Esoterica

gnoll, female (cleric, general, war hero) normal: sounds like a man talking like a yakuza, seems to belittle the hero and mockingly call him princess - as it turns out, "princess" is how she translates a standard term of respect for gnolls (since they're matriarchal) - just as he thinks she seems like a man at first, she has trouble seeing him as anything other than a fresh-faced young woman (when in fact he's a fresh-faced young man) humanized: calm MILF that talks politely and intelligently about strategy, is very sympathetic and motherly - gnoll would also like to actually act more like this, and puts on a little bit of an act for the other gnolls to be an encouraging leader they can look up to - once he sees her like this, the hero realizes that her apparent insults and threats were just her way of being an encouraging parental figure he could confide in - even though she tries to be more of a maternal figure to him, he has the hots for her

dryad, female (champion, guardian) normal: cool, mysterious green elf maiden with long pink hair, butterfly wings and black insectoid eyes (evokes the way Tezuka and Cyborg 009's creator sometimes drew women with solid, shiny black eyes) - has wings and eyes because of the caterpillars that nest in her tree's branches; is incredibly strong because she can tap into the weight and strength of her tree, despite looking like a waif - speaks like a cultured princess humanized: more orc/gobliny bruiser type, very buff, though still has wings; has a face like a Titmouse female character, e.g. the washed-up star in Ballmastrz: 9009 - talks in a very rude, slangy way; other dryads always speak in haiku-like metaphors, so her direct speech feels this way to them - since she looks so human begin with, the magic doesn't alter her much, so her green skin and sharp teeth make her look less human than the others this way - apart from style (scruffy, puffy 80s hair instead of long, neat locks; tattered Tinkerbell dress instead of elf gown) and buffness, the only major way she's different is having wide, crazy eyes with tiny pupils instead of insectoid black eyes

naga, male (accomplished wizard) regular: big, scary, buff anthro snake guy, lower body is completely snake; face doesn't emote, speaks only in short, terse sentences, hisses constantly - is actually about half the size of most nagas - early on they see a pillar sculpted in the shape of a naga, and he sheepishly has to explain to the hero that that's how big nagas normally are - keeps a fanny pack with his spell components and a magical heating rock for regulating his body temperature in it - race is known for being highly religious, devoted to their goddess; the reason for this is their species doesn't normally have childcare, so instead every naga is raised by a manifestation of their goddess directly, though their connection to her fades to almost nothing by adulthood humanized: little scrawny guy with long black hair that covers half his face; kind of evokes the main character of WataMote, only genderswapped and with flat hair more like Sadako - whiny, scared nerd; kind of evokes Kobeni, but without the badassery to compensate, apart from being a talented wizard - the human hero was scared of him but also thought he was really cool before; now, pretty underwhelmed by him but still grows to like him as a friend - he gets bullied by the dryad, and before the magic vision kicks in the hero thinks there's serious racial tension between them; it turns out it's just kind of playful bullying, though, and they're each relieved to have a member of a familiar race there - though the naga is big and burly next to the dryad in reality (but she's still super-strong and can easily physically overpower him), he's a little skinny guy next to the more orc-like humanized version of her - the hero thought he was intensely religious at first, always invoking the blessing of his goddess; after the sight kicks in, he realizes the naga is just always crying for mommy - the hero thought the naga was cold for usually hissing in his own language and refusing to translate for him; turns out it's because he's just mumbling to himself constantly, and it's usually pretty lame and embarrassing stuff - the hero can also use the magic vision to look back on memories; he realizes that at one point he commented on how the naga didn't talk much and he had trouble understanding him (very hissy voice, of course); he realizes then that when he was hissing to himself, the naga was bragging to himself about how he's at least confident in his ability to speak the common language, which is very difficult for nagas with their snake-like mouths; the hero saying that actually crushed him

