Gail Stryven is a broad-shouldered half-orc woman with the careful, slightly hunched posture of someone accustomed to living among shelves too narrow for her frame. Her glasses perch at the very end of her nose, constantly threatening to fall whenever she becomes excited. She has a chipped lower tusk, a broad nose dusted with freckles, and long fingers stained with ink, lampblack, and occasionally blood. She moves with a peculiar contradiction: her body is heavy and grounded, but her hands and eyes flicker with the restless precision of a sparrow. Most people remember her as intimidating until she smiles, at which point she looks heartbreakingly young. The unexpected detail is her immaculate collection of tiny, brightly painted fingernails, each one depicting a different moth.