New player guide
This is your entrance point
Welcome!
— by Meebee
Welcome to Canis Major! Canis Major is a wolf play-by-post roleplaying game set in a dreamscape. We built Canis to be a space where players are free to write creatively in collaboration with others with a focus on flexibility.
Basics
We write in third person, always.
One day in the game world is one day in real life.
There is no human interference in the world of Canis.
Liquid time is enabled; your character can be writing in multiple threads at once.
Canis uses intrusion fantasy. The environment or setting may have elements of the fantastical and it is often ambiguous whether it is real or not. Characters in Canis are non-magical.
Canis is rated 3-2-2 for minors and 3-3-3 for 18+ members
Don't be a jerk. You don't have to get along with everyone, but don't make it a problem for others. Everyone has the right to choose who they write with; if that does not include you, that's okay. All we ask is that you respect their choice, even if you don't like or understand it.
In character actions should equal in character consequences.
For characters who don’t embrace consequences in very specific circumstances, players are permitted to harm other characters without permission (see ICA = ICC)
How to Join
- Read all the Introduction portions of the Guidebook
- Register a main account. This can be an OOC account or a character account.
- Register your first character account (if different from your main)
- Fill out your character's profile, especially the required sections
- Apply to join
Creative Inspiration
As writers, naturally we take inspiration from media or literary elements/tropes. Inspiration is natural and healthy, but needless to say, you cannot heavily reference media to the point where your character is near recognizable or an "animal version" of said inspiration. This goes for inspiration drawn from other players' (both on and off Canis) characters too.
Players who heavily reference or copy points of inspiration without creative differentiation will be warned once for plagiarism. If the player continues, they will be banned from Canis. This goes for groups and locations as well.
We are creative writers, so let's be creative! Staff recommend pulling from multiple sources of inspiration to create a new blend of ideas and to help prevent too much overlap with a source. If you have questions about your source of inspiration or how to turn it into new unique ideas, please contact staff.
The following are appropriate forms of creative inspiration:
Kin onions - great for developing a character through multiple sources of inspiration without heavily leaning into any specific one Face claims (characters should not heavily resemble the character of said face claims) Voice claims Character tropes / themes Content in the public domain, such as myths.
Your first in character post
You've joined with your first character! Now what? Our recommendation is to start an AW (All Welcome) thread in the place where your character "wakes up." In Canis, wolf characters always come from somewhere beyond — how they get here is anyone's guess. Some characters seem to just appear. Others wake in a weird place, or wash up on a beach. It's your choice!
Your character can start in Canis anywhere you want, though be aware that if they awaken in a claimed territory, they might be kicked out by the resident wolves!
Traveling
Due to our liquid time, players are not required to write a travel thread through each territory when moving across the map, but the distance between thread locations must occur over a reasonable timespan. It can be assumed that a character can travel across 1-2 territories a day.
If you are noticed to be teleporting across the map, staff will require the thread be relocated to a more suitable territory for your character's approximate location or that the thread be deleted.
Playing Fair
Metagaming/Godmoding are not permitted on site. Powerplaying is not permitted without explicit communication with all players involved.
- Metagaming: Using out of character knowledge to gain in character advantages without agreement of the other parties.
- Godmoding: Overpowering a character to make a situation extremely imbalanced without agreement of other parties.
- Powerplay: Taking control of another player's character without permission (includes mind-reading).
When in doubt, ask other players beforehand. If you feel as though unfair play is happening to your character, please reach out to the player first! More details on these definitions can be found here.
Community
We utilize both Discord and the forum for communication, and utilize the latter for all important announcements/conversations. Please review player profiles for individual preferences, as some people may prefer not to partake in the discord server side of the community. Join our server with this link!
In the event that staff see evidence of bullying or negative behaviors affecting the community, we will take steps to remove players (temporarily or permanently) from the game. If a player is only a disturbance through discord then we may permanently remove said member from the server. Above all else, please treat others with kindness!
Questions?
Post questions in the Ask the staff forum.
