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!

P
I've done it now, it's too bleedin' late.


Morning Partly Cloudy
#1
P
Adventurer
06-12-2022, 02:12 PM
How fun would it be to catch a deer right on Elkshire's borders?

Tavra entertained the idea as she slunk around the wisteria woodland, sniggering quietly to herself as she imagined the Queen's face. The morbid streak in her fancied smearing its blood across tree trunks and earth alike, perhaps setting up a creepy shrine in the forest for she and her kind to find. She wondered if it'd unsettle them, if it'd make them heave, though she knew in reality that they'd be livid. To kill a creature of cloven hoof was probably akin to murdering one of Célnes' babes, and the last thing Tavra needed as a nomad was to have another bounty on her head.

So she gave the Crown a wide berth, keen to keep a low profile despite her grim thoughts. Tavra sniffed around, recalling how she'd often patrolled the area on behalf of her former Alphess. It was a land she knew well enough, she felt, though she remained alert for any of Elkshire's own who might take offence to her presence.


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#2
06-12-2022, 02:27 PM
The Elk had brought him here of all places. The prince's nose curled as he wished the herd would move to their next location, away from this blasted place and onto better lands. But he was brought here for a reason... the High Elk worked in mysterious ways and this was no different. As much as he hated it... he had to follow His will. Not everything He did would be cloaked in comfort after all.

He was too young to remember the woman and all the issues brought on last year by former Elkshire members. The mass crowd left for personal reasons. But he was curious as to why she was here slinking around the woods. She didn't smell of Elkshire, but was she planning on joining?

The boy made no effort to cloak himself, nor to approach the woman as she slunk around the woods, but instead would stare and watch... curious as to what she was doing and if it was worth his time to investigate.

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#3
Adventurer
06-12-2022, 02:49 PM
Tavra could hear birds twittering among the canopy above, though she dared not raise her eyes in search of them. To allow her focus to shift would present a moment of opportunity for any stalkers who might be in the area. She needed to be prepared for anything, be it an assault or a simple interception. Having chosen the life of a loner, at least until she could make something worthwhile of her own, Tavra knew she needed to be more careful.

Despite honing her senses on the surroundings, the dragoness was unprepared for the appearance of a greyscale figure. She jumped with a surprise yip on noticing him gawking her way, fur standing on end like a startled cat, and bore her fangs toward him. “Fuck,” she barked, copper eyes narrowed as she studied him from across the distance she wished to maintain. Not only did his sex offend her but he did not look well at all, as was clear from the protruding ribs that stood out clearly from his side. “You sick or something?”

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#4
Visionary
06-12-2022, 02:57 PM (This post was last modified: 08-08-2022, 05:17 PM by Aldritch. Edited 1 time in total.)
He didn't flinch or move as her eyes spotted him. As teeth were shown defensively against him, or the foul language being tossed his way. Only a single shadowed ear tilted back as he listened to the hooves of his herd wander away from the threatening woman who cast hated stares their way. Good, he thought to himself. They will be safer somewhere else than here right now. He would just follow them later.

“No.” A simple answer to her pointed question. He knew the way he looked, but it was all just a test. Just to see how far his faith is in Him would take him before the endless rewards would come flooding in for his devotion. It will all make sense in the end. “Do you plan on joining Elkshire?” It was his turn to pose a question.

Perhaps his task today was to save this woman from joining the pack who made a mockery of His name. A soul who he was here to save from His wrath that was being prepared to smite the false acolytes.

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#5
Adventurer
06-12-2022, 03:09 PM
He barely even moved, just kept gawking at her. His eyes on her triggered something feral within, but Tavra resisted the urge to clack her fangs his way. Should he belong to Elkshire in any way, to make a threat against him could be dangerous in such close proximity to the ground. So the dragoness steeled herself, simmering in her place with a low rumble, metallic gaze fixed to the stranger's scrawny features.

“What the hell is Elkshire?” Tavra asked in response, playing dumb. She knew exactly what Célnes' pack stood for and she would rather gouge her own eyeballs out than assume another of their ranks. Being entirely alone, however, and in the company of this kid whose loyalties were unknown, she dared not admit her former alliance.


