AU Ref. sheet

>Apep exists
>Dreamtime begins, and the resultant telefragging on a metaphysical level more or less cripples Apep
>Resultant thrashing about stirs the seas, and the subsequent mist creates what would eventually be Coyote
>Michiru, dreaming under the influence of Soma, gives Coyote his name
>Scales dislodged from Apep create colossal gouges in the ocean floors, draining and revealing most of the habitable landmasses
>Scales become the primordial gods of the oceans, i.e Anantashesha, Leviathan, Jormungandr, etc. (Notice a theme?)
>Other gods begin to form from the Dreamtime, and they quickly go to work making life on the new world
>Time passes, and factions begin to form (Taking a page from La Mulana 2 here), the Aesir and Vanir
>Coyote and another god, Earth-Maker, terraform what will eventually become the Americas through the Song
>Earth-Maker proceeds to attempt to kill Coyote for introducing moral disparity to the proto-humans
>Coyote escapes the resulting flood by hiding in a canoe, turning into mist to escape after being discovered
>Aesir and Vanir go to war with each other, crippling both populations
>The surviving gods make a truce between both factions to ensure that nothing like this happens again
>Dreamtime ends/fades into the background, and things start moving

>Fast forward a few hundred thousand years
>The gods have moved into the background of things, only really getting involved when it personally interests them
>First beastfolk are born from the traditional divine union of god and animal.
>Neanderthal/Cro Magnon are interbreeding
>Everyone's fucking, just having a good time all around
>The city of Ur is built, Gilgamesh is still a badass, vanishes after the fall of Ur
>Nirvasil is erected, quickly becomes a major trade hub populated by both beastfolk and humans
>Nirvasyl dies a slow death, and what would later be termed Nirvasyl syndrome effectively cripples what little hope the city-state had of recovering
>Shirou is 'born' after Coyote takes pity on him, and offers him a chance at vengeance
>They spend about a decade traveling before Shirou gets tired of Coyote's constant dickery and leaves.
>Coyote wanders the earth afterwards, becoming known to many as THE trickster god
>Aliases include Anasazi, Eshu, Crow, San Simon, Bluetongue Lizard and Kokopelli
>Coyote eventually settles down in South America, quickly taken in by the Tezcatlipoca family of gods
>The Brahmanda are scattered across the world after Indrajit, Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva overthrow the rest of the Hindu pantheon
>Jesus is born, though isn't so much the Messiah as he is just a regular immortal with good intentions and a penchant for hands-on work
>Time passes, again
>The man who would become Alan Sylvasta is born to Garmr and a descendant of Cerberus, and moves to what would later become Germany after killing his mother
>Shirou is still traveling most of Europe, taking on the role of a knight errant so to speak
>Nibiru is discovered by Galileo, and is quickly bribed to keep quiet about it. Heavily bribed, in fact.
>First immigrants from South America arrive in Spain, and are quickly bombarded with questions.
>More time passes
>At the tail end of WW2, there is a mass riot at the Auschwitz camp, resulting in the detainees tearing Josef Mengele to shreds. Odd, cicada-like singing was reported by the few lucid survivors, as well as this event being the first known appearance of 'Ginrou'
>Tamamo-no-mae, dissatisfied with Japan still standing after WW2, decides to take matters into her own hands/paws, and bears multiple children to multiple different men in order to hopefully bear a child that she could later possess as a means of finishing the job America started
>Earth-maker's corpse goes missing from its internment within the Rocky Mountain range; Coyote sets out to recover it. Family matters, after all.
>Shirou briefly cooperates with Coyote in order to temporarily 'kill' Set, who has had Apep's remains bound to his body to serve as its vessel.
>First of the Brahmanda is recovered; Shirou claims the reward money
>Anima City is constructed, the money coming from an unknown benefactor (Read: Alan)
>Rikki-Tikki-Tavi/Mari leaves India for Anima City; goes under multiple pseudonyms over the years
>Bit more time passes
>Tamamo--no-mae eventually shacks up with an American man, giving birth to Nazuna as a result
>Alan gets his degree in pharmaceutical science after many sleepless nights of studying
>Michiru is born
>Shirou, drunk and depressed after nearly having a case go very, very bad, is comforted by Coyote in the best way he knows how: Some good old-fashioned hugs from a woman.
>Michiru and Nazuna meet for the first time, quickly becoming friends for life
>Alan asks Shirou to investigate a number of disappearances in and around Russia
>Coyote reluctantly gives Alan a sample of his blood- or, what could vaguely count for his blood at least
>Nazuna and Michiru receive a transfusion of blood tainted with Coyote's own
>Their transformation takes place a few days later

___________________________________________________________________

Mari
>Born in India a pretty fucking long time ago
>Like, before Indra and the Trimurta slew the rest of the Hindu pantheon wholesale
>Basically had to raise herself as her parents were never around
>Took up pit fighting for the money
>Discovered how to brew Soma on her own
>May or may not be bootlegging it in Anima City. Not enough proof
>One of the three people Coyote can call friend. Not that it means anything.

