Animated (General)

Animated are the people and creatures created through animation and brought to life by their creators. While many forms of animation exist, most Animated fit into three categories - Toon, Digi, and Clay. Toons also have predecessors in Little Zoes and Shadow Puppets, but they are not considered to be Animated proper.
While the history of animation - and ambitious humans trying to bring their creations to life - has a history spanning even before the creation of cinema, life animation, as the process to bring Animated to life is called, started to see potential at the turn of the 20th Century. After the reveal of the success of life animation to the general public by Winsor McCay, a creation boom followed in the 1920s and 30s with several animation companies interested in bringing their own creations to life. Ever since then, Animated have become a part of society, developing their own culture from their bizarre way of living.

Abilities

Animated abilities and powers vary from Animated to Animated, depending on a variety of factors such as the Animated's type, what powers (and limits) their creators gave them, and of course what the Animated wished to learn. Theoretically, a Digi would have the most access to the strongest powers, with Toons being second strongest and Clays the least empowered. In general, the more unrealistic or cartoony an Animated is, the more abilities they'll have, and the easier it'll be to pick up these abilities. However, a few abilities are present in every Animated, regardless of type or creator's intent.

Invulnerability/Immortality

Every Animated can withstand more pressure or physical damage to themselves than humans. Most Animated have at least mild invulnerability, and many have the ability to live through things humans cannot without a scratch. However, Animated can be more vulnerable to damage inflicted by hominine (i.e. human-made or "live action") objects than Animated objects (for example, hominine fire is considered especially dangerous to Animated of all types).
Besides invulnerability, Animated do not age like humans do. Animated can be killed, certain illnesses can bring their demise, and they can be victim to the Fade, but Animated will never succumb to the ravages of old age.

Life Animation/Creation

Every Animated can bring other Animated to life with little effort, especially when compared to the challenges humans have with life animation. Many Animated, particularly ones from the Golden Age of Animation, can even create other Animated out of thin air, something that no human can accomplish. Animated are only allowed to assist humans with bringing their creations to life, with creating sapient Animated Folk being illegal barring a few outstanding exceptions.
All Animated also have the potential to create Animated objects as well, but many do not develop this ability, and the ones who do are heavily regulated due to the potential abuse of this power. The easy creation of illegal Animated items is a big problem for both animation studios and Animation City itself, with a strong underground market run by both human and Animated gangs. Even normal items can be a problem as counterfeit Animated items like jewelry and money can damage local businesses and economies, and often the item will crumble or melt after the original creator has disappeared.

Limitations

When brought to life, what powers an Animated can have is limited only by their creator's imagination. However, no Animated is all powerful, not even literal gods, for two reasons.
The first reason is that many of the most powerful Animated powers only work at their full potential in a fully animated environment. In the hominine world, the physics ruling humans can interfere with the Animated physics that most Animated powers need to work. Many Animated can train themselves to overcome some of the limitations hominine physics impose on them, but the "real world" will always affect Animated no matter how hard they try. Even in a fully Animated environment, some powers are still impossible (the biggest one being time travel). A rough rule of thumb is that Animated can defy the laws of physics, but they cannot rewrite them.
The second reason is that Animated are created with a specific role and purpose. Ultimately, most Animated are created for entertainment, but their role in entertaining informs how and when their powers can work. The most commonly known example of this is the rule of comedy, where an Animated can perform various physic-defying abilities as long as it's funny, but this is not the only "rule" that Animated may need to obey to have their powers work. It varies from Animated to Animated, and Animated can also find loopholes if they're determined enough to bend the rules, and their role and purpose can change.

Basic Information

Genetics and Reproduction

Life Animation

The vast majority of Animated are brought to life by their creators with life animation. Before the 70s, newly-created Animated would be brought to life without knowledge of what an Animated is, requiring creators and other Animated to explain everything to the newly-created Animated. Unfortunately, this lead to several Animated having existential crises, many of which led to either suicide or murder. After the creation of computers, animators were able to program in the knowledge of Animated into their creations, dramatically lowering the number of distressed Animated. Nowadays, most cases of "Animated Creation Distress Disorder" comes from illegal life animation by inexperienced animators or older, disused rendering portals.
As stated in the "Abilities" section, many Animated can also bring other Animated to life without the use of rendering portals, and some can even create other Animated without any animation or any human involvement. But the Animated that can do this are often restricted by various governmental and corporate stipulations, and very rarely are Animated allowed to bring to life or create other Animated for reasons outside of the entertainment industry.

