The Sentinelverse or the Sentinel AU as it's most commonly known, is a trope that was (loosely) inspired by The Sentinel, a series that follows a cop with super heightened senses in a fictional city in the United States and an anthropology student that teaches or "guides" the cop on how to best use his heightened senses for his job, as well as hide the fact that he's a sentinel. Most stories in the Sentinel AU adopt the military/cop concept from The Sentinel series
In canon, the terms "sentinels" and "guides" are just that, terms, titles and descriptions. They're not some kind of "mystical calling" or "way of life" like it's described in (some) fanon stories (or a secondary gender or a designation, like it's described in others). In some fanon however, sentinels and guides are more than just terms or descriptions, they're mystical callings, a "destined duty" they're called to fulfil. Sentinels are just regular humans who have heightened senses, either honed from some kind of struggle or survival in the wild. Because their senses are so heightened they can easily get overwhelmed and overstimulated by the noise of the world and that's where guides come in.
In canon, guides aren't necessarily super human nor do they have heightened senses like the sentinel or any other special abilities, beyond maybe being empathic. Neither do they have any special bond with a sentinel or are they a necessity for the sentinels. Sentinels and guides are still very much still regular humans, but in some fanon stories, sentinels and guides aren't trying to hide who they are and these stories are commonly categorised under the "sentinel and guides known" trope. In fanon, they (the sentinels and guides) are also "drawn together", almost as if by destiny and they're said to be "fated to be together" with the sentinel needing the guide, like some kind of soulbond.
Most Sentinel AU stories are based around fanon, and either don't, or rarely follows The Sentinel canon. In some Sentinel AU fics, they also adopt the concept of "animal spirits" mentioned in The Sentinel canon. Animal spirits, in relation to the Sentinel AU, often reflects a sentinel's nature, with the example of the black panther from The Sentinel and are said to help the sentinel with their abilities and duties, just like in The Sentinel.
In some fanon, animal spirits are able to manifest in the physical just like daemons and are often linked with the emotional and mental well-being of the sentinel and vice versa. In most fanon stories only a bonded guide can see (or even interact) with a sentinel's animal spirit, but in others, everyone is able to see a sentinel's animal spirit. In some Sentinel AU stories the guide also has an animal spirit, not just the sentinel and these animal spirits can even interact with each other. In some interpretations of these animal spirits, they are also called spirit beasts or spirit bodies.
In some fanon stories, sentinels and guides are a societal institute managed by the goverment, the military or some kind of corporation. In others they're instead self-organised in heirarchies. In some stories they're revered, and in other stories they, especially the guides, are treated like dirt.
Because the Sentinel AU hasn't been explored as much as the other AU tropes (especially the Omegaverse) there's a lot of wiggle room with the Sentinel AU and how you want to go about telling your story.
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