This raffle is a set of 11 adopts on a unique base made by Deertush. The adopts include both anthros and quads, and were all designed by MUTT! Adopts will be rolled at 12pm CST each day.
On the final day, the 12th Faun designed by MUTT and GoryTeeth will be revealed. This design is not on-base and will be an auction.
Our friends even left us a calendar so we can plan ahead! Please fill out this Google form to enter.
https://forms.gle/CVS6mN2dVbnysqDK9
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Atlavian history is filled with a rich culture of folklore and creative expression, and so I have made it my life's mission to collect the symbols you might come across anywhere in our world.
Cervidic Runes are yours to play with. They can be combined or shaped into new meanings. You're likely to see runes in many places: over a sign post, on a Faun's treasured items, or as a warning of danger ahead. They are meant to connect Faunids to their world in a meaningful way, and you should absolutely use them as you consider how they might fit into your lives!
A copy of my notes can be read by any Faunid bold enough to visit their local library.
To the public! For free!
- Signed, Leonard the Librarian
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Every other day, a preview of one adoptable will be posted (atalav.com, faunids.com, and discord). Users are able to enter to adopt the design. After 48 hours, the winner will be rolled and the full design will be published! There is a total of 15 adopts this year.
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(NEW in 2025!)
Every other day (opposite from adoptables), you will be able to enter to win a token! You will have to enter per individual day with the token's number. Similar to the adoptables, the winner will be rolled every 48 hours.
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(RETURNING in 2025!)
Custom lapines and chimebirds are back for this year! View the bottom of the atalav.com page to submit a form for a companion commission.
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https://forms.gle/V9wCj5JaWhWxJHJR8
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Love in Passion
Posted: April 1st
Designed by: Deertush
Won by: twentynyne
Froggy Flowers
Posted: April 3rd
Designed by: WinterTigris
Won by: Foxtrot
Murky Blooms
Posted: April 5th
Designed by: Cockroach
Won by: kojoty
Astral Waves
Posted: April 7th
Designed by: MothDad
Won by: Halo
Serene Seas
Posted: April 9th
Designed by: MUTT
Won by: Kardinal
Birdnest Guest
Posted: April 11th
Designed by: osh3wolfo
Won by: Banriion
Dandy Lion
Posted: April 13th
Designed by: BecomeLost
Won by: msmydeer
Celestial Jest
Posted: April 15th
Designed by: Loutta
Won by: Creek
Divine Angel
Posted: April 17th
Designed by: Freya
Won by: JulieJewel24
Munty Passion
Posted: April 19th
Designed by: MUTT
Won by: Lingo
Lilypal Leapfrog
Posted: April 21st
Designed by: Hyenadayy
Won by: Freya
Orange You Glad?
Posted: April 23rd
Designed by: Grremllin
Won by: Vulpecula
Shooting Star
Posted: April 25th
Designed by: GoryTeeth
Won by: Yara_Shep
Cry Harder Baby
Posted: April 27th
Designed by: Deertush
Won by: Hawkeye
Luck Be A Lady
Posted: April 29th
Designed by: BecomeLost
Won by: woollyback
Hammered Hope
Posted: April 30th
Designed by: Deertush
Won by: oSh3Wolfo
Introducing our newest development from Faunids Staff: The Community Newsletter!
These newsletters will generally be posted sometime during the last week of each month.
The purpose of these newsletters is to keep our community informed about site updates, upcoming events, official artist commission openings, new user guides, highlight different bits and pieces of our species, and build on community engagement.
Thank you to everyone who filled out our newsletter feedback form. The content of these newsletters will vary by month. The focus of June's newsletter is to introduce the concept on our host website with the types of information you might see here so we can continue to build on this in upcoming months.
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Thank you to the artists who created some wonderful adoptables for the month of June! |
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Upcoming Plans:
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Goryteeth will be opening for commission in July. Necrologia MAY open for 2-3 commissions in the latter half of July. Deertush will open for single view cutesy comms in July. Please wait for official announcements before sending commission requests to artists! |
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To sign up for a Faunids account, message Tech (becomelost on Discord) or Jack (jaquiri on Discord) for an invite code. Once you have that, you can register on the sign-up page. You can trade Faunids on-site without needing a staff member! As long as the user you're trading with has a Faunids username, you can follow this guide to transfer characters:
More Faunids.Com Updates
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You may have noticed that most traits have images on the trait masterlist. These aren't just for show! Trait images are guidelines that show how small or short (green) and tall or long (blue) that trait can generally be. You can use this to help you with your age-ups and re-references. This month’s trait is Feather Mohawk vs Feather Hair vs Hair (Feathered) vs Hair!     Feather mohawk is a light and fluffy hair-like trait comprised of downy feathers. It is always fluffy unless slicked back with product. It does not reach shoulder length. Feather hair is a relatively new trait to our never ending list of possibilities. It is “hair” fully composed of long and flexible feathers. There is no actual hair or fur in this trait.The feathers in this trait are not downy and must appear like full feathers. Hair (Feathered) acts and behaves just like the Hair trait.However, multiple feathers are visible hidden amongst the hair. Feathers cannot make up the majority of this trait. Hair is simply hair. A long type of fur that originates from the top of the head. Here are some faunids that showcase these traits to current guideline standards!
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We are looking for guest artists! Please submit a form below if you are interested. |
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Put on some sunscreen and prepare for our next upcoming NEW event! This July, we're hosting our first ever Summer Camp event. This community-focused event will run the entire month of July, and will feature summer-themed activities for your Faunids to participate in. This event is something both newer members without Faunids of their own and longtime community members can enjoy. You could even win some prizes for participating! All the information you need to join up for this event will be released on July 1st. See you at camp! |
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What’s your favorite Summer activity? Post your answer in the comments to get currency for next month! |
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"Young or old, new or experienced- let's have some fun! It's getting hot here in the summer but we can stay cool in the woods. Especially next to the creek! Take a seat around the campfire and let's get to know each other a bit more. I'll be your host for the next month! Come participate in our challenges and win some Pebbles to spend in the store"- Bug
guidelines
All faunids from this event will be recolored on a selection of event-exclusive bases.
A majority of this event will be hosted here on Faunids.com !
You do not need to own the faunid you use, but you must have permission.
All creatives made during this event must be made by the submitter. Collaborations are allowed but only count toward a single user- not all collaborators.
You cannot send Pebbles (Event exclusive currency) to other users.
Summer Camp lasts one whole month- and in that month you will be able to enter 5 prompts/activities with a faunid.With each prompt submission, you will receive Pebbles, a currency exclusive to this event.This currency can be spent in the event's store! We will also have 4 raffle adoptables for this month that you can enter for by participating in all the prompts! They will be revealed at the mid month mark.PROMPT #1: CAMP APPLICATION
In order to participate in our camp, I need to get to know you! So fill out an application and let's get started!
PROMPT #2: Scavenger Hunt
Find my lost items!
PROMPT #3: Let's Go fishing!
It's time to go fishing!
PROMPT #4: Bug catching!
Catch a bug, find a friend!
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Prompt #5: Letter to home
Your last written obligation.
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Summer camp adoptable raffle
Enter here for a chance to one one of the below adopts!
In order to apply, you must have completed at least 4 prompts. The available prompts are:
- Summer Camp Application
- Scavenger Hunt
- Fishing
- Bug Catching
- Letter to Home
The purpose of these newsletters is to keep our community informed about site updates, upcoming events, official artist commission openings, new user guides, highlight different bits and pieces of our species, and build on community engagement. The content of these newsletters will vary by month.
Thank you to everyone who commented on last month’s newsletter!
To sign up for a Faunids account, message Jack (jaquiri on Discord) for an invite code. Once you have that, you can register on the sign-up page.
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This month, we are highlighting a character that has been well-rounded and overall well-loved. We want to appreciate all the hard work that goes into turning designs into full-fledged characters. We’ve asked the creator, WinterTigris, to give us a brief talk about Vani: ———
Vani's in general inspirations were punk/rock themes, tigers, trolls (from WoW)! Vani is a musician, he plays music around veritam a lot! in his down time he sews clothes and has a little garden for marigolds, fruits etc! He loves singing as well! He came from a bit of a troubled past, with a hard life but he worked on himself a lot to bring himself to how he is now! Vani is a bit brutish and bold, but he usually means well, a tad headstrong and hotheaded! but he is kind, he loves his family and his friends, typically gifting those he's close to gifts! He lives in veritam, but travels between vinnde often too! sometimes even making trips to salmon coast! Vani loves teaching kids simple things, how to make dye, sew, how to dig plants, how to make music, dance, anything that interests them he will always try to help! As he's not actual teacher he does his best with the knowledge he knows! When he visits vinnde he tends to bundle up HEAVILY in warm clothes, since hes a marsh, he's not really built to withstand that cold"! |
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At the start of August, we will be opening raffle entries for a very special gacha batch! |
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Trait updates:
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——— We only have a few days left of our event, so it’s important to know how to submit prompts and gallery submissions! Here’s a small guide on how to do just that:
Upload your image, give it a title, and choose the prompt you want to tag it with (if you want)! Once you've chosen the prompt you want to submit to, select your gallery post from the list that appears here on the submission page:
Fill in any other information (title, characters, etc.) press submit, and that's it! |
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——— You may have noticed that most traits have images on the trait masterlist. These aren't just for show! Trait images are guidelines that show how small or short (green) and tall or long (blue) that trait can generally be. You can use this to help you with your age-ups and re-references. This month’s trait is Dorsal Mane!
Dorsal mane is a strip of hair that run down the spine of a faunid. At minimum it must start from the bottom of the neck to the base of the tail. The dorsal mane can continue down the tail If the faun has a furry tail, but this is optional. If it is running down the tail, then the dorsal mane can collect together as a fluffy tail tip. Here are some faunids that showcase these traits to current guideline standards!
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——— June was filled with so many wonderful colors. Thank you for participating!
Feel free to submit your entries into the art challenge galleries even if it’s past the month it was made for! Last month's winners were:
—-------------------------------------- You only have a few more days for July’s art challenge:
Showcase how your Faunid cools off! Remember that in order to enter for this prompt, you must submit your entry into the art challenge gallery and submit a prompt. |
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——— We are looking for Discord moderators! Please submit a form below if you are interested. |
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——— There’s only a few days left! Entries will NOT be allowed whatsoever once August comes along, so make sure to put in your prompts and buy your items! Pebbles cannot be used outside of the event, but they do roll over to next year if you do forget! |
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——— What do you think is an underrated trait? Post your answer in the comments to get a special currency! The currency reward window closes 7 days after the news is posted. |
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A traveling artist hit a bump in the road and all their paint brushes flew out! Some rolled off a nearby cliff, some got carried away by a stream, and some of them even landed in the trees!
Once you get the used paint off, they'd make a great addition to anyone's collection. Finder's keepers!
The purpose of these newsletters is to keep our community informed about site updates, upcoming events, official artist commission openings, new user guides, highlight different bits and pieces of our species, and build on community engagement. The content of these newsletters will vary by month.
Thank you to everyone who commented on last month’s newsletter!
To sign up for a Faunids account, message a moderator for an invite code. Once you have that, you can register on the sign-up page.
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While the news was shared over the Faunids Discord, I want to take the time to keep the whole community informed about new changes in leadership for Faunids. As was shared by Deertush, “Dear Faunids, there's some big changes coming! I have run this species and server for 8 years. There have been so many ups and downs. But we're still here. However, I now think that my goals have been fulfilled and everything has grown beyond me. After a very long deliberation, I have decided to step down from being the owner of Faunids and Faunids staff. This decision has been a very long time coming and does not come easily. MUTT will be taking the torch from me and has already showcased a great ability in handling events and user engagement. In regards to my faunids content, I will still occasionally make adoptables for the species. But this does mean that I am no longer able to make official customs for users- since I won't be an official artist anymore. I can still do ageups but fees may still incur just like with any other non-official artist. I will remain in the server for the time being. But please refer to MUTT and the staff team for Faunid related questions. This species' direction may change a bit from how I initially saw it and intended it- and that's okay. I don't want to give wrong answers or stop your blossoming creativity. Thank you for nearly a decade of fun and love.” Deertush ------I (Hi, I'm Jack!) want to formally announce myself as the new owner and administrator of Faunids to our community. I have been a member of Faunids since the olden days of forum posting, and have been a co-administrator under Deer’s leadership on Discord for the eight years that followed. You might recognize me already, as before this change I was our Community Manager! Under that title, I have written the Community Announcements, handled Prompt Submissions for events, uploaded archive content, ran user base polls, organized and took notes for staff meetings, finalized Community Newsletters, answered questions from users about events, guided FTOs through their first experiences with Faunids, helped manage the archive for Faunids.com since initial development, crafted lore pages (like the Cervidic Runes!), and mediated conflicts/rulebreaks. I have made adopts for Springtide and, last year, led several Guest Artists through creating theirs. I’ve made art assets for both Atalav and Faunids. I designed all the adopts for the Winter Advent mini-event, with support from GoryTeeth for the auction adopt that came with it. I have taken Age-Up commissions and Self-Aged more of my own Fauns. I’ve designed custom concepts for users and, more recently, created Bug Semi-MYOs alongside our other artists, and led the Nostalgia Gacha batch. As our Community Manager, I had the privilege to communicate so closely with the heart and soul of our species: the community. Our artists and moderators are part of that broader community and are equally invested in the home we've made here. I believe that by tapping into the strengths of many, Faunids can continue to be the incredible source of artistic growth and passion that Deer created through his own determination to share that passion with all of us. Leading up to this announcement, Deer shared with me all of the assets and lore he’s organized throughout this project. My goal in leading Faunids is to stay true to this vision of a lore-rich world, and find every way to honor the foundation Deer has built. I am so honored to be in the position to walk into this role with the faith Deer has expressed in me. He’s been a mentor and inspiration to me for many years, and I appreciate him for everything he taught me. Thank you, Deer, and thank you to our community for giving me kind words, grace, and patience as I step into this position. For a little about me that’s not as directly related to Faunids, I am in my fifth year post-graduate as a school social worker. In my daily life, I work with middle- and high-school teens as their advocate. I help run our GSA, Punk Club, and lead my students in mural projects to bring their artistic mark to the walls of our schools. I have two cats (Playboy and Graham), and two dogs (Piper and Junebug), alongside my husband (who you may know as one of our moderators, kojoty). I am an avid reader and writer who loves to explore life through fiction, and this passion is something I want to continue with Faunids! Jack ------ |
Faunids Staff have put together a starter handbook for users and staff to reference regarding species rules, Discord conduct, and staff responsibilities. The Discord server will be updated to reflect these updates over the next few days, but all of it is available to read now. This handbook includes the most up-to-date information on Species and Discord rules. View the handbook [HERE] ------ |
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TheElementalist, who has been a moderator on the Discord, has had her role updated on-site. See our full list of staff and their responsibilities [HERE]. ------ |
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This month featured an incredible show of artistic capabilities through the Nostalgia Gacha batch! Below are all of the incredible designs that were created. Thank you to our guest artists, Hyenadayy, hearteater, L0sw, NeptuneNebula, and Sh3Draws for helping make this batch truly special!
