Ink (Melanokinesis)

(Source: Batman Beyond and Superpower Wiki: http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Ink\_Manipulation)

**Melanokinesis** is the use of ink. Ink controllers, whether through a special quality in their ink or within themselves, are able to "draw" on existence itself, adding whatever they see fit. They win through their sheer possible utility, being able to draw their way out of nearly any problem.

Sometimes referred to in slang as blotches.

### **Common Strengths**

* The utility of an ink user is massive. The possibilities extend as far as the artist's imagination. They can create a tool for any situation. Ink controllers need never touch the battle themselves, instead drawing people, stick figures or beasts of their imagination to fight for them. The more detail in a drawing, the more effective it is.
* Ink controllers can learn to mimic the abilities of other kineses to a certain extent. If they can draw fire on someone, the fire will become real. However, this is not the enhanced fire of a pyrokinetic, for instance. Nonetheless, the adaptability this gives them is enormous.
* Drawings could be more than what they seem. What looks like a hole could be a portal to another unseen location! Seriously, look at all this potential! All this adaptability! Ink controllers have the highest utility of any kinesis.
* Ink controllers make excellent use of their emotions in combat. Their anger, sorrow or joy can lead to quickly creating great works of art with great impact.

### **Common Weaknesses**

* Ink controllers cannot create their ink, and instead need a source. Destroy an ink controller's source of ink and nearly all their power is taken away. Ink controllers have no innate tankiness and only a slight amount of higher speed; they won't just bounce back from injuries.
* Creating more effective tools, minions or weapons requires more detailed drawings. Stay on the constant offensive, only giving them time to draw quick doodles.
* A true artist spends their lives on their craft at the cost of all else; they have below average speed and are among the least tough kineses. Their personal damage potential is also below average; they rely on summons to do the killing.
* Even with ink, an ink controller is limited by their mental faculties and ability to draw. Mess with their hands to reduce detail, or apply mental damage.to take away their ability to create from the deepest depths of their imagination.

### **Sample Abilities**

* I say get creative on every kinesis page, but for ink controllers, it's especially important. Trap enemies in a box. Make them fall down a hole, then draw over the hole. Create weapons and tools for any situation. Remember the amount of time you have to draw. Sometimes you can afford to draw something magnificent, sometimes it'll have to be made out of a few single-colored lines.
* Have some sort of backup strategy in case you're rendered incapable of using your ink. Maybe you go for traditional fighting as a backup with guns, or maybe you use some other fluid in place of normal ink... Your own blood?
* Experiment with new sources. Other inks with different qualities, or more unconventional fluids.
* Seize the madness that lies within all artists. Learn to harness your emotions and draw terrible things which your opponent never could have even comprehended.
* Any unique abilities you want to give your character!

#### **Sample Archetypes**

Feel free to take inspiration from these archetypes when making your melanokinetic. Emulate one of their styles, combine their features, or go another direction entirely!

**The Realist** combines the innate talent of their kinesis with detail trained by years of attentive study and practice. They might be slower than the others, both in their physical speed and how fast they can produce new creations, but their versatility is unmatched: they can create schematics of complex machinery to bring it to life, and the detail they bestow on their living creations gives them more power than any other artist.

**The Surrealist** trades detail for speed, embracing dadaism and the abstract, but whether this is a means of expressing a grounded message or an extension of an absurdist perspective remains unclear. They jump from project to project, manifesting a mess of undetailed summons and changes to the battle area—and when it comes to their own attacks, rather than paint dangerous creations, they might wield the ink itself.

**The Poet** specializes in personally-resonant symbolism, using their art as an extension of their own psychology. They might have discovered a way to paint with words, sacrificing the power of evocative visual detail in return for effects that are difficult for other melanokinetics to visually render—or they might turn their focus fully inward and use their own body as their canvas, trading the reality-drawing specialty for tattoos on their body that provide innate benefits with no in-combat time required to activate.