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Link to all pets and colors for future reference
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There is a lot to say about Santae. There are some genuinely funny parts to all of this, but also some major transgressions. I'm going to focus on the bigger picture, but feel free to ask for details in the comments. There's more where this came from.
I want to make a note that this is not “drama”. Much of this, especially the way CJ treated staff, is abuse. There are lighthearted parts of this, but the way staff was fucked over (excuse my language) is no laughing matter and I want to make it clear that there is NO intention to lump all of these things together. PLEASE do not harass or contact anyone mentioned in this document, it’s for documentation only, not a call to action.
This is a living document as well, so please check back if you so desire as I format it better and add more :)
Finally… before we start -
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Santae is a virtual pet site in the style of Neopets or Flight Rising. It was created by CJ, also known as Charles, Jubilee, Ken, truckerman, Kilo, and a few other names depending on the day/year/project. The site was pitched as a browser-based virtual RPG world with a class system, star signs, NPC relationships, skill trees, battle systems, immersive quests, and more.
None of those things have ever been implemented.
At its core, the gameplay is still just collecting pets and dressing them up, while hoarding items in case they become useful one day.
CJ had previously run another petsite called Lurapets, which is now defunct. That site had a reputation for mistreating artists and staff, and users eventually discovered that CJ was the same person as Ken, the owner of Lurapets. When this was confirmed, the mask started to slip. If you want a deep dive on that connection, another user made this document that goes into artist mistreatment and asset reuse, and CJ's dishonesty in various situations.
CJ funded Santae through a Kickstarter launched in August 2024. It hit its funding goal in about 30 minutes and eventually raised over $106,000, making it the most successful petsite Kickstarter to date. This number is going to be important later.
Alpha testing ran from May to October 2024. At the end of alpha, all user progress and most pets were wiped. Santae doesn't have unique pet names like Neopets, so there can be multiple pets named "Dog." But the first one gets a special First Edition badge, which led to a mad scramble for desirable names when beta testing began. This was widely disliked by users at the time, though now that seems like small potatoes compared to the coming storms.
Closed beta started in October 2024 and brought the introduction of the referral system. In January 2025, users could earn Referral Points (RP) for bringing in new players, which could be spent in a special shop. The most prized item? The Divine Wispyr Figurines, which could turn a pet into the very exclusive Wispyr species. On the user marketplace, these often sold for premium currency equivalent to $50 or more. That price is going to matter soon too (watch out for cannons!!).
To date, CJ has already burned through more than 70 staff members—artists, moderators, admins, you name it. Turnover was constant, staff morale was nonexistent, and the userbase was struggling to find a groove.
All of this isn't even touching on the fact that the owner lied about AI usage in NPC portraits, which he very clearly said were all human-drawn. The community pushed, and finally he admitted they were AI based, but it wasn't his fault! Guys it's not his fault, he's just the owner!! This is still an ongoing issue, thought apparently the NPC's will be replaced with new art eventually. Currently, there are accusations of AI usage in the writing of the site.
This is all just the start, really. Pretty much all of this is nothing compared to what came next.
CJ started personally launching what he called the "gift cannon," randomly giving out items ranging from basic materials to ultra-rare, high-value prizes. Sometimes he'd hand out premium pets or items to individual users for seemingly no reason. This eventually became a site feature , but in the early days, it was just CJ playing Oprah. Users started staying online for absurd hours in fear of missing a cannon drop, since many items weren't obtainable through any other means, and the items themselves were so valuable that if you missed one, it was months of saving to try and yoink one elsewhere..
It’s also important to note that a pillar of the site’s ethos is that there will be no FOMO. Everything, including the kickstarter items, will rotate back into the cash shop at some point, allegedly. But yeah, shooting expensive items that people save up for months for out of a cannon to only players online is a great idea to avoid FOMO...
These gift cannons have been frequently compared to love bombing, as players felt that CJ would try to bury any controversy or negativity with gifting these items to everyone.