News Feed [Announcements]

Phase 2 of the BWP is now Active
Heavy storming is now in place. Thunder and lightning are frequent these days, but not constantly present. You almost forget what it was like to feel the sun. Landslides, flash flooding, and general water pooling are occurring across territories, potentially forcing groups to evacuate their claims in search of drier, more stable land. Trees may lose their grounding, bringing additional hazards and potential dams to keep an eye on. Loners may try to band temporary (unofficial) groups or seek shelter with packs for safety and support.
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Starting Nov. 1st Canis will be kicking off NaNoWriMo! For details, please read the event posted here.
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Two prizes have been added to the NaNoWriMo prize pool.

• 1 Chibi — provided by Sentinel
  
• 1 Bust — provided by Sentinel
  

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Hello all, sorry for the back and forth. With Anhamartis disbanding, Bloodroot Hollow has been moved back to its original intended location for ease once the map can be updated. (This also means it's not horribly incorrect on the current map page, just on the other side of its current borders.) For IC play, this change will be played out with the territory suddenly moving. Any characters in the location will notice the change next time they venture out. All threads moving forward will be in reference to the current (and ideally last) move. Below is a view of the map, completely updated to display all territories, including those that are being discovered. Thank you!


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Hello, we are aware that pack colors and some changes have been reverted due to an error when the newest pack was added. Please be patient with us while we fix it coding wise!
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Don’t forget you must reply to the NaNo thread to be counted on the leaderboard! Players will not be entered for donated prizes or awarded achievements from the event without your entry.  If you decide to join late, no worries, our automatic word tracking is working in the background at all times, meaning if you haven’t turned it on yet, you haven’t lost any progress from this month!
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Congratulations to Victus for forming and stabilizing! <3
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One scene based painting has been added to the NaNoWriMo prize pool by Sylph
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The following has been added to the NaNoWriMo prize pool
 

• 1 64x64 Pixel Sprite — provided by Tesla
  
• 1 ‘Silly Goober’ sketch — provided by Tesla
  

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We are entering Phase 3 of the BWP
At last, the storm begins to break. Rain reduces to a drizzle, and water sources have begun to return to normal levels, allowing previously covered or inaccessible land to be traveled through as the damage is assessed. For once, it feels as though your pelt can fully dry again, and there is hope of brighter days ahead.
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There has been an adjustment to our NaNoWriMo rules

Threading solely with yourself or repeating large chunks of another player's written speech, this is viewed as cheating. A short indication/repetition of another's written speech is fine to denote what your character is reacting to.

This has been adjusted regarding self-threading. Self-threading is permitted, given that the player is still doing all of the work to accumulate word count, so long as the player is not repeating chunks of previously written actions/speech. The rule now reads as follows

Repeating large chunks of another player's written speech or threading with yourself to repeat chunks of speech/actions, this is viewed as cheating. A short indication/repetition of another's written speech is fine to denote what your character is reacting to.

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Today is the last day to gain wordcount for Nano! Counting will stop in each player's time zone, so be mindful of your posting time as it is automatic. Prizes will be announced tomorrow!
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We are entering the final phase of our BWP!
The rain has finally stopped, but the earth is still suffering. Now is the time for territories to fully dry out and territories to be reclaimed, but the damage is done. Groups may need to spend time rebuilding anything they have lost from caches to dens and everything in between. This is an overall debris cleanup and restoration phase as life starts to return to normal, but what has happened will not soon be forgotten.

Please take this opportunity to bring some closure to your characters and/or groups, and ensure you submit your threads to earn points toward our secret prize goal!