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We want to appreciate all the hard work that goes into turning designs into full-fledged characters. So, as part of the Newsletter, we choose a community member with a well-loved Faunid to tell us a bit more about them! This month, with so many new users participating alongside longtime members, we thought it would be fun to share the spotlight. The first faunid, owned by cyanidemoon, is Antheia!
Calm, joyous, and welcoming.
Antheia enjoys making dyes in her spare time to use in troupe costumes. She sews and designs parts of the costumes. When she has nothing left to do for the performers, she enjoys gardening in her free time at her parents' home. Their tavern has quite a large and productive vegetable garden started each year by Antheia before she leaves.
Antheia was born in Veritam, and was given the freedom to pursue her passions. She travels with her performers (dancers, acrobats, magicians) across Atalav, but they come home to Veritam to rest between journeys. Her parents worked one of the many taverns in town, and in order to edge out their competition, Antheia learned to dance early. A love of music and movement led to her dance style, which celebrates freedom and joy above all else! Her calm and gentle demeanor comes from the gentle and loving manner in which she was raised.
If she were reincarnated, Antheia would want to come back as a companion lapine so she could enjoy being pampered without feeling the need to be busy. Her parents and friends would still love her as a worm, and would find her the tastiest soil to live in and eat :)
Life Mantra: Paint life in color, the world is too good to be grey. She believes in bringing a rainbow to life and helping splash colors into others’ lives so they can have a spark of joy, even when things are dark.
She paints and draws! Her soul is that of an artist and she wants nothing more than to share the joy of it with everyone around her.
Prisma was born in Makino and learned how to make her very special pink dye for paint there. Now, while she has a home there, she can often be commissioned to travel for her work, desiring to share the colors she puts to canvas with the rest of the continent. Her upbringing was quiet, her father not in the picture and her mother a struggling artist herself. Her mother worked hard and gave up her own dreams of being an artist so that Prisma would have the best chance are achieving her own.
Prisma’s idea of a perfect day starts with a sweet, warm latte. It moves from there to her studio, where she gets lost in the world of her own making, existing in the prismatic world of her own mind. When she realizes the sun is setting, she then gets a good book and watches the sun set on the horizon, dreaming of how she can harness those colors and manifest them to canvas. ------ |
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Trait updates:
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To start, head over to your user profile and scroll down to your Inventory.
Once you select an item, you will see this screen, where everything you need to complete the transfer is seen: And that's it! |
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You may have noticed that most traits have images on the trait masterlist. These aren't just for show! Trait images are guidelines that show how small or short (green) and tall or long (blue) that trait can generally be. You can use this to help you with your age-ups and re-references. This month’s trait is Satyr Pants! Satyr pants are intended to resemble the hairy legs of the fictional goat people it is named after. Hips and thighs must be fluffy/furry but anything further down can be less obvious. It doesn’t mean it has to be, though! The heels and hoofs of your faunids can be just as furry as their thighs. This does mean that any other furry lower body trait CANNOT stack onto Satyr Pants. Here are some faunids that showcase these traits to current guideline standards!
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July sure is hot! And it’s only getting hotter! We loved to see how everyone cooled off :D Feel free to submit your entries into the art challenge galleries even if it’s past the month it was made for!  Last month's winners were:
—-------------------------------------- You have two more weeks to submit entries to August’s art challenge: “Showcase a Faunid learning something!”
Remember that in order to enter for this prompt, you must submit your entry into the art challenge gallery and submit a prompt. ------ |
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Due to the popularity of the summer camp event, a sitewide currency will be available to users. This currency is called Barters (or BARTs for short!). This currency can be achieved by commenting on newsletters and by winning art challenge raffles. The Barter Shop is run by a face that might be familiar to you: Casanova, more widely known as “Casino”! Casino is the owner and operator of The Casino, a lush market hub in Veritam that invites craftsmen and traders from all walks of life to play games and trade. Casino manages a bustling, organized market where Faunids can offer their skilled hands or the creations they've made in exchange for other goods they may not be able to get in their day-to-day travels. Barters represent those trades that Faunids take part in to support one another. As of right now, users will be rewarded:
Items and prizes may be added to the shop over time. They may or may not have limited stock. Prices may be adjusted depending on what we learn over time about how the shop is used. You can spend your Barters here:
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--- With this first Lore Development, we have officially entered Phase One of a three-phase plan for ongoing Lore additions. Our long-term goal is for these phases to intersect and expand on each other into a true ARG plotline featuring more mini-events with lots of opportunity for community interaction. We also want to feature more Faunids owned by users who make the effort to participate in the world of Atalav as cameos in these lore developments, so you may notice more and more familiar faces as we explore together! During Phase One, we will focus on lore expansion related to: facets of Corruption, the daily lives of Faunids, Faunid architecture, history and culture, tool and material usage (by both Quad and Anthro Faunids), astronomy, and festivals. This first article will have more information added onto it as October progresses, featuring sigils designed by members of our community. Read the newest Lore Development, Corrupt Sigils, [HERE]!
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--- DO NOT PURCHASE TOKENS UNTIL THE EVENT OFFICIALLY STARTS. We are in the process of setting up a Faunids business account to host these purchases. It is very important that no one buys tokens before this is finalized. We may have new or updated items this year, as well, depending on what we decide on the artist team. If we do, we want them all to be viewable alongside other tokens before the event goes live. We won't be able to refund tokens that are bought before our announcement! --- |
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--- This year, the Corruption Event will start a bit earlier than usual. Our new schedule will allow us to support our newer artists through their first event and get a head start on our queues before our first official release (and a few other special reasons). Here is our new timeline: September 14th (Sunday): October 4th (Saturday): October 12th (Sunday): --- |
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--- This year, we will be adding a second set of bases (one Anthro, one Quad) to use for the event! Both sets will be available to use and the form will be updated so users can specify their chosen base. Additional species may be requested, but major edits may require an additional fee. We tried to have a wide variety to choose from overall to reduce this as much as possible. The bases will be fully revealed closer to the Event itself, but here's a fun little sneak peek for everyone:
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--- Our full artist availability for Corruption is now up-to-date! You can view their preferences and payment options [HERE]. This will be the first ever Corruption Event for MUTT and pebb. Both may have limited slots and must pre-approve forms before users officially submit them. While you can't pre-purchase items, you are free to reach out and see if they feel confident they could work with your concept! --- |
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--- Fenris Children will be making an appearance during this event, but it will look different than how it has in the past. --- |
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The purpose of these newsletters is to keep our community informed about site updates, upcoming events, official artist commission openings, new user guides, highlight different bits and pieces of our species, and build on community engagement. The content of these newsletters will vary by month.
Thank you to everyone who commented on last month’s newsletter! We are posting this Newsletter earlier than usual to prepare for Corruption later this month.
To sign up for a Faunids account, message a moderator for an invite code. Once you have that, you can register on the sign-up page.
View the Faunids Policy Handbook
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We want to appreciate all the hard work that goes into turning designs into full-fledged characters.
As part of the Newsletter, we choose a community member with a well-loved Faunid to tell us a bit more about them!
This month, we wanted to highlight a few Corrupted Faunids made in previous event years.
The first Corrupt, owned by msmydeer, is Scrimshaw! 
1. Where was your Faunid born? Where's home for him now?
Scrimshaw was born in Veritam! Not much is known about him but he was later chased out of Hernlak as a corrupt and made his way down to around Lavandul. He is naturally drawn towards people and wants to be accepted but after years of isolation and corruption he's struggled with connection!
2. Does your Faunid still have family? Does he know what happened to them?
If he had any family he doesn't remember much about them, but the most important moment in his life is when he found a family who accepted him! They are teaching him how to speak again and how to reacclimatize to society!
3. What are some of your Faunid's favorite pastimes?
He loves carving things! He primarily uses his teeth as it's what he's had the most experience with since his corruption but he's been learning to use tools for finer details! He's even learning about paints! He sees the world in a very abstract shapes sort of way so he picks up on patterns and forms before anything else!
4. What is your Faunid's most treasured possession?
His most prized possession is probably a homemade blanket that he got from his found family. He helped make it when he was trying to learn to work with fabrics! He finds great comfort in it and while it's a little dirty he still treasures it and cuddles with it constantly.
Our second corrupt, owned by MothDad, is Maliketh! He chose to answer our interview questions himself. 
1. Where were you born? Where's home for you now?
"I ain't from 'round these parts. I was born and raised in Veritam, but 'home'? Home is wherever my ass is sat down in front of a fireplace with a good cigar in hands and my little family running around me, chasing at each other and talking crazy loud like only my doll Velly does... Ah... Cozy, right?"
2. Do you remember the family you came from? Who is your family now?
"Family? Like ma and pa? Nay. If yer talking that, they've been loong gone... I miss them, I really do. But nowadays I do got a family of my own. Little thing I take care of, likes to get bigger and bigger as the years go by... My pride and joy, little star Tali, my daughter. Lottie, a... Close friend of mine, songbird I call him. And doll eyes Velly, that crazy bastard, have been my closest family awhile... Sometimes a few more show up and make the family grow a bit... I ain't ever said no to a hungry mouth ya know?"
3. What are some of your favorite pastimes?
"Pastimes? Hah! I do got a few! Wood carving has been my go-to whenever I ain't babysitting or working, I make toys for the kiddos, Danny boy's kids used to like em when they were but wee babies. But sometimes, I like to go fishing 'round Atalav. Been everywhere by now... From Vinnde to Lavandul. Only place in which's been hard to get is Makino... Hellish little place that is... But the fish in there do taste different! Maybe it's coz they're just as snobby as the fauns in there, hah!"
4. Is there anything you'd refuse to do under any circumstances? Why?
"Oh there's plenty o' things I wouldn't do under any circumstances! I could think of a list of some pretty disgusting things for ya! But if yer looking for the kind of serious and deeply meaningful answer, then that'd probably be forgive that bastard Herne for what he did to me. That useless little 'god' of the good-mannered faunid may stay as far away from me as I stay from ursas and shadow cats."
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We will be doing minor edits to these pages over the next week, but those will be addressing formatting inconsistencies and adding already-existing images.
All of the information you need should be available now!
Our community has requested a guide for steps to follow as they participate in Corruption. Here's a quick step-by-side for how to participate!
STEP ONE: Receive your 6 free tokens from Fenris with THIS PROMPT
STEP TWO: If you want to work with the tokens you got, you can skip to STEP THREE. If you want any specific tokens, you'll need to trade them with other users or purchase them directly. Purchased tokens can be traded or gifted to other users.
STEP THREE: Fill out the CORRUPT CREATION PROMPT once you have all the tokens you want to use. Templates for both the semi-custom Corrupts and Corruption of existing Fauns are in that form. You can type your answers directly into the form, or you can link a Google Doc. Either way is fine. Attach any items you are using to this form so they are removed from your inventory.
STEP FOUR: Wait for a moderator to approve your submission. Moderators will be carefully tracking forms so that Corrupts are added to artist queues in the order they are received. Once it is approved, look out for a message from the artist who takes your form for payment!
STEP FIVE: Wait for your Corrupt's release! We will be posting the Corruption Artist Hub to be visible to the community once the event starts.
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Be on the lookout for a pair of auction adopts by GoryTeeth and MUTT some time this month!
There will also be a handful of special raffle adopts released throughout the month of October.
For those not wanting to Corrupt an existing Faunid or do not want to create a semi-custom, this might be the perfect chance to still obtain a freaky creature of your own!
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This month's trait is: Predator Mouth
Predator Mouth has a wide range of uses, and is a very versatile and striking trait category. This year, we are expanding on the trait iself to add birds of prey and reptiles to the mix, but here are some Corrupted Faunids who now count as mammalian carnivores (horrifying to think about)! 
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What a range of skills our Faunid friends showcased last month! THANK YOU to our lovely participants! 
Also, an extra special thank you to our participants last month for your understanding as we had complications with the raffle system attached to the Art Challenge prompt.
Due to this, we added another set of Barters as rewards to the raffle rewards.
