background

back in 1993, Robert Hayden created the Geek Code, a sort of “geek personality” codec to describe how geeky one is. this created a short trend of similar codes for different communities, and by 1998, Ross Smith created the Furry Code,

fast forward 20+ years. It is 2023, and one Me was bored and happened upon the Furry Code during the exploration of a massive rabbit hole. I was fascinated by the whole thing, and felt inspired to expand the Furry Code into something 1000x more complicated simply because it was really funny and interesting.

and now we’re here. I’m so, so sorry. you can find a proper specification for the code here.

why

consider this document and all associated as a cautionary warning. this is what happens when you leave someone chronically bored unattended for too long…

the code

so you want to create a Neo Furcode of your own?

It’s quite simple, though first we must go through some preliminary concepts.

basics

scales

under normal category rules, following a category may be a number or some symbols to represent how much the category applies to you. this is called a scale.

these can simply be a single digit number, like “2”, “-4”, or “0”. they can also be multiple + or - symbols, like “++” (which is the same as 2) or “----” (which is the same as -4).

if the scale is left out, the scale is considered to be the same as 0, unless otherwise specified with “none”.

in use, they look like “A2”, “A-4”, or “A----”

subcategories

under normal category rules, categories may have subcategories, which are indicated with lowercase letters.

for example, in “A2 b4”, in the “A” category is the “b” subcategory. note that they both have their own scales.

modifiers

a modifier changes the interpretation of a category/subcategory or scale. these should be used sparingly. you can even skip this section entirely if you like.

the following are used for scales:

/ : used to say that you fit into multiple scales. this is used in-between two scales, and can be repeated. for example, in “A-1/2”, either -1 or 2 applies, it depends.
- sometimes, a scale may specify that each one of these refer respective sonas. if you had two sonas (“F FD;2 / DS;3”), then if a category says this, then E 3/2 means that 3 applies to the first sona (FD;2), and 2 applies to the second sona (DS;3).
> : used to say that you want to change to something else sometime. this is used in-between two scales. for example, in “A-1>2”, you are currently -1, but want to be 2 sometime.
~ : used to say that a scale is approximate. this is used before a scale. for example, in “A~2”, you are approximately 2, it changes frequently and fast.
$ : used to say that you currently make a notable amount of money from the scale. this is used after a scale. for example, in “A2\$”, you are making a notable amount of money by being a 2 in “A”.
() : used to work around the precedence rules in / and >. should be used very sparingly. a scale like “2 > 3 / 4” is interpreted as “2 > (3 / 4)” (the user is at 2 but wants to move to alternating between 3 and 4). parenthesis may be used to group it differently if a different interpretation is wanted, like “(2 > 3) / 4” (the user sometimes is 2 but wants to move to 3, or is a 4).
? : used to say that you don’t know what the scale is. this is used instead of a scale. for example, in “A?”, you don’t know what you currently are in “A”.

the following are used for categories or subcategories:

! : used to say that you don’t want to participate in the category. this is used immediately after the letter, and nothing for the category should follow. for example, “A!”. “A! b” would be considered invalid.
- this can also be used for subcategories. for example, “A b! c” would mean that you participate in “A”, don’t participate in “b”, and participate in “c”.
- also consider leaving out the category entirely.
# : used to say that you consider the category to be private. this is used immediately after the letter, and nothing for the category should follow. this may not be used in subcategories.
- also consider leaving out the category entirely.

one final note: Spaces and newlines are optional. they can be used to make your code easier to read.

now to work on the code! I’ll be using me as an example.

if you’d like, you can quickly define some “metadata”, like the version of the code, your name or gender. you may also skip out this section entirely, though it is recommended to keep it.

the order matters here, but any of these may be skipped.

version

Begin by writing “nf1.0:”, or whatever the current version of the code is. (see the spec)

name

write your (preferred) name, followed by a :. so I’ll write “parchii:”.

if your name has spaces, you should wrap your name in either brackets or quotations, like “"name":” or “[name]:”.

my code so far: “nf1.0: parchii:”

gender

write one of these for the gender:

n : enby
m : male
f : female
o : other
x : n/a
!, ?, or # for their associated meanings

then one of these letters for pronouns:

t : they/them
h : he/him
s : she/her
a : any
x : n/a
!, ?, or # for their associated meanings

you can combine any of these with a +, or you can imply that you switch between some often with a /, and you can put a ~ before one of these for that respective meaning.
follow this with a :. at this spot, you can also specify multiple sets of genders with a ;, like “oa;fs”.

so, I’ll write “f+ns:” (female + enby, she/her pronouns).

a custom option can be used by enclosing it in brackets, for example, “[other]” or “[fae/faer]”

my code so far: “nf1.0: parchii: f+ns:”

categories

now for the meat of the code. thanks for your patience, here’s the fun part.

