Welcome to Canis Major

a wolf and animal rpg (role-playing game)

Canis is a writing community for play-by-post (forum-based), freeform roleplay set in a fictional dream world in the intrusion fantasy genre. Most characters on Canis are wolves; many play elements are focused around wolves and canids, but the world makes room for a large variety of other animal characters such as dogs, horses, cats, bears, deer, and many, many more.

Our community is focused on flexibility, creativity, and collaboration. That boils down to a few important features:

  • There is no set activity requirement to write
  • The setting and plot are member-created and staff-supported
  • The game is continuously improved to increase fun and decrease stress

Learn more in our Rulebook!

AW
A million miles from home, I'm walking ahead


Afternoon Overcast 70° F
#1
AW
06-11-2021, 04:14 PM
open!

 

With Empyrean more established, Hydra ranged to its neighboring territory to investigate it further. A thorough woman, Hydra wanted to take all things into account with what surrounded she and hers. What land might make for a good hunting ground, should famine ever reach them... what weak points might exist around The Dragonsteeth to account for, so none could come too close. With Springs arrival, it was no wonder Hydra lurked here—she wanted none of her women to range very far, nor men to skulk around to take advantage of them. Still close enough to Empyrean to be able to return home swiftly, Hydra did not lurk in the depths of the forest—only the beginnings of it, near (enough) to where her mountain stood. 

Red marked the trees here, and Hydra observed her surroundings to see that (then and there, at least) she was alone. Her keen sense of smell alerted her upon a cautious sniff that it was not blood, but something sweeter. Hydra recognized it by scent, vaguely, but had never collected the stuff as her sister had. She had not the name for it... but she recognized its scent enough to know that it was a healing tool; Hydra had seen (and smelt) her utilizing this item before. Good to know that it was kept in abundance, here... Her ears rotated atop her crown as once more Hydra surveyed her surroundings, stepping away from the tree that looked as though some beast had ripped it open, and what came from it was not sap at all.

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#2
Discovery
Adventurer
06-11-2021, 06:39 PM (This post was last modified: 10-19-2021, 04:45 AM by Aso. Edited 2 times in total.)
Weary paws carried him north, the silhouette of the mountain more promising than ever now that he had crossed the river once more. It had been weeks since he last saw those peaks, probably longer but the days had slipped by him in his endless search. It was unfortunate that he returned now after so long with nothing to even offer. At the very least, he could at least catch something on his way up to Empyrean. If he was to return empty-handed with bad news he would do so with something that would benefit the pack for his absence.

He ached and even with the mountains so close, West felt that it would probably be another day at least before he would conclude his journey. The woodland man sighed as he found a sturdy tree to lean against while he got his bearings. The forest seemed different from the last time he had passed through. The scent was sweeter and budding flowers and leaves have now bloomed filling the forest with new life.

Picking out his next course, West returned his weight to his paws ready to press on just a bit further— except as he tried to pull away the fur of his shoulder pulled painfully from the tree. The shock caused him to quickly jerk his body back, the sap of the tree pulling free some of his outer coat while the rest seemed to clump eagerly in his thick fur. His eyes practically popped out of his skull as he let out a short yelp all while staring at the reddened mess. Was he bleeding??? What the—

+2 Discovery Points

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#3
06-11-2021, 06:56 PM
The sound of a yelp alerted Hydra to the potential danger here, and rather than turn her back upon it she crooned a low note to Empyrean to join her, considering the chance that there might be settlers here to deal with that were the unsavory sort. While the matriarch could handle herself, and was more than capable of bringing others to their knees (and when necessary, their graves), there was little need to expend the energy all alone. Root and stem, Hydra would remove whatever threats there were from her home by whatever means necessary. 

In the meantime, instead of waiting in place, she pressed ahead toward where she had first heard the sound. She was swift and silent from then on, adjusting her own route so where she would arrive would not be known outright. Her step was quiet, the blades of grass underfoot bowing mutely beneath the weight of her much the same as any adversary would come to. It was then she smelled West Tyree, and Hydra wove through the trees and lunged forward with the look of death upon her face—and as silent as it, too. 

No enemies to meet her snarling face as she stepped alongside West—but she did not yet settle as she circled the treeline, rigid and prowling. One ear remained backward even as the other twitched to take in the sounds surrounding them, but all had grown quiet with her arrival. In short time, natures din resumed, and Hydra realized that she had been the danger they thought they faced. Settling some, but still heeding their surroundings, Hydra called back to Empyrean that there was, fortunately, no danger after all. None that she could not face with West Tyree, in any event, and she strode alongside him, gaze hunting for foul play. 