>Went by the name Rikki-Tikki-Tavi for a while; Kipling still owes her money.
>Ostensibly, a mongoose. Would much rather call herself a mink because it just sounds fancier.
>Nowhere near as strong as Shirou, nor as agile as Coyote, but she's definitely more resourceful than them.
>She's the kind of person to bring a gun to a fist fight.
>Hates serpent beastfolk with a fucking passion; Vasuki's the only exception to that
>Like Coyote and Shirou, she's in Anima City for her own reasons. She's not really willing to tell anyone why, exactly.
>Swings both ways. Wildly.
>Kind of the cool big sister to Nazuna and Michiru; someone has to do it, and Shirou and Coyote aren't exactly good role models
>May or may not have one of the Brahmanda ferreted away somewhere safe. Probably not, right?
>Would much rather not return to India; even if the caste system WAS dismantled in full by Ardha, it's still a shithole for... different, reasons.

Rose
>Born in Poland during German occupation
>Family tried to hide their beastman heritage; didn't work, obviously
>Taken to Auschwitz following the death of her mother
>Gained an interest in genetics as a result of eavesdropping on Mengele during his, ah, 'tests'
>Wasn't affected by Coyote inciting most of the prisoner population and about half the guard to riot, got a front-row seat to seeing the not-so-good doctor torn apart by a very angry mob
>Traveled with Shirou for a while before parting ways
>Went to school to get an official degree in genetics
>Puttered about in that scene for a while
>Ended up going to Japan on a hunch after noticing a disturbing trend in recent births
>Took up street racing in the meantime; girl's gotta have a hobby, after all.

>More or less Alan's best friend and voice of reason; has had to force him to put down his work to get some sleep
>Like Alan, Shirou, and just about everyone else who knows him, absolutely despises the current Japanese PM
>Founded Anima City with the idea of a kind of safe haven for the beastfolk living in Japan, though the actual funding was given to her by an unknown third party.
>Unbeknownst to just about everyone else, she's willing to resort to the nuclear option if Japan decides to invade, with one of the Brahmanda Astra aimed towards the mainland
>Is of indeterminate age; has undergone serious gene therapy, most of which is designed by her own hand.
>Is well aware of the shit Coyote's been up to, and would rather have him thrown into the bay than deal with the sheer amount of paperwork he causes her.
>Has a thing for Shirou; he's flattered, really, but it just feels wrong to him.

Nina
>Family remains the same as canon
>Moved to the city from Italy following the death of her mother
>Had a pretty middle-of-the-road upbringing in spite of her family's wealth
>Isn't particularly interested in continuing the Family Business
>Would much rather find work at a legitimate establishment outside of the city, but doesn't really see that happening anytime soon
>Still, optimistic as all hell and tries to see the good in everyone.
>Pretty good friends with Xolchiquetzal after Shirou pesters Coyote into giving her an actual body
>Isn't particularly attracted to anyone; granted, she doesn't actually KNOW a whole lot of people outside of her family

>Is abjectly terrified of swimming in the bay
>Can be pretty fucking scary when the situation calls for it; just because she doesn't like what her dad is doing, doesn't mean she can't make use of some, ah, business contacts
>Sweetest person you can meet otherwise.
>Has some bad memories surrounding her mother; refuses to go into detail with ANYONE about it.
>Knows a tad more about the criminal underbelly of Anima City than her father would like her to
>Favorite food is vegan sushi; she's not vegan, it just tastes real fucking good.
>Can't sing for the life of her.
>Hears voices on occasion.

