In the present era of the late 41st Millennium, the Canis Helix is derived from a unique segment of the genome of the Chapter's Primarch and is actually a genetic catalyst imbibed by the Chapter's Aspirants to begin their physical transformation into superhuman Astartes. However, the Canis Helix is still unstable and can reduce a Space Wolves Astartes into a feral, lupine mutant known as a Wulfen at nearly any point during his service to the Emperor of Mankind. It is keeping control of himself and refusing to give in to the savage demands of the Curse of the Wulfen which defines what it means to be a Space Wolves Astartes.