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!

Into the Unknown


Afternoon Sunny/Clear
#1
04-11-2021, 09:41 PM
 
The sun beat down harshly on his back, but try as he might Gwyn could not find even a hint of shade in the endless expanse of open fields. An endless goddamn plain, stretching as far as he could see in every direction - granted, that might be the sun putting additional strain on his eyes, which was the last thing he needed. Maybe he kept passing by a group of trees, just out of his line of sight as the sun stung at his eyes, squinting to protect them from the harsh rays. He made a strange huffing noise that trailed off into a whine, and flopped gracelessly onto his rump in defeat.

He missed Elysium. The ragtag group of wolves that had accepted him into their numbers and given him a home. A home that had been so quickly taken from them, as if the gods that Valeska so worshipped decided that they were no longer welcome within the confines of the ruins. All Gwyn remembers of that night is the collapsing walls and wolves screaming to get out.

And then he woke up. Sore, but unscathed. Alone in a big empty field, with no sign of his former packmates, and no idea where he was now.

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#2
04-12-2021, 05:11 AM
[narrow width=700]With the eyes of an eagle, or at least the eyes of one desperate and frothing, another pale splotch on the horizon was laboriously weaving its way through the tall grass. She had found Amaranth, Buckeye; surely another of her kin littered this godsforsaken expanse, as the deities themselves seemed keen to bless her with their favor even after so cruelly taking their home from them. The gods worked in mysterious ways - she was sure, now, that they wanted the wolves here, but for what purpose still eluded her.

Did it have to be so violent? Was the earthquake really necessary? Couldn't they have just gone to sleep and awoken without the pain, without the tears?

Something glinted painfully in the sunlight, forcing her to squint her eyes. Yellowed slits peered out beneath a furrowed brow; scenting the air, she caught a whiff of heather and honey. Light and smooth. Gwyn.

Knowing him to be more easily startled than Kye, who she had greeted with the full force of a bowling ball heading down an alley, the grey woman trotted forward at a brisk pace. The sun really was unpleasant - she wasn't an albino like her small friend, but she was made for the cold and dark winter days, not this terrible open springtime. As if on cue, she coughed once upon brushing up against a flowering plant; the pollen was not kind to her, and it seemed that her nose was perpetually stuffy here.

"GWYN, she sneezed, blowing out a swath of dry grass between them. She staggered forward eagerly in a motion to make contact, but instead sneezed again. "Gods damn it, forgive Valeska, amen."
The swear jar was filling up these past few days.
"Let me guess, you fall in earth too? Ah! Gwyn-friend, it is so good you are... ah... well... come, let us move to more shady place. Look miserable. Oh! So excited. With you, we only look for Harper. Have found others! What does Gwyn make of this?" With each discovery of Elysium's lost wolves, hope seemed to return to her bit by bit, and the depressive wraith that had clung to Amaranth only a few days before seemed to slowly fade back into the overly confident and boisterous foreigner they had come to know.[/narrow]

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#3
04-12-2021, 01:31 PM
“I must be dreaming.” His voice came softly as the silvery figure approached him. His name was on her tongue, the same familiar lilt that he had come to know as Valeska. But why would she be here? She spoke eagerly as she approached him, but Gwyn could only continue to squint at the spectre, not quite listening as he tried to figure out why she was here at all. It had to be his mind; the sun had finally fried his brain and now he was imagining his friend here before him. 

Wearily, he lifted a paw to his muzzle and bit down, hoping to jolt himself out of the dream.

Except Valeska did not disappear.

Rosy eyes widened almost comically at his companion. “Ohhhh... Ohh! Valeska! You’re real!” He shot forward, ignoring the dull pain in his bitten paw as he wrapped both his forelegs around the woman’s neck, the giddy excitement clear on his face when she did not disappear beneath his feet. No, Valeska was as stable and steady as always, her pelt warm and smelling faintly of pine.

Remembering himself, he shuffled back, giving Valeska some semblance of personal space. Overcome with joy at just knowing she was here, he realised that she had, in fact, been trying to speak to him. His smile turned sheepish. “Uh, could you go over that again? Wasn’t really listening there, I was convinced my mind was playing tricks on me.”

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#4
04-13-2021, 02:50 AM
[narrow width=700]It puzzled her that he would bite down so hard on his own paw, wondering if perhaps he had an itch, and it wasn't until he finally seemed to register she was a living, breathing entity did she understand. She beamed playfully back, allowing her similarly-sized friend to welcome her with a playful embrace, and curved her neck so that she might return it without sending them both tumbling back into the earth. Gwyn was the only other member of their little family who didn't dwarf her; in fact, he probably weighed less than she did, being both younger and lighter-framed in general.

