It started off quietly enough, with the release of a television show named Tales of Lacertillia. The show was based in a cartoon world and in particular the Federation of Lacertillia, a land populated by a race of anthropomorphic lizards girls. The Federation was made of five provinces...
The Grange: Part wild west, part shire with a little Norman Rockwell thrown in. A rural landscape of farms, forests and woods. It's inhabitants are various shades of yellow and light brown with white bellies (which is normal). Their dress is various flavors of rural and lends itself to the pragmatic side of things
Cogsberg: A land of machines, home to inventors and tinkerers, clockwork robots, apartments and factories. It's architecture is what Jule's Verne or HG Wells would imagine the future to be like. Every flat has a workshop. Cogsbergians are copper, silver, purple or white. Their clothing tends to be to Victorian and Edwardian in nature.
Silvania: A vast rain-forest with massive trees, into which towns are built. They are most in tune with nature of all Lacertillians and tend to be the most free spirited. The Silvanians are green or light blue with various highlights as a rule and tend to dress in a more fairie-ish way.
Tokageko: A coastal province which bears the most resemblance to Japan. It produces a number of cultured singers, mages, skilled artisans and adventurous sailors and pilots. It's inhabitants are either dark blue, red or pink and typically dress in a Japanese fashion one way or another.
Concordia: The capital province and the center of government and education. All types of lizard girls live here.
The show involved the Federation assembling a team drawn from all members of the Federation sort out various problems, who travel about in an airship. Each Province has it's own supporting cast and it's own issues. In the second season a more pressing threat had arisen in the form of the Androns, a race of savage male ape like beings who sought to destroy the Republic and enslave the Lacertillians who launch an invasion at the season finale. The show was funny, well written and well animated became popular with both kids (male and female, despite being targeted and some criticisms of anti male bias) and even cultivated an adult fanbase. Even so there were some oddities, such as the fact that families don't exist in this world. Instead there are hatcheries where eggs are incubated and hatch into new infants who are raised by groups of friends who serve as "big sises" for the first decade or so their life, at which point they stop aging. A few of the fans ended acting a bit odd, but that was hardly anything unusual.
However quietly around the world secret packages were delivered and distributed among a certain group of fans. Most of them did not understand a quarter of what was going on, only that it needed to be done. Dozens of canisters containing a strange pinkish liquid were added to municipal water supplies in major cities around the world quietly and covertly. By the time people caught onto what was going on, it was already too late.
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Being a single mother was not easy, a fact that Jane Alderman knew better than most. Between holding down a middle management job and caring for two boys her time had been stretched to the breaking point. Even so she was nothing if not diligent even if said diligence was not at it's most impressive when she was just firing up after a night of insufficient sleep. Part of her was glad when she found that she was last in line for using the bathroom as she leaned against the wall to ease into consciousness. She then got a shower, gathered her falcuties, finished off her bathroom routine before slipping into her business suit, heading downstairs for a cup of coffee and a quick bite to eat before getting her makeup in order. She was on the tall side at 172 centimeters and reasonably if unremarkable attractive for a woman pushing 41. She had dark brown hair which she kept in a sensible bun, a light complexion and dressed professionally in a blue pantsuit.
Her two sons were at the table finishing their breakfast. Joe was the eldest of the two at fifteen and was generally what you would think of as a jock. He was large for his age with most of that being muscle. His blonde hair was cut cut short and he dressed athletically in a green jersey and cargo shorts. Every aspect of puberty he had he bore as a badge of honor, even the acne (though fortunately that was not as bad as it once was). Steve was twelve, more thinly built and generally more cerebral even if he was just as competitive as Joe in terms of academics and the specialized field of swimming. His brown hair was a bit longer and his clothes were a basic T-shirt and Jeans. All and all they were good kids as far as she could tell, even if they were a handful.
"Steve." Joe said "I'm having Angie over for pizza and movies tonight. It's a big deal, so I don't want you ruining it with your lizard girl show. Capiche?"
"No more than you ruin my D&D nights by blasting rap all the time." Steve replied bitterly. He liked Tales of Lacertillia while Joe did not care for it and thought it was too girly for anyone born male to possibly enjoy. The matter had been a point of contention for four years now and had gotten worse since halloween.
"Hey! At least it's something your supposed to like ya dipshit!"
"Boys. Quiet. Steve you'll be quiet tonight, Joe you'll lay off and keep off." She said with a firmness that she'd mastered through necessity. She'd managed to keep it under control until she got them into the car and drove them to their respective schools. First Steve and then Joe. When she let Joe out she noticed something odd. What caught her eye was his jersey, which began to look a bit less baggy than it was and the fabric seemed a bit different. But more than that he noticed a discolored spot on his right arm.
"Joe? What's that spot." She said as she pointed at a greenish grey spot on his arms.
"Huh." He said as he investigated the mark "Must have bumped myself around harder than I though last night. Oh well. See ya mom!" With that he went to his classes and she went to work.
When she got their she began to notice things were a bit different. The first thing she noticed was with Larry Henderson. He'd known him for eight years and he was a jovial portly fellow who wore a thick goatee while having been a bad victim of male pattern baldness. All in all he was the perfect guy to play santa claus. When she got in he was their and still jovial as anything but he'd shaved, lost a fair bit of weight and most incredibly of all his pate was now sporting a fine thick stubble.
"Wow!" She said. It was the only appropriate thing to say "What did you do?"
"I don't know. Not that I'm complaining. Really brings me back." Larry said, radiating positivity like a supernova "Anyway, I got those reports in order, they're on your desk."
"Thank you." Jane said gratefully. Soon after she noticed that every male member of her staff had been effected in a similar way. Every male member of her staff was now clear shaven and hairlines were now advancing to reclaim lost territory. There were also a few bruises. Little did she know that this was but the first and most minor of the changes to happen.