She sniffed at where the sap had snared him, and looked to the tree that had taken him in its grip. 

But she did not think that was the cause of his cry, yet. “What has happened?” She asked, her notched ear now fanning forward. The rest of her senses, beyond her sight, seemed to be working to ensure that West had not been accosted in this place by any other wolf, or predator, at least.

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#4
Discovery
Adventurer
06-28-2021, 03:53 AM (This post was last modified: 10-19-2021, 04:45 AM by Aso. Edited 4 times in total.)
His cry would not fall on deaf ears, unfortunate as it was. His alpha's approach went mostly unnoticed as the woodland-colored man sniffed at the red goo now fused with his pelt. The familiar metallic scent he knew was missing could only mean he was not bleeding. Good good. A thought almost dared himself to lick the substance when another nose would quickly join his as the fresh sounds of branches breaking beneath close paws stirred in his mind.

"What has happened?"

Hydra. The greens of his eyes shot up to meet her stare, though no words tumbled from his maw as his jaw hung slack. What was she doing this far from the claim? For a moment he almost responded honestly then realized how ridiculous he would sound. He was fine after all wasn't he? IIIIIIIIIIIII...slammed my paw on a rock. It's fine—

+1 Discovery Point

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#5
07-13-2021, 02:31 PM
With ears as sharp as her own, anything she perceived close enough to her claim she would range to to be rid of if she thought it a threat. As it was, she was relieved to see that West was in good health despite the sound he had made that stilled her heart for a beat. He explained himself, and Hydra looked to his paws and sniffed at them none too idly. No blood, nor did she sense any strange amount of heat emanating from them that would mean something not good (her sister had told her to mind such things, but the semantics of it Hydra could not recall... just what to look out for). 

It seemed there was nothing to worry about after all. Hydra looked to the tuft of fur upon the tree, and deciding it was as good a way as any to indicate their presence here determined to leave it. 

“You will not die for it,” she comforted. No, in the battle against the rock, he had come out the better end of it for his survival. Amused with herself (though it did not show), Hydra turned to step alongside him as to accompany him home. “How were your travels?” She asked, noting then the absence of any wayward child of hers. On that front, it must have been fruitless... but she felt certain he had returned to them wealthy with knowledge, at least.

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#6
Adventurer
07-13-2021, 04:04 PM (This post was last modified: 10-19-2021, 04:45 AM by Aso. Edited 2 times in total.)
Once more the queen sniffed at him, her gaze as studious as any healer's. Was she a healer? Given her...intimidating looks he would have guessed anything but. Maybe he had done too much of his judging on appearances and not on what he actually knew of his Alpha. His mother would probably be disappointed... after all who was he to judge on looks when he towered over most and had a giant scar on his face?

The man chuckled nervously and licked his lips, Well I'd hope not— Ah, but his travels. That he did need Hydra for. Yes, ah, I'm sorry. I know I have been gone for quite some time and I'm afraid I don't have much to offer for the amount of time I was gone. Instinctively he tore his eyes away wishing to not see her disappointment with him should she lash out. Judging again. He could have slapped himself for the sudden intrusive thought but instead continued speaking.

I did not find any of your family, but I did come across a pack. They um... said we were allied. I don't know if that is true or not, but Ma'am they aren't good wolves. I've heard of them before, my brother disappeared when we were pups. He ran away and came back with horror stories.

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#7
07-13-2021, 05:02 PM (This post was last modified: 07-13-2021, 05:02 PM by Hydra.)
Hydra listened to West, though there was not a thing upon her features that would reveal to him her thoughts on the matter. No, the matriarch remained a blank canvas as West spoke of his brother, of horror stories. Hydra felt she knew who he might be speaking of, but to be sure, as she began to walk forward, Hydra looked to him and hummed, “Oh? Tell me of these horror stories he shared,” her tail lashed behind her, “and tell me why your brother faced them.” 

Hydra held no judgment upon her features, but already perceived the brother of West to be a rather... brainless thing for running away. She did not know it yet, but she had thought the same thing of her own cub—wounded though she was by it—and so it was truly a blanket thought for the sort. 

