronze color, like a dragon's metallic scales, and constantly preens and grooms himself when not in flight or on active watch. His underside is a much lighter ivory, speckled with coppery feathers. Karou is also an enormous bird, having grown far beyond the size of a typical hawk or falcon and now standing nearly waist-high on an average human man, with a wingspan wider than his master is tall.

With his upright bearing and disconcertingly intelligent gaze, the hawk gives off the strange impression of avian military discipline. It's easy to get the feeling that he wants to click his spurs together whenever addressed by name—perhaps a remnant of the fact that he actually held rank in the Goblin Wars, functioning as a Private Arcane by special appointment in the Cormyrian Special Forces.