WikiFur:Featured articles/Complete
From WikiFur, the furry encyclopedia.
This page is a complete listing of all featured article front-page entries at WikiFur, in reverse chronological order. It may take some time to load!
Note that these are not the complete articles, and are not updated over time - if a topic picks your fancy, click the bold link for more information.
Uncle Kage (Dr. Samuel Conway) is Chairman of Anthrocon, and regularly attends many other furry conventions. He has been a guest of honor at numerous conventions, both in and out of the furry world, including Albany Anthrocon, Feral! 2001, ConClave, Duckon, Eurofurence, and I-CON. He holds a doctorate in chemistry from Dartmouth College, and is a professional scientific researcher.
Uncle Kage's name is actually an abbreviation of Kagemushi Goro, or the Samurai Cockroach, his selected fursona. Kage has also claimed that his cockroach fursona is also part wolf. In 2001, Uncle Kage went incognito to Mephit Furmeet 5 as "The Unknown Furry", wearing a cheaply-designed fursuit, including a mask made from a paper bag.
Kage was introduced to furry fandom by Jim Groat at Noreascon in 1989. He became a regular of FurryMUCK in 1991 and still spends time there in the evenings. (more...)
Megaplex is a furry convention first held in March 2002 as Pawpet Megaplex. Megaplex 7 took place 28-30 March 2008 in Jacksonville, Florida, with 255 attending.
Megaplex's stated goal is to provide "a celebration of interactive arts and performance, with a primary focus on anthropomorphics and fantasy". Programming has focused on fursuiting, puppetry, improvisation, and other types of performance, including a capella groups in 2003, 2004 and 2006. In 2005 it hosted the Potpourri of Puppets, a regional puppetry event.
Attendance peaked at 387 in 2005, but had declined to 185 by 2007. Reasons for this include unpopular track scheduling in 2005, a disappointing hotel experience in 2006, and a forced move to Jacksonville compounded by a schedule conflict with Furry Weekend Atlanta in 2007. Attempts to reverse this trend include new rules permitting dealers to discreetly sell mature work and a later convention starting date. (more...)
Greek mythology encompasses the beliefs and rituals of Classical Greece. It was followed for over three thousand years until the establishment of Christianity and Islam. Unlike many ancient religions, most of Greek mythology came from the telling of stories by the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world and their own cult and ritual practices.
Greek mythology has no end of stories and characters that appeal to furries, from human/animal hybrids, to stories of transformations. Some furry spiritualists consider this to be one of the earliest forms of furry. Examples include minotaurs, centaurs, satyrs, fauns, dragons and chimeras, including the Sphinx. (more...)
Otherkin are those who believe that their physical forms do not define or fully encompass their mental states, personality, psychology, or spiritual nature. First appearing on the Internet in the mid-1990s, the term was intended to imply some form of kinship with an 'other' element outside of a person's biological nature, physical mind and experiences, and human life.
Otherkin generally feel they have an affinity or connection with another animal or being. The term is believed to have been coined in the late 1980's by those with a relation to the fae folk and/or elves of traditional mythological culture and folklore, but associations with other creatures became common, including unicorns, gryphons, dragons, angelics, and demons. (more...)
Yiffstar, also known as the Yiffy Story Archive, is a privately funded non-commercial story archive of erotic furry fiction and artwork. Though focusing on furry stories with adult or sexual content, it has sections for non-sexual work. Yiffstar also hosts a multi-room chat system, a MUCK, forums, IM, and an oekaki.
Submitted content is moderated by a crew of volunteer reviewers. There is no censorship for content, other than the requirement of entries to be furry or animal related. The site is run by Toumal, who founded it on 19 September 2002. Since then, over 25,000 submissions have been approved, including more than 15,000 stories, 9,000 pictures and 160 songs. (more...)
All Fur Fun is a furry convention first held from Friday March 30 to Sunday April 1, 2007 at the Ridpath Hotel in Spokane, Washington, U.S.A. Blind Pig author Phil Geusz called the 110-person event "the best of both worlds", being both intimate and professionally run. Its chairman is Moorcat.
All Fur Fun arose after the permanent cancellation of Conifur Northwest. As part of the cancellation, Conifur Northwest donated various assets.
Next year's convention is planned for April 18-20 at the same location. FoxyFennec will be the Guest of Honor, and "Pajama Party" will be the theme. The convention is accepting pre-registrations online, though the event schedule is still being planned. (more...)
Califur is a convention that succeeded the long-running ConFurence as the annual furry event of Southern California. Califur is organized by FENEC Adventures. Related events include Califur Train, and Califur Diego. Attendance has grown from 328 in 2004 to 496 as of 2007.
FENEC ("Furries Enjoying the Natural Environments of California") was conceived by Alohawolf, Dawn Britt, and Dennis Carr with the initial idea of having a furry-themed campout. While riding home from the southern California FurBQ, Dawn commented to Dennis and his wife, Karmin, about the lack of other camping events such as Feral! in Southern California. Dennis pointed this out while chatting on the Furnet IRC Network, and Robert took charge from there.
As the campout was being planned, additional staffers including Glen Wooten, Zsanene "Zee" Stevens, Tank "Trapa" Winters, "Drew kitty" along with ConFurence co-founders Mark Merlino and Rod O'Riley were brought on board. With the demise of ConFurence in 2003, Mark and Robert expressed a desire to see a regional convention maintained in Southern California. The decision was made in early autumn of 2003 to plan a traditional hotel-based convention to succeed ConFurence 2003 with Califur 0 the following year. (more...)