The matriarch did not immediately assume, though, with any concreteness that this was the work of @Vengeance's bunch... only because his brother lived... Some horror stories were best told simply by bearing witness to the grave. Beyond that, she knew this discussion would be something of a chore; to hear of good and evil drivel... well, now was as good a time as any to teach West the very same lesson she taught her own brood. The world they lived in was not so black and white. In fact, it was cast in a sinister amount of red.

Yes, she would teach him of such matters. He was family now, after all. He would need the spine for it.

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#8
07-13-2021, 05:28 PM
The woodland man could hear her steps near, but even so, he dared not look up. He was taken in. I don't think he had a choice but other kids were kidnapped. Taken from families and forced to fight. They were beaten— and then paused...a memory seemingly buried deep within his mind unlocked as he saw the ghost of a figure he once knew. The one he had been chasing for some time now, but even now her face eluded him.

Porcelain fur that would have been perfect had it not been for the large scars that swiped her side. Scars that were caused by a monster. West shook his head as the memory faded, his brows drawn in concern and confusion, I— I knew a girl too. They didn't do anything they didn't deserve that— and there may have been truth to that. But he would also be wrong, blinded by his sense of family. That his family could do no wrong. Maybe he would never admit that all that occurred would be Clay's fault. Maybe it would forever be his own for driving that need to leave into his brother.

The Nightwalkers are not good wolves. They only seek blood and power and they'll use you and your loved ones. If you aren't useful he will turn on you. Well. The last part was assumed, but it fit the picture he had been painted.

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#9
07-13-2021, 05:57 PM (This post was last modified: 07-13-2021, 10:17 PM by Hydra. Edited 1 time in total.)
Hydra listened to him, and the picture he painted. 

It was not a pretty one, and she was sure that was just the way Vengeance would want it. She would do nothing to change it for that alone. 

And once he was finished, Hydra drawled, “my brother trespassed upon his territory, and Vengeance did not kill him. He injured him, to be sure, and took him captive. Beat him, too, I am sure,” she imagined, “And all that... It was more than he deserved,” her low voice rang clear in the quiet of the forest. Hydra simply believed Vengeance should have killed him. It would have been better for them all. Cleaner. “Vengeance was far more merciful a man than myself, and not simply for the fact that I am a woman,” she hummed, looking to him, “I am indiscriminate when it comes to others trespassing. And some of the reason for that is for wolves like Vengeance,” she drawled with a slow lash of her tail, gaze dark as she considered. None would be pawns within her ranks. Of herself, or of any others, if she could help it. 

“and should he turn a fang against any of my own, it is a matter that will be dealt with. But he is not a witless man. Of any wolf to cross,” she hummed, “he knows I am not one to trifle with. But should it come into question,” an ear flick, “he will not live to make use of the lesson.” Hydra had not the patience. Vengeance was a man she believed to be better than that, and so in her own mind it was a nonissue. Rather, she wondered what it might be like to build with him in this world—

to conquest. 

Now that she had a better understanding of this place... she, too, wanted more. And she would achieve it, just as she had in the Great Wilderness. Looking to West Tyree, she hummed, “Empyrean is strong, and it grows ever stronger. Blood, power, and safety are things I wish to see within the mountains. And whatever puts that at risk, well, that is also dealt with,” quite finally, at that.

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#10
Paladin
07-13-2021, 07:14 PM (This post was last modified: 10-19-2021, 04:46 AM by Aso. Edited 1 time in total.)
She listened...and when he was finished she spoke. Her own brother had been subjected to something similar, though he had trespassed where Clay had not. Maybe that was why she was able to make peace with his situation, but to West it changed nothing. How could she still stand at his side in support when he had already hurt her family? He couldn't imagine feeling the same. That Clay deserved what he got. That he had been lucky to not just be killed outright.

What life was worth living when that was your average day?

Maybe that had been why Clay snapped at him. Why even after he returned to safety he would not accept his love. That life changes you. West had no doubts that Hydra and all of Empyrean could hold their own, but it didn't make the bile dissipate from his throat. What about now? People like him don't make friends they make enemies. If other packs hear you're allied with him then they might turn on you too.

Finally, he rose his eyes, a newfound confidence powering him to hold his head. I mean no disrespect, but even the strongest pack can't win a fight of sheer numbers. Is one ally worth a world of enemies?