Our winners were:
20 Barters - Zorkia
20 Barters - DarotheWolf
30 Barters - Morningdove_s
30 Barters - Ferramora
Headshot Bust with Background by Elk_Montauk - Harmioncs
This month, we have removed the automatic raffle and will be manually doing rolls, as well as changing the end date to match up with the end date on the Discord (which is now always on the last day of the month instead of the 1st).
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The September Art Challenge is now live!
It’s Opposite Month!
Your non-Corrupted Faunid had a nightmare that *they* were Corrupt! What was that like? How did this affect them? What did they *look* like, in that horrible, dark realm?
Your Corrupted Faunid was like us, once. What were they like, back then? What do you imagine they might have looked like, before becoming twisted up in their own Corruption?
Remember that in order to enter for this prompt, you must submit your entry into the art challenge gallery and submit a prompt.
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What is your favorite Corrupt trait?Post your answer in the comments to get currency! The currency reward window closes 7 days after the news is posted. |
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All Faunids are created in Herne's vision; they are pure and kindhearted beings. However, a subgroup of Faunids have sought to disrupt the restrictions set by their community. Violence and disharmony are rampant in the community labeled as "corrupt.”
Leading this godless cult is Fenris. He is a formidable demi-god who is known for acts of depravity. His speeches and velvety voice travel easily through the chilled air for anyone- living or dead, to hear. Spirits of Faunids have heard his summons and rather than wait to be reborn as a Fawn, they wish to taint the purity of a living Faunid and live through their host through possession.
Are you willing to aid a vengeful spirit?
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Starting September 14 and through to October 12, you will have the ability to create a Corrupted Faunid of your very own, or allow Corruption to take hold in one of your own existing Faunids. This event hub is where you will find all links and guides to participate in this event. All Corruptions are done on our official Corruption bases, with adjustments per each design.
Learn more about Corruption in the Faunids world here.
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All Corrupted Faunids are relatively de-saturated with only one or two brighter/saturated colors.
2 Corruptions/Re-Corruptions are allowed per user per event.
OR
1 Corrupt semi-custom and 1 Corruption/Re-Corruption per user per event.
Each semi-MYO may have a maximum of:
4 non-corrupt traits
3 corrupt traits (1 minimum)
For a total of 7 traits.
Each corruption of an EXISTING non-corrupt Faunid may have a maximum of 5 additional traits (At least one corrupt trait required).
You are allowed to age a Fawn using corruption. You may put a Faunid through further corruption and submit an existing Corrupted Faunid.
If corrupting/re-corrupting an EXISTING Faunid or Corrupted, traits from this event will be ADDED to the faun's current traits/edits.
Re-corruption may occur on the existing design or be redone based on complexity.
You don't have to specifically name traits in the form you want if you don't know them or care! Artists will work off of your used tokens.
You may re-roll a finished Corrupt similarly to how Fawning re-rolls work. Additional payment of base price and a new inspiration form submission are required.
Some of our artists require payment in Euros, not USD due to conversion rates making USD worth less than the EURO. Please keep in mind your artist's conversion rates, as they will be charging €50 base price for Corrupts.
You may corrupt a Merfaun (or a Hybrid Merfaun), though additional complexity fees may apply. Minodae are NOT eligible for Corruption this year.
It is generally discouraged to draw an exact idea of what you are wishing for with Semi-custom Corrupts. This can really limit our artists and we cannot copy what you provide for us.
Sometimes, you can use multiple tokens together in order to get more unique traits. You can view a list of all confirmed combinations HERE.
Users may NOT request and Official Artists may NOT draw religious symbols or runes from existing human cultures (such as Nordic runes, crosses, pentagrams, etc.) on Corrupts, but may include or create new Faunid Runes. Users may include concepts of Faunid Sigils to include on their Corrupts, or request that their Corrupt has sigils/runes in some way on their body. Runes and Sigils are very flexible in their use and there is not really a 'wrong' way to combine them into new constructions.
Examples of Runes Examples of Sigils
Users may request that a Faunid Sigil be made officially to represent their Corrupt as part of their form (which will be its own supplemental art given at the same time as that Corrupt's release). Creation of an official Sigil will include a $5 fee and is purely for fun. This is a purchasable token alongside all other tokens and does not cost a trait slot. 
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STEP ONE: Receive your 6 free tokens from the Fenris Dispensary.
STEP TWO: If you want to work with the tokens you got, you can skip to STEP THREE. If you want any specific tokens, you'll need to:
1. Trade with other users. Trades may be conducted without needing moderator involvement, but please provide a note in the trade stating what was traded.
2. Obtain additional tokens from the Donation Shop (Users may pick up a maximum of one item per 24 hours, but may donate however many they would like).
3. Purchase Tokens directly. All standard tokens are $5, but Premium token prices vary. DO NOT purchase items through the shop on Atalav.
Token Price Guide Item Purchase Form
You will be sent an invoice for purchased items. Once this is paid, items will be added directly to user inventories.
STEP THREE: Fill out the Corrupt Creation form once you have obtained the tokens you want to use. Templates for both the semi-custom Corrupts and Corruption of existing Fauns are in that form. You can type your answers directly into the form, or you can link a Google Doc. Either way is fine.
Attach any items you are using to this form so they are removed from your inventory.
STEP FOUR: Wait for a moderator to approve your submission. Moderators will be carefully tracking forms so that Corrupts are added to artist queues in the order they are received. Once it is approved, look out for a message from the artist who takes your form for payment! Once your Corrupt is fully approved, it will be added to the official queue.
STEP FIVE: Wait for your Corrupt's release! Corrupts will be released at least one per artist at minimum every Saturday starting October 4th.
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If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to a moderator or administrator! You may also ask questions in the #event-chatter channel on Discord.
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]]>This year, we thought it would be fun to showcase Corrupted Faunids at different stages of Corruption.
While Corruption is an individual process that looks different on each Faunid, and it's not easy to sort them into perfectly defined "Stages", you can generally make guesses as to how far Corrupted a Faunid is based on a few things: their appearance, how recognizable they are as a Faunid, the severity of how their Corruption effects them, and how much it's begun to warp their mind and body.
Each week of October, we will be releasing a growing set of raffle adopts that highlight what you can expect from a Faunid as they progress through these "Stages". This first week is what we would call "Stage 1" Corrupts, who have most certainly slipped far enough into Corruption to be noticeably different.
In upcoming lore developments, we will explore the first signs of Corruption and how subtle they can be, but for now, enjoy these beasts! Next week will feature a set we would consider Stage 2, the following week will be what we would consider Stage 3, and after that... Fenris has some of his own creations to share with us.
You will see Quads and Anthros in these raffle sets, most of them massively altered from a base set we made for just this occasion! Each will be priced at $60 USD or €60 EURO depending on which artist created them.
Our first two were designed by Loutta and L0sw, who have worked hard on multiple designs for this mini-event alongside our official artist team!
The raffle for this set ended on Wednesday, October 8th. Congrats to ZeusMoose and @c0rvld19
Our second set of adopts were designed by pebb, Necrologia, Loutta, and L0sw!
The raffle for this set ended on Wednesday, October 15rh. Congrats to BelPlasmawolf, Banriion, FatalChimera, and @bluiestarrs!
Our third set of adopts were designed by pebb, Necrologia, GoryTeeth, and Loutta!
This third set of raffles ends on Wednesday, October 22nd!
Thank you to everyone who commented on last month’s newsletter! We are posting this Newsletter earlier than usual to prepare for Corruption later this month.
To sign up for a Faunids account, message a moderator for an invite code. Once you have that, you can register on the sign-up page.
View the Faunids Policy Handbook
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We want to appreciate all the hard work that goes into turning designs into full-fledged characters.
As part of the Newsletter, we choose a community member with a well-loved Faunid to tell us a bit more about them!
This month, we wanted to highlight two opposites: A Fenris Child, since this is the month of Corruption, and a Faunid that is a polar opposite!
We asked Banriion about her Fenris Child, Lorne! 
1. Where does your character's name come from? Who gave it to them?
A lot of Lorne’s in canon lore is up for speculation and based around faunid folklore. It doesn’t have a set beginning (except being handfuls of generations old) and doesn’t have any friends (aside from mal’s mimi, who I’m so excited to see corrupted this year!!) so a lot of his history is theorized on by scholars. He’s the biggest fenris child, and the one most commonly known because of his tendency to wander around atalav. I like to say that “It has been called many things, and none of them are good.” It has a handful of names given to it through these parent-to-child campfire legends, with different regions having different myths about him with different names (the listening tree, the calling man, the kind voice, etc.) but outside of canon I like to just call him Lorne like a shortened version of Forlorn. (:
2. Where did your faunid spend their childhood? What did they want to be when they grew up?
As a Fenris child, he didn’t have a childhood, and technically didn’t grow up. I like to think he started as an idea given life by Fenris. Maybe the legend existed first, and then Fenris made it real? Maybe fenris’s influence was strong in the place the story started and it came to be on its own? But part of the fun is not really knowing where he came from, just that he has always been there, and he’s always been watching and listening.
3. Who is the most important person in their life and why?
Mimic. There isn’t anybody else. Lorne and Mimi’s relationship is complicated. Mimi’s family has a lot of personal trauma regarding corruption and corrupting, and she’s the next to be affected by the curse. Lorne is a faunid-eater, it does not matter what age or species or corruption status. He has an immense, endless memory and perfect recall. Part of his method for luring is his voice replication; he has been watching and listening for so long that he knows the voices of every faunid that has ever been and a vague idea of the relationships they have. He will use the voices of mothers to lure children, lovers to lure lovers, and even the dead to lure the grieving. Mimi found a way to turn this into a game. She piqued his interest on accident. She glows like he does. She doesn’t show any fear of him. With her echolalia, she even echoes the way he does. What he feels for her is a really, admittedly grotesque version of maternal. He isn’t sure why, but she should be more like him. He gives her gifts to try and help her hunt; pinecones packed with teeth, dead shriekers, and the like. It’s like a curse over her house that won’t go away, but she sees her tall friend as someone fun to play with. When she calls a name out to the woods, he talks back to her in their voice. To her family’s dismay, no matter how long he leaves her for, he always comes back.
4. What is their idea of perfect happiness?
Happiness is a concept that Lorne doesn’t particularly understand. It just is. For someone interested in ancient histories, he would be a well of knowledge if they could get him to speak to them. He has seen it all, and lived it all. But he isn’t interested in that, or having a conversation with anyone but Mimi. It’s content shuffling endlessly through atalav, filling himself on fauns and minding himself. Perhaps the secret to him, is through her?
Our next Faunid, owned by Yara_Shep, is quite a different soul altogether! 
1. Where does your character's name come from? Who gave it to them?
Matilda was named after a military tank….an odd choice at first glance, but fitting in its own way. The name was given to her by someone close who thought it suited her mix of inner strength and unexpected charm.
2. Where did your faunid spend their childhood? What did they want to be when they grew up?
She grew up in a quiet, flower filled part of the woods, where she spent most of her time with her best friend, a little rabbit who’s still by her side. As a kid, Matilda dreamed of a lot of things, maybe discovering new constellations, or opening a boutique full of soft, pretty things. She never settled on one goal, and even now, she’s still figuring it out.
3. Who is the most important person in their life and why?
Her rabbit friend means everything to her. They’ve been together through every phase of her life, from childhood to now. They know her better than anyone else, and their quiet support keeps her grounded when things feel uncertain.
4. What is their idea of perfect happiness?
A warm evening under the stars, strawberries to snack on, soft music playing, and not a speck of dirt in sight. Just her favorite outfit, her best friend by her side, and the peace of knowing she’s exactly where she wants to be!
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The final day to submit your Corruption Forms is this Sunday, October 12th.
You can view the full event guide for Corruption [HERE].
Finished Corrupts are posted in the Discord and uploaded to the website every Saturday. Here is what our artists have released so far: 
Additionally, we have a set of Corrupt Gachas being released weekly throughout the month of October.
You may enter for them [HERE].
Last year, there were 36 Corrupted Faunids made by our artist team. As of posting this Newsletter, we have received 41 Corrupt forms this season - still with a few days to go! Thank you all so, so much for supporting our artist team and for all of your incredible ideas. We are so happy to be able to host this event and our newest additions to the artist team are learning so much that will prepare us to have an awesome Fawning season next year.
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Keep your eyes peeled for the third set of Corrupt Gachas next week, as well as two Auction Faunids which will be posted on October 31st!
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As you may have noticed, we have a fully functional site theme now! Banriion did such an incredible job seeing my vision for a natural, vivid combination of brown and green to capture Faunids and ensure the site can be as accessible to everyone as possible. I love it I love it I love it I love it I love it.
I love it.
We have plans for alternate themes based on different areas on the continent of Atalav, as well as light and dark mode options for users to choose from.
Additionally, the following pages have been converted from Atalav over to Faunids:
Faunid Subspecies
History
Corruption Guide
Self Age-Ups + Re-References
Our plan is to reformat all existing pages on Atalav over to Faunids, so that we can host everything exclusively on one website.
We will be working hard to continue collecting all of the important lore and event information over, as well as making edits to our dropdown menus to reflect this!
If you encounter any errors or bugs while using the site, please report them in the #website-chatter channel of the Discord, or report them directly to MUTT.
Thank you so much to our incredible coders. bluiestarss has been working incredibly hard on the back end of Faunids to fix errors, increase stability on the site, and so much more that I don't know how to do myself and is immensely valuable to our community.
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Instead of posting a trait highlight with this month's newsletter, we have some minor trait updates as well as an entire section this month dedicated to Mutations.