Kenneth "Kendricks Redtail" Trayling, also known as Chakat Redtail, Kaen Raelin, and Redtail the Oddfellow, is a furry from Chicago. A veteran of the U.S. Navy, he works in Itasca as a loss prevention manager. Both his parents - Karee Bunda and Arigon the Golfing Dragon - are furries.
Ken's character is a modified American Red Fox. He can often be seen as a quadruped, a 60' tall macro fox or even a fox-colored dragon (mostly on Second Life). Ken is an otherkin and an avid spiritualist outside of his Christian beliefs, and has an interest in transformation.
Ken is an active member of Lake Area Furry Friends, co-founder of Chakat Heaven, and a WikiFur administrator. A major history buff, he specializes in comic books (both Marvel and DC), the Roman Empire and the Renaissance. (more...)
Lake Area Furry Friends (or LAFF) is a regional social group and mailing list focused on the northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, and northwestern Indiana, including the Chicago, Milwaukee, and Madison metropolitan areas.
Formed in 1996, the list grew into a community with offshoots into LiveJournal, MySpace and Second Life. It is primarily used to organize social functions, including a monthly bowling outing (followed by multiple after-bowling parties, including SliderCon), summer softball games, and an annual trip to Noah's Ark Waterpark in the Wisconsin Dells.
The year culminates in a grand New Year's Eve party in Northern Illinois. Numerous weekly events also take place, as well as one-off outings organized by community members, many of whom volunteer for Midwest FurFest. (more...)
In Greek mythology, the Minotaur was a creature that was half man and half bull. It dwelt in the Labyrinth, an elaborate maze constructed by King Minos of Crete and designed by the architect Daedalus to hold the Minotaur. The Minotaur was eventually killed by Theseus. It is one of the earliest examples of an anthropomorphic character in history.
Minotaurs are quite uncommon in the furry fandom, but they feature in fantasy role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: the Gathering, Shadowbane and in World of Warcraft as the Tauren. (more...)
Therianthropy is a generic term for the transformation of a human into another animal form, either as a part of mythology or as a spiritual concept. It is derived from the Greek therion, meaning "wild animal", and anthrōpos, meaning "man".
Therians believe that they have an intrinsic, personal, and integral connection to an animal (or animals). Most believe that mental and emotional shifts can occur as a result; a controversial minority extend this to the physical world. Some believe they have the spirit or soul, in whole or in part, of a non-human animal; most identify as feline or canine, often big cats and wolves. Their beliefs often overlap with aspects of shamanism or totemism.
Some furries view therianthropy as "taking it too far," while some therians view furries as frivolous and ignorant of the "true nature" of animals. However, relations are usually friendly, and therians can often be found at furry conventions and other social events. (more...)
Andrea Brooks, also known as Banrai, has been in the furry fandom since 1995. She attended the North Carolina School of the Arts in 2002-3, where she met her husband, Kasan. She is a housewife and freelance artist, with a recent trend towards craft hats and tails.
Banrai lives in Black Mountain, NC and founded the NC Furs LiveJournal in 2003. She is also moderator of the conbadges monthly swap community, a co-moderator on Furbid Horrors, and founder of the otherkin community Alfandria on LiveJournal. Other than her draconic fursona, her characters include Augenti and Tias.
Banrai began drawing fellow artist Aido's characters in 1998. Over the next five years she assumed her muse's works, style and identity under a similar name, insisting that she was the real Aido. She wove these works into her own setting (later replaced), and claimed the art of a former roommate, among others. In November 2005, after being banned from Elfwood, suspended from the VCL, and losing close friends, she admitted to and apologized for her actions towards Aido. Since then she has acquired a better reputation through FurBid commissions, convention exposure and other art.
Banrai used to be active on Second Life as an events manager, DJ, builder, and SA W-Hat. She was on the first Furry Cruise, and has attended MFM and FWA. (more...)
The Astonishing Treehouse of the Secret Moon (usually just The Treehouse or Secretmoon) is a fictional location in Tapestries MUCK. Founded by Lori'anne in mid-1999, it became well-known as a public area, and remains popular as of 2007. Its website is home to a few of the long-term residents, as well as a mature ageplay-themed oekaki.
The area's theme is that of a slightly magical treehouse, permanently lit by the moon. The treehouse proper contains a large playroom, as well as a well-appointed bathroom and observation deck. Higher branches hold secondary sleeping platforms, along with a watchtower, while the hollowed-out basement of the tree hides an underground ball-pit. Surrounding areas include a grassy glade, a lake and a secluded pool.
In late 2000 the Treehouse became the focus of conflict between then-owner Crassus and maintainer Ben Raccoon. Escalation of the conflict led to a suspension of control, as changes in MUCK rules had rendered the existing shared-character power structure illegal. Ben was given sole ownership of the region by Tapestries wizards a few months later, and remains in charge to this day.
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The Lion King MUCK is a role-playing MUCK based on the movie, and on African wildlife in general.
Founded by Joshua C. Templin in June 1995, the storyline (originally based on his fan fiction The Tales of Tanabi) has shifted a number of times, with more than one reset of the Feature Characters.
The MUCK has a rather high population of lions, including three official Kings and Prides. Leopards and panthers are common, as are cheetahs, hyenas, and other African species.
Notable controversies have revolved around guest characters, the number of Adult Male Lions, healers, interspecies mating, and TinySex. Several spinoffs have resulted, including Endless Round, Otherlands and Romance in the Savannah. (more...)
