I'm planning to join with a very specific character set-up...

[Bees]

...and would, of course, like to hear your criticisms/suggestions, as I'm not sure if I'm breaking any rules.
 
Here are the ideas that I'd like to be checked;

A ship which departed from a dock in what was once the country of Montenegro was beached on the coast of Shiloh hills. While this was intended to be a one-way journey from the beginning, getting stranded away from any major docks left many passengers... disgruntled. The captain of course doesn't care one bit for their feelings, being old and stubborn and having declared herself retired the moment they hit land. Now a small commune of all sorts of foreign canids and other animals has popped up in the area. A kind of diaspora.

My starting PC is the first one to head deeper into the Souls territory. She's a Šarplaninac and a lupeci vetro. She's a kind of opportunistic sleazeball looking to benefit herself and her ego. Also kind of dumb. 
There's a bit of anatomical issue with her non-Lupus forms; 

• Instead of getting bulkier, her secui form is tall and lanky. The mass is there, but it's distributed in a concerning manner. She's got back pains and a slight limp in that form, but the claws, thick fur and large paws are still there. 
  
• Her optime form, meanwhile, is somewhat monkey-like. Digitigrade and bipdeal, but her arms and fingers are disproportionately long and her stance is naturally hunched. She's also not blessed with much of a mane. Permanent butch haircut for her.
  

She's accompanied by a non-lupeci dog of the same breed, a real mountain of fur and muscle. He's her adoptive brother of sorts, in that years ago, she met him and declared him her brother without his consent. He's also kind of dumb and mean, but she talks enough for both of them. He's mostly there to position himself and his mass in-between her and any trouble she gets herself into.

Neither of them speak a lick of English.

There's also an eventual third member of their party, my PC's ortus nephew. His aunt and sort-of-uncle left him behind but he should eventually join them. He's a moody, edgy teenager whose optime form has got the most dashing raven hair. He often poses dramatically against the wind with it. Also kind of dumb.

[Kiri]

Hello! Thanks for supplying details of what you want to do. This makes it a lot easier to address specific things. :)

A ship which departed from a dock in what was once the country of Montenegro...

A ship making a nonstop journey from Montenegro to Nova Scotia is a bit iffy just due to the length of the journey and necessary supplies. The flight distance for this journey would be 6,373 km, so the sea route would be considerably longer since they need to make it out of the Mediterranean Sea and through Gibraltar. Let's round up to 7000 km.

The types of vessels Luperci would be using to sail would probably average 4 and 6 knots over open water, and 3 to 4 knots while working through islands or along coasts (source). 4 knots is 7.4 kph, so 945 hours to go 7000 km, so 40 days of non-stop sailing assuming no difficulties at sea, which is unlikely. 50-60 days is probably more likely, and keeping 2 months of provisions for however many passengers and crew is a lot to pre-stock.

This is why we recommend multiple, shorter journeys.

...was beached on the coast of Shiloh hills.

This would not be allowed since Shiloh Hills is part of Playable Territories. Beaching a ship there would mean all of its crew and passengers are introduced (as NPCs) into territories, especially if they establish a community. This is the case even if you only refer to them generally in posts -- they can't exist on-board officially without being NPCs.

The nearest place off-board for this ship to land is probably northern Maine, where there are several existing player and staff-made communities. It's fine to add your own to the mix, though it may be more realistic for ship passengers to integrate into an existing community than establish a totally new one, depending on where precisely they land.

Instead of getting bulkier, her secui form is tall and lanky. The mass is there, but it's distributed in a concerning manner. She's got back pains and a slight limp in that form, but the claws, thick fur and large paws are still there. Her optime form, meanwhile, is somewhat monkey-like. Digitigrade and bipdeal, but her arms and fingers are disproportionately long and her stance is naturally hunched. She's also not blessed with much of a mane. Permanent butch haircut for her.

This seems to go against the breed's general physical traits, which are large and bulky. Secui and Optime forms should largely match characteristics of the Lupus form; the main difference for most breeds/species is "size equalisation" in Optime form, which minimises the difference in Optime size between species/breeds of varying Lupus sizes. For example, if a coyote is half the size of a wolf in Lupus form, it would not be half the size of a wolf in Optime form.

Getting longer limbs in Optime when the Lupus form is relatively compact doesn't make a ton of sense, imo. The other aspects, such as lack of mane, are fine though.

Rest of this seems fine as well.

[Bees]

A ship making a nonstop journey from Montenegro to Nova Scotia is a bit iffy just due to the length of the journey and necessary supplies. The flight distance for this journey would be 6,373 km, so the sea route would be considerably longer since they need to make it out of the Mediterranean Sea and through Gibraltar. Let's round up to 7000 km. 

The types of vessels Luperci would be using to sail would probably average 4 and 6 knots over open water, and 3 to 4 knots while working through islands or along coasts (source). 4 knots is 7.4 kph, so 945 hours to go 7000 km, so 40 days of non-stop sailing assuming no difficulties at sea, which is unlikely. 50-60 days is probably more likely, and keeping 2 months of provisions for however many passengers and crew is a lot to pre-stock.