New Traits
Trait Description Updates
As a staff team, we have discussed individual Mutations and the Mutation category as a whole from multiple angles: art, lore, and community.
These changes and updates are up-to-date as of posting this Newsletter.
These Mutations are being retired.
With Mutations, we want to focus on the fantasy elements of Faunids and what may be advantageous in certain environments and unique visual profiles, as well as create opportunities for members in our community with disabilities to have the chance to create Faunids that reflect their own experiences if they wish. Similar to mobility aids, prosthetic limbs, and other alterations allowed without tokens, you are free to have your Faunids display a Cleft Lip with a note on the reference similar to body modification.
If you have a Faunid with either of these mutations that was granted as your mutation through Fawning, please message MUTT to discuss options. We would be happy to discuss re-referrencing or rolling new Mutations for these Faunids if requested by the owner.
This trait is being renamed to "Behemoth".
Like the previous two Mutations, we want to lean away from existing conditions that have specific context as it relates to real life humans. Gigantism is a condition that looks very different from the fantasy concept presented by this mutation in Faunids. Behemoth reflects the application of this mutation in Faunids much more directly, as it results in a Faunid being much larger and stronger than other members of that Faunid's Subspecies.
This lore is optional and may not necessarily be true of all Faunids with these Mutations. Just something fun to think about as you build your characters!
Third Eye
Faunids with a Third Eye tend to be more commonly predisposed to clairvoyance.
Boney Growth
Faunids with Boney Growth tend to have stiffer joints in the areas affected by Boney Growth, which can be detrimental to movement but advantageous to Faunids who may benefit from having extra armor on their bodies.
Gem Growths
Faunids with Gem Growths might find themselves drawn to chemical and alchemical career paths due to the availability of resources grown directly from their bodies.
Draconic Horns
Faunids with Draconic Horns tend to run hotter, allowing them to persist longer in harsh cold environments.
Double Ears
Faunids with Double Ears tend to have keen hearing, and have a wider auditory range.
Paws
Faunids with Paws tend to have less fine motor skills, at the benefit of having stronger grip strength.
Split/Double Tail
Faunids with these tails tend to have better balance.
Vestigial Wings
While Faunids with this mutation cannot fly with them, it does tend to make them more aerodynamic - which can be especially useful for Faunids high up on mountain ranges or in precarious lines of work. Unfortunately, they are also very inconvenient to have attached to your body.
Chimerism
Faunids with this mutation are rumored to have wells of Lifesource within their bodies.
Plant Growth
Heavily dependent on the plant.
Some Faunids may find that this mutation heightens their medicinal practices, whether this be for good or bad.
Some Faunids with this mutation can produce fruiting bodies under the right conditions.
Melanism
Can be advantageous in colder climates, due to the thermoregulation benefits that this mutation can provide.
Useful for camouflage.
Strong immune systems.
Dragon Feet
Faunids with this mutation tend to be far more sturdy and agile compared to the average Faunid.
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Thanks to our community, we have managed to completely cover the annual cost of Atalav.com, as well as nearly fully cover the annual fees of Faunids.com!
I cannot thank all of you enough. We have learned so much and so quickly how feasible it might be to continue running our websites, and with these costs continuing to shrink as we port over information from Atalav to Faunids, we have put these two things into place:
We have reduced Self Age-Ups/Re-References from $30 -> $20 for the remainder of 2025.
We have also added vouchers to waive this fee as rewards for our monthly Art Challenges for the remainder of 2025.
At the new year, we will look at the monthly site fees gathered through each month and discuss on staff whether we should reduce these costs further.
Finding out that Corruption alone was able to cover the bulk of our website hosting expenses, we have discussed extensively on staff what any further income gained through tokens and user submission fees could be used for. We were all in agreement that anything gained through the community should be tracked and organized to best serve our community.
Our concept for the Faunids Fund will be added in its own tab onto the Policy Handbook. For those who want to read it now, here it is:
To manage monetary resources gained through official Faunids purchases to improve the species in a multitude of ways, prioritizing safety nets for our artist team and projects related to quality of life for staff as well as the community.
- Fawning item purchases
- Corruption token purchases
- Age-Up Fees
- Re-Reference Fees
- Donations (if specified for this purpose)
- Payment directly to artists, including event designs (Corrupts, Fawns, Springtides), Gachas, Auctions, Customs, and Tips.
- Payment granted to guest artists by the winners of gachas, auctions, raffles, etc.
No money is to be transferred out of the Faunids Fund without full input from all members of the artist team and the species owner (Gory, Necro, Pebb, and Jack). The moderation team will be notified of any purchases made with the Faunids fund and, depending on the circumstance, be asked to provide input as well.
1. Coverage in the event of an emergency for a member of the artist team (examples: if an artist is injured during Fawning, money might be used to pay another artist to support that artist's workload without jeopardizing the financial situation of a recovering artist /// If an artist becomes ill or injured and needs immediate medical support, funds might be used to support them within reason).
2. Payments made directly to our hired coder for Faunids.com for larger site functions such as fixing crashes, bugs, errors, and implementing new interactive structures for site functionality.
3. Sponsorship of additional prizes/rewards for events, such as Art Challenges, to cover the cost associated with official artist vouchers (allowing us to potentially offer larger rewards that would normally only be possible through commissions).
4. Payment to supplemental artists for working on official projects (such as Lore Development pages).
5. Payment to official artists for larger projects such as updating all remaining trait images, creating visual guides (such as Minodae, Freeze Branding, trait guides), and new event-related assets.
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Thank you all for your submissions in the month of September! Some of these really freaked me out. YAY!
Our winners were:
20 Barters - Zorkia
20 Barters - FatalChimera
30 Barters - darthdadddy
Corruption Voucher - HatoKnight
Re-Reference/Age-Up Submission Fee Waiver - Elk_Montauk
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The October prompt is now live! 
Our prompt this month ties into our next upcoming lore development (Clothing):
It's Costume Time!
Dress up for the fall season. Maybe your Faunid has a harvest gathering to attend.
Maybe they're ready to go out trick-or-treating. Maybe they just want to look their best!
If you have a Faunid that's based on a character, feel free to have fun and dress them up!
Art Challenge submissions don't have to exist in the canon universe.
The RNG winners of the raffle may receive one of these prizes:
20 Barters
20 Barters
30 Barters
One Trait Applicator [Exclusive]
One waiver for an age-up/re-reference fee on approval
(If you wish to contribute to this raffle prize please DM Jaquiri on Discord!)
Remember that in order to enter for this prompt, you must submit your entry into the art challenge gallery and submit a prompt.
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Post your answer in the comments to get currency!
The currency reward window closes 7 days after the news is posted.
]]>
As our artists are currently deep into designing Corrupted Fauns and work on custom orders and adopts has slowed, we felt this was the perfect time to chip away at traits. We want to provide as much notice as possible for any trait changes or additions so that our community is as informed as they can be when they plan for customs, Fawning Season, etc.
This news post will likely be by far the biggest update, but there may be more minor adjustments posted in the near future for the trickier traits we want to take our time discussing in full. The last thing we want is to rush out any changes without thinking about how anything we do impacts our community!
Our artist team has had several formal meetings to discuss every trait one-by-one, and all of our proposals were brought to the moderation team as well.
Many traits are perfect as-is! The majority of traits are unchanged and simply need visuals attached to their names, which we are working on at the same time.
We looked through existing Faunids when we discussed these traits to determine the best general minimum and maximum lengths.
Some Faunids exist outside this standard, especially with some of the unique ways Adopts and Auctions can present these traits.
These Fauns don't all necessarily need to be edited to exist within the standard, and can present a fun element of diversity in the outcomes during Fawning!
The updated standard lengths are meant to be a guide for future Faunids and for those aging up or re-referencing existing Faunids.
We want to preserve unique stylization, allow future Fauns who are stylized outside the standard range to be special, and make traits visually distinct.
With each change, I (hi, it's me, MUTT) will be listing our reasoning behind these edits. This reasoning will not be copied into the trait descriptions themselves, just expanded on here. It is important to me that any changes like this have a very strong why behind them, and if they do not, then they remain unchanged!
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Green = Minimum Coverage
Blue = Maximum Coverage
Beard (Standard)
Beard has had a visual update to reflect a longer fur length and may include the muzzle. This trait will override Cheek Fluff.
Collar Fluff (Standard)
Collar Fluff has an updated visual. At minimum, this trait flows along the collarbone and at maximum loops around the body below the neck.
There is some overlap between this trait and Shoulder Fluff, however Collar Fluff cannot cover the shoulders.
Rib Feathers (Standard)
Rib Feathers now have a visual. Unchanged; rib feathers are quite a versatile trait, and we wanted our visual to reflect that.
Back Feathers (Standard)
Back Feathers have an updated visual. More centralized on the back, they can extend wider out than Dorsal Feathers.
Dorsal Feathers (Standard)
Dorsal Feathers now have a visual. At minimum, they start at the base of the skull and stop above the tailbone.
On fur tails, Dorsal feathers can travel as far down as there is bone structure beneath the fur.
Hip Feathers (Standard)
Hip Feathers now have a visual. The length is unchanged, with an added note for reference that Hip Feathers start at the hip bone.
Feather Skirt (Standard)
Feather Skirt now has a visual. As an exclusive trait, the minimum is significantly more pronounced than the maximum of Hip Feathers. Since it loops around the back, it overrides Tail Feathers.
Satyr Pants (Standard)
Satyr Pants now have a visual. Originally, this trait was meant to look like fluffy shorts like the trait's namesake. At minimum, Satyr Pants start at the belt line to just above the knee. At maximum, they cover the entire leg. Satyr Pants will override any fur and fluff traits.
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Pectoral Feathers (Bra) has been renamed to Pectoral Feathers. At minimum, this trait goes along the bottom line of the pectorals. Unlike Chest Feathers, Pectoral Feathers typically flow upwards and are more exaggerated. This can accentuate or obscure the chest, depending on stylization. Some may prefer to go for a 'bra' look that gives the chest a pushed up appearance, and others may simply want to frame the chest more than Chest Feathers can do.
Chest Feathers now have a visual. Sternum Feathers is being condensed into Chest Feathers. The name change prevents confusion between Pectoral/Bra Feathers. We have combined the maximum range of Sternum and Chest and expanded them, which allows more clarity and more freedom for this trait in one go.
Minimum coverage must be either Primary OR Secondary feathers.
The header image for this trait is the Maximum coverage for Bicep Arm Wings.
Minimum coverage must be either Primary OR Secondary feathers.
The header image for this trait is the Maximum coverage for Forearm Arm Wings.
The visual for Tail Feathers will be made to include coverage for both.
Tail Feathers were always intended to start above the tailbone, and this trait has caused unecessary confusion for both artists and users.
(Jack thought Sacrum Feathers would make more sense to match the location, but everyone hates the word Sacrum and he was outvoted.)
Belly Scales are, in fact, along the Underbelly.
This trait has given our entire community so much trouble. It is one of the least consistent traits despite having just slightly over a full page of Faunids. It was initially defined as 'downy feathers', though this often makes it completely indistinguishable from hair and many Fauns with this trait had feathers that were not downy feathers categorized as this trait. Since users are free to stylize Hair and Feather Hair and Hair (Feathered) in numerous ways, including as mohawks, this trait is redundant even though the name is super fun.
On the staff team, we went through all of the Faunids with this trait and have placed them into either:
Hair
Hair (Feathered)
Feather Hair
This categorization depended on how they visually presented and there were some we were genuinely stumped about.
If you own a Faunid who previously had the Feather Mohawk trait, you may discuss with MUTT about changing the look slightly to fit one of the above categories better regardless of what it was changed to in the meantime. This will be case-by-case but we will try to honor those requests.
Shiba Tail and Wolf Tail are being expanded into a broader "Canine Tail" category!
All four versions of Canine Tails are Standard traits.
Within the breed itself, the most common and preferred standard is referred to as “curled” or “ringed”. “Sickle” is a less common shape, which is slightly less curved and pointed upward. While not an official name, sometimes these tails are referred to as “Naginata” tails due to their resemblance to the weapon with this name. Faunids have been drawn with Shiba tails that present differently, and we want to continue allowing for that freedom with stylization.
So, the trait itself has not changed! Of all the names, Sickle implied the most freedom.
Therefore, dog breeds with similarly curling tails may be used as references when ordering customs. Just check with your artist!
It is also unchanged, though the wording implies a bit more freedom. Canine tails under the Wolf category may be stylized to look similar to Siberian Huskies, German Shepherds, etc. Again, please check with your artist.
There are two new variants to Canine Tail. These are available through customs, adopts, or Standard Trait Applicators.
While all of the tails are listed separately, in this specific category they are variations of the same trait, so if you have a Wolf-tailed Faunid you would like to change to Sickle, you would need a Trait Modification token, not a Trait Removal + Trait Applicator. You cannot have your Faunid’s official reference reflect a different Canine Tail without this.
Canine Tail (Silken) is meant to mimic the feathery tails of Saluki and similar sighthounds. It is distinct from Lung Tail not only by its much smaller length and size, but also by the thinness of both the tail itself and the fur that drapes from it.
Canine Tail (Lycaon) is named after the scientific name for the African Wild Dog. This tail is meant to have a minimum that is most similar to tails you might see on dogs like the beagle, with a maximum that presents more closely to the thin but fluffy tail of the AWD.
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The range of edits that come with this token are largely experiemental. When considering alterations to your Faunid's design, please keep in mind that these designs are made with love, care, and attention from the artists, and we take efforts to combine design elements that compliment each other. Please be thoughtful about any alterations you want to make, and consider adjustments with intent to compliment the Faunid that is there already.