Balloonies are a particularly fanciful style of furry character, and a sub-genre of the fandom. The basic concept of the Balloonie is a living, animate version of a "real" creature made of rubber, latex, or similar materials, though some have been crafted from substances as unusual as soap bubbles or bubblegum. Balloonies can be considered a variation of inanimorph - characters that are composed of inorganic materials or substances not ordinarily considered alive.
When roleplayed, the creation of a balloonie tends to come about through the deliberate action of a second person. Their nature makes them popular with those who have an attraction to materials like rubber, and in some circles these fans and their characters are called rubberfurs. (more...)The Jack Lynch Mysteries are a series of six semi-furry hardboiled detective SF stories by Clint Warlick totaling around 36,500 words, five of which were published in Yarf! between 1991 and 1997. Clint dropped out of the fandom and stopped writing the series, but surfaced in 2004 in the Dealers' Den of the first Califur with a self-published collection of all six stories.
The stories appear to be set in a future San Francisco Bay area with a deliberately "retro" atmosphere, and feature the essential slavery of semi-human genetic constructs created in the wake of a worldwide pandemic. The protagonist is faced with classic detective problems, such as tracking down missing persons, solving murders, and saving beautiful women from danger. (more...)
Shark Tale is a 2004 CGI movie from DreamWorks Animation, written by Michael J. Wilson and Rob Letterman and directed by Letterman, Bibo Bergeron and Vicky Jenson. The movie features anthropomorphic characters in an underwater setting, and premiered at the Venice Film Festival on September 10, 2004.
Shark Tale received mixed reviews from movie-goers, some feeling that DreamWorks was copying Pixar's Finding Nemo, or that the movie relied too heavily on dated pop-culture references. There was also concern over Italian-American stereotypes depicted in the movie, and the suggestions of a "homosexual agenda". Despite the mixed reactions, Shark Tale did well at the box office, generating over $360 million worldwide. (more...)
Ironclaw is a role-playing game by Sanguine founded on a dice comparison system and created with furries in mind. There are a total of 12 initial species, although players are encouraged to create their own. Set in a European early-renaissance fantasy theme, players can select to become anything from mercenaries to wizards to scoundrels and everything in between.
During the character creation process, the players are given 20 points with which to develop their character. The player is also encouraged to imbue their character with 'Flaws', which add more depth to their character. Beginning characters may gain up to 10 points back through flaws. Finally, the player chooses a selection of skills for their character, defining what they can do. There are four primary schools of magic but minor ones exist as well.
The basic premise of Ironclaw is one of caste struggle on the mythical island of Calabria. The are four great noble houses are locked in a struggle for superiority - the Rinaldi: a house of foxes that control the economic and cultural capital of the island; the Avoirdupois, a noble house of religiously devout and martial horses; the Bisclavret, a wolf house that has given up its pagan past and seeks its place through modernization, and the Doloreaux, a house of stubborn boars who practice the 'old ways' of nature worship.
Lapism is a belief system created in the stories of Phil Geusz. Described as a religion followed by a small but growing number of people on twenty-first century Earth, the most obvious feature of Lapists is that many of them have undergone a physical transformation through genetic engineering - the Change - to resemble anthropomorphic rabbits.
Lapists believe that the Change serves both to alter behavior directly, making the person more peaceful and friendly, and encourages social reinforcement; as the believer commits to appearing in public with a rabbit-like appearance, others react to them as a representative of Lapism, inducing them to live up to the group's positive stereotype. Not all Lapists have undergone the Change, and the relative importance of the physical rabbit-form and a person's actual beliefs and behavior is a major theme.
Lapist teachings do not specifically mention any gods or appeal to revealed knowledge, making it similar to some religions, such as Confucianism, that are sometimes called "philosophy" rather than "religion." Lapism could be considered as either, and even Lapist characters disagree on the question. (more...)Endless Round MUCK was a role-playing MUCK based on the The Lion King which opened in November 2005. When it was closed by the head wizard in October 2006, the playerbase created Kings and Vagabonds MUCK.
Original characters were intended have just as much say (both in and out of character) as feature characters. Players were required to have one non-leonine character for every male lion character, and a maximum of two feature characters. Unlike some other Lion King multiplayer worlds, shamans, mystics and the like were not limited to primates or those with full thumbs. No TinySex was allowed.
Endless Round opened with all feature characters as they were in the first weeks before Simba's presentation. While they remained true to their film counterparts, the players were free to affect the TinyPlot in any in-character fashion - for example, hyenas ambushed Mufasa's subjects during Simba's presentation. The MUCK had a parallel plotline for the Simba's Pride characters, who grew up alongside the original TLK FCs. (more...)
Howloween is a Halloween-themed furmeet held in Coquitlam, British Columbia, about 20 minutes east of Vancouver, Canada. It will next be held on 28 October 2006, with fursuit-optional bowling the day after.
Howloween began in 2002 at the home of TJ_Wolf in Burnaby. About 10 people attended the house party, which featured modest events such as pizza and videos. Howloween 2003 was the first to be held in a formal hotel setting. The event was featured in the CBC television program Culture Shock
In 2004, the meet was extended to two days and moved to the upstairs event area of the hotel. A fursuit of the new mascot - a pink bunny with a hockey mask and chainsaw - was introduced, and the pumpkin carving contest was held for the first time. 2005 introduced the candy table, where furries pooled their money to buy a whole bunch of candy. Attendees who pre-registered this year received a Howloween T-shirt with their membership.
