Elwira Iskra

Before the war, Elwira Iskra was the closest thing communist Poland had to a yuppy. She was born to high-ranking party bureaucrats and spent part of her youth living in Kiev after her father was posted to the Polish consulate there. Returning to Poland, she gained a degree in business administration, working for several years for a state electronics company where she gained a reputation as a party loyalist and a ruthless manager. She was trusted enough that she was permitted to make business trips to the USSR, East Germany and even once to Austria. She was eventually given a state scholarship to study computer engineering in Leningrad, and after returning she worked as an associate professor of information technology at the University of Wroclaw. Throughout this time she was a fitness fanatic who worked out constantly and divorced two husbands, one a university sweetheart and another a coworker.

When the war came, many party bureaucrats could not cope, but Elwira's kill-what-you-eat philosophy transferred startlingly well. She fell in with a group of deserters from the 2nd Polish Mechanised divison and soon became their leader. Reorganising them into the Company of the Goat, she has become the leader of a medium-sized Marauder band that operates in central Silesia and terrorises communities on both sides of the Czech-Polish border.

Elwira is motivated largely by desire to have an easy life. She worked hard as a young woman, promising herself she would achieve the same life of ease and privilege her parents did. Even in the much harsher world of post-war Poland this remains her goal, and she has largely achieved it - she has her soldiers to defend her and her camp followers to bring her food and other minor comforts. She also has a surprising fondness for romantic affection, although she doesn't believe in soulmates. She has had intense affairs with three of her soldiers and although she broke each one off, they don't think poorly of her. She could be a powerful leader but ultimately she lacks ambition to try even medium-scale conquest, although she would be a very effective underling to a more ambitious Marauder leader.

Elwira is a tall woman with classically attractive facial features, although her skin is scarred with blemishes and acne due to the lack of skincare products that she previously relied on. Despite her non-military background she dresses in a Polish urban camouflage uniform and wears an American battle helmet. She usually wears aviator glasses and likes to smoke cigars, especially when going into combat. She has a deep but feminine voice, honey blonde hair and light blue eyes. She speaks fluent Russian with a slight Ukrainian accent, a legacy of her childhood in Kiev. Elwira likes to drive, particularly military vehicles, and can often be found at the wheel of one of the Company's two BMP-1s. She also has a great fondness for dogs and enjoys playing with the guard dogs that her Company takes with them into battle.