Ilsa Raisch

[Asta]

Personality and appearance
Age: 30
Height: 5'10"
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue

Ilsa is a strong silent type, preferring to let the more eloquently spoken do what they do best. However, when the time comes for it she can give someone a piece of her mind. In a nutshell she values an individual's actions more than their words, and will judge others accordingly on this principle. Because of her military background she tends to stand upright. Coupled with her unusual height she stands out in a crowd of other humans.

Ilsa thinks in an analytical fashion, this was fostered by her "apprenticeship" in the workshop of Herr Bodmer and the training she received in the Swiss military. Often she will address a given situation in a more "tactical" or "mechanical" way, which leads her to speak bluntly; a trait some may consider abrasive.

She is also a habit smoker, though somewhat considered a disgusting habit by Victorian standards she doesn't seem to mind the stigma of being a female smoker. She has a habit of keeping her cigarette cupped behind her hand when not taking a drag, so as its ember isn't visible to others.


Bio:

The daughter of a middle class Swiss German family, Ilsa spent her early years living in Zurich in comparative comfort. Her father was a banker, and provided a decent life for his family. As a child she spent several years under the semi tutelage of Johann Bodmer, a gnome inventor and mechanical engineer, where she picked up a handiness with machines and a limited understanding of engineering.

At the age of twenty she joined the Swiss Army, her rank of Corporal was bought considering her social class. The next year, 1847, the Sonderbund War broke out in Switzerland and she saw real combat for the first time, fighting for the Swiss Confederation.

Though the civil war was brief Ilsa saw a quite a few people die, most prominently a friend in her regiment, Klaus Weiss, was decapitated by cannon fire. The sight was particularly horrific, and as a coping mechanism she still speaks to Klaus as if he was hanging around like a ghost. Toward the end of the war, she took a glancing blow to the face from a cavalry saber which developed into a prominent scar running horizontally across her nose and cheeks. After the end of the war, she received a promotion via merit to Wachtmeister (Sergeant).

Currently Ilsa is on leave, touring Europe, her present locale is London.