Pre-registration for Howloween 2006 has already surpassed the record of the previous year. The cause of this increase is speculated to be the cancellation of Conifur Northwest 2006. The room block has been increased and the event now occupies two halls. (more... - site)
The Lion King is an animated movie released by Disney in 1994. It is popular in the furry community and is reported by some as their first introduction to the fandom. Many participate in The Lion King MUCK or on one of the other large number of multiplayer worlds inspired by The Lion King. The characters of The Lion King have also been featured in numerous works of fan fiction.
Disney went on to form a three movie direct to video series, releasing Simba's Pride or The Lion King 2, released in 1998 in the US, and The Lion King 1 1/2 (The Lion King 3 in Europe) in 2004. There is also a Lion King musical on Broadway.
There are many similarities between the movie and a Japanese anime series called Kimba the White Lion. Originally, The Lion King was to be called King of the Jungle and was to include a white lion as the lead.
Although many people believe that the movie takes its inspiration entirely from the Swahili language, all of the songs in the film are written in Zulu. However, many of the names and phrases in The Lion King are words in Swahili. The most popular of these examples is the phrase Hakuna Matata (lit. "there are no worries"). (more...)
The Forest is an island simulation in Second Life. Created on 12 January 2005 by Spade Richelieu, it was sold in April 2005 to Anshe Chung, a well-known Second Life land baron, and it became part of their collection of connected island simulations, Dreamland. It was operated for over a year by members of the Second Life furry community. The Forest's officers, known as Forest Guides, included Eirinn Overdrive, Ron Overdrive, Walter Faddoul and Yiffy Yaffle.
Shortly after The Forest passed into Anshe Chung's possesion it was mysteriously erased. This, along with the move of Club Fur to FurNation Worlds led to a spontaneous spasm of rebuilding in which The Forest was reinvented as a woodland-themed furry sim. Many people, both furs and humans, took part in the rebuilding.
A new pub was being built at the end of May 2006 when a crisis arose. Anshe demanded 1/4 of the area of The Forest be rezoned for commercial development, and when the officers failed to make a choice she wiped the southeastern quarter clean, including the new tavern and several residential properties.
Protest was swift, in the form of large black banners and buttons from Alazarin Mondrian. Most of the content of the sim was returned to its owners in the early hours of 29 May, and a previous version of it was restored. Around 80% was owned by its designer, Yiffy Yaffle, who promptly removed it, rendering the sim bare of trees, housing and decoration, including the Forest Store. A mass exodus to Wolf Valley ensued.
The Forest remained very bare at the start of June. Meanwhile, the former Guides moved to a new sim, Serenity Woods, created less than a week after their departure. The Forest has since been rebuilt, but it remains significantly less busy than Serenity. (more...)- "Normal? Who'd wanna be? It's not for us. You can heckle us all you like from the Boring Bus..."
The Furry Song is a song by Kurrel the Raven about the furry community. Its lyrics are rapped in a jovial Australian voice over the top of an original reggae-inspired breakbeat-driven backing track.
The song has been taken by some as a statement to attempt to eliminate stereotypes of furry fans and artists, although the original intent was just to write a song about furries to serve as a general introduction to the community, with a bit of angst at the end.
There are two different release versions of The Furry Song; they share more or less the same backing track and the third verse is only slightly different from version to version.
The first version from August 2001, the Kwooky Womble or Boo! version (also known as I'm Furry), arguably has the better groove but is let down by its final verse. At that point the song descends into lyrics about how terribly furries are mistreated by the media and everyone else in the world without offering any hope on what to do about it. The lyrical performance is also not the best. Kurrel deemed this version simply not good enough to be known for, and the song was promptly withdrawn from download pending a rewrite.
The second version from April 2004, the Kurrel the Raven or Hi! version, has a better fourth verse and far more animated delivery albeit with a slightly weaker groove. The song goes far more into the diversity of the furry community and goes very much on the attack in the final verse. Despite the marked improvement over the Boo! version, Kurrel again deemed the song unworthy to be offered for download due to its "myriad shortcomings" and was withdrawn once again from release. (more...)
Scott Malcomson is a furry artist, also known as his unicorn fursona Roy Calbeck. He is best known for his artwork (much of which is on Yerf), but also for being the founder and chief organizer of ZonieCon, a past member of the Burned Furs, and as candidate for governor of Arizona under the Reform Party ticket.
Scott found the fandom in the quarter bins of an El Paso comic book shop in 1989. Dismayed to discover that most furry comics of the day had been forced out of business, he joined forces with Jim Groat's GraphXpress to provide financial support for Red Shetland, culminating in an animated project aimed at translating the comic into a Saturday Morning cartoon. Over the years, he became a member of the Tucson Mob as a result. At one point, he attempted to create an umbrella company aimed at showcasing the best the fandom had to offer under the working label of "Rising Phoenix Comics Group", but was unable to obtain sufficient support from angel capital groups to move forward.
Scott was encouraged to become a member of the Dallas Brawl by Joy Riddle, and would later become a member of Rowrbrazzle. His character, the ex-military roustabout alcoholic Roy, was chosen as a comic foil to Joy's own Harry Horsemage. Ironically, Roy became a canon part of the BattleTech universe when Scott's take on the history of the fictional unit Eridani Light Horse was picked up by FanPro and published as official material.
Scott obtained 8,500 votes in 1998 on a $1,000 Arizona Reform Party campaign by participating in numerous debate forums. He served as a Delegate for Arizona to the 2000 and 2002 National Convention, being elected Secretary of the state party in 2001. Prior to that, he was a member of the U.S. 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment as an M1A1 tank crewman during the Gulf War. (more...)
