Ink Illness

## Description

### What it is

Ink Illness is a mysterious soul sickness infecting toons. A soul sickness is a magical illness that infects an individual's soul, causing physical or mental symptoms once it has taken root. Since this is an illness of the soul, all beings with a soul are capable of being infected (Ch 256). Ink Illness seems to take root in the portion of an individual's soul that deal with negativity or despair (Ch 261). However, it is important to note that having a lot of negativity in one's soul does not seem to predispose one to the disease. In fact, many of the sick's souls were largely composed of positive traits such as loyalty, happiness, determination and love. Even an incredibly pure soul like Granny's was not safe from this disease (Ch 282).

It is currently unknown how individuals are infected with Ink Illness as it seems one does not catch it by simply being in contact with an infected individual. Ink Illness has even been known to reject individuals who are not "carriers", although what differentiates carriers from non-carriers is currently unknown.

The ink produced during attacks has also been noted to be quite strange. After being sent in to be examined at a lab by Dr. Boo the results show that the ink from these attacks does have the same chemical make-up as regular ink, and yet it also shares many of the same properties as blood. It contains DNA and living cells which were still functioning even after being expelled from the host's body. Following removal from the host the ink was still capable of breaking down tissue, which the ink then stored the basic units of afterwards (Ch 14). Thanks to some rune experiments run by Holly further comparing the Ink Illness ink to normal ink it has been shown that Ink Illness ink is about 5-6 times more acidic then normal ink. Holly also tested the reaction both normal ink and Ink Illness ink had when brought in contact with a purifying rune. While the normal ink had no reaction to the rune the Ink Illness ink reacted very destructively with it, leading Holly to believe that there was something inherently magically hostile in the ink itself (Inky Extra's Ch 64)

### Symptoms

First, the individual experiences chest pains before gaining a mild cough. After this a dark inky substance begins to build up in the lungs until the individual is forced to expel the substance through violent coughing fits known as Ink Attacks. The victims will also drip ink from the entirety of their body as it begins to melt into ink. During these Ink Attacks the victim will experience unbearable pain, as well as fever. Ink Attacks are very sudden, with individuals seeming perfectly healthy only seconds before an Ink Attack begins. After an attack individuals are generally very fatigued but seem to be able to recover quickly. Red even notes that the patients body seems to reabsorb some of the Ink it had been melting into once the Attack has passed (Ch 28) However, the Ink Attacks will become more frequent as the illness progresses with most victims suffering anywhere from a couple attacks a month to a couple of attacks a week (Ch 27). This continues until eventually the victim finally succumbs to the illness during an Ink Attack and collapses, melting into a puddle of ink. The final attack lasts longer than the others and, unlike the extreme pain of the other attacks, the victim body goes completely numb as the ink continues to flow out of them (Ch 139). Dr. Oddswell has identified that Ink Illness has three stages, with stage one being the least severe and stage three being the most (Ch 83)

Ink Illness also has an interesting effect on the patients Talent. Specifically, any Talent connected with magic or nature has a negative reaction to the Illness. Use of Talents of this nature while sick begin to drain the subject of their stamina, which is very dangerous for their already precarious situation. Dr. Oddswell notes that patients with Talents of these natures have been known to lose control of their Talent or even lose use of it completely (Ch 26)

Dr. Oddswell has also noted that while other factors such as age, medical history, and environment don't seem to have an effect on who gets infected a patients mental state does make a difference. Specifically, negative emotions or the patient "giving up" allows the Illness to consume them faster then those with positive mental health (Ch 27) The time it takes for a patients symptoms to appear, as well as the severity of these symptoms, are all inconsistent across cases as well (Ch 28)

