Resident Shiny Fire Starter

So in the story it’s similar to WFRR in the fact that it’s a setting where “ Toons “ exist as an actual species , in this universe being mostly explained as a random natural phenomenon with unknown origins with the creatures themselves being manifestations of Mankind’s capacity for imagination. The species is commonly called Toons but their technical name is “ Imaginacus sapiens “ which is seen across several collectible documents. Most just randomly pop up though it also is a lore point that at some point a project was funded to create artificial lab-grown Toons first as just living versions of fictional mascots before the idea shifted to learning to harmless their seeming immortality due to them being believed to be indestructible, but ethics concerns and protests got the thing canned and the created specimens were sent off to the homeland of their species , being a location similar to Toontown except instead of being a cartoon world it’s more of a makeshift imitation of society built with whatever pieces the inhabitants could scavenge over the years so the buildings and stuff obviously look cobbled together, rumors say that Toonkind actually built it within the remains of an underground doomsday bunker but nobody knows the truth other than the Toons themselves. I currently haven’t workshopped a name for this location but suggestions would be fun.

As for why the Toons are seemingly immortal, it’s believed to be due to some organ that no other creature possesses that’s powered by alternate to blood but somehow coexists with their blood that has been dubbed “ Ambrosia “. It is believed, however, that if the body’s supply of ambrosia was either tainted or drained outright that it would then render a specimen of Imaginacus sapiens vulnerable to fatal wounds.

While many Toons did split off to integrate into wider society and offer up their talents by the events of the game something weird starts, with members of the Toon species being kidnapped and hauled back to their homeland, which is now being locked up and all contact with the outside world is cut off. The only humans that are managing to get in are these odd people in robes that appear to be part of some newly formed cult, with members believing that Toonkind is the creation of some higher being who now wishes to reclaim “ its children “ as pawns for its grand design. The game would see you playing as a 17-19 year old guy known as “ Arty “ ( his real name is Mason but Arty is a nickname due to his interest in drawing and comics, I haven’t picked a last name yet ) who goes there after his mother, a scientist who studied the toon species, goes missing. When you do break in Arty comes to find that the entire place is in ruins, all the inhabitants have seemingly vanished overnight, and what Toons he does find have been warped into mangled perversions of themselves that are actively attempting to hunt for him across the rubble. During his search his only real consistent ally is a toon named “Salazar “ an anthropomorphic cartoon manticore created in the artificial Toon project, being directly derived from a childhood drawing Arty made years ago. There’s also a number of surviving Toons that reveal the cult has had the place under lock and key for a few months at this point and any resident Toon who tries to escape or contact the outside world for help is often captured and then sacrificed to whatever creature the cult worships. The plot would revolve around Arty trying to find his mother among the dilapidated underground civilization while trying to avoid Toons that have been turned into monsters, all while learning what happened from survivors and uncovering the goals of the cult.