Initial growth was swift, but Fur Affinity suffered from major security holes and hacking during summer 2005. The site was shut down on 1 August due to disagreements between lead coder Jheryn Lightfoot and host Arcturus, who left to work on ArtPlz. Relaunched in December, the current site is administrated by The Dragoneer, coded by Jehryn and hosted by Gushi with a team of volunteer admins, coders and moderators.
Features separating Fur Affinity from most other furry archives include the ability to track new updates from favorite artists and highlight favorites. The site aims to promote community through its comments system and individual journals. Art rated as mature or adult is not shown to visitors, only to users over 18 years who have specified it. A tagging system is also used to allow users to browse or block art based on their preferences. (more...)
Fox has been on FurryMUCK since 1995, and was a member of alt.fan.dragons and the BBS community before that. His primary form is not actually a fox, but an anthropomorphic lion. He is a transformation fan and fatfur who helped to found Yiffnet, and was for many years a member of the TSA-Talk mailing list.
Foxeris lives and works in Redmond, Washington. A long time member and sponsor of Conifur, he also attends other sci-fi and furry conventions. He is a geocacher, and enjoys riding his bike to work. [more...]
Furcadia is a furry graphical multiplayer online community developed for Windows by Felorin and Talzhemir, with contributions from a large and active volunteer community. Furcadia has been running since 1996, and is possibly the largest online furry community, with up to 4,500 users active at any given time. It provides a graphical environment where a furre (Furcadia character) can explore dreams (player-made areas) and interact with others.
Playable species include Rodent, Equine, Feline, Canine, Musteline, Lapine and Squirrel. It is also common to use one of these base species to create another; for example, choosing the colouring on a squirrel to make it look like a skunk.
While Furcadia is free to play, furres can purchase various add-ons (known as Digos) for their character using real-world money. These include four types of wings (Classic, Tri-colour, Butterfly and Bat), various alternate species (Dragon, Phoenix and Gryphon), and flight and fire-breathing effects.
Many third-party applications have been written to complement the Furcadia Client, including proxies, bots, editors (which allow the editing of patches, DragonSpeak scripts and dream maps) and alternate clients. As furres can create their own dreams, role-playing continuties range from Pirates on the High Seas, to Furres in Spaceships, to Elizabethan Gardens, to Medieval to Fantasy; one famous outside the Furcadia community is Lost Lake, featured in popular webcomic DMFA. The official continuity is known as Furre! (more...)
A Fox in the Works is a long-running online furry story written by Fox Cutter that first appeared online on December 25th, 1995. The series is a sci-fi and fantasy mixture following the life and adventures of Fox Cutter, his wife Oriana, and their friends through a sprawling multi-verse. The stories range from high fantasy, political intrigue, science fiction, mystery, romance and drama, all to varying degrees.
The story has progressed through five years of storytime so far, with each year comparable to a season of a TV series. It is primary made up of short stories, with the occasional novella and one or two novels every year. Each year is built around a large story arc started in the previous year, which may continue onto the next. Many subplots wind through the series. While it is best to read the series from the beginning, the story "Run Around" is a good mid-series starting point. (more...)
Matthew Davis, also known as 2, the Ranting Gryphon, is a professional comedian who performs mainly at sci-fi and furry conventions. 2 also performs and records audio 'rants', and hosted an Internet radio show called 2 Sense which ran until 2 July 2005 for about 80 mostly-weekly episodes, up to two hours in length.
A performer for most of his life, he began as a rock guitarist in the 1980's. He then ventured into the sci-fi and fantasy fields, doing comedy events at conventions during the 1990's. As a member of the furry fandom, he is generally well-liked for his humor, his somewhat liberal view on the world and his quest to spread the "truth".
2's alter-ego/avatar is a gryphon, his name allegedly coming to him in a dream about the creature. He regularly attends furry conventions and occasionally performs stand up there. He often jokes that he wants to build a furry army with which to take over the world.
2 currently resides in Arkansas, USA, in a social collective of fellow furry fans/artists ("furs"), known as the North Arkansas Regional Furry Association. (more...)
Launched in 2003 by Linden Lab, Second Life is an online virtual world consisting of hundreds of interconnected large-scale areas populated by interactive avatars. Some view Second Life as a metaverse, while others consider it to be more a graphical MUCK. At any time around 3,000 to 8,000 of its 235,000 users may be logged in. Users may choose to take any form they can create or purchase. The "main grid" is restricted to those 18 or over, though a teen version is also available.
Second Life is funded through a combination of account subscriptions and "tier" (a form of land value tax). Users have the option to own or rent land parcels in a variety of sizes. Each user can create their own objects, but the majority rely on objects created and sold or given away by others. Business in the game's virtual currency (exchangeable for real-world funds) is encouraged, and content vendors have sprung up to meet demand. The major form of short-distance transportation is flight, while transportation between areas is typically performed through teleportation; both abilities are innate.
The furry fandom has a major presence in Second Life, with multiple areas devoted to providing accommodation, entertainment and creative services specifically for furries, including body parts for avatars, accessories, vehicles, toys, pose balls for avatar animation, and scripts. The two largest are FurNation Worlds and those linked to Fox Valley, although Luskwood (the oldest, and home to Luskwood Creatures) retains regular traffic, along with its offshoot Taco. The Lost Furest is also a well-visited area, known for its Lost Creatures and relaxing atmosphere. A babyfur sanctuary is maintained at Cub Central, and Rainbow Tiger hosts a popular dance club and mall. Themes range from the pedestrian to the bizarre, although trees are common.