F : fursona

this category indicates your sona. this is probably the most important part of the code! note that this category does not follow the normal syntax rules, and instead has it’s own.

begin by writing “F”.

you can still use ! or # instead of anything here, as usual. you may also use ? to say that you don’t know if you are a furry.

species

choose your sona’s species!

here is a list of species codes. select the one that best fits. if only the upper family (“Ar”, “M”, etc) fits, select that.

A : avians
- AA : albatross
- AD : duck
- AE : eagle
- AF : falcon
- AG : seagull
- AH : hawk
- AK : kiwi
- AO : owl
- AR : raven
- AS : sparrow
- AW : wren
Ar : artiodactyla (two-toed hoofed animals)
- ArA : antelope
- ArB : buffalo
- ArC : cattle
- ArD : deer
- ArE : camel
- ArF : giraffe
- ArG : goat
- ArL : llama
- ArM : moose
- ArN : gnu
- ArP : pig
- ArR : reindeer
- ArS : sheep
- ArW : warthog
- ArZ : gazelle
C : canidae (dog family)
- CA : arctic fox
- CC : coyote
- CD : dingo
- CF : fox
- CJ : jackal
- CM : domestic mutt
- CW : wolf
- CX : maned wolf
Ce : centaurs
- CeH : common
- CeZ : zebra-centaur
Ch : chiroptera (bat family)
- ChF : fruit bat
- ChV : vampire bat
Ct : cetacea (whale family)
- CtD : dolphin
D : reptiles (+ dragons, dinosaurs)
- DA : alligator / crocodile
- DC : coelurosaur (velociraptor, etc)
- DD : dragon
- DK : carnosaur (tyrannosaurus, etc)
- DL : lizard
- DS : snake
- DT : tortoise / turtle
E : equidae (horse family)
- ED : donky
- EH : horse
- EZ : zebra
Ed : edentata
- EdA : anteater
- EdR : armadillo
- EdS : sloth
F : felidae (cat family)
- FB : bobcat
- FC : clouded leopard
- FD : domestic cat
- FH : cheetah
- FJ : jaguar
- FL : lion
- FM : puma / cougar / mountain lion
- FO : ocelot
- FP : leopard / panther
- FS : snow leopard
- FT : tiger
- FV : serval
- FW : wild cat
- FX : lynx
G : generic
H : herpestidae (mongoose family)
- HK : meerkat
- HM : mongoose
I : insectivora
- IH : hedgehog
- IM : mole
L : lagomorpha (rabbit survey)
- LH : hare
- LJ : jackrabbit
- LR : rabbit
M : mustelidae (weasel family)
- MA : sable
- MB : badger
- ME : ermine / stoat
- MF : ferret
- MK : mink
- MM : marten
- MO : otter
- MP : polecat
- MR : ratel / honey badger
- MS : skunk
- MV : wolverine
- MW : weasel
Ma : marsupialia
- MaB : wombat
- MaK : kangaroo
- MaO : koala
- MaP : possum
- MaT : tasmanian devil
- MaW : wallaby
Mo : monotremata
- MoP : platypus
P : procyonidae (racoon family)
- PR : racoon
Pi : pinnipedia (seal family)
- PiL : sea lion
- PiS : seal
- PiW : walrus
Pr : primates
- PrH : human
- PrL : lemur
R : rodentia
- RB : beaver
- RG : grey squirrel
- RM : mouse
- RP : porcupine
- RR : rat
- RS : red squirrel
- RU : muskrat
U : ursidae (bear family)
- UA : polar bear
- UB : black bear
- UG : grizzly bear / brown bear / kodiak bear
- UP : giant panda
V : viverridae (civet family)
- VC : civet
X : mythical
- XA : gargoyle
- XC : manticore
- XG : gryphon
- XH : hippogriff
- XM : mer-person
Xe : alien
Xa : “exotic”
- XaS : slime-person
- XaP : protogen
Z : polymorph

if none of these fit in the slightest, you can put a proper name in brackets, like “[cat]”.

you can combine as many as you’d like with +, like in “MaB+FD”, as in a wombat-cat hybrid. you can also put a ~ before the species, like in “~UA”. and finally, you can use ? instead of a species, or after a family to say that you are more specific but not sure how yet, like in “H?”.

write a ; to finish this section.