This is why we recommend multiple, shorter journeys.

 
Oh I though this went without saying, but the ship did stop in ports before reaching the Souls territories. They hit the Portugal port where they restocked and then headed for Maine. Bad weather forced them to change course for Freetown, hoping the port had been repaired. It wasn't. With nowhere to go they tried to head south, but the storm was at their tails. Rather than risk loss of life the captain beached her ship, miles and miles away from the main port. They left MNE early morning of May 7th and were stranded in the early hours of August 13th. My PC left their village in late August and made her way north towards the Souls territories in early September.

The ship itself is large and primitive, having been manned by four crewmembers. It had room for many travel ratios + eight canid passengers from the original port + two non-edible sheep, one of which provided milk. It picked up another five passengers in Portugal, but two of them + one crew member were lost at sea. Those passengers brought their own provisions and a couple trinkets for the captain, so the food situation only got dire in the last ten days of travel.

This would not be allowed since Shiloh Hills is part of Playable Territories. Beaching a ship there would mean all of its crew and passengers are introduced (as NPCs) into territories, especially if they establish a community. This is the case even if you only refer to them generally in posts -- they can't exist on-board officially without being NPCs.

The nearest place off-board for this ship to land is probably northern Maine, where there are several existing player and staff-made communities. It's fine to add your own to the mix, though it may be more realistic for ship passengers to integrate into an existing community than establish a totally new one, depending on where precisely they land.

I had so many tabs with so many maps open I got lost and confused. I though that area was outside of the playzone. Yes, I think they could end up somewhere in Maine. The shipwreck itself is a day or so on horseback away from any settlements, but some passengers could have left to seek out the places they were originally headed for. Others formed a tiny village a few miles from the wreckage as they had nowhere else to go. It's obviously a fresh commune and the canids there survive by hunting and foraging. The wreck itself is now the elderly captain's lair and she's chilling there being tended to by a crewmate.

This seems to go against the breed's general physical traits, which are large and bulky. Secui and Optime forms should largely match characteristics of the Lupus form; the main difference for most breeds/species is "size equalisation" in Optime form, which minimises the difference in Optime size between species/breeds of varying Lupus sizes. For example, if a coyote is half the size of a wolf in Lupus form, it would not be half the size of a wolf in Optime form.

Getting longer limbs in Optime when the Lupus form is relatively compact doesn't make a ton of sense, imo. The other aspects, such as lack of mane, are fine though.

See, my idea was that her two forms are a bit mutated but I understand if that's not allowed, I'll settle for regular beastly and anthro forms.

Btw, could a character's health be affected by changing forms? Like wounds sustained and healed in one form reopening when switching to another, or healed bones breaking again? And would something like wobblers syndrome or various inherent disabilities carry over to other forms?

Thank you for your answers

[Kiri]

Oh I though this went without saying, but the ship did stop in ports before reaching the Souls territories.

Ah, yeah, I didn't make that assumption, but that makes the journey more reasonable for sure.

However, the sheep (and any other sort of livestock) probably wouldn't make it on a three month sea journey, even with restock stops. Feed for livestock takes up a lot more space than feed for Luperci, and grass/hay are prone to spoilage, especially in moist conditions. Fresh water storage would also be an issue. The amount of effort and resources needed to transport livestock overseas is generally not worth it, and it'd be much easier to acquire them via trade post-moorage.

See, my idea was that her two forms are a bit mutated but I understand if that's not allowed, I'll settle for regular beastly and anthro forms.

Pretty much all physical characteristics should be consistent across forms. You could have a Šarplaninac with long limbs, but they'd have them in Lupus form as well.

Btw, could a character's health be affected by changing forms? Like wounds sustained and healed in one form reopening when switching to another, or healed bones breaking again?

Physical wounds and ailments carry across forms and shifting might be prohibitively painful and/or aggravate wounds and injuries.

So correct, if a character say, obtains a knife wound on their shoulder in Optime form and it is lightly healed with a layer of fresh skin over it -- shifting to any other form could aggravate this wound and rip the layer of skin open again. However, once the wound is further along in the healing process and the new skin is more established, shifting should no longer cause significant new damage.

Similarly, broken bones are likely to hurt a LOT if a character tries to shift while they're freshly broken or only half-healed. Once they're fully healed though, shifting should not cause any new damage.

And would something like wobblers syndrome or various inherent disabilities carry over to other forms?

Yes, these would carry over as well. Blind in one form is blind in all forms, etc.

The only "exception" might be foreleg VS hindleg ailments or injuries. Having a limp in Lupus form due to an injured foreleg wouldn't carry over to a limp in Optime form since that foreleg would be an arm, but that arm would, of course, still have an injury -- it just doesn't impact their walking.