diff --git a/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/App.kt b/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/App.kt
index f0c78e66..d24bcf08 100644
--- a/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/App.kt
+++ b/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/App.kt
@@ -109,8 +109,10 @@ fun App(forceGamepadUi: Boolean = false) {
     // threaded through every screen that draws a backdrop. Because it is read from the SAME
     // `settings` state the gamepad settings screen writes, stepping the Background row recolours
     // the field behind that very row.
+    val palette = GamepadPalette.named(settings.uiPalette)
     CompositionLocalProvider(
-        LocalGamepadPalette provides GamepadPalette.named(settings.uiPalette),
+        LocalGamepadPalette provides palette,
+        LocalGamepadInk provides GamepadInk.of(palette),
     ) {
     AnimatedContent(
         targetState = session,
diff --git a/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/ConnectOverlay.kt b/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/ConnectOverlay.kt
index 1b3ad31a..1b92b249 100644
--- a/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/ConnectOverlay.kt
+++ b/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/ConnectOverlay.kt
@@ -191,6 +191,7 @@ internal fun ConnectTakeover(
     onCancel: () -> Unit,
     onRetry: () -> Unit,
 ) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     val copy = connectCopy(phase)
     val timedOut = phase is ConnectPhase.WakeTimedOut
 
@@ -212,7 +213,7 @@ internal fun ConnectTakeover(
                     Icon(
                         Icons.Filled.Bedtime,
                         contentDescription = null,
-                        tint = Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.9f),
+                        tint = ink.fg(0.9f),
                         modifier = Modifier.size(46.dp),
                     )
                 }
@@ -221,14 +222,14 @@ internal fun ConnectTakeover(
             }
             Text(
                 copy.title,
-                color = Color.White,
+                color = ink.fg,
                 fontWeight = FontWeight.Bold,
                 fontSize = 24.sp,
                 textAlign = TextAlign.Center,
             )
             Text(
                 copy.subtitle,
-                color = Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.65f),
+                color = ink.fg(0.65f),
                 fontSize = 14.sp,
                 textAlign = TextAlign.Center,
                 fontFamily = if (copy.monoSubtitle) FontFamily.Monospace else FontFamily.Default,
@@ -249,6 +250,7 @@ internal fun ConnectTakeover(
  */
 @Composable
 private fun PulsingSpinner() {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     val transition = rememberInfiniteTransition(label = "connectPulse")
     val pulse by transition.animateFloat(
         initialValue = 0f,
@@ -262,14 +264,14 @@ private fun PulsingSpinner() {
             for (i in 0..1) {
                 val p = (pulse + i * 0.5f) % 1f
                 drawCircle(
-                    color = Color(0xFF8678F5).copy(alpha = (1f - p) * 0.35f),
+                    color = ink.accent.copy(alpha = (1f - p) * 0.35f),
                     radius = maxR * (0.42f + p * 0.58f),
                     style = Stroke(width = 2.dp.toPx()),
                 )
             }
         }
         CircularProgressIndicator(
-            color = Color.White,
+            color = ink.fg,
             strokeWidth = 3.dp,
             modifier = Modifier.size(54.dp),
         )
diff --git a/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadAddHostScreen.kt b/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadAddHostScreen.kt
index 7da0c8a2..00e2cf5a 100644
--- a/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadAddHostScreen.kt
+++ b/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadAddHostScreen.kt
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ fun GamepadAddHostScreen(
     suggestedMacs: List<String> = emptyList(),
     onSave: ((KnownHost) -> Unit)? = null,
 ) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     val context = LocalContext.current
     val isTv = remember { isTvDevice(context) }
     val isEdit = editHost != null
@@ -245,7 +246,7 @@ fun GamepadAddHostScreen(
                             Text(
                                 "Hosts on this network appear automatically — add one by address for everything else.",
                                 style = MaterialTheme.typography.bodyMedium,
-                                color = Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.55f),
+                                color = ink.fg(0.55f),
                                 modifier = Modifier.widthIn(max = 520.dp).padding(bottom = 8.dp),
                             )
                         }
@@ -306,6 +307,7 @@ private fun TvAddHostForm(
     onAdd: () -> Unit,
     onDismiss: () -> Unit,
 ) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     BackHandler(onBack = onDismiss)
     val firstFocus = remember { FocusRequester() }
