[species] Canii

[alakin1]

Canii

Type: Bipedal wolves.

Place of Origin: Carius Prime.

Diseases Prone To: Most Human diseases, excluding cancer and malaria, and also Sahgi, which causes the natural poison created in their bodies to poison the Canii instead of simply coating the spines.

Unique Attributes: Toxic quills running down their spines. Genetic abilities, such as becoming invisible and growing wings.

Natural Abilities: Keen sight, smell and hearing. Toxic spines, claws, nimble, able to expel their quills in a wide circle around them.

Technological Status: Advanced in some areas, such a genetics, temporal technology and machinery (not robotics though.) Quite basic in other areas.

Diet: Omnivore.

Description: Canii are bipedal wolves. Their fur is always one of 3 colours, one of which is only found in Clan leaders, black, grey and white (only found in Clan leaders). They have a row of toxic spikes that runs down from their neck to their tail, the toxic spikes usually face down, but always face upwards if they are Innate Canii (magical Canii). Their eyes can be any colour but are usually, red, yellow, grey, green or blue. All Canii have permanately sharp teeth, that never fall out and are as hard of steel, they also have claws, though the size varies from only a centimetre long or so, to ten centimetres. There are 3 types of Canii, normal Canii, Innate Canii, that can use ancient magic, usually limited to what Clan they belong to, but are treated as scum, and Clan Canii, Canii marked out as Clan leaders by genetic talents and white fur.

Society: Canii society is fairly primitive. All the Canii live in Clans, there are 10 different clans, the Gigorx, the Hajakan, the Ormian, the Yager, the Lanpiw, the Qesantor, the Bajeza, the Uione, the Naviro and the Jivax. Most of the Clans are at peace with each other, apart from the Uione and the Yager, who's leaders despise each other and, because of this, have caused decades of deaths. Each of the Clans has its own hieracharchy, such as the Qesantor caste system or the Gigorx feudal system. Once every two years all the leaders of the Clans meet on the mountain of Jantewa to discuss various issues between each Clan and come to an agreement, these meetings can take severals days or even weeks to finally come to a fair agreement. The 10 Clans each symbolise a different aspect of Canii life.
Gigorx: Pride.
Hajakan: Curiosity.
Ormian: Emotions.
Yager: War/Death.
Lanpiw: Belief.
Qesantor: Time.
Bajeza: Power.
Uione: Peace/Life.
Naviro: Love.
Jivax: Hate.
Outside the Clans there also exists a group of scientists named the Zedikin Syndicate. They believe that genetic modification, outlawed by all the Clan leaders as dangerous, is the only 'true' way of advancing the race forward.

Religion: The Canii worship thousand of gods, they have gods for everything, machines, trees, even hair, and religion plays a large part in ordinary Canii's lives, it is next to impossible to find atheists in Canii society. All the Canii worship the same gods but each Clan has its own patron god and unique gods. Though there are literally millions of gods, Canii all worship five major gods, called the 'Egapai' (Canii for hidden). The Egapai are the first five gods born in Canii mythology, they are;

Saior: The Earth. The First. Saior created Carius Prime and gave birth to Orhia, to who she gave the task of peopling Carius to. She is the most important goddess for all Canii. Her name signifies 'She Who Walks In Life'.

Orhia: The Creator. The Second. Orhia was born without male intervention from Saior. Saior gave him the task of creating the dominant species of Carius to. According to popular belief, Orhia couldn't choose what the species he had to create would look like, so he looked at other species among the universe, he found Earth (the Human Earth) and saw a wolf. He believed the wolf to be 'a divine creature, for it was proud and beautiful, yet not reckless or foolish' (Sayings of Orhia, verse 125) and decided to create a wolf-like race. He created the Canii and was given rulership of them from Saior. He refused saying that 'A crown on a head, is a weight. I created them to live, not to be ruled by gods' (Sayings of Orhia verse 231) but instead taught them the secrets of technology. His name signifies 'Wisdom Of The Wheel'.

Zonoa: The Lover. The Third. Some Canii myths say that Zonoa was born from heart of a Canii, as it stop beating, others say that she was born from the love of one Canii towards another. Zonoa is the goddess of love, peace and happiness. Orhia and gave birth to Haue and many other minor deities. She is well-loved by all Canii, except for the Yager, who's entire society is built on war and hatred. She also gave birth to Agaya, when she was raped by a minor god, born from Saior, whose existence was utterly removed by Haue, on the demand of Saior. Her name signifies 'The Not-Goddess' referring to the fact that she wasn't born from Saior, the First or any other Deities.

Haue: The Sage. The Fourth. Haue is the child of Orhia and Zonoa. Saior gave him the task of creating the animals and plants of Carius, a task which he performed with much care, ('Creation is no little thing. To create is to give life, without care and attention you can easily deform creation and befoul life.' Words of Haue, verse 193) He taught the Canii writing and gave them the gift of will. ('I give you, people of Orhia, the power of thought, the wish of freedom, and the will of stone.' Words of Haue, verse 385.) He is said to keep a tablet, enscribed with the names of all the deities and all the mortals of Carius, with which he can destroy their existence. His name signifies 'Father Of Thought'.

Agaya: The Dead-Queen. The Fifth. Agaya was born from the rape of Zonoa by a minor god. She was given the task of creating the Underworld and rulership over it. She is said to welcome each dead soul personally, and judge if they are pure enough to enter Gweroan, Heaven, or to wander the universe as a ghost for the rest of time. Despite her role as queen of the Underworld and goddess of Death, Agaya is pictured as a kind deity. She married Yemii, the god of Fire, and gave birth to Piqer, goddess of death-beds, Jerbin, god of Volcanoes and Geotik, god of souls. Her name signifies 'Lady Of The Dead Darkness.'

The Canii gods have no power beyond Carius Prime, and must possess mortals to have any sort of power when they act outside of Carius.

Unbeknownst to the Canii, the gods are in fact just a race of shapeshifters with amazingly powerful psionic powers. They created the Canii and gave the first ten of them some of their psionic power. They then sat back and watched the Canii evolve, interfering now and, posing as gods, to prevent the Canii from killing themselves in a massive war, or to take away promising 'subjects'. Their goal was to see if after thousands of years of breeding, the Canii's partial psionic power would develop itself further, into fuller powers. While their experiment was a success, the Canii evolving into three distinct branches, one that had almost no psionic power, one that had partial psionic powers, such as invisibility, and a third that had full psionic powers, and were rejected by the Canii's for it, the 'gods' didn't leave Carius Prime, the reason being that the planet was the only place they could use their psionic power, due to something hidden in the planet's core. Outside of Carius, they only have the power of possession, and that only works on unconscious people. But once they have possessed someone they have some stronger powers. They do not wish for any Canii to leave Carius and live on a different planet, and hunt down any permanent leavers. The Zedikin Syndicate poses a threat to the shapeshifter-scientists, due to the fact that the Zedikin aren't as credulous as their kin. They mess with genetics which could put their experiment in jeopardy and have already discovered one of the 'gods' space stations, which were all abandoned long ago and hidden with psionic cloaking, and now know that some race had been watching the Canii.


Laws:All Canii respect 4 basic laws, given to them by Hui'Ana, goddess of law and justice, but each Clan has their own set of rules.

1.All Canii shalt respect the Deities.

2.Possession is the affairs of the Deities, not of mortals.

3.Immortality is achievable through kind deeds.

4.All Canii shalt respect the laws of their leaders.