Alan
>Purebred beastman; parents were Garmr himself and a distant descendant of Cerberus
>Born in Greenland; stayed there for a few decades before leaving after selling out his mother's location to keep a nearby settlement of humans safe
>Moved to Germany not long afterwards
>After seeing the results of Nirvasyl Syndrome/the Riastrad for the first time, decides to make it his goal to find a cure for it that doesn't amount to 'just kill the fucker and be done with it'
>Briefly served in the German Army during the tail end of WW1
>Drafted into service during WW2, before abandoning his post in Auschwitz alongside a sizable number of guards the night before the riot took place
>Traveled through Africa, Russia and Britain for his research before Shirou handed Rose off to him
>Came to Japan shortly after Anima City was founded, makes for a large amount of the cities funding

>Prefers to stay in human form due to being partially blind in his beastman form
>Would probably be diagnosed as a schizophrenic if it weren't for the fact that his other 'voices' are pretty much his other heads
>Severe workaholic. Would've probably worked himself to death by now if Rose wasn't around to force him to go to sleep
>It's kind of an open secret that he is, in fact, a Beastman
>Like everyone else who knows him, despises the Japanese PM
>Current state of his treatment involves 'resetting' the Beast Factor in two separate treatments
>Deeply sorry for the trouble he's inadvertently caused Michiru and Nazuna
>Is more than a little bit worried about Nibiru
>In what little free time he has, he uses it to paint
>Isn't so much 'evil' as he is overworked, exhausted, and too damn proud to admit that he needs help
>Doesn't have a connection to Boris
>Has been tracking Tamamo's actions for a very, VERY long time
>Would like to finish his work so he can finally sleep with a clear conscience.
>Will probably sleep for a week straight when he does, honestly
>Like Nina, he's been hearing voices. Different ones than usual, at that.
>May or may not have a thing for Mari
>Is mostly vegetarian, though he's not impartial to the occasional steak.
>Outright loathes the way Japan treats its beastman population; seriously, Anima City is practically the Detroit of Japan, and the people there are the only saving grace the city has.

Apep
>Apep is, was, and always will be
>In other words, tha's an OLD SNEK
>Existed before the beginning of the Dreamtime
>When the Dreamtime DID begin, the poor snake kinda got telefragged by what would later become Earth lodging itself in its body
>Its resultant thrashing about stirred the primordial seas, the mists of which eventually solidified into Coyote
>Scales that fell from its body gouged deep trenches into the surface of the earth, causing most of the water to drain to a more 'respectful' level
>Eventually, those scales became the various reptilian gods, but that's besides the point
>Eventually 'died'/fell dormant, and its physical remains began to orbit the earth, later being given the name 'Nibiru'
>Little bits and pieces of its essence are bound to Set against his will, forcing him to come back from the dead at random intervals to wreak havoc and (hopefully) set it free
>The Brahmanda are made from its teeth, reshaped into weapons of mass destruction
>It has a colossal grudge against Shirou and Coyote for killing Set the last time he was raised
>Can physically pull people into the Dreamtime against their will in a perverse Lotus-Eater Machine
>Doesn't really 'hate' creation, it just wants to be free from its prison
>Unaware of the collateral damage doing so would cause
>Eventually hijacks Boris' lobotomized body in place of Set's
>Takes three dead-on hits from the Brahmanda Astra to actually 'kill' it for real
>Following its final 'death', it "edits" the world as a weird sort of reward towards the cast; Michiru and Nazuna were always Beastmen, Michiru's mother always was a Tanuki, Shirou is a war god, and Coyote is nowhere to be found, though he's probably just... elsewhere, really. Handling shit. Xochiquetzal is a goddess of her own, and is officially in a relationship with Shirou, and Coyote eventually shows up as Nazuna's roommate. Gotta pay the rent somehow, after all.

Xolotl
>God in the Tezcatlipoca family of deities
>His domain is over dogs, fire, and illness
>Kind of the black sheep of the bunch, really
>Doesn't have a whole lot of friends
>Occasionally works as a guide to the afterlife
>Wasn't 'born' during the dreamtime, but knows a fair bit about what came after it
>Blind as a fucking rock after plucking out his own eyes in a fit of grief over the many, many dead gods that came from the Dreamtime war
>In spite of the rather morbid nature of his domains, is really quite friendly

>May or may not be the reason Shirou keeps getting sick with the flu every year
>One of Coyote's only friends; only one that really reciprocates that friendship, honestly
>Doesn't really lose his temper; he's not above setting someone on fire if they DO manage to piss him off
>Likes dogs, runs a shelter in Gila Flats
>Doesn't travel often
>Can't really control how often the people around him get sick, but he's pretty skilled at alleviating the resulting symptoms through years of practice
>Is probably the nicest god you could hope to meet
>Think Pestilence, but with a healthy degree of self-loathing over getting people sick through proximity