Gallery was a publication for cartoonists and illustrators, a significant proportion of which had contents that were anthropomorphic or funny animal in nature, which ran quarterly from the fall of 1989 to the winter of 2004 (issues #0 through #50). Gallery was 8.5x11" and printed in black and white; most issues were between 200 and 300 pages with 25-32 artists contributing. It was described by its creator Richard Chandler as "a cross between an APA and a fanzine."
When Richard Chandler was first getting started in furry fandom, he became aware of two APAs, Rowrbrazzle and its predecessor, Vootie, but was not able to locate any copies to view because they were only available to members; Vootie had ceased publication before Rowrbrazzle began, and the waiting list to join the latter was estimated at three years. While Richard hadn't seen either APA, he had seen copies of some of the artwork inside them and was very impressed. Lacking drawing skills and not wanting to wait to join, he decided to start his own fanzine in the fall of 1989, making it open to subscribers, and the first APA that paid royalties.
Gallery had three classes of members - Member Artists, Contributors, and Subscribers. Members were those artists who had been Contributors for at least one of the past three issues. Unlike Subscribers, they received the publication at cost, and without paying royalties. Anyone who was able to demonstrate the talent to express themselves artistically was welcome to try out for admission as a Member Artist, whether professional or amateur. Although many of the artists were furry fans, there was never a requirement for furry art, nor a theme.
Like in an APA, Member Artists were invited based upon the art sent in for review. Richard Chandler stated he looked for things like anatomy, varying line weight, balance, shadows, textures, backgrounds. He also preferred character interaction and pictures that seemed to tell a story, especially comic strips, and considered a good sense of humor to be a plus. Contributions of which 50% had been previously published, or simultaneously submitted to other publications were disallowed, except for limited, members-only publications such as Rowrbrazzle.
Gallery's rules became a model for other APA/'zines like Huzzah and Yarf!, and helped keep the friendly atmosphere of "give and take" from an APA in a publicly accessible fanzine. When he discontinued publication, Richard stated he was having trouble finding fresh talent and people willing to buy new issues, due in part to easy self-publication and the availability of free artwork on the Internet, and his own inability to attend conventions to sell them. (more...)
The furry subculture receives significant stereotyping. Furries are often portrayed as overweight gay/bisexual zoophiles with an interest in plush toys, who wear fursuits to hide their ugliness and lack of social skils. Some of these stereotypes have more than a grain of truth to them; a larger than average proportion of furry fans are openly gay, bisexual, lesbian, or transsexual. Others fail to hold up under closer scrutiny - even at conventions, only 10-15% of fans are likely to have brought a fursuit, and the vast majority have no interest in their pets as sex objects.
Furry fandom member demographics have traditionally mixed with the worlds of science fiction, fantasy, computing, and video gaming. The stereotype of the furry fan bears a close resemblance to that of the nerd and/or geek: a hairy, overweight male, often unwashed, and living in his parents' basement while surfing for pornography on the Internet. Ironically, many of those perpetuating the stereotype match this description.
Of course, the image of a social furry fan who has mostly mainstream, unremarkable interests and hobbies is not as titillating to sensationalism seekers, or groups like Something Awful. No matter how many furries there are who would fit the picture of the typical and less controversial, there remain those who take part in less common activities, exhibit outrageous or unwise behavior, or provide a relatively rare fit with the most extreme stereotypes. These have often been singled out and held up as the symbol of furry fandom.
There are also stereotypes within furry fandom itself. Many are specific to its internal culture; these are often based on the favored species of a given individual, especially among those fans who have a personal furry or who role-play frequently. For example, male foxes are often seen as gay, overly sexualized, and not very bright, while dragons are portrayed as arrogant, pretentious, and followers of wonky mysticism - and if female, they are fangirls of Anne McCaffrey's Pern. (more...)The Lining is a gay, but straight-friendly, bar in Tapestries MUCK. Founded by Banner in October 1996, the bar was originally focused on BDSM, but, like its host, has diversified over time. The oldest parts of the bar - the two bars and a bathroom - are based on a bar of the same name in Floral Park, New York later replaced by a church.
In 1996 there were few places to go and hang out on Tapestries. At the time, the plaza tended to be overly crowded and was drawing a fair amount of twinks and obnoxious bashers of many people's personal preferences. The Lining was created as a place where such people could be easily removed.
Over the years the bar has expanded with a hottub section, pool, a rooftop bar, and several other attractions. The Lining contains many firsts for Tapestries, several of which have been copied repeatedly (like the non-consent room). It remains one of the most popular places on the MUCK, with over fifty people present on busy nights.
The bar is adult-themed, like the MUCK, and the owner/builder takes great pains to see that things run well, having hired a manager and several bouncers to deal with things when he can not be present. Discrimination against anyone due to their sexual preference is not tolerated, and various monitoring systems are in place to facilitate this. (more...)
Sam Starfall is an alien character in the webcomic Freefall. The captain of the Savage Chicken and a freelance con artist, Sam has aspirations to become as infamous a thief as Bruno the Bandit, although he already has quite a reputation with a wide range of restaurants and other establishments.
Sam's true physical form has never actually been seen. He claims to be of a race of sentient squid-like beings, and wears a humanoid environmental suit complete with an animatronic face which he controls with his "cute little facial tentacles."