     Box(Modifier.fillMaxSize()) {
@@ -319,11 +321,11 @@ private fun TvAddHostForm(
                 .verticalScroll(rememberScrollState()),
             verticalArrangement = Arrangement.spacedBy(16.dp),
         ) {
-            Text(title, style = MaterialTheme.typography.headlineMedium, fontWeight = FontWeight.Bold, color = Color.White)
+            Text(title, style = MaterialTheme.typography.headlineMedium, fontWeight = FontWeight.Bold, color = ink.fg)
             Text(
                 "Hosts on this network appear automatically — add one by address for everything else.",
                 style = MaterialTheme.typography.bodyMedium,
-                color = Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.55f),
+                color = ink.fg(0.55f),
             )
             OutlinedTextField(
                 value = name, onValueChange = onName, singleLine = true,
@@ -362,6 +364,7 @@ private fun rowCols(row: Int): Int = if (row < KB_ACTIONS_ROW) KB_CHAR_ROWS[row]
 
 @Composable
 private fun FieldRow(f: Field, focused: Boolean, editing: Boolean, onClick: () -> Unit) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     val visuals = animateConsoleFocus(active = focused || editing, editing = editing)
     val shape = RoundedCornerShape(14.dp)
     Row(
@@ -375,25 +378,26 @@ private fun FieldRow(f: Field, focused: Boolean, editing: Boolean, onClick: () -
             .padding(horizontal = 16.dp, vertical = 14.dp),
         verticalAlignment = Alignment.CenterVertically,
     ) {
-        Text(f.label, style = MaterialTheme.typography.bodyLarge, fontWeight = FontWeight.SemiBold, color = Color.White)
+        Text(f.label, style = MaterialTheme.typography.bodyLarge, fontWeight = FontWeight.SemiBold, color = ink.fg)
         Spacer(Modifier.weight(1f))
         Text(
             f.value.ifEmpty { f.placeholder },
             style = MaterialTheme.typography.bodyMedium.copy(fontFamily = FontFamily.Monospace),
-            color = if (f.value.isEmpty()) Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.35f) else Color.White,
+            color = if (f.value.isEmpty()) ink.fg(0.35f) else ink.fg,
             maxLines = 1,
             overflow = TextOverflow.Ellipsis,
         )
-        if (editing) Text(" |", color = Color(0xFF8678F5))
+        if (editing) Text(" |", color = ink.accent)
     }
 }
 
 @Composable
 private fun AddActionRow(label: String, enabled: Boolean, focused: Boolean, onClick: () -> Unit) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     val visuals = animateConsoleFocus(active = focused)
     val shape = RoundedCornerShape(14.dp)
     val labelColor by animateColorAsState(
-        if (enabled) Color(0xFF8678F5) else Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.35f),
+        if (enabled) ink.accent else ink.fg(0.35f),
         tween(160),
         label = "addLabel",
     )
@@ -425,6 +429,7 @@ private fun KeyboardGrid(
     bottomInset: Dp = 0.dp, // empty frame at the bottom of the glass for the floating legend to sit over
     onKey: (Int, Int) -> Unit,
 ) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     val shape = RoundedCornerShape(20.dp)
     val gap = if (compact) 5.dp else 7.dp
     Column(
@@ -433,7 +438,7 @@ private fun KeyboardGrid(
             .widthIn(max = 640.dp)
             .clip(shape)
             .background(Color(0x1FFFFFFF))
-            .border(1.dp, Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.12f), shape)
+            .border(1.dp, ink.fg(0.12f), shape)
             .padding(start = 12.dp, end = 12.dp, top = if (compact) 8.dp else 12.dp, bottom = 12.dp + bottomInset),
         verticalArrangement = Arrangement.spacedBy(gap),
     ) {
@@ -454,14 +459,15 @@ private fun KeyboardGrid(
 
 @Composable
 private fun Keycap(label: String, focused: Boolean, compact: Boolean, modifier: Modifier = Modifier, onClick: () -> Unit) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     // Fast tweens: the keyboard cursor hops many keys per second under hold-to-repeat, so the
     // trailing key must have faded before the cursor is two keys away — quick, but no longer a snap.
     val bg by animateColorAsState(
-        if (focused) Color(0xFF8678F5) else Color(0x14FFFFFF),
+        if (focused) ink.accent else ink.glass,
         tween(90),
         label = "keyBg",
     )
-    val fg by animateColorAsState(if (focused) Color.Black else Color.White, tween(90), label = "keyFg")
+    val fg by animateColorAsState(if (focused) Color.Black else ink.fg, tween(90), label = "keyFg")
     Box(
         modifier = modifier
             .height(if (compact) 34.dp else 44.dp)
diff --git a/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadChrome.kt b/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadChrome.kt
index d33c084e..6e6219b5 100644
--- a/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadChrome.kt
+++ b/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadChrome.kt
@@ -72,9 +72,12 @@ import kotlin.math.sin
 // connected-controller status chip. One look across every screen is what makes the console UI read
 // as a coherent mode rather than a set of themed pages.
