200 years have passed since humanity went extinct, no pureblood human remained in the new age of people, without human influence, however, the world fell.
It all began in 2074 when a virus spread thanks to some scientists trying to play God, they decided to try and mix animal genetics and human genetics to see if they could allow humans to access different animal traits to survive. It was innocent at first, trying to incorporate axolotl stem cells into that of humans to allow people with lost limbs to regrow new ones or to see if they could gain insight into how some animals can remain cool with rising temperatures thanks to global warming.
The initial experiments went well, a set few quadriplegic people that were once military men were given the stem cells and their limbs grew back over the course of a few weeks, it was a great discovery and set into action a new age of medicine. This however did not last long, in 2072, the scientists noticed that these soldiers were changing in line with the axolotl, obtaining gills and getting significantly better at underwater combat. Upon looking into this phenomenon, the scientists discovered that the stems cells grew across the body, giving the soldiers' regeneration abilities and some other abilities linked to the axolotl. This, of course, opened a new range of scientific endeavours, where the rich would reach out to try and get these stem cells implanted with different animals to see if it would work.
It was one of those experiments, where some aristocrat paid to try this with two different animals, where it all went wrong. It worked, giving the person a mix of leopard quickness and elephant strength, the power drove him insane. He became violent and attacked normal people whom he believed wronged him, normal humans, without this extra animal strength. His skin turned grey, he grew fur down his arms and along his chest and with the added skills, his body changed to be able to accommodate such speed and strength.
It was his actions that halted the experiments for a while, leaving only the initial axolotl experiment open for those with disabilities but it was too late, the black market had gotten wind of the changes and taken everything they needed to do it themselves. Spreading the genetics themselves at a price but otherwise uncaring of the effect it had on the other people.
Anyone that could afford these treatments, got the treatment. Anyone that couldn't, either had to work for someone that could get them the treatment or died trying. By 2074, humans were extinct, they had either evolved and became one with animals, or died at their hands. The new breed of humans was dubbed Homoanimus, or animal people, this eventually became humals. The virus that was mentioned was, of course, Human Greed.
As the years went on, these animal genetics would be passed down in the original patients' children, becoming more varied and showing more changes in the humal race. It was found that anywhere between one and four animal genetics would become visible traits while some might not, this removed the right for race wars based on skin colour since some people would take the skin colour of the animal in question, others might not show any significant change but would have something else that made them different, this would be claws or ears and a tail while their skin would remain a similar colour to their ancestors.
Our story starts with a young girl, born with the ears and tail of a fox, the speed of a cheetah and the agility of a lemur. We follow her while she learns about the world around her and tries to find her place among the Humal Race.