Newb Q: Pretender options for Machaka?

[Diehard]

After a few warm-up games, I've really enjoyed playing these jungle warriors. However, I haven't quite figured out what pretender chassis works best with them.

I've been using the Desert Sun option with the following scales: order 1-3, heat 2, misfortune 1, magic 1. My main armies have been big hoplite/archer Groups backed up by sorcerors, black sorcerors and voices of the lord.

It seems like a multi-path human pretender (e.g. archmage) might build on the strength of the Machakan mages quite nicely, but then again, choosing a pretender with different strengths (e.g. Wyrm) might be a better combination. All other things being equal, I'd prefer to have a big, nasty monster ruling the jungle tribes... somehow that just seems right.

Any input you can provide would be greatly appreciated.