Question about possible second character

[Voron Radav]

So, I know I don't meet all the requirements yet for having a second character, but when I do I was thinking of having him be a bull mastiff. Now, these are big and heavy dogs. So would he be like hugely giant in his optime form?

Somehow, I see him as being a towering bulky beast who's obsessed with mideval stuff. xD I'm thinking he'd come from a line of German bull mastiffs which managed to stay pure somehow. Would that be realistic?

EDIT- oops. I mean he'd be a neopolitan mastiff. They can weigh up to 200 pounds.

[Arkham Lykoi]

I don't really feel that Neopolitan Mastiffs would do very well in the 'Soulsverse, especially if they remained purebred. Mastiffs have very wrinkled faces and short snouts, giving them huge disadvantages in sight and smell, and probably to some extent, hearing. Their massive size also puts heavy strain on their bones, and they would need to eat a looooot of food to maintain their weight -- food that they would have a hard time getting with diminished hunting skills. They also tend not to be very active, since they can't continuously output the amount of energy needed to move themselves around. And they also don't live very long (7-9 years, apparently).

So I don't think a mastiff is a good breed to choose, at least in purebred form. It would be more realistic to have a mixbreed that might have some mastiff in them. As far as size goes, though mastiffs are naturally large, their optime forms would not necessarily be significantly larger than a wolf optime's. I've given this example before, but consider an average sized wolf and an average sized mastiff in lupus form. The mastiff would be larger than the wolf. When both are in optime, the mastiff would still be larger, but the difference would not be as big as it was when they were both lupus because the general range of optimes does not vary as much as the general range of lupuses.

If you had a mastiff/wolf hybrid (though I'd recommend more wolf than mastiff, citing above concerns re: mastiffs), its lupus form may be much larger than an average wolf, and as such, its optime form would be larger than the average wolf, though again, the difference would not be as pronounced.

I HOPE THAT HELPS. :O

For more information about the size of Luperci, see the RP Guide.

[Voron Radav]

Thank you very much.

I see what you mean about them not being very good for souls. They seem rather unfit for living in the wild. Ah well, I have some time before I have to decide.

[Kaena Lykoi]

I agree with Kiri! :3 The brachycephalic types of dogs (pushed in, upturned nose) tend not to do well in the 'Soulsverse in general:

Molossoid Dogs: These breeds tend to be very large, ranging from the huge, lean Great Dane to the generally massive Neapolitan Mastiff. Most of these dogs tend to be on the extremely large size, and most Molossoid-type breeds feature a pushed-in, upturned nose. This can vary between breeds—the Rottweiler has virtually no Molossoid nasal features, whereas the Boxer is an extreme Molossoil in nasal formation. Extreme Mollosoid features often makes for respiratory issues in the dogs—they have more difficulty breathing and they are more prone to respiratory infections and illnesses. This feature of the Molossoid-type dogs would certainly disappear within a few generations. Examples of this type of dog include Rottweiler, Boxer, and the English Mastiff.

Neopolitans would probably be especially susceptible to these problems and issues due to their facial construction -- all sorts of droopy skin and such. But that's from the dogs page -- if you haven't yet checked that out, you should!

Maybe you could go with a Mastiff-mixed breed dog, too -- it's more likely that you'd have some sort of mutt rather than a purebred at this point, anyway -- dogs probably weren't breed-picky when it came to selecting mates. :3 It's entirely possible that certain breeds kept themselves pure intentionally or accidentally through sheer isolation, but if that's the case, I do agree with Kiri that Neopolitans probably wouldn't be among those types of dogs, sadly. :/

Other considerations for breeds, maybe an Anatolian Shepherd? It's another very large breed of dog that has a surprisingly long lifespan, as quoted by Wikipedia: "The median life span for the 23 deceased dogs (a small sample size) in the survey was 10.75 years. However the average life span is actually between 12–15 years." That's considerably longer than most breeds, and I don't see nearly as many health problems with them listed, although they do list hip displaysia (a common thing for all big dogs, I'd think). I'm not sure how popular these dogs are or where they're popular, so you'd have to look into that. :3 I still don't really see huge dogs surviving as purebreds; maybe they did acquire some outside blood and got a little mixed, something like that.