Inkling Mutations Concept

[a hot mess]

I'm gonna list some cool biological mutations i think would be cool.

 

[a hot mess]

1: Venomous Ink

Not to be confused with the side order ability Poison ink, This ink is able to kill inklings (yes, actually kill) if they get bitten by a venomous inkling many times.
It can be used as medicine in small doses.

Venomous Inklings Cannot Participate in Turf Wars or Any other Battles in the fear Venomous Inklings will bite someone.
Their Venom is this color.

aka team wizard's color.

 

[a hot mess]

2: 9-Tentacled Inklings
Inklings normally have 10 tentacles, but due to a rare mutation they can have only 9. the missing tentacle can be changed.
Most Inklings with this mutation choose to lose one tentacle that forms their hair.
So for example the splatoon 1 girl haircut would be a long ponytail like ariana grande's.

 

[sevenleaf]

aw yeah weird specbio details

i personally have the headcanon that all octolings are venomous (though it’s varying genetics that put individuals on a spectrum between “might make a baby bird feel a little uneasy” and “blue-ringed octopus level, able to kill a larger creature with a bite”) but never thought about throwing in the occasional venomous inkling. the “banned from turf wars” point could be super fun to play with considering - have you seen the (unofficially) translated dev interview where it’s stated that inklings need turf wars (and/or ranked modes i’d assume) to sate territorial instincts, so they don’t start another real war? obviously you don’t have to take supplemental info as solid canon if you don’t want to but if you choose to accept that as canon, the implications of a group of inklings capable of envenomating others being banned from playing turf war could be… interesting to say the least

and speaking of hard-to-find supplemental lore info that’s never been put in a game or translated into english, do you know about the no.9 gang? the 9-tentacled inklings mutation brings them to mind

 

[a hot mess]

aw yeah weird specbio details

i personally have the headcanon that all octolings are venomous (though it’s varying genetics that put individuals on a spectrum between “might make a baby bird feel a little uneasy” and “blue-ringed octopus level, able to kill a larger creature with a bite”) but never thought about throwing in the occasional venomous inkling. the “banned from turf wars” point could be super fun to play with considering - have you seen the (unofficially) translated dev interview where it’s stated that inklings need turf wars (and/or ranked modes i’d assume) to sate territorial instincts, so they don’t start another real war? obviously you don’t have to take supplemental info as solid canon if you don’t want to but if you choose to accept that as canon, the implications of a group of inklings capable of envenomating others being banned from playing turf war could be… interesting to say the least

and speaking of hard-to-find supplemental lore info that’s never been put in a game or translated into english, do you know about the no.9 gang? the 9-tentacled inklings mutation brings them to mind

I know about no.9. They're the gang that like resides around piranha pit and likes zapfish and octarians but hate inklings??

 

[sevenleaf]

I know about no.9. They're the gang that like resides around piranha pit and likes zapfish and octarians but hate inklings??

yes!! and iirc, their leader is an inkling with nine tentacles.

obvs not saying every 9-tentacled inkling should be associated w/ no.9 but “there’s a notorious(?) gang in piranha pit run by an inkling with 9 tentacles, whether via mutation or amputation” and “some inklings are just missing a tentacle, this is a known phenomenon” both being true could be fun to play with. like, could there be a stigma around having that mutation because of no.9’s existence? might an individual 9-tentacled inkling be drawn to the gang because of it, or alternatively, feel the need to distance themselves from anything that might imply allegiance to them? just food for thought you can keep or toss

 

[a hot mess]

3: Ink Over-Abundance
Normally, Inklings have Ink, a no brainer. But What if you had TOO Much of it?
Inklings with this mutation have problems with their ink tank in turf wars because it is always bursting at the seams, regardless of ink tank size.
It's like Running a maximized palette of ink recovery up in side order.
This makes it hard to do normal every tasks because of how much your ink tank leaks, or your big tentacles knocking things over.
Just wherever you go, an ink trail always follows.

 

[a hot mess]

3: Ink Over-Abundance
Normally, Inklings have Ink, a no brainer. But What if you had TOO Much of it?
Inklings with this mutation have problems with their ink tank in turf wars because it is always bursting at the seams, regardless of ink tank size.
It's like Running a maximized palette of ink recovery up in side order.
This makes it hard to do normal every tasks because of how much your ink tank leaks, or your big tentacles knocking things over.
Just wherever you go, an ink trail always follows.

And there is a surgery for it where they basically clot your ink tank, but this has its flaws. the clot will try to grow as the ink overflows. then the inkling explodes. and then they die. so essentially they have to suffer the everyday struggle of always bursting at the seams with ink.