Despite his constant trickery and self-serving tendencies, Sam cannot be considered evil, possibly because he lacks the mental capacity. Some of his most daring exploits have been for things he was simply too lazy to buy. Sam has exhibited a Huckleberry Finn-like insistence on pulling off crimes the "proper way," due in part to his huge ego, which also makes him oblivious to the fact that his own ship's computer has it in for him.
Since the arrival of his ship's engineer, Florence Ambrose, Sam has at times been foiled by her unerring honesty, although he certainly appreciates her hard work in getting his ship in working order. (more...)
Trouble's Tales (also known as Tanj's Tales) is a space-opera furotica series that has lasted over thirty stories, inspiring art and 'spinoff' stories. Kittiara is the author of the series, although she has collaborated with a co-author on a handful of the stories. The series began in 1997, and the most recent story and "final episode" was posted on 12 July 2005.
At the beginning of the series, the titular Trouble and the rest of the crew of a tramp freighter are railroaded by a corrupt government, with Trouble herself being sold to the Elysium Academy, a facility for training sex slaves. After enduring a long, harrowing and erotic ordeal, Trouble completes her training and is sold to her new master.
Although Trouble is technically a slave, her new master has given her a considerable amount of freedom - enough that, if she wished it, she could easily sell everyone out to the government for a hefty reward. However, she actually falls in love with her master, and forms deep relationships with the rest of her crewmates. One of the core themes of Trouble's Tales is the development of trust among core members of the team.
Many artists, including JonwI, Ironbadger, and Paul Pinewood, have drawn characters and scenes from the story. A few authors, including SMWolf, have written fan fiction using characters from Trouble's Tales. (more...)Note: This featured article was an April Fools joke. See the complete front page for that day.
Sibe is a noted community member and appreciator of furry art. Joining the furry fandom in mid-1998, Sibe quickly became a regular on the alt.lifestyle.furry and alt.fan.furry newsgroups after attending his first Conifur.
Sibe has done more for the distribution of high-quality furry art than even the most prolific of furry artists. His dedication to the unrestricted publication of works by so many talents has brought him a measure of admiration from some, though he remains curiously less-favoured by the artists themselves.
Sibe specialised in salacious and tantalizing depictions of the anthropomorphic form, made available from his distribution center, #yiffnetbeats, and later via BitTorrent.
Sibe is also renowned as a public speaker. His last public engagement was at Conifur 2004, but his biggest audience has always been on FurryMUCK Tapestries LiveJournal GreatestJournal.
somewolf is a typical inhabitant of the eastern european woodlands. He has been seen on two legs and on four, likes to eat chinese food, writes poetry, and howls a lot. He is always on the search for a good dream.
somewolf is one of the organizers of HerbstCon and an active staff member of Eurofurence, where he is responsible for con-site security. He is also an active staff member of Mephit Mini Con as "Wolf in Charge". He denies persistent rumours of membership in the F.I.A.
Born as the son of a gypsy mother, somewolf grew up almost as any other kid and attended a regular school, subsequently gaining several diplomas in both technical and non-technical areas. Starting in the early 90s, somewolf became a trainer of so-called "problem horses", even running his own training stables together with a friend in northern Germany. He also worked as an engineer for a european oil company and as a volunteer fire fighter, later becoming a fire chief.
In 1999, after founding the German Wolf Association [1], somewolf moved to Minnesota, where he lived for almost three years and assisted with research and testing for the DoD. He also became involved in the International Wolf Center efforts to educate the public about wolves by running live wolf events, and worked as a staff member of Wolf Park with Lynn Rogers and David Mech, where he met furries like Jessica Willard and Uncle Kage.
Returning to Germany in 2002, somewolf lectured for the GWA, traveled the country and tried to get back into a "real" job. During this time he became a staff member of Eurofurence and FurCon e.V. He lived and worked for almost one and a half years at a tiger sanctuary south of Berlin (the Tigerranch), but decided to look for something with more of a future and is currently travelling again. (more...)FurryFaire is an online anthropomorphic MUCK focusing on role-playing in a world of knights and fantasy. The original server was founded on 26 May 1996 by Chetar, Mystique, Duelist, and Shiamat. From 2002 to late 2004, FurryFaire suffered a long period of downtime, languishing with very few active players, but it reopened on a new server in 2005 under the control of Tashiro and Snowpony.
FurryFaire is set in the mythical land of Kith Kanaan. Kith Kanaan is divided into a number of nations, each with a specific theme associated with them. The central region, and the primary role-playing area, is called the Shire Lands.
Across the land of Kith Kanaan various religions are embedded into the culture and many groups, both covert and open, espouse philosophies and training devoted to particular causes, including the Peacekeepers, Midnight Mage's Guild and the Crimson Paw. (more...)
FurNation Worlds is a group of six islands in Second Life. Primarily maintained by Nexxus and other members of FurNation, it contains public areas for furs to socialize, two sandboxes for building, a Skymall that allow vendors to sell their wares and Club Fur, a virtual nightclub.
Initially much of the funds for expansion of the island came from referral and dwell time bonuses. These have since dried up, and so alternative forms of income were and are being explored. Island tier fees are reportedly covered half by rental fees and Skymall income, and half by donations. Because these islands are currently one of the focal points for furry activity in Second Life, lag on the islands can be fairly high.
Charles "Chuck" P. A. Melville is a furry author and artist. He was a guest of honor at ConFurence III, and at Conifur 2003. From 1998-2004, he also served on Conifur's staff as head of the convention’s dealers den. Over the years he has contributed to several APAs and fanzines, including Ink Spots, Q, Gallery, Ever-Changing Palace, and Tales of the Tai-Pan Universe.
