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PA'U ZOTOH ZHAAN: PRIESTESS, HEALER, MOTHER

The blue-skinned Delvian is a creature of many talents and many facets, much greater than the sum of her parts.

Born of an ancient race of evolved vegetables, she is an extraordinary creature of grace and beauty: she is the spiritual center of the Moyan crew, the safe port in a storm, the one who strives for balance and wisdom in the contrasting maelstrom of diverging needs and drive of the people living aboard the Leviathan. Without her, the crew of Moya would lack part of its soul, the bonding energy that ties them as a family. Hers is the voice of reason, the cool water over stinging hurts, the comfort for the pain of a harsh life.

Her grace and her strength are opposing and complementary elements that define a complex and mysterious personality.

This for her "good" side, of course. Zhaan is far from perfect, like all living beings, and the spiritual light that she sheds can only be appreciated when her shadows are also taken into account. Not to demean her, but to see her in the three-dimensional relief she deserves.

Zhaan's long life - she is 800 cycles old - has known both joy and sorrow, virtue and sin: when the Peacekeepers took control of her home planet, Delvia, through the connivance of the Delvian ruler Bitaal, Zhaan's teacher and lover, she rebelled against the trampling of her people's rights and killed Bitaal to help free them. During her long incarceration in Peacekeeper custody was she able to atone for her sin, and regain her spiritual balance through the Seek, a quest for atonement and self enlightenment.

The Priestess:

Zhaan takes her spiritual quest very seriously, showing that it's a life-long work that requires a continued dedication and long meditation, sometimes with the help of peculiar "singing" crystals, and goes through many stages of evolution called "levels". When we meet her, Zhaan is a Ninth Level Pa'u, capable of achieving a serene equilibrium that reflects in her dealings with others and in the way she looks at things. It's not a perfect state, though: the pursuit of the Seek can also be a dangerous road if taken too quickly and without some sort of safeguards.
As we see when the Moyans encounter the exiles on the New Moon of Delvia, a colony of refugees from their troubled world, a misguided quest for enlightenment can lead to madness and even murder. The colony's leader Taleen asks Zhaan for help through Unity, the special mind-meld that Delvian Pa'us employ to share consciousness, and in her greedy treachery passes on her own red-eyed madness to her. Only through the help of John Crichton Zhaan is able to confine such madness in the deepest recesses of her soul, hoping that she will be able to reclaim the wisdom she attained with many sacrifices.

MEDITATION

THE SEEK AND THE MADNESS

UNITY

The Healer:

Zhaan is quite knowledgeable in herbal lore - and it's somewhat peculiar, considering she is a plant herself - and this way she can take good care of the crew's well-being, while at the same time she can employ her knowledge to advance their understanding of the creatures they encounter. Moya's "infirmary" is the place where she stores all her compounds and extracts, and where she conducts any experiment that is required to inquire on the nature of the many strange phenomena the crew encounters in the Uncharted Territories.
For example she is the one to whom is remanded the analysis of the insect-like beings that seem to infest Moya and are then revealed to be a space-faring hive in need of a warm place to spawn the new generation. When some member of the Moyan family is hurt or ill, it's to Zhaan that they go, certain that among the vast array of medicaments there will be the right ingredient that will make them feel better. But not only that...
At need, Zhaan can concoct substances to be used against an enemy, like the explosive Lutra oil with which our heroes will destroy Scorpius' Gammak base, or the Sleep Mist that should help subdue D'Argo when he dons the Tavleks' power gauntlet and goes on a rampage. And even stalwart ex Peacekeepers go to her in search of perfumed oil for their hair...

ANALYSIS

MEDICAMENTS

CARE

The Mother:

The maternal component in Zhaan's personality is quite strong: she is the one many run to for solace and wisdom, and her words, soft as they are, leave profound imprints in the listener's mind. Even when she seems to be scolding, she's imparting sound advice: Rygel is the most frequent recipient of her "sermons", as when she urges him to confront his inner demons by boarding the Zelbinion and facing Durka's corpse, or again when she asks him to be worthy of his ancestors' past in showing his diplomatic skills in negotiation with the Drak's Queen Mother.
Zhaan's nurturing instincts come to the fore when Moya needs relief from pain, while the crew tries to remove a Peacekeeper beacon implanted on her neural fibers, and she does so with total selfishness despite being aware of the terrible amount of pain she will share with the Leviathan. She is also a powerful mother figure for Chiana, winning with time and patience the young fugitive's misgivings and becoming an important point of reference, and love.
It's through her extreme sacrifices that her mothering nature comes to the fore: first when, through Unity, she transfers her energy in Aeryn, bringing her back to life, and then when she chooses to remain on the doomed Pathfinder ship to help in freeing Moya. The mother who sacrifices herself so her children can live.

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