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#11
07-13-2021, 08:05 PM (This post was last modified: 07-13-2021, 08:08 PM by Hydra. Edited 1 time in total.)
As far as Hydra saw it, his brother likely omitted key details in his story. Hydra perceived the brother to have trespassed, given he had also made the unwise decision to run away from his own family. A good family, if not a bit naive in their belief in "good and love conquers all things". That, she knew, would have killed them all. Was that not why his own sister came to her? Because she, at the heart of her, knew better? 

Her gaze did not waver from the path ahead as she moved. The matriarch believed West was wrong, but would not beat him down with it—and as he rose his head, Hydra's own gaze turned to him. “Vengeance is a man I know will kill with me,” she drawled, “where any other ally would waver. Would ask, is this right?—when even in their hearts, they know it is. And dozens more die in the time it takes, for them to simply consider. Monsters kill monsters, West,” she drawled, “and are demonized for it by men who call themselves good, who are too frightened to swing the sword of justice themselves. Who rear their head after the work is done,” she drawled, having seen as much for herself in life. It was lived experience that taught her this, not merely speculation. 

“And that,” she drawled, “depends on the ally.” Was Vengeance worth that much? Time, and the man himself, would tell. But for now, she thought he may be. “It is a bridge I will cross when the time comes, and a decision must be made. We will see him for who he is here. But I have never heard whispers of children being stolen except for now,” and if such were true, robbed from their parents on open lands and taken advantage of, unwilling... well, she would get to the bottom of that much. 

Hydra believed him better than that, though. Not a good man, to be sure (and as mentioned before)... though not a pathetic one, surely. 

“You know, someone once sought to provide me a world of enemies. Called me a monster, for defending my own... Someone killed my sister, you see, when she was just a cub—and I went after them. Mauled them terribly, but left them living—their friends thought him innocent, even though they saw him flee from her body.” She shook her head at the memory; one thing she remembered clearly, and one thing she wished she had forgotten. The mark of it on her soul, the loss of her axe... it was a heavy thing to live with. That she had gotten there too late... “They were wrong, of course. Such came out later when his sister came to me and told me of his latest terrible crime, though how there was any doubt to begin with is something I will never grasp. All while they whispered of what a monster I was,” she recalled, tail lashing behind her. 

With a sigh, she hummed, “these wolves were once my friends. It is better to have a true ally than fickle ones,” Life had taught her that much. And it would teach West, too. Heroes were villains, and villains were heroes—and sometimes, things were that simple. “...They were not entirely wrong, though, I have come to find. If I must be a monster, I will. I will be whatever I must be, to keep you safe.” Hydra was a woman who adapted and overcame; she would never succumb or be a victim to decisions made, be them her own or any others.

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#12
Paladin
07-13-2021, 08:52 PM (This post was last modified: 10-19-2021, 04:48 AM by Aso. Edited 1 time in total.)
As fast as his rose so did the other's, blues piercing him rather it had been her intention or not, but still...he did not waiver. The way she spoke was admittedly frightening. He did not see Hydra as a bad woman, she had been a name on his own mother's lips and essentially family...but something about her motivations seemed less pure than he once believed. He would not speak as she shared her own tales, of her accounts of being the monsters she sought to eliminate. Though he held his expression, the backwards splay of his ears was the only evidence that her words had struck a chord somewhere.

He was too young to remember when the same had almost happened to his own sister, but he did know how it changed her. Who was to say that he would be no different? If someone came today and tore Leta flesh from bone and left her to bleed out. Who's to say he would not do the same? Would that make him a monster? Truth was, he already had done the same. It was not intentional, but it was in defense of his family. The witch who sought to hurt those who could barely walk.

Then there was Ursus. But there was a difference, the purpose behind his strength, the reasons for his jaws to hold even as the muscle beneath him slackened with the last breath. That was the difference between good and evil. It was true, maybe some would wait debating the morality of it all...maybe he would have thought the same of himself had he not been spurred into motion before. Not all good would sit and wait.

The dove. Her face remained darkened in his memories, but the way the sun shone down on her, a declaration to the end of evil...the words were hazy now, but he could feel it there all the same. There was truth to Hydra's words, but still in his heart he felt she may be wrong. Not everyone is so passive to wait for their death.

I'm sorry about your sister...but that doesn't make you a monster. If you feel that the right allies won't be spurred to action when it's important than maybe you've just made the wrong friends. I can't say I fully agree about Vengeance...but my job was to warn you not doubt your choices. Shifting in his place, West glanced to the looming mountains in the distance before turning to start his walk back.

You aren't the only one willing to fight for the safety of loved ones. My fangs are yours.


exit here?

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