Jane, I’ve created a summary of the reserve’s observations of Zilla.  The short version is simply this, she is probably very smart, and we shouldn’t underestimate her just because she is a new worlder.

We first heard of Zilla as the commander of the Pantheon’s forces when we spent time in Legion’s fort.  It says something, in itself, that her name never came up during our time in the Union embassy.  Many warlords would have used her position in order to set their name ringing out across the world, but Zilla has apparently refrained.

It wasn’t immediately entirely clear how much of this dormancy was her own doing, versus the orders of her distant masters in the Ruling Council.  But Death’s attack, and the total lack of coordination with Legion that it displayed, makes us believe that Zilla has likely been the shot caller across the war zone for some time now.

If so, then her low profile is indeed a matter of choice.  This points to an unusual temperament for a Goddess of the Pantheon, and is reinforced by the fact that what reputation she has seems to be entirely fictional.

She allows the inhabitants of Legion’s fortress, and members of passing Hosts, to believe that she is the colossus which stands in the midst of the central fort.  She puts considerable effort into maintaining this fiction, using the giant form to give audiences and bless the departing soldiers.

We conclude, then, that she is a being who places a great deal of importance on controlling other’s impressions of her, one who holds her cards close to her chest.  This is remarkable, given that it is likely that she has no schooling, and that the cultural mores around her would encourage almost exactly the opposite behavior.

Preventer’s testimony, and a number of other observations that we’ve made, indicates that her gift isn’t one which grants incredible combat efficiency.  Not to disparage form changing, of course, but it wouldn’t have been surprising if the Pantheon’s front line commander was someone along the lines of Subtracter, or Pursuer.

Absent an extra gift that hasn’t yet been made apparent, it doesn’t seem as though Zilla is strong enough to maintain her rule by force.  Instead, we believe that she has persisted in this role by virtue of cunning, native political sense and the opportunities that her gift undoubtedly affords her for information gathering.

We are not going to be traveling alongside a warrior chieftain, but instead a cunning intriguer.  We must remain alert for complications, and hope that Predictor’s gift is adequate to manage them.  It is still unknown how he was able to sway her to abandon her place of power and work alongside us, but whatever he promised her, you can bet she will do her best to collect.