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!

Film the whole thing

#1
Discovery
03-11-2021, 04:20 PM (This post was last modified: 03-11-2021, 06:15 PM by Bronco. Edited 1 time in total.)
When dawn broke, Bronco realized he had spent the night more or less out in the open- sheltered by a small, bent and hardy tuckamore tree- on the upper ranges where he'd been able to fall asleep under the stars. The view of the sky above him, at night, had been just as splendid as his view of the land. With no light pollution, he could watch the stream of stars within the milky way, and follow the movements of the planets. The moon made an arc across the sky, temporarily flooding the mountainside with pale light, before it fell back into darkness again. 

A gentle breeze wound its way over the open, relatively exposed parts of the mountain he'd chosen to spend the night in, and his next task was to find a water source in the area that wasn't completely frozen over. 

The first stream he would find was wedged down in a ravine, too snug and narrow for him to reach it and the stream was frozen over anyway. He meandered along until he found another, yet again settled into the mountain's shoulder like an injury sliced into flesh, but this one was running. In the early morning light, it had begun to warm up, causing the snow to melt. So he picked his way carefully down the icy rocks to get a drink from the fresh spring.
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#2
Discovery
03-11-2021, 06:51 PM
The matriarch had been following the meandering spring water to see where it might lead. She had only just begun to do so, and before long there came the familiar face of Bronco. Her tail waved and she chuffed lowly to greet him, pleased to see him once again. His company was easy to keep, and she never minded it. She looked to see the clear waters running over moss, stone, and pebble. It looked refreshing, and the matriarch, while not particularly thirsty, went to wet her palette. 

Refreshed, and licking her jowls to prevent any excess water drip from her chin, she looked back to him with a wave of her tail. “Find anything new?” She asked good-naturedly, wondering what else he might have discovered between the time she had seen him last. and now. This spring was new to her, and she imagined it might lead them to new places.

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#3
Discovery
03-11-2021, 07:06 PM
Like him it seemed that Hydra was still scouting their new mountain home, looking to discover all the secrets that it had. He remained where he was, as he was currently standing with one paw on a different stone, and with a thin layer of ice on them, it was a bit slippery. He nodded, to answer her question, but figured he might as well try and avoid the inevitable slip, and started collecting his feet, inching toward a spot of ground where it was snowy and safe on the bank. "This is the second spring I've found in this area," He said. "The other one's frozen, though, and it's even narrower than this one." He said. 

The stream in question flowed through a still narrow rockbed, and appeared to have emerged from the heart of the mountain itself. The water likely came from snowmelt, he thought, and perhaps from an underground stream. The stones along the stream's edges were smoothe, and below the surface they were smaller and smoother still- a sign that the spring had existed for a very long time, and had worn the stones down. "I bet you anything this'll lead to a waterfall, though," He said.
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#4
03-11-2021, 07:33 PM
Licking her chops as he carefully made his way back to the snow laden bank, Hydra shifted her weight as she procured his findings in her minds eye. She did not have much interest in the frozen spring at present, though would take time to investigate it for herself at some point regardless in the spirit of knowing all the nooks and crannies this place had to offer. But as he made mention of this place leading to a waterfall, this captured her interest more. 

Was that so? Hydra was not certain, but found she desired to learn all the more about where this waterway might lead to. “We ought to find out,” she invited, taking some odd steps toward him before playfully nipping at his hindquarters and heading in the direction her nose revealed he had not come from when following the spring. 

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#5
Discovery
03-11-2021, 07:55 PM
This way and that way, the streambed wound its way through the mountains down a path it had been traversing for years and years. The water was fresh and cool and clear, and even the ice that remained on the stones along its edges looked as though they'd been coated in a clear layer of glass. He wondered, but doubted, that many fish would live this high up the mountain, where he suspected the water would freeze in the depths of winter. But he suspected too that small things like newts and salamanders might like living in the gentle flow of the stream, even if the altitude was a bit high.