Saying all that, we totally get that a minor accent can make or break a connection to a Faunid's design! So, we wanted to try this out and see how it goes.
We wanted to have a clear 'no' list for applied Mutations before we planned to release any during events.
As of right now, we have decided the only existing Mutations that cannot be obtained via applicator are Behemoth, Chimerism, and Lifesource.
We would love to introduce a few more opportunities to gain Faunid MYO slots, as well as make sure that existing ones are used.
All existing and future MYOs now have an expiry date.
For all currently existing MYO slots, the expiry date is exactly a year from the date of this news posting, which is October 17th, 2026.
For all future MYO slots, the expiry date will be exactly a year from the date they are granted.
Thank you all for sticking it out through this update!
Thank you to everyone who commented on last month’s newsletter! We are posting this Newsletter earlier than usual to prepare for Corruption later this month.
To sign up for a Faunids account, message a moderator for an invite code. Once you have that, you can register on the sign-up page.
View the Faunids Policy Handbook
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Our latest lore development is focused on clothing. The way Faunids interact with the world around them is reflected in the outfits they wear, and what materials they might use to create those outfits. We have plans for a quad-specific lore update soon, and future plans to add quad-specific clothing and accesories. For now, this lore development features Minodae and anthro Faunids in various climates.
As always, this is meant to be a jumping off point as you enrich your own characters, not a hard and fast rule for how every Faunid might dress.
Thank you hearteater for sharing your knowledge and art to make this page possible. A lot of research and thought was put into all of these!
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We want to appreciate all the hard work that goes into turning designs into full-fledged characters.
As part of the Newsletter, we choose community members with well-loved Faunids to tell us a bit more about them!
This month, we wanted to highlight the bonds between Faunids and their non-Faunid companions.
Up first, owned by Hyenadayy, are Mazi and his shrieker Zul!
1. How did your Faunid come to find/take in their companion?
Mazi found Zul when he was just a baby, stranded and thrown from the nest too early. He spent a lot of delicate time and care fostering him! He very much bonded with him over that time.
2. What is their relationship like? Are they more like a beloved friend, a working companion, or something else?
I would say their relationship is a beloved companion, but also a work partner! Zul is helpful for helping Mazi track down animals and other Faunids.
3. Why does their companion have the name they do? How were they named?
Zul is named after a character in World of Warcraft. Because Mazi is based around WoW, he is mostly named after the location Zul'aman though!
4. How does your Faunid communicate with your companion?
Mazi communicates with chirps, chitters and whistles to signify commands to him! He has trained him heavily over the years.
5. Are there any special challenges that come with living with their companion?
Yes, Zul has quite the personality and sometimes likes to be disobedient... Mazi can be seen arguing with his shrieker, receiving loud and angry caws back!
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Next up is Kieran and his stagwagon, Brutus, both owned by Grremllin! This interview was held in-character.
1. How did you come to find/take in your companion?
Oh Brutus? My Family has owned a Stag Wagon ranch since I was just a fawn, When I was about toddlin' age my momma brought me out to the grub site while she was tending the larvae dirt. All was well until she stumbled upon a sickly runt, now it was about Leaf Fall, and we couldn't just leave it out to freeze, and she was already taking care of me so she figured, what's one more grub? Haha!
2. What is your relationship like? Are they more like a beloved friend, a working companion, something else?
He's definitely a beloved friend, and a working companion. We grew up together so he's been by my side for longer than I can remember. He's very dependable. Always there when I need him, even with his hulking size.
3. Why does your companion have the name they do? How were they named?
Well... his original name was 'Lil Squishy, but. As you can see he's quite large. I had someone say he was quite Brutish, once... so Brutus was a silly joke that kinda stuck!
4. How do you communicate with your companion?
Well, he sorta shutters and chitters, and when he's particularly happy he goes wee wee wee. He's such a gentle little thing. He likes it when you scratch his forehead right up under his pronotum, he's super soft there too. Sometimes I have to clean his face up with a damp cloth, he enjoys fruit as a treat and especially on a hot day. I just speak all gentle with him. He's a giant but he doesn't mean any harm.
5. Are there any special challenges that come with living with your companion?
Stagwagons start out from a Larvae, and then they pupate and must remain in the dark for- well, however long they need. I gotta say my biggest challenge was the anxiety I got from him being under ground for so long. It took everything in me to not go dig him up and roll him around. And of course, when he emerged he was too big to come back inside the hut. I was only a spike then, so my momma had Volo and some of her friends come out to help me build him a special barn. I'm sure it gave her a headache, having just had Séance around that time, but I was so happy to welcome my friend into a warm leaf litter filled space of his own. Of course- in those first few days she's catch me sleeping in the hay next to him. Its definetly a core memory.
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And, last but not least, are owned by a member of our staff, Necrologia. Rún's companion is an avestrich named Ghost. 
1. How did your Faunid come to find/take in their companion?
When Rún, barely out of his teen years, decided to travel up north, he mostly kept to himself and off roads due to him not wanting to socialize with other Faunids. This led to him straying farther off his path than calculated and ending up in an almost tundra-like landscape, not yet covered in snow but draped in thick mist. As he ventured through the fog, he was alerted by a sudden thumping noise behind him, making him freeze in his movement and turn around, just to look into the hazy eyes of a barely mature avestrich, covered in a white and gray coat of feathers. Staying calm yet intrigued, Rún watched the wary creature for a while, staying near it, observing it and studying it. This stretched on for a few days, until the Avestrich finally decided to approach him and forming their bond.
2. What is their relationship like? Are they more like a beloved friend, a working companion, something else?
They are a rather similar pair, both being on the quiet and observing side, yet somehow codependant on each other. Due to Ghost being partially blind, he almost exclusively depends on Rún's communication with him when they leave the ranch. After Rún took in more Avestrichs for training, Ghost took on a natural mentor role for the younger Avestrichs there.
3. Why does their companion have the name they do? How were they named?
As Rún studied him in the fog, his movements spoke to him as fluid and wary, careful to not make a noise unless intended, which reminded him of a snow spirit making itself known to the one entering its territory. Playing into that, the Avestrichs misty eyes made him ultimately decide on 'Ghost' as a name.
4. How does your Faunid communicate with your companion?
Rún works a lot with energy communication, body tensing and loosening muscles as well as breathing. Very rarely he uses vocal commands, but only when Ghost is outside of his vicinity.
5. Are there any special challenges that come with living with their companion?
Given that Ghost is partially blind, there was a lot of new things to learn for Rún as he travelled and bonded with him. Their communication is rather specific and dependant on a calm and collected temper, making it hard for others, including Rún's own sons, to communicate with Ghost. In general Ghost likes to avoid other faunids just as much as Rún and is rather antisocial.
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There are two Fenris Children up for auction this week.
The first was designed by Loutta and GoryTeeth, and the second was designed by L0sw.
There will also be one more auction Faunid in November, created by Necrologia. Be on the look out later this month!
Last month, a Discord poll was held in the server regarding how auctions are run and where bids can be placed.
"All auctions will continue to be posted to the Faunids website regardless of the outcome of this poll, but I'd like some community feedback regarding in what ways users can bid on auctions."
There were 51 votes. The results were:
1. "Bids should only be made on comment threads on-site" - 18%
2. "Bids should also be able to be placed in the server" - 57%
3. "No preference" - 25%
Thank you to everyone for the feedback. As a result of this poll, our moderation and admin team are now monitoring the bidding threads and comments to keep them fully up-to-date across the server and the website! All bid histories within the server will be placed on the website as well.
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We are still in the process of streamlining our dropdown menus on-site. Something we really want is to host all relavant information in one easy place. The page itself is live, though keep in mind some of the pages are still in progress. Here's how you can get to it: 
If you encounter any errors or bugs while using the site, please report them in the #website-chatter channel of the Discord, or report them directly to MUTT.
Thank you so much to our incredible coders. bluiestarss has been working incredibly hard on the back end of Faunids to fix errors, increase stability on the site, and so much more that I don't know how to do myself and is immensely valuable to our community.
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If you haven't already, please check out the news post on Trait Updates [HERE]! It includes information on new traits and rehauled images for existing ones.
This month's trait is: Beard!
This is a personal favorite amongst several members of staff, both for how much character it can add, and because it's so dang funny! Look at that thing!
From unicorn goatees to mutton chops, this trait certainly has the range.
Here are some Faunids and Minos that showcase their beards gloriously:
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Thank you to all our participants for October! Look at all those lovely costumes!
Our winners were:
20 Barters - kojoty
20 Barters - L0sw
30 Barters - Banriion
Exclusive Applicator - HatoKnight
Re-ref/Self-Ageup Fee Waiver - darthdadddy
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The November Art challenge is now live!
What does your Faunid bring to the table?
Following this year's harvest, Faunids across Atalav think this is the perfect time to share a feast. What foods does your Faunid eat? What do they make when invited to share a meal with others? Does your Faunid have a special dish, or a family recipe? Is your Faunid the worst cook in the world?
Your submission this month must include food of some kind. This is your chance to practice something you may not draw every day!
Remember that in order to enter for this prompt, you must submit your entry into the art challenge gallery and submit a prompt.
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This coming December, we have some really exciting updates for all of you. Expect more information in the following weeks as well!
First of all, the Winter Advents will be making a return! The previews for this gacha set were revealed all at once, with participants being able to choose which previews seemed interesting to them. One adopt was rolled each day. 
This year we will have a full advent calendar that runs from December 1st to December 25th. Similarly to Springtide, each day will alternate an adopt being won or another special prize being raffles. During Springtide, these were randomly drawn tokens from a pool. The Advent Calendar, which will be revealed later in November, contains some prizes that cannot be gained through our year-round Barter shop.
...But wait, there's more! A new base set has been made by MUTT for this event. Thank you to hearteater and Cockroach for your pose suggestions.
Enjoy a sneak peek:
You may have stumbled upon my disgusting and horrible test wheel on-site. I'm using it for my nefarious purposes (testing).
There are more details to come, but December's event will include our first daily mechanic.
Once a day during the event, you'll be able to spin the wheel for a chance at prizes!
This has been suggested in many different ways for quite some time now. So, a big part of the December event will be a community-driven Faunids version of Secret Santa. This arts-and-crafts section of the event will replace December's art challenge. We will be opening forms to apply during the last week of November with more information included on rules, requirements, and FAQs!
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This Faunids-Brand Secret Santa spin-off will replace December's monthly Art Challenge. Anyone in our community can sign up to be a Secret Shrieker, which means you will be assigned another user to make a gift for and someone will be assigned to you.
Forms are now open, and will close on Sunday, November 23rd. Pairs will be assigned on this date, with all creations being due to Jack by the end of Friday, December 19th. Please read the Google Form entirely before submitting your entries.
The following prizes will be raffled amongst all participants on the reveal date (December 20th):
- One MYO Faunid Slot (this is not restricted to either Anthro or Quad, it is user choice)
- One Mutation Token
...and possibly more, yet-to-be-revealed!
If you have any questions not answered by the form or this post, please message Jaquiri on Discord or comment on this post.
For the sake of organization, no one other than MUTT should be answering questions posed by other users.
There will be no newsletter for December, as our new Winter Gala will be a month-long event and no other news is planned. Expect a news post this weekend that outlines everything happening next month!
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As a quick reminder, our Auctions now run exactly one week from the day they are posted.
The current Auction, designed by Necrologia, ends .
This Faunid has a naturally-occuring Split Tongue mutation. Here is the new lore flavortext:
Faunids with split tongues are often quite adept as navigators. Faunids with this mutation often find themselves in positions as trackers, as it provides them a stronger sense of smell and an ability to pinpoint scent-based trails. Those who are particularly creative have found that the unique structure of their tongues make them very good ventriloquists, mimics, or intimidators in conversation.
Bidding can be done directly in the thread, or on the discord server. A moderator will make sure bids are cross-posted and kept up-to-date.
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Our newest lore development is now live!
(This page is best viewed in desktop mode).
The sky above Atalav contains 12 distinct constellations, each connected and formed from myth, verbal history, legend and folktales.
It is our first lore page with interactive images. Try hovering or clicking on the constellations to check them out!
This Lore Development marks the introduction to our first ever Faunids ARG Plot line. It gives some clues for what's headed straight for us, and you'll find that the information you gather here will be useful for things to come.
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As the world gets cold and dark, many of our animal friends go to hibernate. But not Faunids! They know the best fix for being stuck in dreary weather- second only to a mug of hot chocolate- is to search for the positives our winter season has to offer. Faunids, as a whole, love an excuse to share their crafts and company with one another. The Winter Gala is a time for gathering, games, and fun!
Despite the strange meteor approaching Atalav, Faunids everywhere are still finding joy in this yearly celebration.
This News Post will be the central hub for information related to the event, and will be updated throughout the month.
You don't have to be in the Discord server to participate.
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Secret Shriekers forms have closed. Thank you to everyone who signed up for this gifting mini-event.
We have a grand total of 34 participants this year! We can't wait to share them all later this month.
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Our coders have been able to make magic happen with this wheel. Their work allows us to have a wider prize pool and customized rarities for said prizes!
When spinning the wheel, you may receive:
5 Barters (Common)
10 Barters (Uncommon)
Barter Shop Voucher* (Rare)
Cameo Voucher** (Very Rare)
Trait Applicator - Exclusive (Super Rare)
Trait Applicator - Mutation (Extremely Rare)
The Barter Shop Voucher allows you to redeem one item of your choice from the Barter Shop.
The Cameo Voucher grants a Faunid of your choice an appearance in a very special upcoming Lore Development.