As mentioned before, Ink Illness is a soul sickness, meaning that any being with a soul is capable of getting the disease regardless of race or any other factors. Hat explains that Ink Illness seems to spread to the body but resides in the soul. Interestingly, Ink Illness does not seem to affect a patient's mood like most other soul sicknesses do (Ch 256). Hat's research has shown that Ink Illness almost acts like a parasite, feeding off of the negativity in the soul while eroding the positive emotions such as hope (Ch 261). Indeed, during a soul examination of the sick, it was shown that the disease took root in the negative emotions in the soul while slowly spreading its infectious roots into the more positive area of the soul (Ch 282). While a soul fully corrupted by Ink Illness has not currently been seen there was an instance where Holly, having gained the Ink Illness corruption from the Cog, had it removed by Black Hat. He described this early stage of the disease as a "stain" on the soul that looked like nothing more than a grey, pea-sized speck when removed (Ch 121). During Ink Attacks the illness in the soul pulses like a heartbeat and its roots grow and shrink in time with these beats. It is during the attacks that the attack spreads further throughout the soul, which is why patients continue to decline with each attack they suffer. It should also be noted that Ink Illness does not always appear in the same way. For example, instead of having roots, Mr. Hiss's Ink Illness acted more like mud spreading out and smudging his soul. It is unknown why the disease took a different form in this case though it is possible that it is due to the fact that his soul had much larger portions of negative emotions than many of the other sick (Ch 282).

### Treatments and Cure

While the cure for Ink Illness, the Ink Machine (See page for details), has yet to be found there have been a number of treatments to help victims deal with symptoms thanks to the work of Dr. Oddswell and others. Dr. Oddswell has developed pills that allow patients to better deal with the pain caused by attacks (Ch 23). After partnering with Holly May and running some tests Dr. Oddswell also discovered that the Joy Rune assisted patients with their pain and delirium during attacks (Ch 83). It's possible that the reason the Joy rune helps patients is due to it giving a boost the positive areas of the soul where the soul is being eroded by the illness (Ch 261).

Dr. Oddswell has also noted that the amount of hope a patient has effects how long they can survive with the Illness (Ch 27) The more hope and happiness a individual has, the longer they may survive the Illness. It is currently theorized that this is because soul sickness's often have a connection with their host's emotions (Ch 256)

It should also be noted that the unique cells found in Demon blood have been shown to be able to absorb some of the Ink from Ink Illness. This helps slow the destructive effect on the patients body. It is currently unknown why Demon blood seems to have this natural defence when even Dish blood, which is renowned for its strong immune system, could do nothing against the Ink (Inky Extra's Ch 73) Demon magic is also able to slow the illness in not only themselves but also in other races (Ch 216). While it's unconfirmed it's possible that the reason Demon magic works so well is due to the fact that Demon's magic naturally has a lot of control over the souls of others (Ch 256). Demon magic is also capable of fully removing the disease in its early stages. During the short period of time when Ink Illness has infected the soul but the individual is not showing physical symptoms/is only just starting to show symptoms is the best time, and in fact, the only chance, to remove the disease from the soul without irreparably damaging it (Ch 282).

Hundreds of years ago Angelo was able to use his Angelic gift for healing in order to put Ink Illness into a remission of sorts by taking the Illness into himself. While doing this caused Angelo himself to die from the Illness after only a few short months it seemed to put the disease into a remission of sorts in the victim. The victim was then able to live all the way into old age before he finally succumbed to the Illness himself but he didn't show any signs of the Illness until the end of his life (Inky Extra's Ch 107)

## History

### Origin

The earliest known instances of Ink Illness is over four thousand years ago when it ravaged all of the races, prompting them to come together to create the Ink Machine (Ch 216). According to Angelo it seems to come and go throughout the years, some years he would find a couple people with Ink Illness and other years he wouldn't find any. For some reason Ink Illness has suddenly surged in recent years, the worse Angelo has ever witnessed over the last few hundred years, but the reason for this recent surge is currently unknown ( Ink Extra's Ch 107). Wilson claimed that Ink Illness was connected to the Creators, though what exactly this connection is is currently unknown (Ch 2). Hat mentions that soul sickness's usually have some sort of source, such as an event or a spell but at this time the source of Ink Illness is unknown (Ch 256).

## Trivia and Notes

### Notes

* Chaos here! Just dropped in to see the dripping plague is still a problem. You know, there’s a reason magic is part of the treatment. Heh.