Chuck self-published Champion Of Katara in 1986, first becoming involved with furry fandom upon joining Rowrbrazzle in 1987. In 1991 he moved from Rochester, NY to Seattle, WA, becoming a part of MU Press, first as co-editor (and co-creator) of The Furkindred: A Shared World with Edd Vick, and then from 1993–1997 as editor of MU’s anthropomorphic books, such as Zu, Cyberkitties, Fangs Of Ka’ath and Corus. He also wrote and/or drew several short stories for some of the titles.
Chuck was nominated several times for an Ursa Major Award; first in 2002 for best illustration – the cover of Wild Kingdom #13 – and once in 2003 for best short story – "Riding The Lady" in Tales Of The Tai-Pan #33. Success came in 2004 when two of his self-published novelettes were nominated for best short story – "Felicia And The Dreaded Book Of Un" and "Felicia And The Tailcutter’s Curse" – the latter of which finally won. Felicia, a supporting character from the Champion of Katara stories, was previously the protagonist of a long-running serial in Rowrbrazzle, subsequently collected in MU Press's graphic novel Felicia: Melari's Wish.
Anthrocon is the world's largest furry convention, averaging an attendance of over 2000 in recent years. It is usually held each July in Pennsylvania.
Founded in 1997, Anthrocon itself was an offshoot of the furry Halloween parties held by Aloyen Youngblood; when attendance pushed triple digits, he decided to book a hotel, and organized it as a convention in 1997 with the aid of local friends Points, Rigel and others.
In 1999 the chairmanship of the convention was transferred to Dr. Samuel Conway by Points, and they formally organized the group as Anthrocon Inc. and moved it to the more cosmopolitan Philadelphia area. Its first venue was the Hilton Valley Forge, but due to rapidly increasing membership numbers it was forced to relocate to the larger Adams Mark Hotel in 2001.
Attendance continued to grow: Membership in 2003 was announced as 1,949; by 2004 it was 2,406, making it by far the largest furry convention at that time. Attendance in 2005 dropped slightly to 2,373, due in part to higher parking fees, a different and unfamiliar hotel, and possibly Hurricane Dennis's effect on the southern United States.
In 2005, Anthrocon announced that they would be moving to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the 2006 convention. Due to scheduling issues, the convention had to temporarily leave its normal July timeslot, and instead will be held between June 15-18 in 2006. The 2007 convention will be held in July.
Since 1997, the Anthrocon Charity Auction has raised more than $56,000 for animal-related charities. Security for the convention has been provided by the Dorsai Irregulars since 2002.
Yerf is probably the world's best known all-ages furry art archive. From December 2004 to mid-January 2006 it was down as a result of a disk crash, but it has since been recoded by Locoindigo, and retains a full copy of the previous archive. Existing members can upload art now.
Yerf was founded in 1996 by Rat as the Squeeky Clean Furry Archive, hosted on Rat.org. At that time it was little more than an FTP server. By 1998 Rat wanted the site to have it's own domain. He chose Yerf because being (at that time) a generic term for "the sound that foxes make", the name could stay the same no matter what direction the site took.
When Rat moved to California, he was no longer able to keep his server up, and so it moved to Tugrik's purrsia.com server in late September 1998. On 10 July 1998, Rat handed over front end administration of the site to Scotty Arsenault - it had previously been run in part by Jedd Marten. In late 2001 Scotty handed administration and the server over to Dingofox.
The SCFA was always distinguished by a strong focus on art for all ages. Around the time it was rebranded as Yerf, new policies were introduced concerning the quality of artwork. Over time, these quality standards for new accounts got stricter, to a point where even reasonably good artists might face several rejections. This resulted in many frustrated artists, and a few competing sites, but also increased Yerf's popularity with fans of quality art.
Previous members were grandfathered in, which became a cause of complaint for applicants who felt that artwork by these members was worse than theirs. A more valid complaint was the speed of application processing, due in part to the time required to review and the limited pool of reviewers.
On 27 December 2004, Yerf's hard disk signalled a failure. Initial hopes for a quick fix were soon dashed, and eventually it became clear that all of the data had been lost. Worse, the hard disk contained the only copy of the Yerf archive software.
As of 11 November 2005, most of the art from the original archive was reposted in a "read only" database. As of 24 November 2005 the new gallery was placed online. On 20 January 2006, the site was declared officially open, if not complete; the design is not final, and new applications are still pending.
Doug Winger (also known as JustDoug) is a well-known artist in the furry fandom whose trademark is hyper-endowed herm characters. Though he is best known for his depictions of hyper-endowment, it is also worth noting the attention to detail that goes into the artwork, and, just as importantly, the humour.
Doug is also known for his quick wit and love of word play; the unofficial unit of squickage, the milliWinger, is named after him, as is the term Wingerized.
A rumor suggested that Doug was an animator for the acclaimed Nickelodeon cartoon series Spongebob Squarepants. This rumor is incorrect, but he has worked as an offsite freelance animation background artist for the same company for Dora the Explorer and Angry Beavers.
Doug plays himself as a human character on FurryMUCK, where he often spends time in the Herm Haven (a place whose very existence can be partially credited to him). One of his most famous furry characters, Pandora Pup, is also a regular resident at the Haven, but she/shi is not played by Doug.
Doug presently resides in Santa Ana, California, USA, with fellow artists Steve Martin and Bob Guthrie.