The Faunid does not have to be a Faunid owned by you, but you do have to have permission from the owner.
You will receive more information shortly after this event!
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Like last year, we will be releasing a set of advent gacha adopts. This batch, like last year's, includes some visually unique and atypical Faunids. The Winter Advents are a great chance for new users to obtain a Faunid, and to introduce rare trait combinations, less widely used color palettes, community suggestions, and more.
There are ten gachas this year, all priced at $50. They were designed mainly by MUTT.
You may only win one gacha, and will receive your adopt once payment has been sent.
Last year’s theme was food. The foods chosen gave hints as to what traits and color palettes could be found on the adopts they represented.
This year’s theme is toys!
If you’re a longtime community member, you may recognize our guest mascot from the toys she often makes to give Faunids when they are newly introduced to our community. Veltruska, more widely known as Velly, is owned by Athenadora. She has made some exceptional toys for our new friends this year!
In addition to the gachas, there has been a HUGE overhaul for our advent calendar.
Every day of December up to the 20th has its own unique prize, with the Winter Wonderwheel opening between the 6th and 15th.
You may not choose which tokens to enter for. This raffle enters you into all possible tokens.
You may only win one for the duration of the event, which does not make you ineligible to win a gacha - they are separate raffles.
All token prizes may be traded or gifted, but CANNOT be sold.
Many of these prizes are only possible due to the contributions members have made to the Faunids Fund via submission approvals. Thank you!
Day 4: Standard tokens include any that can be found in the Barter Shop.
Day 6: This Fawning voucher covers the cost of one Fawn during the season. It does not include helper fees or items purchased - just the base price!
Day 8: This Half-off Gacha voucher can be used to either 1) halve the cost of any future gacha you win, or 2) gift to a specific user or apply randomly to any upcoming gacha batch.
Day 10: This will grant you an extra set of 6 randomly generated items from the pool at the Fenris Dispensary, starting in 2026.
Day 12: Fourth Fawning Slot (For a USER) allows whoever possesses it to order a fourth Fawn during the season if they have already ordered three. It does not cover items/helper fees. Base price for the Fawn will be equivalent to ordering your third Fawn.
Day 14: Fourth Fawning Slot (For a FAUNID) allows whoever possesses it to bypass the 3-slot limit all Faunids have during the season once. This does not count for both Fauns involved in the pair, only the Faunid it is ‘applied’ to.
Day 16: No raffle prize. The Winter Wonderwheel will open, which has prizes of its own.
Day 18: A Faunid of your choice will make an appearance in a very special upcoming Lore Development. It does not have to be a Faunid owned by you, but you do have to have permission from the owner.
Day 20: Our first MYO Slot: Merfaun! All MYO rules apply. Type of Merfaun must be discussed between the owner and admin to determine what creatures may be used as a ‘base’ for the Merfaun; there is some flexibility here beyond what is generally possible for custom Merfauns.
When submitting your entry form for the advents and tokens in the calendar, you will see an option to include whether you were referred by another member.
If you do not own any non-Corrupt Faunids and were referred to Faunids by a community member, you may share their username in your form.
This will grant both you and the user you’ve referred an extra raffle ticket to any raffles you have entered!
The Winter Gala is the perfect time to invite some new friends into our community, and we want to celebrate participation from both longtime and brand-new members alike! While I believe our community will be fair and respectful about this, it must be said that it is against our code of conduct to use others who have no interest in participating in Faunids to gain extra raffle tickets. If you are found to be purposefully manipulating this raffle by using your friends in this way, you will be banned from participating from future raffles, and we will likely never grant a reward like this in future raffles for anyone.
Please do not be the person who ruins the fun!
(Special THANK YOU to Loutta for our event banner, and hearteater for our calendar layout!)
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While there is no typical Newsletter for December, a wrap-up for our very big year in Faunids feels like the best way to send it off before the meteor comes.
Thank you all. It's silly to say that I'm tearing up from writing that, but I am. I'm writing this thank you after putting together this news post, and it's hitting me all at once how lucky I am to lead Faunids and how much being part of Faunids has changed my life for so many years, in recent months more than ever. I am proud of my team and my community in so many ways that I truly do not have the words for.
I'm saying this as the guy who has put together a 3,000 word news post, too, so you know I mean it.
(Lots of love, from your ever-dramatic Muttjack)
Let's celebrate a few highlights!
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In early January, we hosted a charity raffle. The combined funds gained through raffle tickets purchased in our communities totaled nearly $1,000! The charities our community donated to were the Joplin Humane Society, Urbana’s Cunningham Township Gaza Relief, Cops for Kids, Texas Health Action, Dogs Home of Tasmania, Blue Star Service Dogs, Great Plains SPCA, Athens Area Humane Society, ANERA (American Near East Refugee Aid), Cheyenne Animal Shelter, and United Way of Asheville & Buncombe County!
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We had two auction Faunids for the Year of the Snake:
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This year, 123 Fawns were born, with an additional 24 Faun-to-Fawns being drawn by our artist team!
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(For all the Lore Development sections, click on the image to go to that page!) 
Our first Lore Development of the year, Cervidic Runes, went live in early March, introducing a new NPC: Leonard the Theologian. Our community has used these runes to create freeze branding, accessories, and personal runic symbols for their Faunids! This was a big shift for Faunids towards enhancing the lore within our world, moving away from pre-existing symbology toward a crafted construction of sigils that fit what Faunids find important, how they view magic in their daily lives, how they communicate with one another, what they value, and what mysteries there still are within Atalav to discover.
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The most beautiful Faunid of all graced us with her presence on April 1st.
She hasn’t been seen since, but just know that she is out there, and she is real.
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This year’s Springtide was the first inclusion of raffle prizes as part of the event. It allowed for more tokens to be introduced into the community, and provided an extra way for users who did not want to purchase new Faunids a way to participate in the event. This addition propelled us into considering more opportunities for our community to access items for their Faunids.
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In June, our first ever Community Newsletter was published on our new website (this one). The content included in these Newsletters was informed by a wide range of responses to a community survey. Surveys have been a source of immensely valuable information for so many elements of Faunids and how we operate. As our Community Manager, I was able to organize all of the data and present it to our team, speak up for what the community shared was important, and advocate for changes in how we run events, run proposals for new concepts, and write all of these Newsletters!
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This summer, we had our first community-led event: Summer Camp! Alongside it, we had our first-ever Site Shop, where users could participate in activities and redeem their Pebbles for prizes. We received nearly 150 art/writing submissions as part of this event. Our community tested many site features during this event, which taught us a lot for how to structure these events in the future. Users had to navigate the website to find scavenger hunt items, submit art prompts, color bugs, and go fishing. This event will return as a yearly event. It will contain new prompts and themes depending on in-world events on Atalav, and will hopefully include more new site features.
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In early August, a set of 20 Gacha Adopts was released under the same theme: Nostalgia. This theme allowed for a spectacular range of designs that were all, at their heart, a source of something positive for all of the guest artists who supported us with this batch. This group of Gachas also included a few adopts that were only eligible to be won by first-time owners; we wanted to see how this went so we could consider more opportunities for newer members to participate.
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In August, we also announced the first permanent on-site trading post where users could exchange Barters (which represent goods that Faunids have made) for Faunid items that allow you to further customize your characters. Barters are obtained by participating in the monthly Art Challenges and responding to the monthly Newsletters! This was a big way to reward active community members for their effort without relying on random chance to receive anything, and has quickly become a staple of our community.
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Our staff team published our official policy handbook in August as well. This handbook will be updated as necessary (with an announcement) and at minimum reviewed annually by staff to make sure our policies are up-to-date!
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Our second Lore Development of the year came as we prepared for Corruption. It features Curiosity Killed the Cat, an eerily passionate Faunid who seeks to understand the nature of Lifesource by inspecting the dark underbelly of magic as it exists in Atalav. Sigils are often associated with Corrupt Faunids, as sigils are often powerful tools to channel energy that evoke the life narratives and motives expressed by Corrupted Faunids. Her studies frequently lead Curiosity to find herself in dangerous situations, but she is a natural collaborator with other Faunids in her quest for information. She frequently travels with her partner, Satisfaction Brought Her Back, who supports her in her studies.
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We tried out many quality of life changes with this year's Corruption. We had a new set of Quad and Anthro bases, new structures for submitting forms, new items, new traits, and a new donation shop! We love Roach. When all was said and done we had nearly 50 Corrupts this year! This is a massive difference compared to previous years. Our community was more engaged than ever and truly made this Corruption Season feel special.
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Our two coders, Banriion and bluiestarss, have put countless hours into the development of our website. They have fixed tons of errors that previously would routinely break the site or prevent users from completing basic site functions, they have ported over tons of pages from Atalav, and so much more. Banriion has formatted so many pages to go above and beyond what I thought was possible with interactive images, new hub pages, more accessible formatting, and new site themes. They worked on the internal coding for our Winter Wonderwheel to make that possible, and are constantly stressing me out with their incredibly creative and ambitious concepts for new magical features that are beyond my comprehension. They frequently tell me, "Jack, don't be scared, but" and then I get scared, but it always turns out great. Thank you two so much for pushing the bounds of everything I thought our site could do.
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This year, we were able to bring the cost of User-submitted references down as soon as we hit the annual cost of our website hosting fees. The Faunids Fund has been able to pay site fees, provide compensation for supplemental guest artists and large projects for official artists, website coding, and a wide range of event prizes!
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We had our first large trait overhaul in October. 12 trait visuals were updated with new images, and ranges were more clearly defined for many more. We added lore flavortext to many Mutations and made adjustments to the "Antler Modification" token, changing it instead to an "Accent Adjustor". This allows for much more freedom for owners to alter several aspects of a Faun's design!
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Our third Lore Development featured materials and styles of clothes Faunids of all kinds may wear in our universe!
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Our first annual Winter Gala is in full swing! You can read more about the event by clicking that banner above. The Winter Wonderwheel closes tomorrow. I know, I know, "Jack, we want to spin the wheel some more, please let us spin the wheel, I love gambling" I hear you. There will be more wheels to come!
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Our final Lore Development of the year revolved around the 12 main constellations Faunids use to navigate the night sky. Hopefully, it won't be our last update, but... that meteor sure is coming.
It's getting closer every day.
Oh, look, a FUN FACT: Did you know there were 288 Faunids uploaded to the website this year? What the hell...
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This year, across 11 different monthly Art Challenges, we received a total of 198 visual and written works of art from within our own community.
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We have a lot planned for Faunids in the years to come (again, let's hope we survive the meteor). We have met many times to discuss our timeline and what works best for our team and the community as a whole. We think you will really enjoy what we have in store, and have been working for months to achieve our goals with as little disruption to our usual schedule as possible. So far, we've stayed right on track, and we want to share our overall timeline for the first few months of the year to give our community time to prepare.
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Please give a warm welcome to our newest Official Artist In-Training, Loutta!
This isn't Loutta's first rodeo. In past years, Loutta has made Fawns, Springtides, Gacha adopts, Auction Faunids, and supplemental art galore. They made this year's Winter Gala banner, and have been working behind the scenes on several upcoming Faunids developments.
Loutta will not be an artist option when submitting Fawning pairs this coming year, but will be supporting us in a multitude of ways, such as lineart edits, critique, and another set of eyes throughout the design process. Loutta's position will involve creating environmental art for the world and towns across Atalav, concept design for creatures, Summer Camp event prep, and more secret upcoming lore developments. Loutta's work allows the rest of our team to focus on Fawning season without burning out, and ensures that we can continue to add enriching details to the world of Atalav for our community and Faunids as a species. I am so over-the-moon grateful that Loutta wants to join us; I couldn't ask for a better team.
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Starting this year, the Lunar New Year Auction Faunids will be restructured as a mini-event that leans into the celebrations held by Faunids on Atalav. The Hues of Lifesource is a celebration of life where Faunids focus on a species they share the earth with and celebrate their existence as part of a greater ecosystem.
2026 will be the year of the horse, so it's only fitting that we introduce a species on Atalav that evolved over time from the horses we know today: Bolters.
There will be two very special Auction Faunids to fit this year's theme, one designed by Necrologia and pebb, the other by MUTT and GoryTeeth.
The same way we introduced Cervidic Runes as an opportunity to enrich the world beyond human symbols, we want to offer our community more ways to play in the universe we've created. This new mini-event allows us to build at minimum one release or significant highlight on Atalav's other creatures into our yearly framework. This way we can plan regular additions to our bestiary and fully flesh them out to give them love!
Stay tuned for more information around mid-January.
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During this time, you can expect some major Lore Developments that we hope will really knock your socks off. I can't say anything more than that just yet.
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First, we will not have custom Chimebirds/Lapines as an option to order during Springtide this year.
We will be testing a new extension for the Summer Camp event that will hopefully make the reason for this make a lot of sense (and also worth the wait!).
Second, part of the Springtide event will feature a wheel similar to the Winter Wonderwheel.
This will give everyone who participates one last chance to save up Barters before Fawning.
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I thought the joke I made last April Fool's day was so funny that I not only included it as a highlight from this year's recap, I also decided to make it the name of our new April mini-event. Expect some gags and jokes and good fun for a few days in April.
Also, if you noticed that I skipped March, please leave a comment on this news post where you roleplay as someone pointing out that I skipped March and you're trying to correct me like it was a serious mistake. Seriously. That's how you get 5 Barters for this newsletter.
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I made it huge so everyone can find it. Sorry, I start to get a little delirious by the end of these news posts and it makes me silly.
