First appearance: Book 1 - Dungeon Crawler Carl · Race: Kua-tin
Who is Zev?
Zev is a kua-tin working in the PR department of the Borant Corporation -- the alien company that runs Dungeon Crawler World. She's assigned to Carl and Donut after they start gaining popularity, responsible for managing interview requests, sponsor relationships, and their public image.
She arrives on Floor 2 as a fish-like creature in an astronaut outfit and immediately has to deal with the fact that her clients are a man in his underwear and a cat who just learned to talk and has already renamed the party after herself. Zev's job would be difficult under the best circumstances. These are not the best circumstances.
There is a lot of pressure on Zev from the Borant Corporation to monetize Carl and Donut's popularity. The company needs money. The dungeon is expensive to operate. Carl and Donut are the most-watched crawlers in the season. Zev is caught between corporate demands and the reality that her clients are deeply unpredictable.
For spoilers about Zev's arc, visit the spoiler zones.
Zev: questions readers ask
What happens to Zev later in the series?
In Dungeon Crawler Carl, Zev is Carl and Donut's PR agent from late in Book 1, the kua-tin Outreach Associate the Borant Corporation assigns to handle their flood of interview requests. Where her story goes after that is a later-book spoiler, so this page keeps it out.
She arrives on the Second Floor, which is covered in the Floor 2 guide.
Why are Donut and Zev so close?
In Dungeon Crawler Carl, Donut and Zev bond over scripted Earth television. Zev spent fifteen years in Earth's orbit with nothing to watch but Earth programs and loves Gossip Girl and Riverdale, which makes her Donut's ideal audience. From Book 1 the two chat constantly, and in Book 2 they plan an intergalactic Gossip Girl to write together once Donut is out.
Donut's side of the story starts on her page.
What does Zev look like?
In Dungeon Crawler Carl, Zev is a kua-tin, a small fish-like humanoid about two feet tall who barely reaches Carl's knee. On her first floors in the dungeon she wears what looks like a 1950s science-fiction astronaut suit: a round glass helmet of bubbling water, tubes to a bulky backpack and a white mesh body suit.
The suit is caution: it is her first time in a dungeon, and Mordecai notes most kua-tin make do with a rebreather around the neck. She also wears a badge saying she is not a member of the Bloom, the party that runs her home system. Her race is explained in the glossary.
When does Zev first appear in Dungeon Crawler Carl?
In Dungeon Crawler Carl, Zev first appears in Book 1, chapter 36, on the Second Floor. After Carl and Donut's first interview on Odette's show, Borant assigns her as their Outreach Associate, a PR agent for the flood of interview requests.
She arrives the way kua-tin admins do, with a pop and a small splash of cold water. Within a few chapters she breaks the rules to warn Carl to run for a safe room, and is suspended for it. That floor is in the Floor 2 guide.
What is a kua-tin in Dungeon Crawler Carl?
In Dungeon Crawler Carl, the kua-tin are a race of small, water-breathing humanoid fish. They are the dominant species of the Borant System and the principal owners of the Borant Corporation, which produces Earth's season of Dungeon Crawler World and staffs it with kua-tin admins such as Zev.
They cannot breathe air unaided, so outside water they wear a rebreather or a water suit. The huge fish-demon carvings on the dungeon's doors are kua-tin, drawn far larger than life. The company is explained in the glossary.
Key relationships
Carl
Zev is responsible for managing Carl and Donut's public image. Carl's public image is a barefoot man in heart-print boxers who blows things up. Zev is doing her best.
ColleagueMordecai
They serve different masters with overlapping jurisdictions. It's corporate politics, but in a death dungeon.
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