Kivander's pelt of unkempt dark fur is charcoal-colored with an almost bluish tinge under most lighting; it is short and verges on scraggly with the exception of a mane of long, bladed guard-hairs. This coloring is uniform across his body except for a blotch of greyish-white which covers his right eye and travels along his temple and ends part of the way up his ear. Though he is neither the largest nor the brawniest wolf, he has a whip-like muscular leanness that lends well to long-distance endurance and short, violent bursts of energy. He is quintessentially angular — everything about him is lines and corners. His eyes are a bright, proud gold.

Capricious, asynchronous, tenacious, adaptable, mistrusting, derisive. Adherent to principles, but follows an internal code which ultimately only benefits him.

Kivander and his siblings were born of a tumultuous (and admittedly toxic) affair between his mother, Pyrrh, and a male wolf from outside the pack whose name she never told her children. In order to guarantee Tartok a future generation of poisoners, this affair had been sanctioned by Siku, though the relationship did not last long after Pyrrh became pregnant. Pyrrh did not naturally have the milk of mother's kindness — she was a harsh, distant parent who provided for her children but could not connect with them emotionally. While her daughter Harrow took to her teachings well, her sons Oleander and Kivander learned but were not convinced to similarly walk in their mother's footsteps. When both Anneriwok of Tartok, the two brothers mutually decided to leave in search of a new and different life. There is no return for them; after telling their mother of their decision, she told them that they were no longer sons of hers. Upon leaving, the two brothers took on the family name Phase, which they had learned that their mother had abandoned years ago, and set off on their own.