This is very interesting. I too have a trail of half-written and never-posted meta posts about shipping and OTPs; I'm glad you decided to post yours. :)
For a long time I thought I just didn't get OTPs at all; it's not my usual style of engagement with fandom. I tend to attach to specific characters rather than ships, and to be willing to pair them with anyone who sparks in an interesting way. (I also attach strongly to TEAMS, and will happily ship them platonically or in a giant poly pile.)
During one of fandom's rounds of meta on shipping, it occurred to me that I actually do have a couple of full-blown OTPs: Makoto/Ifurita from the El Hazard anime, and Cordelia/Aral from the Vorkosigan novels.
I ship Makoto and Ifurita so hard, I cannot imagine either of them or their worlds without their relationship. The idea of pairing either of them with someone else Does Not Compute; these are two people who repeatedly do impossible things for the sake of their love for each other, and it is basically canon that nothing in the multiverse can permanently separate them. So this is a pairing that passes all three of your criteria, for me: their love fits canon (and is canonically epic and world-saving), I am super invested in the romance of the sweet clever Japanese boy and the ancient weapon of mass destruction who loves him, and unlike with most pairings I have enjoyed, the idea of separating them feels fundamentally Wrong and Bad. When I figured out that this is how many people feel about their OTPs, it was a revelation. I get it now! (I didn't think it was a bad way to be fannish before, I was just befuddled by it.)
In regard to Cordelia and Aral, I am extremely invested in their marriage and teamwork, but apparently I don't require monogamy for them. dira has a really well-done series in which Cordelia, Aral, and a minor canon character negotiate their way into polyamory, and it doesn't give me OTP problems at all, because Cordelia and Aral are still very clearly connected and operating as a unit throughout. That story has actually infiltrated my headcanon so that I just assume there's this discreet poly V going on in the background of the series (there's nothing to contradict it!).
It's interesting to me that both of my hardcore OTPs are canon couples whose romance is central to their narrative. (I was about to say "canon het couples" and then realized that Ifurita is actually an alien machine who looks like a human woman, but whose gender and sexuality almost certainly don't map to any human norms. So "het" would be a misnomer.) I suppose I have a very high OTP threshold, and it takes being hit over the head very hard with an epic world-changing love that is pivotal to the story for me to invest in it as The Way Things Must Be, Forever and Ever, Amen. While I ship quite a few f/f, f/m, and m/m couples (and triads, etc.) in a variety of fandoms, those ships don't generally solidify into unalterable OTPs.
(Whoops, suddenly thought of another, from an obscure fantasy duology. Mira/Eliana from Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful/Turning the Storm. Canon epic world-changing f/f, and absolutely an OTP for me. I only wish it had a fandom.)
I think I do have a strong True Love narrative kink, but rather than being each other's One Exception, it's more about being the catalyst for each other's empowerment/redemption/heroism. I love great deeds done for love's sake, people becoming more than they ever thought they could be because of their beloved's influence, mutual lifesaving, love conquering the unconquerable. All the evils of the world come crashing up against these lovers, and True Love wins, because they're not only better together, they're unstoppable together. *happy sigh*
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For a long time I thought I just didn't get OTPs at all; it's not my usual style of engagement with fandom. I tend to attach to specific characters rather than ships, and to be willing to pair them with anyone who sparks in an interesting way. (I also attach strongly to TEAMS, and will happily ship them platonically or in a giant poly pile.)
During one of fandom's rounds of meta on shipping, it occurred to me that I actually do have a couple of full-blown OTPs: Makoto/Ifurita from the El Hazard anime, and Cordelia/Aral from the Vorkosigan novels.
I ship Makoto and Ifurita so hard, I cannot imagine either of them or their worlds without their relationship. The idea of pairing either of them with someone else Does Not Compute; these are two people who repeatedly do impossible things for the sake of their love for each other, and it is basically canon that nothing in the multiverse can permanently separate them. So this is a pairing that passes all three of your criteria, for me: their love fits canon (and is canonically epic and world-saving), I am super invested in the romance of the sweet clever Japanese boy and the ancient weapon of mass destruction who loves him, and unlike with most pairings I have enjoyed, the idea of separating them feels fundamentally Wrong and Bad. When I figured out that this is how many people feel about their OTPs, it was a revelation. I get it now! (I didn't think it was a bad way to be fannish before, I was just befuddled by it.)
In regard to Cordelia and Aral, I am extremely invested in their marriage and teamwork, but apparently I don't require monogamy for them.
It's interesting to me that both of my hardcore OTPs are canon couples whose romance is central to their narrative. (I was about to say "canon het couples" and then realized that Ifurita is actually an alien machine who looks like a human woman, but whose gender and sexuality almost certainly don't map to any human norms. So "het" would be a misnomer.) I suppose I have a very high OTP threshold, and it takes being hit over the head very hard with an epic world-changing love that is pivotal to the story for me to invest in it as The Way Things Must Be, Forever and Ever, Amen. While I ship quite a few f/f, f/m, and m/m couples (and triads, etc.) in a variety of fandoms, those ships don't generally solidify into unalterable OTPs.
(Whoops, suddenly thought of another, from an obscure fantasy duology. Mira/Eliana from Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful/Turning the Storm. Canon epic world-changing f/f, and absolutely an OTP for me. I only wish it had a fandom.)
I think I do have a strong True Love narrative kink, but rather than being each other's One Exception, it's more about being the catalyst for each other's empowerment/redemption/heroism. I love great deeds done for love's sake, people becoming more than they ever thought they could be because of their beloved's influence, mutual lifesaving, love conquering the unconquerable. All the evils of the world come crashing up against these lovers, and True Love wins, because they're not only better together, they're unstoppable together. *happy sigh*