Origin

Our story begins in a military installation, decorated General Randall Jonathan Butch watches as the first moments of "peace" he has seen since the time of his birth, the world is healing, but he is not convinced, he knows that this could all be for naught with a single spark. Unwilling to tolerate temporary peace, he enacted a plan. A plan to make sure man would never raise a sword to his brother's neck again. He knew bloodshed was an integral part of human nature, so through honeyed terms and reassuring promises of safety to all man, he signed away the freedom of all without a second thought. Obviously rebellion would spark the moment they all realized it, thus nullifying his goal, so what was the good general to do? Luckily, science had his answer. A virus? No, a universal microscopic enhancement, that was the right term.

Fortunately a scientific mind was on his side, and thus, the so-called hivemind contagion was born. This synthetic neurotoxin made of machines called nanites worked quickly and quietly. It traveled through the air, strategically released until most of the population was carrying it, stage 2 went into action. The infected dropped into a slumber when a radio frequency permeated the atmosphere, their dreams invaded with subliminal messages. Some fought, some submitted, with the former never waking up, with the untouched growing increasingly unsettled.

Among them, another Doctor rose up and risked everything to stop it. Meet Doctor Wilhelm Paws, a carrier the signal never reached through his old lead-lined house. In a quarantined lab, he sought to find a cure. Unfortunately, the General and his compatriots seemed to have considered every measure he might try. The nanites were signal shielded from anything that could hijack or deactivate them once activated, the only substance capable of damaging them failed in the human body, however, the powers that be did not consider the last hair brained idea of Doctor Paws. Backed into a corner, he was forced to do something that would change the human race forever. The nanites would affect all humans. But would it affect other animals?

Normally, Dr.Paws would be vehemently opposed to animal testing but he was out of options. Fortunately for him and the stray dog he had located, he was correct, there was nothing the nanites could do to the dogs mind. With this, he had the first stage of his plan, humans had a deep connection with these furry companions aided by centuries of evolving together. He found that human consciousness can in theory survive in a dog's brain, we are social in similar ways, we solve problems in similar ways and express emotions in similar ways. it was a long shot but he had to try.

It took many nights of little to no sleep, but the end result was well worth it, many beds holding creatures that were not quite man nor quite dog. Their fur was grey, they were uniform in genetic structure, their cells were adult, but free from the wear and tear of age, their expressions portrayed no thoughts, no emotion, no souls. His plan was on track. The next step involved a still comatose human, and oddly enough, this was the tricky part. The doctor took a deep breath and rolled in a machine designed for Electroencephalography, or EEG, that he had modified with very fine-tuned file transfer protocols. Using rudimentary knowledge of acupuncture, the nervous system and brain patterns, he hooked them both up.

What took place at this point in time is largely a question of philosophy regarding the true nature of consciousness, the sort of questions posed during the subject of teleportation. The doctor took advantage of the comatose victims state and awaited until the brain waves of both organisms were in perfect sync. The machine was activated, and the world of science was changed. The creatures breathed as one and the monitors displayed confirmation data of thoughts, ideas, dreams and memories being transferred. Doctor Paws dared not breathe as the machine whirred down and the screen displayed the message that gave hope to the world as a whole, "transfer complete".

The new vessel jolted awake with a gasp and looked around. No words came but it's expression spoke clear as day "Where am I?" He looked to the doctor for a moment, who was speechless himself. And next, the new subject stared at the now empty body, Showing the same blank EEG signals his new body portrayed just moments ago. Once again, his expression spoke volumes. He looked at his new hands, then to the old body, and back again.

More and more comatose victims were rushed in and underwent the same process, each one a success as unbelievable as the first. Though hope had come at last, there was much work to do. There was no way every member of the sleeping resistance in the world could be resurrected with the help of only one small group of doctors and one machine. One mechanical failure could damage an innocent irreparably for one, so many machines were constructed in many labs around the infected regions. But the ability of communication was reawakening in each of the saved within short order via writing and to the relief of Doctor Paws it was clear they remembered everything, nothing of the soul had changed. Though he had heard disturbing news from the subjects.

They accused the doctor of drugging them and turning them into "monsters", each told the same story. The doctors assistant had drugged them and they woke up in a dog's body. Not a single one of General Butch's initial victims were saved. Doctor Paws went to confront his assistant on this matter, only to be shot on sight. Without a word, the assistant collected each of the doctor's notes and left the dying doctor to hook himself up to his own machine. With no target body, he was stored on his central computer and watched himself die through his webcam.

As the dog people crowded around the machine that made them what they are before the military burst through the doors and forcibly escorted them into portable stasis chambers and out of the lab for study. Without the help of doctor paws, their research leads them to the conclusion that the subjects are still in their original bodies and they formulate to expand their military.

They attempted to replicate the transfer bodies in their own image by physically transforming the bodies of test subjects so that the nanites would continue to work. They called these new super-soldiers "Adlets" and hoped that they would have all the instincts and advantages of both man and dog. Meanwhile, the soul of Doctor Paws was sent to the transfer bodies stasis tanks, modifying the computer in their status readouts, creating a handheld device. As they were awakened by the doctor's latest devices, that which the General feared came to pass, a war of his own creation began to unfold.

With the Doctors instruction, the transferred souls ran to the site of their second birth, and told them the whole truth of General Butch's atrocities, of what he's done to the world, of what he still plots. The decision was unanimous, the general must be stopped. As their bodies conformed and settled to their souls, they began to develop unique properties. Their appearance and voices changed and full human speech was mastered once again, and they united under the name of their new race, the Xolotl. They took to the streets enacting rescue missions and fighting their Adlet counterparts.

The Xolotl were vastly outnumbered by thousands of Adlets, they spoke in strange tongues and flattened cities with advanced weaponry, but they could not touch the Xolotl. The Adlets were fragile and inherently broken, suffering and even clamoring for their own death while the Xolotl became stronger with every battle, injuries healing within moments, age never affecting them. Naturally, this made General Butch very nervous.

In the end, this nervousness was without cause. The Adlets dwindled to nothing and Butch was at the mercy of very angry Xolotl paws, and the darkest of days drew to a close. The world was forever changed, but healing could begin once again. For three centuries few knew what became of the Xolotl, some suspected they were mere myth. Eventually they returned, now fully transformed into their own unique forms, still showing signs of the grey pups they once were, but you could easily tell one from the other. And well, here we are.