Also, NaNoWriMo has come to a close! Please check the event thread for the final tally and prize winners.
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Please work on submitting any threads you might have for BWP engagement! I will be chipping away at submissions in the remaining days of December. We will be wrapping up the event with the new year, after which points will no longer be added, but threads can be finished. Thank you!
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Happy Holidays, friends! In an effort to make the discord & forum as similar as possible, two minor OOC threads have been added for player usage:

Spree Requests: https://canismajor-rpg.com/showthread.php?tid=1735
Stall Notices: https://canismajor-rpg.com/showthread.php?tid=1736

We belatedly realized that some of our players who don't utilize the discord server would probably like the same ability to post little notices for either situation. Enjoy! <3
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Happy New Year, everyone! Our BWP is officially over. I will be tallying the remaining points today and will announce the results later today. Submissions are now closed at this time, and further threads will not be tallied.
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Hello hello sorry for the long wait. The final results of the BWP are in! After three months of torrential downpour and the aftermath of the floods, I'm happy to announce that we have filled the BWP engagement meter! In fact, we blew it out with a whopping 145/100 points, but not quite enough to activate any kind of stretch goal (maybe next time). As promised, the site as a whole will be getting a hefty, long-awaited feature coming soon! Details will come next month, so stay tuned!!!

A couple of shout-outs

Achievements
BWP Survivalist — Survived a BWP (Levels up at 1x, 5x, and 10x) Must have earned at least 5 engagement points.
— @sentinel @Aso @Sylph @Tesla @gutz @van
Unlucky — Had a character die or receive a permanent injury from a BWP or Desync Event
— @van

These will take some time to fully implement, but staff are keeping track, so no fear. You will get your shiny badge in time.

BWP thread highlight
Shout out to Hrafnsvatkin for probably experiencing the worst of the BWP! A whole amputation yikes... Go read it here

Most engagement
The following contributed the most points to the engagement meter!
@van with 38 points
@sentinel with 34 points
@Aso with 31 points

Enjoy your no longer soggy doggies
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Hello hello! For those on discord, you’ll want to open the link to read more. Trust us, the reading is worth it. Tomorrow will be the kick off of our annual Valentine’s event. If you weren’t here last year or forgot how it works, details will be posted tomorrow with the opening of Mapenzi.

As promised, we have some news for you all regarding our newest feature! But before we get to that we want to take the time to address little things and introduce a new staff member! Well, new is a bit of a stretch. @sentinel has been helping out with bugs, minor code updates, and other button pressing behind the scenes, but it’s time we slap a proper label on him. Starting today Sen will be a full member of the staff!

For transparency, we know there’s been some stagnant water regarding features and updates on site. Our main coder has been hard to reach for some time due to busy RL work stuff and the staff are assessing options on how we proceed. This means we still have no ETA on a properly updated map or minor features such as achievements or ranks but we promise we are working behind the scenes. It just takes a bit longer as canis has a lot of complicated integration we don’t want to break in the process.

But in the meantime, I’m sure you’re ready to hear what’s new, and we know this has been long-awaited!

After the events of the BWP, Astra has noted the pain and torment everyone suffered, and with thematic timing, they have chosen to give back to those in the world in hopes of breathing back some of the light and love into those mortal down below. An altar has appeared at each of the magic locations in canis!

To those who travel, these altars definitely were not there before, and it may even feel as though there is a pull to them. Perhaps you had a dream calling you and your loved ones to ones of these locations. A strong sense of binding or duty. Whatever gods you pray to, perhaps it is worth answering the call.

Magic aided breeding is now accessible.

Yes, this is exactly what it sounds like and before you hop over to read the specifics, this does mean same sex couples (amongst many other types of wanting parents) may now have biological children! As this is a new feature there may be some tweaks to how it works as it is tested and used (along with ideally an eventual automatic coding solution), but for now, please bear with us if you find anything clunky! Staff may ask for feedback once this system has been regularly used.

