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  

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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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Oblivions has been added as a moderator!
monsternobility has been added as a moderator!
pebb has been added as an Official Artist-in-training! 

TheElementalist, who has been a moderator on the Discord, has had her role updated on-site.
Freya, who has also been a moderator on the Discord, has had her role updated as well. 

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!
 

• What three words best describe your Faunid's personality?

Calm, joyous, and welcoming.

• What does your Faunid do in their spare time? What hobbies do they have?

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.

• Where was your Faunid born, and where do they live now? What was their upbringing like?

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 they were going to be reincarnated, what animal would they want to be? Would they be loved if they were a worm?

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 :)

The second Faunid, owned by Zorkia, is Prisma!

• What is your Faunid's life mantra?

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.

• What does your Faunid do in their spare time? What hobbies do they have? 

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.

• Where was your Faunid born, and where do they live now? What was their upbringing like?

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.

• What is your Faunid’s idea of a perfect day?

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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Please wait for official announcements before sending commission requests to artists!

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• The FAQ page has been updated.
• The Fawning FAQ page has been updated.
• The Faunid Aging FAQ has been updated.

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• 2023-2025 Fawns have had their USD costs updated.
• 2022 Fawn USD costs are currently in progress.
• All Merfauns and Minodae subspecies and traits are now fully up-to-date.
• Necrologia’s age-ups and designs are in progress to be up-to-date on costs and subspecies/traits.
• Custom Faunid subspecies/traits are in progress to be fully updated. 
• Staff Responsibilities guide has been updated to reflect current staff and their roles.

Trait updates:

• Lower body fluff traits no longer stack onto Satyr Pants.
• Descriptions have been added for several traits

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With so many new tokens floating around, you should make sure you know how to transfer items between users and make trades!

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:

• Symmetrical headshot from Deertush: Banriion
• Posture Change Token: Elk_Montauk
• Standard/mutation trait modifier Token: Sh3Draws
• $10 USD: CoypuCoyote
• Sketchy fullbody from MUTT: Cockroach

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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:

• 5 Barters for commenting on the Newsletter within the timeframe.
• 5 Barters guaranteed for participation in the monthly Art Challenge. 
• More Barters can be won by winning raffle tickets at the end of the Art Challenge.

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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What do you want to see more of in Faunids?

Post your answer in the comments to get currency! 

The currency reward window closes 7 days after the news is posted.

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:

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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"!

• Faunids.com navbar updated
• Users are able to submit gallery submissions for prompts
• Summer camp event!
• Summer Camp page is on Atalav
• New animals have been added to the Flora and Fauna page: Preddums, Bankrunners, Frillgills, Glowspot Eelcats, Hardheads, Hooflets, Nimborbs, Runeback beetles, and Thornate Mantises.
• New and approved height chart!

At the start of August, we will be opening raffle entries for a very special gacha batch!
This batch of adopts have their own unique lineart to match the theme.
Similarly to the Winter Advents food previews, once the raffle form opens up you can select any adopts you want to enter for based on their previews.

This batch also includes a few adopts that can only be won by first time owners! 
Have a friend who wants to join? This might be the perfect time to send them an invite! 

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• Contributor role has been added for non-staff who assist in and outside of events
• The purple default theme has been updated to have better contrast
• The dark theme has been adjusted
• Our navbar has been updated to show only the most relevant links you may need!

• Re-reference tokens now have example images and usage information [HERE]
• Species Change Token can now be used on merfauns and merfaun-hybrids to assign a species to their fish half. The option(s) available for changing the tail are: Any fish in the ray-finned fish taxonomy OR any Atalavian fish species.
• Images added for the following traits: 
  

Trait updates:

• Ibex, Impala, Kudu, Gemsbok, Hartebeest, Mouflon, Bovine, Pronghorn, and goat horns have all been merged into Horns. A faunid’s horn “species” is still specific to that lineage. This has been simplified for the website’s purposes. (draconic horns are not included in this change)
• Scale feathers no longer stack onto Bison fluff (exception for belly scales). Faunids that have an existing scale feather and bison fluff conflict will be grandfathered into having Bison Fluff (Feathered). Please send in a report if your faun has this conflict so it can be corrected.
• Cranium feathers have been merged with Feather crest.
• Dorsal mane trait image has been added
• Descriptions have been added for several traits.

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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)! 

Then, once you've added your image to the gallery, go to the prompts page here: 

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:

• Colored doodle from Deertush : @losw
• Re-reference token: @Nepple
• Exclusive Trait Token: hearteater 
• $20: Miettaus 
• Headshot by @Sound "#1 Specialest Boy" Wave : @Clav

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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.

https://forms.gle/2aKsYNDzybAHtSAU8 

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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.

Thank you to the artists who created some wonderful adoptables for the month of June!

• Avestriches have had a new image added (made by Necrologia)!
• Many plants from the previous website have been transferred onto the new Flora and Fauna page
• Most Fauna have had their descriptions and information updated.
• Shadowcats have a new main image.
• Some new animals have been added!
• Most Location pages have had lore updates and additional information added
• A "Faun Re-reference Guidelines" page has been started but is incomplete.
• Fixed a misaligned form on the fawning page
• Fixed typo on Vinnde world page
• Added Customs page for ModernBeatnik, Necro, and Goryteeth.

Upcoming Plans:

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!

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

• Staff Responsibilities page has been added
• Modifier tokens now have example images and usage information HERE.
• Images added for the following traits:
• Chest/Pectoral Feathers
• Pectoral Feathers (Bra)
• Hoof Scale Feathers
• Feather Socks

• Trait updates:
• Long Chest Fluff > Chest Fluff
• Ankle Fluff > Heel Fluff
• Ankle Feathers > Heel Feathers
• Long Tail/Cranium Feathers > Tail/Cranium Feathers (Spoon)
• Neck Feathers (Long) > Neck Feathers
• Long Zebra Tail > Zebra Tail
• Long Scapula Feathers > Scapula Feathers
• Horse Hooves > Hooves
• New trait: Feathered Hair. Faunids have been adjusted accordingly.

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!

We are looking for guest artists! 

Please submit a form below if you are interested.

https://forms.gle/uw3qt5LFSZCngntw6 

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!

What’s your favorite Summer activity?

Post your answer in the comments to get currency for next month!