nurikabe, male (not especially esteemed among his race, but they're now a very scattered diaspora, and he is known for being a deadly assassin by the other races) regular: to the hero he just seems like a big, cute, fluffy mascot kind of design that's lazy and flops over on him constantly to snooze - in this POV, the hero can't understand what he's saying it all, it just seems like cute animal noises that only the gnoll understands - the naga and dryad can't understand him either, but still think he's a scary monster - this is also the impression the hero gets just because he has no idea what a nurikabe is; to people who know better (humans included), he's a terrifying man-eating beast - the hero does see him eat monsters, but it seems like a cute little thing where he just gulps them down instantly, Kirby style - obviously, based more on the traditional nurikabe design than Shigeru Mizuki's - nurikabes are chameleons that can blend in with any wall, ceiling, or floor (like many obscure old DnD monsters), or even (like in myth) just turn into a totally invisible barricade humanized: a grizzled old DILF with a rough past full of regrets, shows great remorse for the things he's done - kind of evokes Solid Snake - he slumps against the hero because of an old injury that makes it painful to stand or walk for long periods - he and the gnoll get along, talk about the old days sometimes - hero realizes that the cute animal noises he made with a placid face were actually his traumatized accounts of events from his past--people he mugged, kidnapped, murdered

More wordbuilding and plot notes:

he's only bound to the other members of his party to be able to see them like this, other races (and even others members of these races) still seem the same to him

though it's symbolically his eye, he can also hear them differently and understand them speaking other languages when that eye is uncovered

they spend the series exploring a dungeon that is all bizarrely spatially distorted, kind of like M.C. Escher's art or House of Leaves, with huge empty areas that go off into a bizarre void; the building itself twists off in strange formations, some plant-like, some fractal or otherwise mathematical

once a week they can teleport back to a major city to restock on supplies

humans once lived in a kingdom that was central to the other races, and served as the go-between, which is why the human hero was traditionally the translator; however, in the intervening centuries the human kingdom has moved far out, and many humans (the hero included) have never even met another non-human

the hero can't read, so he also has no access to information about the other races, and can only go by what the officials of the court try to cram in at the last minute before he goes to represent them; in a way this is a boon, though, since he has no pre-formed prejudices other than those based on what they look and act like

it takes a while for the eye magic to kick in, so for the first day or so he gets to know the others as they seem from a human perspective

as the series goes on, he comes to see how the others actually do act like the humanized view of them - well, kinda--the way other people even of your own race see you isn't necessarily the real you, or how you see yourself; he helps the other characters realize things about themselves

the other races are also distant from each other, which is why they need a "translator" (even sharing a common language); the dryads and nagas live close to each other and are on friendly terms, same with the gnolls and the nurikabe, but each finds the other two races strange and difficult to understand - until the hero gets his magic sight, the gnoll is the only one who understands the nurikabe

The hero does eventually describe for the others how he sees them. The naga is extremely flattered to hear how cool he seems from the human perspective.

In general, the naga's cool arms crossed pose as the snake man shifts in the humanized view to crossing his arms more like he's hugging himself and tapping his foot nervously (the hero realizing that the tip of his tail was always wiggling)

There would be a point where the dryad gives an opponent a serious verbal teardown before kicking their ass, showing what values are important to her and what she's spent her life striving for; in that moment, the hero's two images of the way she's acting unify

The hero starts to see the others as emoting appropriately even when they're not in the humanized view, realizing now how they express what they're feeling

At some point, the others learn that the hero can't read. He is the only one that can't read. They all take turns helping him learn.

The hero saved his kingdom once before this with a human band of adventurers, which is why he was the champion the human kingdom chose. He was the leader then, though, and is disheartened to hear that the gnoll will be the leader, and he will be the "cultural translator." He has no idea how he's supposed to act in just the role of "cultural translator," especially knowing nothing about the cultures he's translating for. As a result, he's initially resentful of the gnoll, but eventually comes to like her the most (as well as develop a huge crush on her).

Of course, because of the magic eye, he ends up actually taking on the role of cultural translator. There are many instances where one character is being misunderstood by the others, and he has to step in for them. As a result, he develops close relationships with all of them.

The history of the dungeon is just a take on the Tower of Babel. In this version of the story, however, the gods' punishment not only separates the races, but also completely inverts the tower into a dungeon that extends deep into the earth, and is still growing downwards to this day. The tower/dungeon is itself alive from the magic of the curse, and in a constant state of pain and fear. Because of the intensity of how the gods cursed it, the more it grows, the more it tears apart the nature of reality around it. It takes members of the five races that built the tower to venture down to its "head" and give it peace by coming together and understanding one another once more. It used to be that this needed to be done every fifty years; the last heroes were so successful that the tower/dungeon slept a few centuries before waking to its nightmares again. However, this means that the tower/dungeon is now deeper than ever.