 
-/** One drifting colour blob of the aurora field. Integer [sx]/[sy] keep the loop seamless at wrap. */
+/**
+ * One drifting blob of the aurora field: where it sits, how far it wanders, and how fast. Integer
+ * [sx]/[sy] keep the loop seamless at wrap. The COLOUR is the palette's, taken from its ramp at
+ * draw time, so the field always shows several of that palette's tones at once.
+ */
 private class AuroraBlob(
-    val color: Color,
     val baseX: Float,
     val baseY: Float,
     val driftX: Float,
@@ -87,35 +90,33 @@ private class AuroraBlob(
 )
 
 private val auroraBlobs = listOf(
-    AuroraBlob(Color(0xFF877AF5), 0.30f, 0.26f, 0.16f, 0.10f, 1, 1, 0.0f, 0.62f, 0.55f), // brand violet
-    AuroraBlob(Color(0xFF3E33B8), 0.78f, 0.68f, 0.13f, 0.14f, 1, 2, 2.4f, 0.68f, 0.58f), // deep indigo
-    AuroraBlob(Color(0xFF9E4CCC), 0.16f, 0.82f, 0.12f, 0.09f, 2, 1, 4.1f, 0.52f, 0.42f), // plum
-    AuroraBlob(Color(0xFF3862DB), 0.72f, 0.14f, 0.10f, 0.08f, 1, 3, 1.2f, 0.48f, 0.40f), // cool blue
+    AuroraBlob(0.30f, 0.26f, 0.16f, 0.10f, 1, 1, 0.0f, 0.62f, 0.55f),
+    AuroraBlob(0.78f, 0.68f, 0.13f, 0.14f, 1, 2, 2.4f, 0.68f, 0.58f),
+    AuroraBlob(0.16f, 0.82f, 0.12f, 0.09f, 2, 1, 4.1f, 0.52f, 0.42f),
+    AuroraBlob(0.72f, 0.14f, 0.10f, 0.08f, 1, 3, 1.2f, 0.48f, 0.40f),
 )
 
-/** The deep base the field sits on — and, scaled, the [calm] lift that flattens it. */
-private val auroraBase = Color(0xFF131126)
-
 /**
- * The living console backdrop: soft brand-family blobs drifting over a deep base on slow, seamless
- * loops, finished with a centre-pooling vignette and top/bottom legibility scrims. A Compose
- * approximation of the Apple client's MeshGradient aurora — same colour family, same "ambience,
- * never content" role, and the same [GamepadPalette] setting recolours both.
+ * The living console backdrop: soft blobs from the palette's ramp drifting over its ground on
+ * slow, seamless loops, finished with a centre-pooling vignette and top/bottom legibility scrims.
+ * A Compose approximation of the Apple client's MeshGradient aurora — same colour families, same
+ * "ambience, never content" role, and the same [GamepadPalette] setting recolours both.
  *
- * [calm] is what the FORM screens wear: the pools dim onto the base so the glass rows keep real
- * colour and luminance without the launcher's contrast. Motion is identical either way on purpose —
- * only the contrast differs, so moving between screens can't make the field jump.
+ * [calm] is what the FORM screens wear: the pools dim onto the ground so the glass rows keep real
+ * colour and luminance without the launcher's contrast. Motion is identical either way on purpose
+ * — only the contrast differs, so moving between screens can't make the field jump.
  *
  * Honours the system's "remove animations" accessibility setting by freezing at a fixed phase, the
  * same courtesy the Apple client pays Reduce Motion.
  */
 @Composable
 fun GamepadAuroraBackground(modifier: Modifier = Modifier, calm: Boolean = false) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     val palette = LocalGamepadPalette.current
     val animated = animationsEnabled()
     val transition = rememberInfiniteTransition(label = "aurora")
-    // A full 0..2π sweep over ~96 s; integer per-blob multipliers make sin/cos continuous at the wrap
-    // so the field never visibly jumps when the animation restarts.
