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!

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To the little bells soft as a psalm


Evening Partly Cloudy
#1
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Adventurer
05-01-2022, 12:29 PM
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#2
Adventurer
05-01-2022, 01:05 PM
Very rarely, Maral would venture beyond the borders of Elkshire territory. She'd always been very much a homebody despite feeling like she didn't particularly belong; the forest was all she'd ever known. Anything beyond was foreign, which in itself was intimidating enough to root her to the lands of her birth.

Since the arrival of new siblings, however, things had felt a little awkward for Maral. The shadow began to set her own boundaries - small ones, like pushing herself to linger for longer periods of time among the woods beyond their claim. When she felt brave enough to extend them, she dared to roam as far as the Jawbone Crag.

What she found there was most unexpected.

Maral paused to observe the movements of an ashen figure as he picked his way through foliage. He was oddly familiar to her from a distance, enough to make her think of the wayward Aldritch, but it couldn't possibly be him. Curious, the young Déorwine began to pursue his trail.


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#3
Adventurer
05-01-2022, 01:12 PM
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#4
05-01-2022, 01:23 PM
She maintained a distance, enough that she thought she might avoid being noticed, but it seemed the ashen rogue's perception was better than she anticipated. When he barked a question her way, Maral halted abruptly and lifted her ears, finding familiarity in his tone.

“Aldritch?” Maral asked at once, dark eyes sweeping over his frame which looked leaner than how she recalled, “is it really you?”


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#5
05-01-2022, 01:28 PM
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#6
05-01-2022, 01:43 PM (This post was last modified: 05-01-2022, 01:44 PM by Maral.)
Despite having been whelped of the same womb, Maral and Aldritch were so fiercely different. She'd been conscious of it from the start, to some extent - as had several of their siblings. She'd been of lesser value since the beginning, since before the tales of ow those bearing unholy porcelain markings were destined to bring shame to their name. How many of the Déorwine brood had made her feel so small and insignificant back then?

Had Aldritch been one of them?

She took in the sight of her wayward brother, confusion in the mahogany of her eyes as he repeated his initial question. Maral didn't really have an answer for it; she swallowed. “Nothing. Everyone's looking for you,” the girl deflected, keen to draw attentionaway from herself, “where did you go?”


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#7
05-01-2022, 01:58 PM
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#8
05-01-2022, 02:08 PM
At his biting remark, Maral flicked her ears back. Her brow pinched and a frown tugged at her muzzle; he was not tainted as she was, so what was it that so wounded Aldritch that she had failed to witness? Feeling anxiety begin to spike at her brother's accusation, the shadow's tongue traced a canine.

She did not bark back. Maral had never been one to argue, and maintained a cool exterior.

“No. And Calhoun is gone, too,” she included, both to remind her sibling that his rebellious decisionto depart did not make him special.


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#9
05-01-2022, 02:39 PM
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#10
05-01-2022, 02:51 PM
She had never been close to any of her siblings, though she had perhaps been fondest of Vermillion. It was with the other white-kissed child that Maral felt she shared most in common with - especially after the suggestion that they were most likely to sin. The shadow remembered her own determination on hearing the tales, and she wondered then if her sister felt the same desire to be someone their mother might someday be proud of.

A wolf meant to prove her prophecy false.

Aldritch's response was cold, and Maral shifted in ger place as she bit back the desire to defend. Her relationship with the Queen was a complicated one. She yearned for love and acceptance, something she wanted to believe she received in fleeting moments - enough to acknowledge how protective she felt over her. Célnes was a deeply complicated mother, but Maral didn't believe she deserved to suffer.

“I-” his questioncaught her off guard, and she didn't feel much like being transparent with him. Maral averted her dark eyes and huffed a sigh, considering her words. “No. I just wanted some space, I guess.” She paused, and dared to seek Aldritch's eyes again, “we have new siblings, Aldritch.”

They are as doomed as I am.


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#11
05-01-2022, 02:59 PM
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#12
05-01-2022, 03:20 PM
He was hardened, made bitter by months of hardship and neglect. Maral observed how his expression made those subtle changes, how he pretended not to care by expressing sharp words and infuriating smirks.

It was a shame they had made no effort to rely on one another when all they'd needed affection as babes, and as they stared at one another she wondered if it was too late to build those bridges. His next snipe confirmed that, indeed, there was no chance of mending a bond that'd never been present to begin with.

She'd never felt any desire to wound him - not even when their mother and Remus putted them against each other as infants, starved and squabbling over scraps of meat. Aldritch did not share her passive nature, clearly, as he sought to spear her right where it hurt. “We never asked to be born,” she lifted her chin, “neither did they.”

It was difficult for her, but after all they'd been through she felt the will to be present for the littlest Déorwines - enough to provide a shred of kindness that she and her own kin had been deprived of as babes.


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#13
05-01-2022, 03:33 PM
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#14
05-01-2022, 03:43 PM (This post was last modified: 05-01-2022, 04:20 PM by Maral.)
She was just a girl. Young, wounded by a life that had been unkind to her, but not weakened enough by it that she'd break. Unwilling to walk away, to admit defeat. Maral felt it, the weight of her burden, each day that she breathed - but it was all she'd ever known.

There was safety and comfort in the familiar.

Aldritch was giving her whiplash. He toyed with her emotions, provoking fear and frustration and longing alike with his bitter tongue followed swiftly by encouragement. Maral blinked, uncertain. The teenage rebellion in her that she'd kept on a tight leash throughout her young life screamed to be free, but she reminded herself of the promise she recently made just as quickly.

She had made her decision long ago, even if it wasn't necessarily the one she wished for herself.

“I know my path,” her voice wavered just a little, and she cleared her throat, “and I will pray to the High Elk that you find yours safely.”

She was just a girl, desperate to be something she could never amount to.

To be more than the alabaster she bore over her heart.


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#15
Visionary
05-01-2022, 03:51 PM
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#16
Discovery
05-01-2022, 04:30 PM
A slave to mother, he said, and the words cut deep - enough for emotion to threaten, to bring about a burning sensation in her eyes. Maral stiffened her pisture again, trying her best to stay afloat with her head held high; she would not give Aldritch the satisfaction of knowing he was responsible for her tears.

Maral knew she could never be anything more than mediocre. She was a simple creature, one who yearned for acceptance and never asked for anything. As she stared after her brother who turned away with poison on his tongue, the shadow held hers; he'd been vicious to her, but it wasn't his fault.

He was damaged, as each of Célnes' imperfect children were. Some, unfortunately, more than the others.

Silence soon enveloped her again, and Maral became aware of the fading evening light. She lifted her gaze and brirfly studied the unforgiving mountain faces, then veered away to begin her return to Elkshire with a lead weight within her breast.


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