Zosia, otherwise known as Cobalt Zosia, leader of the Seven Villains, is the central character from Alex Marshall's A Crown for Cold Silver.
Legendary warlord, hero of the people, and summoner of demons, Cobalt Zosia faked her own death and walked away from the Crimson Throne after finally learning there was no reforming the corrupt theocratic empire she'd fought her way to the top of. Accompanied by her favorite courtesan Lieb and the demon hound Choplicker, they settled down for a quiet life in the mountains. A life that was thoroughly destroyed by troops of that very same empire when they decided to make an example of her village, unaware that the grizzled mayor's wife was really their former empress and one of the most feared warriors in all of the Star.
Turning her grief into vengeance, Zosia sets about reuniting her Villains and rebuilding their armies, vowing to finish what she walked away from all those years ago. To crush the Empire and its church and then finish off all those involved in the murder of her husband and people as well. A hard woman whose instincts towards justice fight with the jaded selfishness of a reformer who saw all of her work come to nothing, Zosia is a complex, deeply flawed character in a way women are rarely allowed to be.