+    // A full 0..2π sweep over ~96 s; integer per-blob multipliers make sin/cos continuous at the
+    // wrap so the field never visibly jumps when the animation restarts.
     val swept by transition.animateFloat(
         initialValue = 0f,
         targetValue = (2 * PI).toFloat(),
@@ -123,39 +124,45 @@ fun GamepadAuroraBackground(modifier: Modifier = Modifier, calm: Boolean = false
         label = "angle",
     )
     val angle = if (animated) swept else 0f
-    // Tinting is per-frame-cheap but not free, and the palette changes about once a year.
-    val blobs = remember(palette.id) { auroraBlobs.map { it to palette.tint(it.color) } }
-    val base = remember(palette.id) { palette.tint(auroraBase) }
+    val tones = palette.blobColors
+    val ground = palette.groundColor
+    // Where the scrims tend, and how hard. Mixing a PALE field toward white at the dark field's
+    // strength bleaches the chroma straight out of the gradient, so a pale palette gets under
+    // half — the same scrim strength the desktop console's shader carries.
+    val scrim = if (palette.light) ink.fg else Color.Black
+    val strength = if (palette.light) 0.45f else 1f
     Canvas(modifier) {
-        drawRect(if (calm) base else Color.Black)
+        drawRect(ground)
         val span = max(size.width, size.height)
-        for ((b, tinted) in blobs) {
+        for ((i, b) in auroraBlobs.withIndex()) {
             val cx = (b.baseX + b.driftX * sin(angle * b.sx + b.phase)) * size.width
             val cy = (b.baseY + b.driftY * cos(angle * b.sy + b.phase)) * size.height
             val r = span * b.radiusFrac
-            // Calm scales each blob's contribution rather than dimming the whole canvas: the base
-            // stays put and only the pools come down to meet it, which is the same "lower the
-            // contrast, keep the colour" the desktop console's `calm` uniform does.
+            // Calm scales each blob's contribution rather than dimming the whole canvas: the
+            // ground stays put and only the pools come down to meet it, which is the same "lower
+            // the contrast, keep the colour" the desktop console's `calm` uniform does.
             val alpha = if (calm) b.alpha * 0.62f else b.alpha
             drawCircle(
                 brush = Brush.radialGradient(
-                    colors = listOf(tinted.copy(alpha = alpha), Color.Transparent),
+                    colors = listOf(tones[i].copy(alpha = alpha), Color.Transparent),
                     center = Offset(cx, cy),
                     radius = r,
                 ),
                 center = Offset(cx, cy),
                 radius = r,
-                blendMode = BlendMode.Plus,
+                // Additive only works over a DARK ground; over a pale one every blob
+                // saturates to white and the field turns grey. Pale palettes tint instead.
+                blendMode = if (palette.light) BlendMode.SrcOver else BlendMode.Plus,
             )
         }
-        // Cinematic vignette: pool light centre, sink the corners. Halved under calm: a launcher's
-        // cards sit in the pooled centre, but a form screen's rows run out toward the edges, where
-        // crushing to black just eats them. (Matches the Apple client and the desktop console.)
+        // Cinematic vignette: pool light centre, settle the corners toward the scrim. Halved under
+        // calm: a launcher's cards sit in the pooled centre, but a form screen's rows run out
+        // toward the edges, where crushing them just eats the list.
         drawRect(
             Brush.radialGradient(
                 colors = listOf(
                     Color.Transparent,
-                    Color.Black.copy(alpha = if (calm) 0.22f else 0.44f),
+                    scrim.copy(alpha = (if (calm) 0.22f else 0.44f) * strength),
                 ),
                 center = Offset(size.width / 2, size.height / 2),
                 radius = span * 0.92f,
@@ -164,10 +171,10 @@ fun GamepadAuroraBackground(modifier: Modifier = Modifier, calm: Boolean = false
         // Top/bottom legibility scrim for the pinned title + hint bar.
