Character from Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
A two-foot-tall fish alien navigating corporate politics to keep her clients alive — a pragmatic producer who bonds with Donut over Gossip Girl and risks everything through coded subversion.
Zev operates on the principle that 'the better you do, the longer you survive, the better I do' — which sounds mercenary until you realize she's one of the few aliens who actually means the first part. She's an Assistant Communication Representative for Borant Corporation, which is corporate-speak for 'the person who coordinates your TV appearances while your species is being exterminated.' She and Donut bonded over Earth television, especially Gossip Girl, and plan future creative collaborations with the earnest enthusiasm of two entertainment industry professionals who happen to be different species. With Carl she's more cautious — strategically providing information within her constraints while monitoring his increasingly controversial actions. Her arc from enthusiastic advocate to coerced operative to coded subversive is the show's quietest tragedy. After political re-education by the Bloom party, she reveals her continued loyalty through encrypted communication and critical assistance, risking her career and life for clients she was supposed to view as content.
Two feet tall with dull-sheened scales and aquatic features. Wears full-body protective gear when entering the dungeon's lower floors: a round glass helmet filled with circulating water connected to a backpack, paired with a white mesh bodysuit. Required to wear a badge identifying her as a non-member of the Bloom political party. Smells faintly of whitefish.
Also known as: Zev, Assistant Communication Representative Zev