Little can be divined about Insa Nessarose, in part due to her reluctance to use Common and in part due to her aggressive, protective nature.  Insa was born in the deepest jungles of Risa, living in an area of the Treetop Village fueled by aggressive clan warfare between rivaling families, feuding until the end of the Risan civil war.  When Insa was nine years old, her family's rival clan, the Grania family, slaughtered the entire Nessarose family, her father, his two wives, her three brothers, and two sisters.  Insa alone survived the attack in hiding.  She was later found by her father's best friend, Lijah, the chief of the Ross family and she was taken to be raised by his wives.  Insa's rage toward the Grania was inconsolable and turned into an obsession when Lijah's eldest son, Donalbain, Insa's betrothed fiance, was taken by the Grania chief.  For years, she fought against them, slaughtering any Grania she happened to encounter.  When she was nineteen, however, her rage inexplicably stopped and she joined the Risan military as a hoplite warrior.  Slavers carried Insa away from Risa and it was as a gift from an eccentric, wealthy patron of the Phoenix House that she arrived in Shaldani.  Insa is fiercely loyal to her roots, showing little tolerance for mainland traditions and even less for Risans who conform to them.  She has great skill in manipulating rock, bone, and wood, able to build anything from weapons to cookware.  Despite her distaste for all things mainland, Insa recognizes the good work of the Phoenix Fighters and offers her abilities to them.