         drawRect(
             Brush.verticalGradient(
-                0.0f to Color.Black.copy(alpha = 0.40f),
-                0.30f to Color.Black.copy(alpha = 0.05f),
-                0.70f to Color.Black.copy(alpha = 0.06f),
-                1.0f to Color.Black.copy(alpha = 0.42f),
+                0.0f to scrim.copy(alpha = 0.40f * strength),
+                0.30f to scrim.copy(alpha = 0.05f * strength),
+                0.70f to scrim.copy(alpha = 0.06f * strength),
+                1.0f to scrim.copy(alpha = 0.42f * strength),
             ),
         )
     }
@@ -223,6 +230,7 @@ fun ConsoleTabStrip(
      */
     focused: Boolean = false,
 ) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     val listState = rememberLazyListState()
     LaunchedEffect(selected) {
         runCatching { listState.animateScrollToItem(selected.coerceAtLeast(0)) }
@@ -236,17 +244,18 @@ fun ConsoleTabStrip(
         itemsIndexed(titles) { i, title ->
             val active = i == selected
             val background by animateColorAsState(
-                if (active) Color(0xD96656F2) else Color(0x14FFFFFF),
+                if (active) ink.accent(0.85f) else ink.glass,
                 tween(180),
                 label = "tabBg",
             )
-            val ink by animateColorAsState(
-                Color.White.copy(alpha = if (active) 1f else 0.55f),
+            // Not `ink` — that name is the palette's, and shadowing it here cost a compile.
+            val labelColor by animateColorAsState(
+                if (active) ink.onAccent else ink.fg(0.55f),
                 tween(180),
                 label = "tabInk",
             )
             val ring by animateColorAsState(
-                Color.White.copy(alpha = if (active && focused) 0.85f else 0f),
+                ink.fg(if (active && focused) 0.85f else 0f),
                 tween(180),
                 label = "tabRing",
             )
@@ -254,7 +263,7 @@ fun ConsoleTabStrip(
                 title,
                 style = MaterialTheme.typography.labelLarge,
                 fontWeight = FontWeight.SemiBold,
-                color = ink,
+                color = labelColor,
                 maxLines = 1,
                 modifier = Modifier
                     .clip(RoundedCornerShape(50))
@@ -283,6 +292,7 @@ val ConsoleEdgeInset = 24.dp
  */
 @Composable
 fun ConsoleHeader(title: String, modifier: Modifier = Modifier, horizontalInset: Boolean = true) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     // `horizontalInset = false` when the caller's container already pads to ConsoleEdgeInset (e.g. a
     // LazyColumn contentPadding) — so the heading lands at the SAME 24dp on every screen either way.
     val h = if (horizontalInset) ConsoleEdgeInset else 0.dp
@@ -290,7 +300,7 @@ fun ConsoleHeader(title: String, modifier: Modifier = Modifier, horizontalInset:
         title,
         style = MaterialTheme.typography.headlineMedium,
         fontWeight = FontWeight.Bold,
-        color = Color.White,
+        color = ink.fg,
         maxLines = 1,
         overflow = TextOverflow.Ellipsis,
         modifier = modifier.padding(start = h, end = h, top = 18.dp, bottom = 10.dp),
@@ -347,21 +357,22 @@ class ConsoleFocusVisuals(val scale: Float, val background: Color, val border: C
  */
 @Composable
 fun animateConsoleFocus(active: Boolean, editing: Boolean = false): ConsoleFocusVisuals {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     val scale by animateFloatAsState(
         targetValue = if (active) 1f else 0.98f,
         animationSpec = spring(dampingRatio = 0.7f, stiffness = Spring.StiffnessMediumLow),
         label = "consoleScale",
     )
     val background by animateColorAsState(
-        if (active) Color(0x336656F2) else Color(0x14FFFFFF),
+        if (active) ink.accent(0.20f) else ink.glass,
         tween(160),
         label = "consoleBg",
     )
     val border by animateColorAsState(
         when {
-            editing -> Color(0xB38678F5)
-            active -> Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.28f)
-            else -> Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.06f)
+            editing -> ink.accent(0.70f)
+            active -> ink.fg(0.28f)
+            else -> ink.fg(0.06f)
         },
         tween(160),
         label = "consoleBorder",
@@ -376,18 +387,19 @@ fun animateConsoleFocus(active: Boolean, editing: Boolean = false): ConsoleFocus
  */
 @Composable
 fun ConsoleSwitch(on: Boolean, focused: Boolean, modifier: Modifier = Modifier) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     val travel by animateFloatAsState(
         targetValue = if (on) 1f else 0f,
         animationSpec = spring(dampingRatio = 0.8f, stiffness = 600f),
         label = "switchKnob",
     )
     val track by animateColorAsState(
-        if (on) Color(0xFF6656F2) else Color(0x26FFFFFF),
+        if (on) ink.accent else Color(0x26FFFFFF),
         tween(200),
