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 veteran turned cop with super heightened senses in a fictional city in the United States and an anthropology student who's been studying the concept of Sentinels. Most stories in the Sentinel AU adopt the military/cop concept from The Sentinel series
In canon, Sentinels and Guides are just titles or 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. A Sentinel ( or Watchman or Guardian), is a person whose five senses are heightened/hyperactive. They can see, hear, smell, taste and feel everything many times more than a normal human is capable of.
However, such strong senses can often turn out to be a great liability. The sensory input that the Sentinel has to deal with is simply too much. Imagine being able to hear a pin drop in the apartment across the hall, and then being in a crowded mall and having to suffer through this kind of noise. If one or more senses get aggravated too much from the high input, they can cause ‘Spikes’. Which are usually referred to as sudden pain coming from the area of the sense. Think about it like overusing a certain muscle to the point where even slightly moving that muscle brings you pain and discomfort.
There are also things called "Zone-outs". These are moments when the Sentinel becomes so focused on one sense alone, that they subconciously close off all input from their other senses. This leads to the Sentinel getting ‘lost’ in that one sense, falling into a catatonic state (and becoming incredibly vulnerable to attack). The Sentinel can usually not get out of a zone-out alone, as at least one other sense has to be stimulated for the Sentinel to stop focusing on the one that they zoned on.
A Guide is a partner to the Sentinel. Someone who watches the Sentinel’s back and helps them control their heightened senses and help them handle these input more. A Guide will ground the Sentinel, be a calming influence on them, and in Fanon, they are often the only one who can get the Sentinel out of a zone-out, or ease a particularly bad ‘spike’ (or even prevent these spikes from happening.)
In canon, Guides aren't necessarily super human nor do they have heightened senses like the Sentinel nor 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. These stories are commonly categorised under the "sentinel and guides known" trope. In fanon, the Sentinel 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 spirit guides" or "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 s
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 and spirit world, 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.
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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