Happy February!
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Our Valentine's Event has begun! Read more here
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Quick update regarding AI content usage and the prohibition of it added to our rules: https://canismajor-rpg.com/misc.php?action=help&hid=8
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Reminder: There is one week remaining to create new mapenzi threads!
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Hi everyone please take the time to reply to our member survey! https://forms.gle/N7jh1LSbuVgUtZXp8

Full transparency, we know there are some elephants in the room and the staff want to prioritize our efforts to make some changes. This survey will help guide our discussions and where we start so hopefully the changes you want to see come sooner rather than later. All entries are anonymous by default, but if you would like to potentially engage in further conversation with staff leave your name at the end and we will reach out if we need to dive into any specific response further!

Thank you (:
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As a heads up, we are slowly rolling out two new discord roles and how our discord works.

You will soon notice two new categories on the member list (providing that there are online members in the role):
Lurker - As the name implies, these are people who are not writing with us at the moment. Lurkers will be pinged quarterly for interest and MUST react to the message to stay in the server or they will be removed. Anyone removed is free to rejoin as their time permits using the link in our Rulebook. Players who have joined on site but no longer have active characters will also be moved to the lurker role. Lurkers have access to OOC channels minus opt in channels such as 18+ and vent, as well as access to site questions and design approval in the IC area. This will allow lurkers to feel out the community and ask questions if they are debating joining, as well as allow people on hiatus to stay in touch.

Artist - We have some artists in the server who do not plan to join the site. They are neither lurking, nor members, but are interested in existing in an artist space. This role will give artists access to #chit-chat as well as the voice call and artist station to promote their art and stream.

We will be doing something similar for player accounts on site in the coming weeks. No one should be locked out of their own content as players are free to toggle character status into active and hiatus at will, but it will help reflect the active status of our member base as well as add a layer of privacy to our active members.

If you are wrongly moved to lurking status, please reach out to our staff or make a thread in site questions! Many of us do not have the same OOC name as our discord handle meaning if we can not find your OOC name/handle on site you may be moved to lurker if we do not know where you stand!

Thank you for understanding
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Based on member feedback and recent site activity, the staff have made the decision to adjust our activity timers.

As the rulebook stands, staff move NPC characters to Hiatus if they have not been logged into for over 6 months. If the character was not in a group then staff move characters to Hiatus if they have not been logged into for over 3 months. If they were in a group then the character was moved to NPC.

This was extremely generous but did not promote good activity and has led to an abundance of ghost characters with promise filling ranks or stats. This has made canis look more alive than it really is and hinders posting spirit when perceived active characters are not interacting, especially for anyone new trying to enter the game.

Starting today our rules will be as follows:

• Unaffiliated characters (Loners) who are not logged into for over 2 months will be put on Hiatus.
  
• Characters in groups who are not logged into for over 2 months will be put on NPC. After a month on NPC with no log in, the character will be set on Hiatus. (3 months total)
  

The exception to this rule is if the character is marked low priority. Low priority will gain the character an extra month for each timer as detailed below:

• Unaffiliated characters (Loners) on low priority who are not logged into for over 3 months will be put on Hiatus.
  
• Characters in groups that are low priority and are not logged into for over 3 months will be put on NPC. After a month on NPC with no log in, the character will be set on Hiatus. (4 months total)
  

As a reminder, canis does not have posting requirements. This check is made based on when an account was last logged into. If you are not logging into an account you are not making an effort to be present with that character. Any player can avoid being removed with a simple check in, or rejoin at any time without staff assistance.

From your character account, visiting User Links > Character status will give you the option to set your character between Active, NPC, and Hiatus with a click of a button! The Low Priority check box is also below this setting. Please remember to set less active characters to low priority so staff know your activity intentions with each character. We will be updating account status for outstanding characters at the posting of this announcement.

For anyone concerned, we already checked, all packs will still meet minimum requirements to remain standing so this change will not force a group to disband. As a final note, these rules may be adjusted down the line if they do not work for us, but for now we find them reasonable while allowing us to maintain our relaxed air as people with jobs and lives first, writers second. Thank you for understanding and if you have any questions please direct them toward the staff!
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