         label = "switchTrack",
     )
     val outline by animateColorAsState(
-        Color.White.copy(alpha = if (focused) 0.45f else 0.15f),
+        ink.fg(if (focused) 0.45f else 0.15f),
         tween(160),
         label = "switchOutline",
     )
@@ -409,7 +421,7 @@ fun ConsoleSwitch(on: Boolean, focused: Boolean, modifier: Modifier = Modifier)
                 .offset { IntOffset(((trackW - knob - pad * 2).toPx() * travel).roundToInt(), 0) }
                 .size(knob)
                 .clip(CircleShape)
-                .background(Color.White),
+                .background(ink.fg),
         )
     }
 }
@@ -417,6 +429,7 @@ fun ConsoleSwitch(on: Boolean, focused: Boolean, modifier: Modifier = Modifier)
 /** A round face-button badge: a coloured disc with the button letter, like a controller's face. */
 @Composable
 fun GamepadButtonGlyph(glyph: Char, color: Color, size: androidx.compose.ui.unit.Dp = 26.dp) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     Box(
         modifier = Modifier
             .size(size)
@@ -426,7 +439,7 @@ fun GamepadButtonGlyph(glyph: Char, color: Color, size: androidx.compose.ui.unit
     ) {
         Text(
             glyph.toString(),
-            color = Color.White,
+            color = ink.fg,
             fontWeight = FontWeight.Bold,
             fontSize = (size.value * 0.52f).sp,
             textAlign = TextAlign.Center,
@@ -437,11 +450,12 @@ fun GamepadButtonGlyph(glyph: Char, color: Color, size: androidx.compose.ui.unit
 /** The D-pad-centre "select" button — a green (confirm) disc with a ring; the TV-remote glyph for A. */
 @Composable
 private fun SelectGlyph(size: androidx.compose.ui.unit.Dp = 26.dp) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     Box(
         modifier = Modifier.size(size).clip(CircleShape).background(PadGlyph.A),
         contentAlignment = Alignment.Center,
     ) {
-        Box(Modifier.size(size * 0.46f).clip(CircleShape).border(2.dp, Color.White, CircleShape))
+        Box(Modifier.size(size * 0.46f).clip(CircleShape).border(2.dp, ink.fg, CircleShape))
     }
 }
 
@@ -506,6 +520,7 @@ internal fun PsFaceGlyph(glyph: Char, size: androidx.compose.ui.unit.Dp = 26.dp)
  */
 @Composable
 internal fun SelectButtonGlyph(style: Gamepad.PadStyle, size: androidx.compose.ui.unit.Dp = 26.dp) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     Box(
         Modifier.size(size).clip(CircleShape).background(PadButtonFace),
         contentAlignment = Alignment.Center,
@@ -517,17 +532,17 @@ internal fun SelectButtonGlyph(style: Gamepad.PadStyle, size: androidx.compose.u
                 val corner = RoundedCornerShape(2.dp)
                 Box(
                     Modifier.size(size * 0.32f).align(Alignment.TopEnd)
-                        .border(1.4.dp, Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.9f), corner),
+                        .border(1.4.dp, ink.fg(0.9f), corner),
                 )
                 Box(
                     Modifier.size(size * 0.32f).align(Alignment.BottomStart)
                         .clip(corner).background(PadButtonFace)
-                        .border(1.4.dp, Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.9f), corner),
+                        .border(1.4.dp, ink.fg(0.9f), corner),
                 )
             }
             Gamepad.PadStyle.NINTENDO -> Text(
                 "−",
-                color = Color.White,
+                color = ink.fg,
                 fontWeight = FontWeight.Bold,
                 fontSize = (size.value * 0.62f).sp,
                 textAlign = TextAlign.Center,
@@ -536,7 +551,7 @@ internal fun SelectButtonGlyph(style: Gamepad.PadStyle, size: androidx.compose.u
                 Modifier
                     .size(width = size * 0.58f, height = size * 0.30f)
                     .clip(RoundedCornerShape(50))
-                    .border(1.6.dp, Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.9f), RoundedCornerShape(50)),
+                    .border(1.6.dp, ink.fg(0.9f), RoundedCornerShape(50)),
             )
         }
     }
@@ -548,6 +563,7 @@ internal fun SelectButtonGlyph(style: Gamepad.PadStyle, size: androidx.compose.u
  */
 @Composable
 fun GamepadHintBar(hints: List<GamepadHint>, modifier: Modifier = Modifier, hazeState: HazeState? = null) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     // On a TV D-pad remote (no A/B/X/Y), auto-swap the two universal pad glyphs every screen uses:
     // A (confirm) → the select ring, B (back/cancel) → a back glyph. Screen-specific glyphs like the
     // home's Up/Down handle themselves. A real pad instead picks its glyph FAMILY (Xbox letters /
@@ -560,13 +576,13 @@ fun GamepadHintBar(hints: List<GamepadHint>, modifier: Modifier = Modifier, haze
     // With a haze source, blur the content behind the pill (real backdrop blur, API 31+; a translucent
     // scrim below) + a light tint; otherwise fall back to a solid frosted fill.
