DNA Tattoos, are a simple change to your DNA so that if your skin is damaged in the area of the tattoo, when you are healed the tattoo remains undamaged. Fine, but what if they are more than that?

What if the standard DNA Tattoo (undertaken by Karma in JNFWoP) has a more insidious purpose? What if it is actually a parasitic growth that helps negate Ebb-abilities cast on the user? What if when someone is healed by Ebb use on a limb with a tattoo it actually takes more flux to heal them than normal? Just a slight amount more, hardly noticeable, but then it's only a small tattoo anyway. Good thing you didn't go for that whole back tattoo, that might cause a real problem...

So why would Karma invent such a thing? Because it is a form of protection. It helps to reduce the effectiveness of Ebb Communication abilities. It helps to enforce the belief that Ebb users aren't as powerful as they seem. Because Karma doesn't like Dark Lament and it sees the tattoos as a form on inoculation. For Karma products this is built into their gene-code, for Karma employees it is in the factory/office water supply, but for normal people? How do they save them? They give them protection in the form of the DNA Tattoos, which slowly convert nearby flux into an inoculation compound which is then free to protect the whole body.

But what about Ebb Enhancement? That has DNA Tattoos as well, surely Dark Laments tattoos don't have the same purpose? No, Dark Laments purpose is even more insidious. Their DNA tattoos require the area to be touched by the ebb-user. In doing so they transfer a small amount of the science-friction compound that the DeathSuit is made out of into the person to become the Tattoo. This then helps to counteract the Karma inoculation and allow abilities to work at their normal level.

So in this case Dark Lament are the good guys and Karma are the bad guys? Well no, Dark Lament also uses the DNA Tattoos to make people _more_ susceptible to Ebb abilities. The build up of the science-friction compound throughout the body weakens the person to the abilities of Communication or Detect, especially if the tattoo is on their head. In effect they are creating the very effect that Karma was trying to inoculate its workers against.

Something to think about next time your character is under the needle...