Carissa is a tall woman with wide shoulders.  Her hair is a mass of brown and black dreadlocks and braids, ringed with iron and silver ringlets, and often held back from her face with a simple leather band.  Her skin is a cinnamon hue, her storm-grey eyes having a slight fold to the edges that speak of her origins in Tia Xian.

Her small nose has a bump where it has been broken, probably more than once, and over each brow are three, widely spaced tattooed dots.  Her clothing speaks of an origin from a distant land, as does the pair of slightly curved swords at her waist