     val frosted = if (hazeState != null) {
-        modifier.clip(shape).hazeEffect(hazeState).background(Color(0x4014122A))
+        modifier.clip(shape).hazeEffect(hazeState).background(ink.shade(0.25f))
     } else {
-        modifier.clip(shape).background(Color(0x8C14122A))
+        modifier.clip(shape).background(ink.shade(0.55f))
     }
     Row(
         modifier = frosted
-            .border(1.dp, Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.14f), shape)
+            .border(1.dp, ink.fg(0.14f), shape)
             .padding(horizontal = 16.dp, vertical = 10.dp)
             // The pill still hugs its content when it fits; when it doesn't (a narrow phone, or a
             // screen whose legend grew a cell) it scrolls rather than running off the edge and
@@ -598,7 +614,7 @@ fun GamepadHintBar(hints: List<GamepadHint>, modifier: Modifier = Modifier, haze
                 Text(
                     h.text,
                     style = MaterialTheme.typography.labelLarge,
-                    color = Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.9f),
+                    color = ink.fg(0.9f),
                     maxLines = 1,
                     softWrap = false, // never char-wrap a label when several hints crowd a narrow pill
                 )
@@ -610,24 +626,25 @@ fun GamepadHintBar(hints: List<GamepadHint>, modifier: Modifier = Modifier, haze
 /** "Which pad is driving this UI" — a quiet chip in the console top bar with the controller's name. */
 @Composable
 fun ControllerStatusChip(name: String, modifier: Modifier = Modifier) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     Row(
         modifier = modifier
             .clip(RoundedCornerShape(50))
-            .background(Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.08f))
+            .background(ink.fg(0.08f))
             .padding(horizontal = 12.dp, vertical = 7.dp),
         verticalAlignment = Alignment.CenterVertically,
     ) {
         Icon(
             Icons.Filled.SportsEsports,
             contentDescription = null,
-            tint = Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.75f),
+            tint = ink.fg(0.75f),
             modifier = Modifier.size(16.dp),
         )
         Spacer(Modifier.width(7.dp))
         Text(
             name,
             style = MaterialTheme.typography.labelMedium,
-            color = Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.75f),
+            color = ink.fg(0.75f),
             maxLines = 1,
         )
     }
diff --git a/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadDialogs.kt b/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadDialogs.kt
index a3f27ec2..c9affdb8 100644
--- a/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadDialogs.kt
+++ b/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadDialogs.kt
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@ fun GamepadDialog(
     actions: List<DialogAction>,
     body: @Composable ColumnScope.() -> Unit,
 ) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     // Focus the primary action; buttons are stacked full-width, navigated up/down (fits long labels
     // like "Request access" without the cramped-row wrapping a horizontal layout caused).
     var focus by remember { mutableIntStateOf(actions.indexOfFirst { it.primary }.coerceAtLeast(0)) }
@@ -117,11 +118,11 @@ fun GamepadDialog(
                 .heightIn(max = maxCardHeight)
                 .clip(RoundedCornerShape(24.dp))
                 .background(Color(0xF01A1730))
-                .border(1.dp, Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.12f), RoundedCornerShape(24.dp))
+                .border(1.dp, ink.fg(0.12f), RoundedCornerShape(24.dp))
                 .padding(28.dp),
             verticalArrangement = Arrangement.spacedBy(14.dp),
         ) {
-            Text(title, style = MaterialTheme.typography.headlineSmall, fontWeight = FontWeight.Bold, color = Color.White)
+            Text(title, style = MaterialTheme.typography.headlineSmall, fontWeight = FontWeight.Bold, color = ink.fg)
             Column(
                 Modifier.weight(1f, fill = false).verticalScroll(rememberScrollState()),
                 verticalArrangement = Arrangement.spacedBy(10.dp),
@@ -139,6 +140,7 @@ fun GamepadDialog(
 @OptIn(ExperimentalFoundationApi::class)
 @Composable
 private fun DialogButton(label: String, focused: Boolean, primary: Boolean, enabled: Boolean, onClick: () -> Unit) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     val scale by animateFloatAsState(
         if (focused) 1.02f else 1f,
         spring(dampingRatio = 0.7f, stiffness = Spring.StiffnessMediumLow),
@@ -152,19 +154,19 @@ private fun DialogButton(label: String, focused: Boolean, primary: Boolean, enab
     // Focus sweeps up/down the stack — cross-fade the fills so it glides instead of snapping.
