Zlan is the supreme creator of Dan and Gio cosmology, the maker of the universe and of every living creature. Sources record the name in several dialectal forms, including Zan, Zra and Xra. Zlan fashioned the world and imparts to each person and animal its soul (du) at birth, yet is held to be distant and unreachable: no worshipper may see or approach the creator directly. Communication instead passes through zu, the immanent holy spirit that emanates from Zlan and is reached in dreams, divination and masquerade. Dan tradition also credits Zlan with giving humankind the mask (ge), the instrument by which the invisible spirits of the forest are made present and controllable within the ordered world of the village.