Dante
>Most of his childhood was spent with his father's siblings in Spain
>Treated pretty well there, mostly due to the Spanish being no stranger to Beastmen
>Moved to America following what he only ever refers to as an 'accident'
>Took up baseball as a teen; while he wasn't the best batter, he WAS a decent enough pitcher to earn him a regular position on the team
>Didn't really face much discrimination, aside from the occasional friendly ribbing
>Came close to, but never actually won, the World Series; he didn't care, he just loved the game.
>Retired, and made the decision to move to Anima City to see about getting a minor league going
>Fell into alcohol addiction as a result of another 'accident', heavily implied to have been the result of witnessing something he really, really shouldn't have
>Eventually succeeded in getting a league started, and moved to the side to coach the Bears afterwards

>Genuinely good teacher; no need to throw games when the gambling scene has moved on to 'other' projects
>Pretty good friends with both Alan and Don Flip; mostly just comes from them having been a major source of funding, but there's some genuine camaraderie between the three of them
>Is a severe alcoholic; worse than Coyote, honestly. It's a wonder how his liver hasn't given up on him.
>Has effectively banned Mari from the premises after she tried to scalp tickets one too many times
>Treats the Bears like they were his own flesh and blood
>Might be married; he sure as hell isn't telling, but it would explain why he drinks so often
>Another person immune to the effects of Coyote's Song for reasons unknown

Nazuna
>Born to an American father as a result of Tamamo-no-mae's plan to create a vessel for her to possess
>Kind of raised herself following her mother's "death", her father pretty much taking the loss way, way harder than he should have
>Met Michiru when they were both pretty young, and their friendship was pretty much set in stone from there
>Basically looked at how Japan painted beastmen in their propaganda and decided 'That shit ain't right'
>More or less pestered her dad into letting her take singing lessons; first step towards her dream of becoming an idol, after all
>Did fairly well in school, with the exception of phys. ed; didn't really have the stamina for anything particularly strenuous
>Met Alan Sylvasta during a school trip to one of the clinics he'd funded, got along pretty well.
>Started hearing voices (well, one voice in particular) after puberty; antipsychotics didn't really help much with them, and she eventually learned to tune it out
>Had a 'pet' crow; it wasn't so much hers, as it was that it just showed up fairly often and dropped off little odds and ends

>Following an infusion of tainted blood, was more or less shipped out to Anima City with a broken arm, and broken dreams
>Spent a night on the streets before Boris took her in under the guise of charity
>Drugged to hell and back with a vile combination of Soma, heroin, DMT and Krokodil
>Only broke out due to Tamamo assuming direct control and more-or-less ripping out the throat of the person Boris assigned to watch her
>Escaped Boris' house by jumping on the fence, landing on both Coyote and her still-broken arm
>Coyote offers to give her a place to stay, but is interrupted by Nazuna going into Soma withdrawal, seizing, and subsequently going unconscious from the pain
>Pretty much spends the next few months drifting in and out of consciousness/lucidity
>Coyote reluctantly forces himself on her in Michiru's form to calm her down following a particularly bad episode of Soma-withdrawal-induced PTSD
>Coyote proceeds to pester Mari about who she could've sold Soma to in the past few months to try to get Nazuna some old-fashioned payback
>Finally comes around a month or so before Michiru leaves for Anima City
>Gets a job working with Mari at a fairly respectable bar in the business district
>Practices her illusions in the meantime, quickly finding out that they have some truly bizarre properties
>After Michiru arrives in Anima City, Nazuna more or less decides that it's her turn to keep Michiru safe, much to her chagrin
>Against everyone's advice, starts learning magic out of curiosity (and Coyote giving her her mother's black book for Christmas)
>Following a berserk Coyote accidentally 'killing' Michiru, more or less spends all her time waiting by her bed in the Sylvasta ICU in hopes that she wakes up (She does, eventually. Eventually.)
>Later on down the line, nearly kills herself through the strain caused by firing three of the Brahmanda Astra in a short period of time
>Pretty good friends with most everyone
>Eventually realizes that she's pretty much in love with Michiru, and ONLY Michiru following a particularly tense week involving more of Boris' lackeys attempting to kidnap her again
>She's on... 'good' terms with Shirou. He doesn't really like the fact that she trusts Coyote so heavily, and she's not a fan of how possessive he is of Michiru
>Can't stand the taste of beer
>Blood and other bodily fluids have pretty much been entirely replaced with Soma due to repeated IV transfusions
>You wouldn't know it by looking at her, but she's a die-hard wrestling fan
>Favorite foods are fish, chili, and anything involving lemons