It's very important to our team that all of you know what you need to know about Fawning as soon as we can tell you. We know how much prepwork goes into Fawning from all sides, so while this is not all the news related to Fawning you'll hear in upcoming months, this post includes some of the most important ones to share with you right now. I've been compiling so much feedback on Fawning, proposing ideas to the artist team internally, discussing suggestions from said lovely team, and we have been weighing things we want to do this year and things that may be best to implement or consider/poll about the year after.
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Corruption was a huge success. That specific buffer time at the beginning where staff could support users through the process and make sure everything was running as it should was key to that. Artists were able to discuss pre-approval with commissioners, users could trade and purchase items, and once the first wave of forms went in we had time to breathe and organize them and help each other (Jack and Pebb had both never been Official Artists before Corruption, which will be true of Fawning as well).
March 1st (Sunday): The Event Hub goes live on Faunids.com (everything at this point will be accessible on one website, you will not need to jump between Atalav and Faunids). Everyone will have time to read through every element of Fawning, discuss public helpers (which we will compile leading up to March 1st), ask questions, gather/purchase items, and talk to artists/moderators. Artists who require pre-approval will make lists of approved pairs during this time, and will be able to get help from the artist team if they're unsure about the pair.
March 14th (Saturday): Forms open on Faunids.com. Like Corruption, they are addressed in the order they are received.
March 28th (Saturday): First group of Fawns are released.
April 4th (Saturday): Second group of Fawns are released.
April 10th (Friday): Forms close. This means that our community, like with Corruption, gets to see at least two batches of Fawns from our artists before forms close.
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Out of the three choices for which Quad base to use for this year's Fawning season, 62% (34) of respondants in the Discord voted for 2023.
2021 and 2024 received 25% and 13% of the vote, respectively.
So, this coming year, our main Fawning base will be year 2023! This means we have tons of premade lineart at the ready, and the freedom to focus more on personalizing from what we have and designing each Fawn. This will be a huge time-saver for us, and the familiarity of the poses that we have all worked on before plus knowing how designs tend to look on this base means we know what to expect when translating traits and the clarity of each design. 
All previous years' bases are available as always for Faun-to-Fawns!
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This is not a list of all the fun secrets we have in store for Fawning, moreso the most relevant and important details. We will share more information when we are ready to share it. Until then, please take this bullet point breakdown and be gentle with me. If you notice that a point on this list is worded more like a sphinx's riddle than a fact, that's code for 'a very detailed description will come at some point that is not right now'.
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Bolters are the evolutionary descendants of draft horses. They are hardy, stocky creatures who have adapted well to the mountaneous climates found near the settlement of Vinnde, and may even have herds deeper in the Cold North.
While they are highly social herd animals, their lack of exposure to Faunids mean that they are generally wary of them, though it's not impossible to gain their trust with dedication and persistence. "Bolter" is an accurate description of both their high endurance and ability to escape danger unscathed, with Bolters being capable of quick thinking and navigational awareness to use the terrain to their advantage.
Bolters are much more familiar with the presence of Minodae, and herds are more commonly present in areas inhabited by Minodae. They are willing workers when faced with a challenge, and they display an impressive stamina to travel great distances at consistent speeds. This makes them exceptionally beneficial for farm work that includes logging, plowing, and hauling even in unpredictable weather conditions.
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A disruption of Lifesource has bled out from the initial shock of the meteor in the deep sea, spanning all across Atalav.
Many signs are as subtle as a strange chill in the air where there never was before. The Spirits are restless. Strange phenomena trickle in from the coasts, passing through waterways and falling with the rain. Herne's presence feels closer than ever, seemingly keen on protecting life on Atalav from unpredictable hardships.
Stories travel fast. Two tales emerge of lives touched by Herne's will, undeniable evidence of potent magic woven into the very bones beneath their skin. Lifesource Aspects are not mutations or traits. They are explosive interactions between a living soul, the forces of nature, and the manifestation of Herne's connection to Lifesource. As such, the way they may possibly present themselves is as unique as the narrative we all possess inside us. Our story. Due to this, they do not pass from parent to Fawn.
As for those twin rumors shared across Atalav, you can see for yourself.
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These auctions will end on Friday, January 23rd at 8PM CST. You can view their sales post [HERE] or bid within the Discord!
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"This Faunid may appear unsettling to many, yet all who know them describe a truly unique character full of warmth, kindness, and grace.
Often seen guiding wayward Fauns through a mazelike series of freshwater channels, they possess a deep understanding of the life in nature around them. Frequently, they are seen teaching travelers about the local wildlife and how to respect the waters they tread.
Following the meteor's impact, changing tides led to flooding channels and perilous currents. Still, they persisted, putting their own life in peril to protect all who needed guidance.
Nature's claim to the water became unforgiving. One fateful day, this Faunid helped a boat that had fallen off-course avoid a channel full of sharp rocks and torrential water. Unable to fight the currents, they were swept up and battered by the rocks along the riverbed. In an act of strength, fortitude, and hope, they used the only limb they could still feel to pull themself up to the nearest bank.
In an act of grace befitting the life this Faunid led, Herne used the source of their devotion– the very waters that turned against them– to repair what was possible to recover, granting them another chance to continue their work."
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By pebb and Necrologia.
"This unusual Minodae's conviction and spirit were so strong as to catch the attention of Herne himself.
When the meteor crashed into the deep sea, a shock wave spread outwards, disturbing the flow of lifesource as far as the Cold North and beyond. This triggered a dormant volcano's eruption in the heart of the Bolter's herd lands.
While others fled, this soul stayed behind, defying the wrath of nature to save all they could. As molten heat spread behind them, the last life they saved came at a cost; heat spreading, burning down to the bone, consumed by smoke and ash. Yet they kept running, fighting, and pulled their way out of the debris all to protect another life. By the time they both reached safety, they were different in ways they could barely comprehend."
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]]>The purpose of these newsletters is to keep our community informed about site updates, upcoming events, official artist commission openings, new user guides, highlight different bits and pieces of our species, and build on community engagement. The content of these newsletters will vary by month.
To sign up for a Faunids account, message a moderator for an invite code. Once you have that, you can register on the sign-up page.
View the Faunids Policy Handbook
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Two of our official artists, Necrologia and pebb, are open for commissions.
Necrologia is open for customs, age-ups, and re-references, with single-view commissions being preferred.
[View prices and examples here!]
pebb is open for any type of commission from headshot/sketch to scenes/painted illustrations.
[View prices and examples here!]
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This month, we've called in a very special little wet beast to ask him some questions.
Eeekel, our newest NPC, is on the loose and owned by nobody. He's just too slippery. 
1. Tell us a little about yourself, Eekel!
Eekeel loves trinkets and doodads and whatzits and hoozies and doohickeys and gizmos and wants to look at them all with both eyeballs one at a time. Eekel gets bored very fast but not because he doesn't like the cool stuff but there's always gonna be new stuff to find you know I bet you could find new stuff every day if you looked I do it every day! Eeekel's not good at talking but he is good at looking at things if you have any.
2. Where did you grow up?
Big blue ocean. Eeekel lives in the big kind of ocean that's so big and so far away from rocks and sand but a little while ago the big ocean got too big and too weird scary for Eeekel. There's good scary and there's weird scary and it was that one which is bad and Eekel didn't like it so he got closer to the not-big ocean.
3. Where does your name come from?
Eekel can't remember not being Eekel. (Eekel's name comes from "ekel", the German word for disgust, with an eel-like extra e.)
4. What do you do for a living?
Oh mostly swim around. Eekel doesn't have a 'job' Eekel lives by eating soggy soaked stuff that's usually green and sometimes Eekel swims around with fish until they get too fast or too shy and don't like Eekel anymore or they just get tired. Eeekel likes collecting but what Eekel likes more is talking to see what other collectors have in their collections that Eekel can see and maybe touch if it's a lucky day for Eekel. He just lives to live because living is the coolest thing to do as a thing that lives and is alive.
5. Are you spontaneous or do you always need to have a plan?
What's spontaneous?
Spontaneous means that you don't plan what you do, it just happens.
Yeah that one. Eekel doesn't plan at all.
6. What in the WORLD is up with that meteor?
The big rock? That's what made things weird scary. It got hard to move around and made the water feel wrong and too heavy and all the fish and other beasts got lost and didn't know where to go. Eekel got lots of headaches and there was a big storm and now the bottom of the ocean isn't happy and a lot of us had to leave. It kicked up so much sand and other stuff Eekel's never seen before.
7. What kind of stuff?
Like rocks that are smaller than big and new stuff under the sand. Eeekel even got a piece of the big rock!
8. You touched the meteor?
Well at first nothing could get close to it but Eekel heard about it and had to see with both eyeballs one at a time. Eekel got a little piece of it when it broke all over the place.
9. Do you still have it? Can we see it?
Nooo, sorry, Eekel got something else to look at that's waaaaay more cool.
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Thank you as always to our coders for making all of this possible!
1. Added a new "Bases" page. Added all approved site bases to page with download links [HERE].
2. Updated Barter Shop Coupons to be a 'box' that has all choices for use within it. No need to contact a Moderator to get your items.
3. Theme Selection exists for users now (though please keep in mind that these themes may not be as up-to-date as the main theme for now).
4. Users can now use basic HTML to make descriptions for their characters.
5. Notes are updated so that there is now an option to indicate whether a Faunid has a Trading Clause (such as with Fawning). Users cannot edit their own notes (though they can put a note in the character description), as our moderator team uses this section to document important updates and changes as well. However, all Fawns this coming year will have any relevant trading/sale clauses added to the character when they are uploaded.
6. Some dropdown tabs have been updated to be easier to get to certain pages. Clicking 'Browse', then 'Guides' leads you to a page containing quick access to many different pages. Some of these are empty at the moment as we continue work on getting Atalav ported over, but many of them are accurate. You can view all Lore pages here, as well as species-specific information and FAQs/User Guides.
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We are keeping the price of self age-ups $20 for streamlined submissions. A new option, mentored, will be the original $30. Mentored submissions allow us to get more in-depth earlier in the process, providing guidance as early as the initial sketch phase that includes more detailed redlines, resources, drawn visuals, etc.
Other than the price, Streamlined submissions remain the same as they always have been, including critiques on anatomy, layout, and design translation.
Submissions have been taking our team quite some time to work through and we have been putting our heads together internally to figure out how to conduct them best. In the past, submissions were not handled as a team and, unless an artist made a design, they were not included whatsoever in the threads. Everyone on our team has different strengths and we do these submissions collaboratively.
At our most recent meeting, we decided to focus on these things related to submissions:
- Creating a checklist to guide users to check their submissions for common errors.
- Creating pre-threads amongst the artist team so that we can come to a consensus on all critiques we want to give, so they all come at the same time.
- Reworking the Age-Up Guides page with updated wording, and including more directed supportive guides on that page to help with trait presentation and more clear guidelines overall. We have had to prioritize many other things these past few months, but this does need to be more of a priority ASAP.
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Our next update has been a lot of work behind the scenes. Cameo vouchers won by users during the Winter Gala were used to add community Faunids to a comic you can expect to drop at the end of January. In total, it is nearly 30 pages long!
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Our yearly Springtide event will start early February this year! While it may not always occur in February, our timeline worked best to have it a bit early this year.
The event hub page is nearly done, only needing some text changes to reflect updated information. You can also view past Springtide adopts on this page [HERE]!
This year's theme is: Strange and Unusual Plants.
Important changes and updates this Springtide:
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We hope to have the Fawning Event page fully up-to-date by February 1st. At minimum, the Public Helper List will be viewable on that date.
While you cannot view the spreadsheet yet, you may start submitting your helpers now with the [GOOGLE FORM].
Having an early backlog should help us make sure we can get through the bulk of them before the hub even opens!
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This month's Art Challenge is still open for another week:
Let's warm up this winter and bring the energy we want to see in this new year!
For this Art Challenge, you'll need a 30-minute timer. Your task is to draw a Faunid as silly and loose as you'd like, while making as much progress as you can within that time. If you need to step away, pause the timer and come back to it. No matter how unfinished it looks, stop at that 30-minute mark!
Due to the nature of this challenge, there are no color, clean-line, or amount of the body requirements. However, use this as a chance to get outside your comfort zone. Try not to spend time correcting mistakes. Draw over them, play with them, and see what you can do.
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Pick a character, person, or a pet for this question.If this creature were a Faunid, what traits would they have? The currency reward window closes 7 days after the news is posted. |
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These Vouchers were in the pool of prizes for last December's Winter Gala. Our plan with these was this exact comic! We made the storyboard together based on what each owner shared about their characters, such as what they do in their daily lives and what they might trade for an unusual rock.
Thank you to everyone who allowed us to use their characters as cameos in this comic! We had a blast including them.
We would love to know if there would be interest from the community in making more Cameo Vouchers for projects like this.
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Lavandul is known for our agricultural exports, our biggest specialty being lupine flowers and other fragrants.
However, we're also known for our unique wildlife who love to eat our crops. Convenient isn't it?
Of course, we don't want to harm these creatures... but their population still needs to be monitored.
We were hoping that you could go and catch some of these lapines and chimebirds and bring them back here to be adopted out to potential adopters! They're very popular as companions recently.
The weirdest coincidence has been happening as of late with these adopters though.
I've noticed that when a creature is brought in, an adopter with remarkable similarities comes in soon after.
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Each day, starting Wednesday the 4th, a winner for one of the Springtide gachas will be rolled by RNG.
Thank you to all of the artists who contributed this year. Everyone went all-out with creative, thoughtful designs that we are so excited to share.
The artists who made Springtides this year are Hyenadayy, Necrologia, L0sw, pebb, Loutta, BelPlasmawolf, Banriion, GoryTeeth, kojoty, WinterTigris, and Cockroach!