As they meandered along, the stream began to widen a bit, and the water seemed to be fuelled by more of the snowmelt it picked up along the way. Given the fact they weren't hunting prey or trying to be stealthy, he was able to lope along the opposite bank from Hydra for some time, before it began to widen. Wisely, he chose to cross, splashing through the cool, clear waters as he did so, so that he did not get separated from her and be forced to cross if the waters became too wide or wild. The more they moved along, the more he felt confident they would reach a waterfall; the stream continued to gather speed, and became deeper from what he could see as well. While it still coiled this way and that against the stony banks, it began to show signs of agitation as the waters began to quicken. He quickened his pace along with it, bounding along the shore with Hydra as they playfully scouted the stream in hopes of seeing it fall off the edge of the mountain in a waterfall.
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#6
Discovery
03-11-2021, 09:12 PM
Hydra moved in long-legged strides, tongue lolling to keep her own temperature regulated as they moved. Now and then Hydra would pause to investigate the underbrush nearby, but before long she would return to the task at hand. The matriarchs tail swayed as he crossed the waters, the current slow and rolling at the point that he had, and as she progressed forward she looked then to see if there was anything within these waters. Here, it seemed not to be so—no fishing at this juncture, then. 

The longer they traveled, the more power the running water seemed to collect. The water seemed to collide into itself, and roll effortlessly over larger boulders stuck in the midst of its wide mouth. And soon, a now familiar churning that indicated Bronco was indeed correct; while land continued left, and right, the water collided to fall over the edge nearby, where a gully had been created below by it. “Would you look at that,” she drawled, her tail swaying behind her.

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#7
Discovery
03-11-2021, 09:17 PM (This post was last modified: 03-11-2021, 09:17 PM by Bronco.)
The snow became softer as they ran along, descending the slope to where he could see the jagged knife's edge of Dragonsteeth as it stood as a protective boundary between their mountain home and the outside world. The trees they ran past slowly became taller and straighter, a sign that the ground was full of nutrients and that the wind potentially didn't push quite so hard against the ones further up the mountain.

He could hear it in the distance; the rushing of water as it fell, and he lifted his gaze to peer through the trees as they sped by only to see up ahead the cerulean of the sky at the end of the landscape. He slowed his pace, coming to a stop when they reached their vantage point, overlooking the water as it fell from the cliffs and down into a long, deep gorge that had been created over time with the water wearing down the softer layers of earth.

”Told ya so!” He said with a laugh. "I hereby name this: The Broncofalls," He boasted jokingly.
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#8
03-15-2021, 05:36 PM
“The Broncofalls, hm?” Hydra drawled, tone amused as she looked to him briefly. Should he say it enough, she was sure it would catch... and truth be told, she had no better name for it then and there. In the creativity department, she was sorely lacking. Looking back to the gorge, she observed along it the place where she could imagine the pack congregating... and prey, too. The water was not so rough there, and Hydra wondered what her eye was not catching from the places the cliffs alongside it obscured. 

Tail swaying, Hydra hummed, “I suppose you won that bet then,” though they hadn't officially hedged any. “What will it be for lunch, then?” She drawled, knowing he quite enjoyed food and that this was as rewarding a thing as any. Plus, she too was hungry at this point from the miles they had logged... perhaps they could find a sizable thing to split between the two of them. Turning to depart—and with a mind to investigate the gorge later—Hydra intended to lead the way, and track whatever it was Bronco's heart desired.

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#9
03-16-2021, 01:11 AM
He grinned. It wasn't as though he would use that name for the falls, nor would he likely bring it up to anyone else except for Hydra, as he was a fairly modest wolf and would have been embarassed had Hydra decided to officially name the area after him. So he shrugged and shook his head, content to shelve the idea of giving such a beautiful area such a ridiculous name, and perked his ears when she mentioned they should go and find something to eat. 

"Anything," He said, licking his lips, and turning around to pad after her. "Y'know I bet we could prolly find a warren of rabbits somewhere near the Dragonsteeth," He suggested, as they continued on, following her as the led the way for them to find their next meal together.
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