Hello! I’m Caydence, the creator of Free Citizen.
I’ve always been fascinated by creator commentary/interviews, whether it be by developers, authors, artists, singers, actors and voice actors, dancers, photographers, you name it; Getting a glimpse into the mind of the creator has always given me a deeper appreciation of their creation, and I certainly have lots to talk about! Most people don’t realize how much work it is to take a giant soup of ideas and transform it into something tangible and coherent. As I write this, I’ve put lots of work into this project and it still feels pretty soupy to me, and so I’d be honored to give you a glimpse into my thought process and help you notice certain things that may have gone over your head but contributed to your enjoyment of Free Citizen nonetheless. Along with that, I'll also include funny stories or important moments in my life that helped this project come to fruition.
Enjoy!
Fun Facts!
This website was made directly in the neocities code editor because I'm evil and lazy
How Citizen happened
I remember three pivotal moments in my life that would eventually lead to me telling this story.
The first was in 2019, when my brother's girlfriend got a cat. My mom is deathly allergic to cats, so I never got the chance to experience how magical of an experience it is until a cat named Sir entered my life. I was going to my brother's apartment all the time to smoke weed and hide from my persistently miserable living situation at home, so Sir was also useful for keeping mom out of the place. I don’t know what I was expecting from living with a cat; I don’t think I was expecting anything, really. I knew they were cute and agile, and that I would regret it if I didn’t wash my hands immediately after petting one, but that was about it really. They had never sparked any special feeling in me.
That didn’t last long at all.
In a time and place where I didn’t want to do anything but lay down, get high, and tune out to content, Sir had me up. This cat refused to sit still for five goddamn seconds. I watched in awe as the average and mundane layout of my brother's apartment became a vast and treacherous landscape that he conquered fearlessly, and claimed as his own kingdom as automatically as he would breath and eat.
He would knock shit over if I wasn’t careful. He would share my dinner if I wasn’t watching it. I had never occupied a space with an animal the way I did with Sir. He was a major inspiration to me. It’s a shame that our time together was cut so short.
When my brother’s girlfriend moved to attend college, Sir went with her. I never got the chance to say goodbye. I learned a few months later that Sir got out. No one’s seen her since.
Oh yeah, and apparently Sir was a girl too.
Afterwards, I was overcome with an insatiable love for felines of all shapes and sizes. I was drowning my brain in THC at the time, so it took me way too long to connect it with my time with Sir.
The second was in the first few weeks of 2021, when I discovered the brilliant artwork of Yorozumaru. I can vividly recall the moment I first stumbled upon it; It was a little bit after Christmas, and I was at my brother's new place with some of his friends. I must have been too fried to socialize, because I was sitting on the couch by myself scrolling through Twitter, God Forbid. But you know what? Twitter did do one very good thing for me when, sandwiched in between all the 2020 schizo-posting and the borderline furry porn, it showed me a picture of the cat character I use for this website, Yorozumaru’s muse Urushi. I was captivated instantly; Never before had I seen an artist combine anatomical correctness with human intention so cleanly, so skillfully, so lovingly.
I had seen furries; animal people with human shaped bodies. I had seen anthropomorphic animals; regular cats and dogs that talk and think. But Urushi was, and still is, something else. I had never truly pondered how such a creature would conduct themselves, live their lives, present their spirit, create their reality. Not until I discovered Yorozumaru’s unforgettable artwork. There were smaller, pettier questions I dwelled on: Would they bother to cook since they would inevitably shed on the food? Would they have a particular hygiene routine to mitigate shedding? Would they care? And how would they groom themselves? Having so much fur must make showering a pain in the ass. With how flexible they are, they wouldn’t need anyone's help to brush themselves… and what would their living space look like? Would there be hair everywhere? Would there be areas only they can get to?
Of course, there were also darker realizations I had, the kind I wouldn’t say aloud: If they were the only one of their kind, the existential crisis would be awful… would they feel that anyone truly understands them? How well would they really be able to connect with others? And I mean… they would want love, right? Of course they would have romantic and sexual desires like most everyone else, but how would they even go about that? Would they prefer someone who’s ashamed of being attracted to them or someone with no shame at all? I honestly can’t say which is worse… how awful.
It quickly became clear to me that many furries only value the concept of an anthropomorphic animal as a means of escapism from the real world, and shy away from deeper contemplations about such a concept because it soon leads to morbid observations of human nature. As a result, the animal traits of most anthro characters I see in media—if they have animal traits at all—are shallow at best.
“I don’t like water.”
“I chase things.”
“I purr when I’m happy.”
“I can smell really well, but not well enough to where it would meaningfully impact my character.”
I can’t be bitter about it. Attempting to comprehensively understand these animals' bodies and minds is already a bold task; evolving them into a human experience in a way that is well thought out and emotionally mature is a massive effort, and not for the faint of heart.
Yorozumaru has irreversibly impacted my taste in and understanding of anthropomorphic animals, and for that I am eternally grateful.
And third was in March of 2025, when I spent a good month trying my hand at writing fiction.
I found that I had plenty of ideas for stories swimming around in my head, so one night I impulsively tried bringing one to life. Inspired by a short animation I had stuck in my head, I got to work on a story about two men in the 1970’s stuck with each other in a lighthouse on the edge of the Shetland Islands. Eventually they would want each other, but I never got that far.
Most people who try to write fiction for the first time give up quickly because they can’t form a good habit of sitting down to write. On the contrary, I had already spent plenty of time writing for my blog, building the habit and discovering my style. And so, I just kind of got into it! I spent plenty of time researching the setting and writing little pages here and there to build up my two men; I named them Alasdair, after the author of one of my all time favorite novels Poor Things, and Yorgos, after the director of its movie adaptation.
I knew I could have created a finished, fully fleshed out story with these ideas if I really put my mind to it… but by the time I had a presentable first chapter, I decided it ultimately wouldn’t be worth the time investment. I was perfectly willing to invest lots of time in creating something I’m passionate about, but really taking into consideration how foreign the setting is to me (It takes place in a Scottish lighthouse—I live in Texas) along with the fact that I just have so much more growing up to do, surely there were more fruitful endeavors I could devote my time to.
And so, with love and gratitude, I retired my first ever fiction project.
I remember the exact moment: I was chilling at my local secondhand bookstore. I was sitting down and looking out the window with a book splayed out in my hand and a cat purring in my lap. I was done with the lighthouse, but now that I had so much new experience in creating stories rather than simply telling them, I wondered what else I could devote that energy towards. My mind wandered aimlessly as I slowly pet the resident cat. Suddenly, in a bright flash, the answer became clear to me.
You’re looking at that answer right now.
