The world the Coyenas come from is, in an astounding case of parallelism, called “Earth”; and is in fact very Earth-like in geography, climate, and culture. The most obvious difference, of course, is that it is entirely populated by anthropomorphic characters of various species. Its society also appears generally slightly more advanced than ours, with just a touch of space-age optimism and technology enhancing people’s lives.

Magic and Science

On this Earth, science and magic are connected, intertwined, and inseparable; they are effectively the same thing. Like the science of our world, there are laws and rules which can be studied, theorized, and figured out; however, due to the nature of quantum effects and magic fields, there are effects and outcomes very much beyond anything our science can achieve; hence, magic.

Boreas and Austeria both are “scientists” primarily in the field of “biotechnology”; in actuality they are working with elements of both magic and science nearly all the time.

See also: Rules of Growth for more information about some limits and stipulations on magic and science.

Hybrids

Hybrid species are actually exceedingly rare on this Earth, for both social and biological reasons. Interspecies relationships (especially marriages) are frowned upon, and biologically it’s very unusual for such unions to bear any offspring. Less than one-tenth of one per cent of the population is made up of hybrids.

Boreas was fortunate that he grew up in a small, remote community where everyone knew everyone, so his parents’ relationship, as a coyote and a hyena, was accepted and respected. It was also a minor miracle that he was conceived and came to term, and, again, was accepted by the local community and allowed to flourish. By the time he moved away to attend a university and met his future wife, he was physically imposing enough that, combined with Aura’s strength of personality, their union was begrudgingly accepted.

Zephyrus, Austeria, and Eurus all experienced varying levels of discrimination in their youth. Zephyrus, as the oldest, probably had it worst, but channeled his fear and anxiety into building up his strength as self-defense. Austeria, following in his footsteps, was shielded by her older brother but also built up her own defense mechanisms, physically and emotionally. Eurus, the youngest, fell under both older sibling’s protection, although that introduced its own elements of anxiety; for a good portion of his youth he was moody and somewhat resentful, although most of that faded away as he got older and came into his prime.

Notus has so far been relatively secure in his community. He has faced some discrimination when he travels, but he takes it in stride as best as he can when it happens, looking up to his cousins as idea role models.