I’m a cat lamia, so I will write: FD+DS; (for “domestic cat” + “snake”).

variation

below is a list of letters to indicate “variations”. you may use none or as many as you’d like.

t : taur (ie: a torso that looks more “human-like” than the hips downward)
h : were-human
w : winged (if the species is not normally winged)
k : multi-tailed

since I’m a lamia, I’ll add a t.

realism

now write a number, representing how anthropomorphized your sona is. refer to this image:

@todo

note that this number is required.

relationship

below is a list of letters to indicate you’re relationship with this sona. you may use none or as many as you’d like.

a : me
c : costume
d : subject of pictures
f : imaginary friend
r : RPG character
s : guardian spirit or totem
w : subject of stories

this sona is me, and I draw it often so I’ll write md.

here’s my code so far: nf1.0: parchii: f+ns: FD+DS;t2ad

gender

if it’s different for this sona, you may optionally indicate it here. start by writing a ;, then reuse the rules in the earlier heading.

multiple sonas

you can indicate multiple sonas by separating them with /. for example, if I had “E;w2a” and “Xe;4b;fs”, I can write “E;w2a / Xe;4b;fs”.

A : art

the next big category is a general “art” affinity. exists because many furries seem interested in doing some kind of art.

if you’d like, start by writing “A”, then use one of these numbers:

none : default to -2
-3 : you actively hate doing art.
-2 : you are uninterested in art.
-1 : you don’t do art.
0 : you do art sometimes.
1 : you do art often.
2 : you do art as much as reasonable.

there are several subcategories you can add if you’d like. they are:

f : furry images
h : human images
o : other kinds of images
m : music
g : games
a : frame-based mediums. like animations or films
w : writing
p : physical arts. pottery, knitting, etc.

these all use the following scale:

none : default to -1
-1 : you don’t do this.
0 : you do this sometimes.
1 : you do this often.
2 : you do this very often.
3 : you do this almost exclusively.

I do a lot of drawing, and I make games, so I’ll write A1 f2 g3. my code so far: nf1.0: parchii: f+ns: FD+DS;t2ad A1f2g3

D : dress up

If you’d like, you can show off what you think of fursuits.

write “D”, then use one of these numbers:

none : default to -1
-2 : you will never wear a fursuit
-1 : you don’t care for fursuits
0 : you don’t wear fursuits
1 : you wear a fursuit if appropriate
2 : you wear a fursuit when reasonable
3 : you are always wearing a fursuit

there’s one subcategory, “m”, for saying if you’ve made a fursuit item before.

none : default to -2
-2 : you have hasn’t made anything.
-1 : you have made cat ears (or equivalent size)
0 : you have made a simple set of ears, paws, tail
1 : you have made a simple full body costume
2 : you have made a classic fursuit
3 : the fursuit can blink

my code so far: nf1.0: parchii: f+ns: FD+DS;t2ad A1f2g3 D2m0

R : real life

if you’d like, you can show off what you do irl.

write “R”, then use one of these:

none : make no assumption.
-1 : you are unemployed.
0 : you are employed.

there are many subcategories here. some are two characters long - if you want to use those, wrap it in brackets. (ex: [ct2])

a : art
bm : business/management
c : craft
ci : construction
ct : computers/IT
e : engineering
et : education
f : farming
fb : finance/banking
gp : government/public services
l : law
lw : literature/writing
m : music
ma : military/armed forces
mc : media/communications
mh : human biology sciences (includes medicine practice, etc)
mv : animal biology sciences (includes veterinary medicine, etc)
rb : retail
s : science
th : theatre
ti : transport

these use this scale:

none : default to -2.
-2 : you don’t practice this.
-1 : you are starting this.
0 : you are learning this.
1 : you are considered something of an expert at this.

there are also these subcategories:

at : all trades
- use when you don’t have a specialization
u : undecided
- use when you don’t know what you are going to do.

my code so far: nf1.0: parchii: f+ns: FD+DS;t2ad A1f2g3 R-1 [ct0] (since I’m an unemployed computer scientist)

extensions

that was the main code, complete.

though, there’s not a lot here. what if you wanted to also express how much you like apples with the same code? enter: extensions, which you can use to add whatever information you like. obviously this is optional - ignore this section if you like.

here is the example extension we will use.

it uses the extension code apple. going back to the header, at the version, we can do this: nf1.0(apple1.0). this says that we are using neofurcode 1.0, with the apple extension 1.0. you can specify that you are using multiple extensions with / (ex: nf1.0(apple1.0/orange2.1)). note that this is technically optional, however.

then, back at the category section, we write _, then the name of the extension apple, then A. all together _appleA, which says, using the extension “apple”, this is category “A”. I like apples, so I’ll say I’m an A2.

my code: nf1.0(apple1.0): parchii: f+ns: FD+DS;t2ad A1f2g3 R-1 [ct0] _appleA2

you can find a list of extensions here.

conclusion

and that’s the entire code. enjoy :3

if you have any suggestions for changes, please let me know.