You can enter for the Springtide gachas through the Google Form linked on the event hub, or:
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The Floral Whorl will be our interactive wheel for this event. It will run from the 7th to the 19th.
Prizes will be granted as Barters, shared in-universe between Faunids as gifts freely given. These are gestures of goodwill to help one another climb out from the bitter chills of winter.
This is the last chance to save up Barters before Fawning begins!
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The purpose of these newsletters is to keep our community informed about site updates, upcoming events, official artist commission openings, new user guides, highlight different bits and pieces of our species, and build on community engagement. The content of these newsletters will vary by month.
To sign up for a Faunids account, message a moderator for an invite code. Once you have that, you can register on the sign-up page.
View the Faunids Policy Handbook
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Please welcome areallifeonion as our newest coder, as well as our newest community and site moderator, Kardinal!
We are so happy to have them both with us.
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We want to appreciate all the hard work that goes into turning designs into full-fledged characters.
As part of the Newsletter, we choose community members with well-loved Faunids to tell us a bit more about them!
Our first character, Blithe, is owned by twentynyne! 
Describe Blithe's upbringing (relationships, hobbies, location?):
Blithe doesn't know her parents, she somewhat raised herself, found a section of woods and on the outskirts of town where she founded her Orchard from one apple tree she found. Blithe likes to dance and decorate her kart with paint, plants and shiny gems. Her orchard she tends to is slightly outside lavandul.
Does Blithe have any moral/religious convictions?
Blithe often find herself in a balance between earning a living and over-farming her orchard, tho she is the one that tends to the trees, she is also the one that sells the apples and more apples sold gives her a better life. Therefore she teeters on the edge of being ethical and pleasing Herne.
What does Blithe do for work? How is her relationship with coworkers (if any) and their clients (if any)?
As stated, Blithe works her orchard, she works alone or occasionally with other traveling merchants, she has a great relationship with them, as Blithe is a people pleaser and very to herself for the most part.
What does Blithe do for fun?
Blithe likes to create pigments from plants and minerals, and using her hooves and occasionally with a paintbrush, she will paint panels or leathers she gets from other merchants.
What is Blithe's relationship with other Fauns?
She keeps to herself for the most part and doesn't talk much unless she is doing her merchant stuff. When Blithe does spend time with other Fauns, it tends to be around Merchant meets where she has a merry time sharing her apples with mostly Ben and Demi, her traveling merchant friends.
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Next up is Vaelen, who is owned by FatalChimera!
Describe your upbringing (relationships, hobbies, location?):
I grew up in Makino by the Rosen Forest, but I never stayed there long. As soon as I was able to sneak off with the merchants, I was gone. I loved traveling with them, hearing their stories, seeing new places and new faunids! The downside though was having to sit through the gatherings that the merchants sit through, having to be cleansed of the outside influence. Oh and the scoldings! The scoldings were fine though,I just hated sitting around. When I got old enough, I decided to leave for good. I loved the Rosen Forest, but traveling and adventure were far more appealing! When I settled, it was in Lavandul.
Do you have any moral/religious convictions?
Due to my upbringing in Makino I have a strong belief that gift giving to those in your life is essential. I would much rather give a friend or a partner a small meaningful gift than anything else! I actively partake in this by sending Prisma perfumes of her favorite scents at least twice a year. However, living in Lavandul has led me to develop a religious practice of bringing my fawns and any partners I have to the “Blood Grove”. I did this for Halo Vire and for Javrik when they were both young. Though, I think Javrik appreciated being in the grove a lot more than Halo Vire did.
What do you do for work? How is your relationship with their coworkers (if any) and clients (if any)?
I make perfumes and Colognes! My job is the main reason I decided to settle in Lavandul actually! With its rich agriculture and heavy trades going in and out, it was just the perfect place to set up! I don't really have coworkers though, unless you count some of the merchants I trade with when they come in. It's a small at home business I run, but I wouldn’t have it any other way honestly. My favorite part of my job is the clients. I love meeting new faunids and seeing different cultures!
What do you do for fun?
I mostly travel for fun! I travel to Makino to see Prisma from time to time, I travel to the Bullran Cliffs to see Luka. I just love to travel, doesn't even have to be for a reason! My most exciting travel was recently to the Wild Wood, I was looking for new plants and flower to use in my scents when I realized I was being stalked..
What is your relationship with other Fauns?
I usually have a good relationship with other fauns! Prisma has been my bestfriend since fawnhood, and now she is an aunt to my, currently, two fawns Halo Vire and Javrik! I also have a really good relationship with my partner Luka. He lives far, but I make a point to see him very often. It's always a great time when I get to see my loved ones again.
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We are just about at the point where we can shut down Atalav, our secondary website, as it is significantly more expensive than Faunids with less functions and image storage. As of now, all of the pages that are staying the same have been ported over to Faunids.com.
Here is a list of updates made to front-end HTML by kojoty:
1. Updates to the World Expanded page, with a new set of links on top to make navigation to various site lore pages easier.
2. Every City/Location has been updated with their relevant information and tabs. Some of this information will likely be updated and reworded or reformatted as we develop more.
3. Springtide, Fawning, Gachafawn, and Corruption pages have all been updated and formatted.
4. All of the User Guides and Species Specific Guides have been populated and formatted.
5. Corruption Items have had their descriptions updated to reflect information that was previously only hosted on Atalav.
Additionally:
1. Fixes to broken links to Filegarden and other peripheral updates to the site have been logged and worked on to update accordingly.
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The Fawning Hub and in-depth FAQ are now live [CLICK HERE]!
This FAQ includes all the information for the 2026 Fawning event; information on how it works, pricing, how the items work, artist information/availability, and all the relevant changes and updates to previous Fawning seasons!
All three prompts (Ordering items, ordering Fawns, ordering Faun-to-Fawns) are now live on-site under the Explore dropdown. You cannot submit them until they are open, but you can view all of the forms and review how the process works.
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We’ve been working as a team to simplify the percentages for Faun/Mino/Merfaun Hybrids for fawning, and have come up with a bit of a rehaul to the whole system.
These infographics will be added to the Fawning FAQ, and will apply for the 2026 Fawning season. No more pesky 37.5%’s!
Here is a visual guide for how the percentages work when using either a Handy Dandy or Wild Child. The percentages listed are the base odds if not using these items.
Since these are new percentages and might change some of your fawning plans, feel free to reach out and ask if you have any additional questions.
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Starting this year, you may purchase Fawning Items with Barters, in addition to USD!
While you can still purchase your items through the Fawning Items prompt, we are also happy to introduce a new friend. This friend is very interested in Faunids and how they live, and happens to have stumbled on a treasure trove of items they can't figure out what to do with! No matter. They have learned through their experience living among Faunids that sharing is caring, and are happy to trade some shinies for other more practical and informative items. 
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We have modified the prices for the upcoming 2026 Fawning Event!
All Fawns will be $60 USD.
This change was made with a lot of in-team deliberation, and through community feedback from our multinational community. Thank you all!
This will be reflected in the Fawning Hub and the Fawning FAQ document.
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We have updated the Policy Handbook after suggestions for clarity and internal staff consensus.
The current handbook linked on the Discord (and linked below) is the current reflection of the rules.
Edits have been made to:
View the 2026 Handbook [HERE].
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Thank you, everyone, for warming up this year with some 30-minute timed works!
Our winners for January were:
20 Barters - Sh3Draws
20 Barters - L0sw
30 Barters - Elk_Montauk
Full-body Character Artwork from Zorkia - MothDad
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There's still one week to submit your entry for February's Art Challenge!
How does your Faunid express love? Do they have a love language?
'Love' can mean a lot of different things. Everyone expresses it differently!
For this challenge, think about how your Faunid might express self-love, familial love, romantic love, or love and appreciation for their friends.
Remember that in order to enter for this prompt, you must submit your entry into the art challenge gallery and submit a prompt.
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There is a new on-site prompt for users to make suggestions for upcoming Art Challenge prompts, which you can submit as many times as you want!
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At our staff meetings, we have been going through the list of existing suggestions to discuss whether we should implement them and how. Here are a few we discussed. Not every one we talk about will be here, just the ones we have longterm plans for
1. Curly Feathers - We are not adding this as a unique trait, but we will be adding some clarification within the trait notes to existing traits that already allow for texture. AKA, [Hair/Feather texture is allowed so long as it does not mimic other traits and is within other applicable trait standards.]
2. Nose Ridge Fluff - We will be adding this trait.
3. Upright Ears - We will be adding a trait that is similar in expression.
1. Plants related to Fawning/Corruption (which had mock-ups drawn by msmydeer within the Discord server) - The Tender Plant would be perfect to represent the companion-boosting item during Fawning next year, as well as both of these plants being associated with these events in-world!
2. Stagwagon rehaul/official information Release - Yes. This is part of our Fauna release plans.
3. Reptile Mounts - Yes. This will also be added to our Fauna release plans.
4. Peryton Fauna Concept - Yes, pending more concrete concept design.
1. Trait Replacement Token - Yes. This item will allow users to remove and replace a trait in the same area with one token. This will likely be released during the summer.
2. Suggestions for Art Challenges by users - Yes! This is implemented as of this newsletter.
3. More updates on community suggestions and what we're working on internally: You're here right now!!
4. Faunid 'Redesigns' - In the summer, we will be opening a testing process to figure out how we would like to roll something like this out to users. There will be a submission process to apply to 'redesign' a Faunid so we can work with an initial group of users to iron out what this can and should look like. We want to structure this with the goal being for the person who submits a Faunid to end up with a Faunid that member is happy with while also maintaining existing species standards as a team.
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How would you describe what a Faunid is
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]]>The quest to search for new life cannot be done alone. You must meet with a companion, and together embark on a long and arduous journey to discover the newly-born Fawn brought into existence. This requires trust in both yourself and the living soul in your company.
Will you help guide a new life in need?
•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•
This year, Fawning will run similarly to last year's Corruption event. The staggered start made the event much more accessible to our newer users experiencing the event for the first time. It also allowed us to promptly send invoices and communicate with users to answer questions and organize our artist queues.
This year's timeline is:
Event News is posted. Item shop opens. Item purchase forms open.
Participants have time to read through every element of Fawning, discuss helpers, ask questions, gather/purchase items, and talk to artists/moderators.
Artists who require pre-approval will make official lists of approved pairs and post them in the Artist Queue/Fawning Rolls spreadsheet.
Fawning Submissions and Faun-to-Fawn Submissions open.
They are addressed in the order they are received.
First batch of Fawns are released by the artist team.
Second batch of Fawns are released.
Submission forms are closed.
Two releases of Fawns before the prompts close allows anyone unsure of whether they want to participate or which artist to go to time to make those decisions!
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Know someone who might want to join Faunids? Now’s the perfect time to get them involved:
Any user who is listed as a referral for a new user in a Fawnid form will receive a Fawning Item of their choice as a reward. Additionally, the new user will also get to choose a Fawning Item of their choice.
Note: the new user must put in a form and order a Fawnid for the referral to be counted for this referral program.
Simply put the name of who brought you here to Atalav at the bottom of your form submission!
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You may only submit one form per 24 hours.
All users may submit up to three forms unless they have a Fourth Fawning Voucher (User) in their inventory.
You do not need to own either Faunid. You may use Public Helpers, your own Faunids, or private helpers as long as you have permission to use them.
Each individual Faunid may Fawn up to three times per year. Adult Merfauns, Minodae, Hybrids, Quad Faunids, and Anthro Faunids may all be eligible for this event. Fawns cannot participate in Fawning; they're babies!
Some Public Helpers may be free, while others may charge for their slots. View the Helper spreadsheet here: 
If you use a Faunid from another user to create a Fawning pair, you must have permission from the owner in the form of a screenshot. Please use Imgur links so they don't disappear when reviewing forms. These are most commonly something simple like this:
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Two of our artists, MUTT (Jaquiri) and pebb (the.pebb), are taking limited slots, as this is their first year participating in Fawning as artists.
You must speak with them over DMs to confirm your pair before submitting your form.
If you previously confirmed with an artist for pre-approval and do not see your name on their list, please check in with them to make sure you are added.
GoryTeeth and Necrologia are not limited in slots, but it is good practice to ask in advance if an artist will take your pair. We all have our own strengths!
If you have no preference for your artist, you may state ‘any' on your form.
All of us on the artist team communicate with and support each other, so we may collaborate on forms with no preference.
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There are multiple ways to obtain items this year!
1. You may trade them with other users. Some users may have items they won through other events.
You may not purchase items from users with real money, but you may freely trade art, Faunids, Fawning slots, etc.
2. You may purchase them with Barters (our site currency) from the Strange Baubles Shop.
3. You may purchase them with real life currency via Paypal invoice through the Item Purchase Submission form.
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You must attach all items you plan to use for the pair when you submit.
The only items that can be added later after the roll is finalized are Herne’s Gamble, Herne’s Grace, and Herne’s Blessing.
You do not need to use items if you do not want to. They are entirely optional for those who want to add more RNG or control specific elements of a Fawn.
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Your artist will approve your form on-site. Once it is approved, please wait for your artist to contact you regarding payment.
Your artist will also contact you to show you the roll for your Fawnid if you would like to see it! All of the rolls will be available on the Fawning Rolls spreadsheet.
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If you have questions that are not answered by these guides, please feel free to reach out to a community moderator or administrator.
You may also ask questions in the #event-chatter channel on our Discord server! We have a lot of very helpful community members who love seeing new faces.
Thank you for participating in our first Fawning season hosted entirely on-site!
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