Lorenzo Rossini

Lorenzo Rossini is the patriarch of House Rossini, a powerful sorcerer determined to turn a minor name into one of the great magical families of Cerberus. He produces potions, enchants objects, and treats every relationship as a market, a weapon, or an audience.

In his true body, Lorenzo is past fifty, of medium height, with small quick brown eyes and a thinning crown of gray hair around a bald head. He is calculating until contradicted. Then impatience becomes contempt, threats, and violence. His pride leaves little room for merchants, commoners, provincial lords, dwarves, or even the members of his own family.

Lorenzo enrolled at the Academy under the identity of his eldest son, Ferdinand. Two enchanted bracelets exchanged their appearances: Lorenzo wore the body of a tall, handsome young man, while Ferdinand wore his father's face and conducted House business. An illusion woven into the bracelet concealed the transformation from ordinary divination.

The deception was designed to make House Rossini the spectacle of the Academy Joust. Under Ferdinand's name, Lorenzo appeared to be an impossibly gifted fourth-class apprentice, competed beside Charlie Stoneheart, and used magic far beyond what his supposed age should have permitted. He paralyzed and beat Vidock after a staged theft, then later tried to use magically created tigers to eliminate Perennus Albion's apprentices during the tournament. Charlie broke his control and ordered him away.

Lorenzo respects power more readily than morality. He abandoned a planned revenge against Aurelius Alidel after hearing that Aldor had burned a provincial court, because the violence convinced him that the Alidel blood could produce someone worthy of respect.