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#6
Visionary
06-12-2022, 03:33 PM (This post was last modified: 08-08-2022, 05:17 PM by Aldritch. Edited 1 time in total.)
“A pack of heathens.” He couldn't tell she was lying, he had no reason to suspect it. He was here to save her, and save her he will. “They have lost their way and worship false Gods alongside the Elk. Their queen lies to further her own desires, I suggest finding a home elsewhere.” He had no reason to lie to her, at least he didn't think he was lying. To Aldritch he spoke nothing but the truth. He harsh, unforgiving truth. What Célnes couldn't do due to her greed.

“At least until they find their way.” Because of course he wanted to see Elkshire flourish again. To watch it grow into the righteous pack it was meant to be. It was his home after all, his family, and he would work his whole life if he must to fix what their mother had done.

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#7
Adventurer
06-12-2022, 04:11 PM
His response surprised her, and as soon as the words left his lips she felt as though a great weight had been lifted from her back. Tavra straightened her posture, content in an instant that this scrawny boy held no allegiance to Célnes and her kin. They were a proud breed, so what elk-worshipper would ever dub another as "heathen".

She could also clearly see that the kid was a freak, too. Tavra wondered if perhaps he'd tried to join the wolves of the Crown and been rejected, and it was his own lust for vengeance that rooted him to their bordering lands.

How long would it be before Célnes dispatched an assassin to eradicate him?

“Lies, huh?” Tavra had experienced that herself, but faked interest, “good thing I ran into you to warn me, then!”

He was fucking creepy. The russet Mayfair had an automatic aversion to religious nuts, but she figured she'd entertain him for a time - especially if he could provide informationthat might prove useful. “I don't plan on finding a pack any time soon, but I'm curious - if you've got a problem with Elkshire, why do you hang around?”


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#8
Visionary
06-12-2022, 06:17 PM
For once someone was thankful. Thankful to him. For his intervening before they were brought too deeply into her clutches. He'd smile and feel good if he wasn't so far gone already. So retreated into himself and was blind to what happiness was to let the sunshine in. So while she exclaims her thankfulness, the brightness and cheeriness of her were almost offputting. Strange even especially when such bright eyes were aimed at him.

He must have brought me here to try and save you.” It would always be the High Elk working through him, through others, through what some might call "luck" or misfortune. It all had a reason. One piece of a big puzzle the High Elk was putting together. “I don't like being here... but I will if His plan requires me to.” He spoke softly... perhaps too much so as he wasn't accustomed to being spoken to in such a... Normal? Way? It was as if he was mostly speaking to himself, but just loud enough for the woman to hear all the while answering her question.

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#9
Adventurer
06-12-2022, 06:31 PM (This post was last modified: 06-12-2022, 06:59 PM by Tavra. Edited 2 times in total.)
Tavra had no idea who "He" might be, and she thought she might as well ask. She could pretend to be interested in whatever bullshit the ashen idiot wanted to tell her, but she didn't want to root herself there for any longer than she needed to. Most notably, she couldn't give a flying fuck about whoever he thought controlled him.

She was willing to bet that the voices in his head told him to say or do things.

“So,” the dragoness dared a few steps forward, figuring that the weird kid was of no real threat to her, though she did not want to be too close to him, “tell me more about the Queen's lies. Maybe I can share your warning on my travels.”


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#10
Visionary
06-12-2022, 06:44 PM (This post was last modified: 08-08-2022, 05:17 PM by Aldritch. Edited 1 time in total.)
The woman approached, and he didn't do much in response other than just watch and wonder why. Pulling his head back, the boy straightened himself out. Almost surprised that he was taller than her. Normally he was the shorter one, looking up at others who stared down the barrel of their noses at him. Who judged his size, health and colouration but this time, he was looking down. Truly, without effort on his side.

In a moment his spine curled. The strange woman approaching almost made the young prince uncomfortable in his own damn skin which made the lad buckle. Lowering his own head to a height he was most comfortable with, most accustomed to when speaking with others. Looking down on others was reserved for heathens, and she, well, was being saved. “She speaks for the High Elk... making up new laws and acceptions to fit her needs, but it's against His will. She creates false Gods in His image and lures them all down the wrong path.”

