Phansigar is a foreigner from the east, most likely a Sogdian brought by the silk road to Byzantium. He is a handsome man, with olive skin, Persian features and black hair and brown eyes. He dresses in loose fitting clothes gathered and tied at the wrists and boot tops with a silk sash around the waist, in a manner common to many sailors from the east, all of which is dark colored in mostly black and dark blues. He is usually wearing chain armor when in port.

His clothing and equipment is eastern style, a scimitar with a hand-guard and large round pommel, a curved horn handled dagger and a composite short bow are evident, as well as a war hammer with a longer pick than usual.