Mama (Comic)

'Mama' is a canon webcomic set in the Full Runa Universe, approximately 20 years before the events of the novel 'The Lost Thorn'. The webcomic is still being produced. It is co-written by Josh and Jean, and illustrated by artist Andrés Bastidas. 'Mama' will be the first product set in the Full Runa Universe to be featured on Full Runa's Patreon page. While 'Mama' is set in the same universe as all other Full Runa productions, it doesn't feature magic as a central plot element, focusing instead on the personal conflict and genesis story of its main character. The webcomic tells a story within a story, with Vincent, one of the protagonists, appearing in the first page to act as a narrator for Mama's tale years after it originally happened.

Plot
'Mama' tells the story of Lily Thacher and her transformation from being a corporate employee into being the founder and leader of her own gang inside the slums of Quito Proper, The Bowels. The story also shows how and why she chose for herself the nickname of 'Mama' and how the biggest gang of The Bowels came to be. Said gang, is aptly called 'Mama's Boys'.

The webcomic opens with a scene depicting 'Mama's Boys' assaulting a seraph caravan that is traveling though 'The Undercroft', and then transitions into showing the origins of Mama, when she was still Lily Thatcher. She's shown in a turbulent relationship with her boss, Mr. Shiro, that reaches a conclusion when she allows herself to be impregnated by said man, who has a wife and daughter of his own. Upon knowing of her pregnancy, Shiro forces her to have an abortion and exiles her into The Bowels. Unbeknownst to him, his daughter, Keiko, who had grown attached to Lily over spending years with her while her father worked, follows Lily into The Bowels and finds herself also trapped inside the carved hollow volcano that are The Bowels.

Upon discovery of having lost his daughter, Shiro tries to send an armed party to get her back, but Jeremiah Carondelet, ClearSigth's regional director, denies him entrance into The Bowels, using the excuse that they have become too dangerous for civilian travel, while in reality Jeremiah is planning to do a full on search of The Bowels to identify and kidnap mages for his own purposes.

Years pass, and Keiko and Lily start a new life in The Bowels. It is here that Keiko and the orphans she befriends, begin to address Lily as 'Mama' officially baptizing her as such. Vincent, Amelia and Tiago, Keiko's friends, form a strange but functional family, that lasts only until Mr. Shiro decides to recover her daughter through less conventional means. Shiro hires hunters from 'Meat & Metal' to kidnap his daughter and bring her back to him. Instead, the hunters take her for themselves, harvesting her high-quality implants and functional organs.

Keiko's loss prompts Mama to abandon all pretenses of peace, and in a last effort to try and rescue Keiko, she and her three 'boys', Keiko's friends, assault the 'Meat & Metal' facility where Keiko was being held. After bringing the place down in fire and brimstone, they find that Keiko has already been 'harvested'. Only an empty carcass remains. It is there that the Mama that many love, and many more hate, is born. Among tears for her lost children, she swears to lose no more. Amelia, Vincent and Tiago become the first lieutenants of Mama's Boys, and soon, many more orphans flock to join their ranks. The webcomic ends with grown-up Vincent inviting the reader to join Mama's Boys and trash-talking the their rival gangs.

Trivia

 * Mama's Boys is, by sheer amount of members, the most numerous gang of The Bowels and single handedly outnumbers the second biggest agrupation 'The Canine Triad', which is in fact composed by three smaller gangs.
 * Mama herself didn't pick the name for her gang, it simply came to be as their (in)fame increased.
 * Kai-Huong Industries, the corporation for which Mama used to work, is the corporation that manufactures the arcane containment caskets that ClearSight Corporation uses to encase and enslave spellcasters.