“Allowing and birthing the tainted and stained to join.” Ones like this one... with white coating a side of her - and though this woman had much of it, it was... acceptable to a certain degree. She was still cursed as well, and though if it were him, she would not be living among them. Among the Elk, but taught their ways to save her future. “She dooms Elkshire with her falsities.”

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#11
06-12-2022, 06:58 PM (This post was last modified: 06-12-2022, 06:58 PM by Tavra.)
“Oh, I see. 'Tainted and stained'?”

Yep, this one's crazy.

“How do you know all this?”

Absolutely fuckin' crazy.

Tavra lifted her muzzle sharply, flinching a little at a noise off to her left. Copper eyes scanned between the wisteria trunks in search of the source, anxiety blooming in her belly that Elkshire wardens might've spotted her, but it was only a young buck who dragged his antlers through hanging branches.

She huffed a breath, relieved, and returned attention to the sterling youth.


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#12
06-28-2022, 10:05 PM
Though he hated being here, the boy was rather calm. The sudden sound near by didn't make him flinch as it made the woman shudder, and the immediate calm that followed her demur was enough to solidify his tranquility. “Some would call her my mother.” Some, but he was learning to take that vocabulary off of his tongue. “My siblings tell me she replaced us with a new brood of cursed bastards.”

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#13
Counsellor
08-06-2022, 08:09 AM
He was clearly messed up in some way, and Tavra was sure that she detected some scorn in the tone of his voice when he spoke of the "cursed bastards" his mother allegedly replaced him with. She was greatly amused at this, having thought the Queen's first litter were bastards as well. She wondered what made this kid think Célnes' newest brood were beneath him, and was swift to make her own conclusions that he was simply jealous.

A spoiled brat, as she'd long suspected of the Queen's children.

Not wanting to break the act of pretending she was ignorant to all that was Elkshire, Tavra mustered a feigned and sympathetic smile for the boy. “Listen,” she said, “you don't need them. Any of them. You'll do just fine on your own.” Looking at him, scrawny and unkempt, visibly lacking food and sleep and whatever attention he so craved, she wouldn't be surprised if the wilds claimed him over the next few days. “Just 'cause they're family doesn't mean you need to stick around.”


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#14
Visionary
08-08-2022, 05:22 PM
“I know that.” he hisses as she, whatever she was trying to do, spoke of not needing his family. He had left on his own volition after all. Had survived this whole time away with little to no problem - at least in his opinion. He may be thin, but he was healthier than ever. Stronger than they could ever make him all he had to thank was the High Elk to have shown him a path away from their false light and onto the righteous path.

“I didn't come for a lecture. Only to save you from them.” And he had done just that. Hopefully, she would stay away from their lies and false religion now that he had shared his own experience and beliefs of the kingdom that had fallen from grace. “May He bless you.” Were his parting words. Though she too was tainted with white, there was still a glimmer of hope according to the rest of her pelt. Two sides of the same coin, but which side would she fall on to?

He wouldn't stay to figure it out and faded into the woods away from Elkshire's borders.

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#15
Paladin
Counsellor
08-08-2022, 06:24 PM (This post was last modified: 08-08-2022, 06:33 PM by Tavra. Edited 2 times in total.)
He sharpened all of a sudden, soured by her feigned interest in his wellbeing, and the wildfire sneered. Maybe his mother had failed She glared up into his stupid grey face, at the sunken orange eyes that stared right back at her, and she bristled at the fucking audacity of him. Seemed it was alright for him to lecture her with all his religious crap, then throw a fit when she attempted to offer an anecdote. “Well,” Tavra started coolly, “now that you've "saved me", you can take your High Elk and shove it right up your shitter.”

He wasn't special. He'd been doomed from the beginning for not fitting the Queen's idea of perfection, then made more so by his idiotic mother's stupid teachings about elk Gods and prophecies meant only to scare puppies. Tavra snorted in amusement as the boy "blessed" her, and boldly pursued him for a brief time with her tail flagged - to show that he hadn't intimidated her, and that she saw through his bullshit. When he did not snap at her or even bark the defensive reaction she sought, the rogue veered away to resume her own prowlings.


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