How Do You Use Your Species OCs?

There's definitely no way to use them wrong! I'm in a ton of CS and I don't think I've ever seen one that says you have to use your OCs in the canon lore and if one exists that has... they're definitely the minoritiy.

That said I personally like keeping to some of the original lore when I use a species, so I'll usually use mine in two ways:

1. I use individual species characters to RP / headcanon with friends sometimes and that's not always with other characters of the same species so in that case I tend to keep as much of the original lore that's directly applicable to my character but discard world lore for whatever I create with my friend

2. I like to make groups of completely in-canon characters in the same species that are used together but have enough of they're own space that I still feel like I'm making something that's mine. For example one of my favorites is a circus group I have, and I get to define everything about how the circus group operates while knowing that they live in the world the CS created.

i mostly use them for writing inspo when i’ve got writer’s block about my main OCs!! being able to write within a pre-existing world with pre-existing prompts can be very useful for me when my braincells aren’t working with me :3 tho i have put at least one in a separate universe LOL i’ve placed reverie (IC) as a side-character in my own world (the long journey) because it circles around demons n angels n shit, and well.. she’s a demon!!

What moif said, there's no way to use them wrong don't worry! I'm in 4 closed species though I'm only actively in 2. One of them is veery much about the members doing whatever they want with their characters and to get creative with their individual lore so that's what I do. There is some vague species lore that we're free to follow or not and I do work it into my own personal lore but most of it is my original stuff. The other closed species on the other hand has a LOT of canon lore that I'm still trying to figure out so I don't know how much I can tweak the lore yet and make it my own but putting my characters into this set canon is still fun ^^

Now about using your closed species to interact with your original characters...of course you can do that! They're your characters, your storytelling devices so you should feel free to do whatever you want with them! Don't worry too much and just have fun :') But when you're in serious doubt I'm sure you can always just ask the species staff for any clarification ^^

yeah theres no way to do it wrong :3

i'm in a lot of cs groups, so i tend to group species that share similar elements and put them all in the same universe. so like, all my computer/virus/digital species all exist in the same universe and know each other. ill just tweak details to suit different species im in but usually theyre all compatible. 

ill also combine species that make interesting plots together. for example, boisbeni are companions/supports for heroes, and graf-palaka are people who (typically) died in battle. so my boisbeni, chalcedony, chose bailey as her hero, but then bailey died and became a graf-palaka. now they both have to deal with their grief. (it ends up way more convoluted than that, but there's a basic example.)

typically i only end up with one or two characters of a species. sometimes, i get attached enough to a character to remove it from my cs-worlds and then i make a non-cs design for them and put them in a totally independent story.

Like others have said, i dont think theres really a wrong way to use em! Personally upon initial creation, i try to write some backstory in line with existing species lore, but im sure im technically going against some or other world rules when i make them interact with other specie ocs lol. I think species are just a fun inspo to make new characters (whether that be in terms of features, origins, etc), so if some want to use them strictly to their "canon", or if some want to go wild with personal headcanons, i think thats all good! (just dont go flaunting non canon stuff in spaces strictly for canon i guess?)