As he stepped away, she shook out her fur, sending little white hairs drifting lazily into the hot sun. She sneezed again. Bless me. Sacred Wolf Mother, do not like the spring," Valeska breathed laboriously, sniffling loudly. "Am alive, yes! Ah... I think. Was saying, were you not also swallowed by earth in the quake?" If not, then it didn't really prove her theory that this was the waiting room to the afterlife - Gwyn had seemed fairly healthy the last time they met in the Land Before, though she couldn't account for him being suddenly destroyed by a herd of rampaging... well, there wasn't much that might want to harm them back at their old temple. She was well and truly puzzled.

"Were you at Hiraeth when it collapsed? Sky and earth opened up all at once. Don't remember much except for falling, and then woke here. Amaranth and Kye also had similar dream, or... experience. Still do not know how else we would have arrived."

Squinting up at the cloudless sky, she wrinkled her nose in frustration, feeling the heat burn through layer after layer of thick, downy fur until she felt as if she might be cooked. "It feels real, though."[/narrow]

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#5
04-14-2021, 06:44 PM
He settled back on his haunches, intent on giving Valeska his full attention so that she did not have to go over things for a third time with him. “Amaranth and Buckeye are here too?” His tail thumped against the ground in a display of excitement, but he kept himself settled. There would be plenty of time for a joyous reunion, but they really needed to figure out why they were here in the first place. 

“I remember that the temple collapsed around us. I don’t remember getting out. And then I woke up here.” His head canted to one side as he tried to cast his mind back to that night, to see if he could remember anything that would explain how he ended up here, in the middle of the plains in the searing heat. But try as he might, his mind just turned up blank. “Did we… die? When the temple collapsed?” His ears tilted back against his skull. He didn’t feel dead, his heart was still beating, he could feel the warmth of the sun. Valeska, too, had been warm in his embrace. But he wasn’t exactly an expert in death and the afterlife.

"It feels real, though." She muttered, scowling at the sky. Gwyn snorted. She was right; the sun felt as real as ever as it prickled his skin, the grass below his paws felt just as it had at Hiraeth. “Is Harper here?” He questioned suddenly, realising that Valeska had not mentioned her sister yet, if she too had been caught in the in-between.

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#6
04-14-2021, 10:32 PM (This post was last modified: 06-01-2021, 10:14 PM by Aso. Edited 1 time in total.)
[narrow width=700]He was so cute, she couldn't help but think. Little Gwyn, the Peter Pan of their family who would never grow up, so small and so vibrant - she wondered at the sheer amount energy he managed to pack into his diminutive frame, remembering how his thirst for knowledge had brought him to the great stone pillars in the world before this one. They had met there, the pull from the ruins a strange and mystic force; they never did discover what it was, but perhaps it served nothing else except to bring them together. The gods worked in mysterious ways, after all.

He was as pleased as she anticipated. Valeska knew that Kye often had an accomplice in her wanton desecration of their temple, and mentioning her name probably gave him ideas for further mischief. "Yes; I thought Kye was deer and tried to hunt her, but thankfully did not deliver killing bite," she said ominously, painting a much different picture from what had actually occurred. In reality, it was doubtful the pale wolf could even reach her neck to deliver such a blow. "We parted to find snacks, and here I have found you. Almost everyone! Amara was near me when I awoke, and we have been searching for others since."

The teenager sat puzzling over the turn of events, describing the collapse of the ruin around him; he still did not seem convinced he was dead, and Valeska didn't have the heart to argue the point further. He seemed so pale and ghostly already, picturing him as the real spirit of a lost child made her heart hurt. She let it go.

"Maybe, or maybe we run... ran, really, really fast, and do not remember," she offered in a more lighthearted tone, not wanting to worry him further. "As for Harper... have not found yet, but Amara summoned not long ago in howl for meeting up. Could only hear distant words, but she has found place? New place. Away from the sun, I think, which sounds much better. Wish to come and see with me? We pick up Kye along way, she is in woods nearby looking for snack."[/narrow]


+1 Formation Points

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#7
04-18-2021, 11:13 PM
He snickered at the thought of Valeska “hunting” Kye. Although stockier, the silver female was just a hair larger than he was, so the image of the silver woman attempting to tackle the lanky female to the ground is one that he wished he had been there to see.

It was disconcerting to hear that they had not yet found Harper, but they were an optimistic little group, and Gwyn was not about to let worry set in when Valeska was here, telling him that they had almost reunited their entire pack, despite losing everything. “She must be here, too. We’ll find her.” He nodded, though whether it was to reassure himself or Valeska was uncertain. Whatever force had brought - or left - them here, it wasn’t working too hard to keep them apart. They had found most of Elysium already, so Harper had to be around somewhere, waiting to be found.

The boy bounced back to his feet - he never was able to sit still for too long, always fidgeting, ready for the next adventure. He shook out his pelt to dispel some of his nervous energy before looking back to Valeska with his tail waved behind him, held high in his excitement. “Let’s go!”

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