Born Animated

Animated are also able to reproduce naturally, in accordance with whatever method the Animated's species uses. In species where single offspring per conception are more common in their hominine counterparts, Animated tend to have higher rates of multiples, theorized to be due to Animated's higher durability being able to withstand more children at a time. With Animated of different species, sometimes it is more difficult for Animated to conceive, but which couples are unable/have trouble conceiving tend to vary wildly. Some couples who are very similar can have lots of issues conceiving, while couples that are extremely different from each other can end up having lots of children, and vice versa. Most Animated hospitals have tests for different-species couples trying to have children to see their compatibility.
There used to be a misconception that Animated have a harder time conceiving children, but this was from the early days of Life Animation, when Animated were still new and not well understood. More notoriously, some animation companies, in an effort to keep Animated "family-friendly" and controversy-free, had forbid Animated to have children. In the cases of Animated conceiving regardless, most companies would have the Animated stay in isolation until the birth/hatching/etc., then pass off the child or children as the Animated's nieces or nephews. Some more ruthless companies would even force Animated to abort their children, particularly if they're known for their sex appeal or if the mother and father are different species. Nowadays, Animated having naturally born children are more common, and companies discouraging Animated from doing so are quick to attract bad PR from both Animated and humans.

Civilization and Culture

Common Etiquette Rules

Food-Related Courtesies

In a city where almost half of the population is some kind of animal, and a considerable section talking bugs, living plants, fruit, vegetables, or other kinds of food, the topic of food is a tricky subject that has been a source of debate for years. Despite the debate, Animation City have figured out certain courtesies to deal with different dietary needs of their diverse population. It is not perfect, and the Animation City government even has an agency in place to deal with food related issues, but for the most part it helps to prevent anxiety over being eaten.
It is considered disrespectful, bordering on the obscene, to eat the meat or vegetable of a species in front of a sapient person of the same species (i.e. eating fried chicken in front of a hen) without their permission. The exception to this rule is in large public places such as festivals or markets, but even then it is expected that everyone be courteous of others and not shove food made of a certain species into said species' faces.
In the Wilderness Territories, which tends to follow the "rule of the jungle" more than the laws of civilization, it is still expected that any predators or hunters living in the Territories only hunt non-sapient creatures for food, an idea that is often easier said than done.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

Theatricality

Since the vast majority of Animated are created for show business, theatricality plays a big part in Animated culture. Publicity stunts for various groups and organizations such as businesses and political parties are far more elaborate and ridiculous than those by their human counterparts. Parties, weddings, and holidays are always huge, and everyone dreads the end of the school year when Animated children run free. Some of this inherent theatricality has died down in recent years partly due to more recently-created Animated being created (and wanting to be taken) a little more seriously, and is yet another part of the Toon-Digi divide.

Music

Due to the high amount of Animated having musical talent, if not actual powers, music is an important part of Animated culture. Several Animated games and traditions involve singing and music, and many Animated form friendships, rivalries, and romances with music. Spontaneous musical numbers happen often in Animation City, and it is not unusual for such musical numbers to be used in political campaigns and other publicity stunts.

Animated Children

An aspect of Animation City, and Animated in general, that many humans find strange and even alarming is the treatment of Animated child autonomy. While most Animated cities and settlements have many of the same laws and restrictions regarding children as human society, Animated tend to give their children more freedom. Animated children are often allowed to wander and have adventures without any Animated adults supervising them. Naturally, many humans tend to be unnerved by this blasé attitude towards children running around by themselves, but it should not be mistaken as Animated not caring about their children. Rather, most Animated children are usually given a higher sense of autonomy from the first moment of creation, and as Animated don't age, many Animated children are better at taking care of themselves than their Animated ages would indicate. And if an Animated child is in danger that they cannot handle themselves, Animated adults will not hesitate to bring their full cartoon fury upon whomever is responsible.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Animated/Human Relationships

While relationships between Animated and humans are not unheard of, it is not particularly encouraged. Besides the prejudice from less tolerant Animated and humans, the Animated half of any long-term relationship will outlive the human half, potentially causing anguish for both parties. In recent years, however, this attitude has begun to change, and many Animated and humans have decided to enjoy the time they have together instead of despairing over the inevitable.

Toon/Digi/Clay Relationships

When it comes to relationships between different types of Animated, in general the more recently-created Animated tend to be more accepting of the idea. The tension between Toons and Digis makes a Toon/Digi relationship complicated, and a potential target from less tolerant Animated. Relationships involving Clays tend to fare better, partly due to Clays having smaller numbers and more often dating Animated of a different type.

Genetic Descendants

• Clay
• Digi
• Toon