     val bg by animateColorAsState(
         when {
-            focused -> Color(0xFF6656F2)
-            primary -> Color(0x336656F2)
-            else -> Color(0x14FFFFFF)
+            focused -> ink.accent
+            primary -> ink.accent(0.20f)
+            else -> ink.glass
         },
         tween(160),
         label = "btnBg",
     )
     val fg by animateColorAsState(
         when {
-            !enabled -> Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.35f)
-            focused -> Color.White
-            primary -> Color(0xFF8678F5)
-            else -> Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.85f)
+            !enabled -> ink.fg(0.35f)
+            focused -> ink.fg
+            primary -> ink.accent
+            else -> ink.fg(0.85f)
         },
         tween(160),
         label = "btnFg",
@@ -198,7 +200,8 @@ private fun DialogButton(label: String, focused: Boolean, primary: Boolean, enab
 /** Body text helper — a dimmed paragraph. */
 @Composable
 private fun DialogText(text: String) {
-    Text(text, style = MaterialTheme.typography.bodyMedium, color = Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.7f))
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
+    Text(text, style = MaterialTheme.typography.bodyMedium, color = ink.fg(0.7f))
 }
 
 /**
@@ -271,6 +274,7 @@ fun GamepadPinHostsDialog(
     onToggle: (KnownHost) -> Unit,
     onDismiss: () -> Unit,
 ) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     // 0..hosts.lastIndex = host rows, hosts.size = the Done button (with no hosts, index 0 IS
     // Done, so it starts focused).
     var focus by remember { mutableIntStateOf(0) }
@@ -304,7 +308,7 @@ fun GamepadPinHostsDialog(
                 .heightIn(max = maxCardHeight)
                 .clip(RoundedCornerShape(24.dp))
                 .background(Color(0xF01A1730))
-                .border(1.dp, Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.12f), RoundedCornerShape(24.dp))
+                .border(1.dp, ink.fg(0.12f), RoundedCornerShape(24.dp))
                 .padding(28.dp),
             verticalArrangement = Arrangement.spacedBy(14.dp),
         ) {
@@ -312,7 +316,7 @@ fun GamepadPinHostsDialog(
                 "Pin “$profileName”",
                 style = MaterialTheme.typography.headlineSmall,
                 fontWeight = FontWeight.Bold,
-                color = Color.White,
+                color = ink.fg,
                 maxLines = 1,
                 overflow = TextOverflow.Ellipsis,
             )
@@ -350,6 +354,7 @@ fun GamepadPinHostsDialog(
 @OptIn(ExperimentalFoundationApi::class)
 @Composable
 private fun PinHostRow(label: String, on: Boolean, focused: Boolean, onClick: () -> Unit) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     val visuals = animateConsoleFocus(active = focused)
     // Inside the dialog's scroll region, like DialogButton: a focused row scrolled out of a short
     // landscape window pulls itself into view.
@@ -376,7 +381,7 @@ private fun PinHostRow(label: String, on: Boolean, focused: Boolean, onClick: ()
             label,
             style = MaterialTheme.typography.bodyLarge,
             fontWeight = FontWeight.SemiBold,
-            color = Color.White,
+            color = ink.fg,
             maxLines = 1,
             overflow = TextOverflow.Ellipsis,
         )
@@ -518,6 +523,7 @@ fun GamepadRequestAccessDialog(pt: PendingTrust, onRequestAccess: () -> Unit, on
 
 @Composable
 fun GamepadAwaitingApprovalDialog(hostLabel: String, onCancel: () -> Unit) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     GamepadDialog(
         title = "Waiting for approval",
         onDismiss = onCancel,
@@ -525,8 +531,8 @@ fun GamepadAwaitingApprovalDialog(hostLabel: String, onCancel: () -> Unit) {
     ) {
         val deviceName = Build.MODEL ?: "this device"
         Row(verticalAlignment = Alignment.CenterVertically, horizontalArrangement = Arrangement.spacedBy(12.dp)) {
-            CircularProgressIndicator(modifier = Modifier.size(20.dp), strokeWidth = 2.dp, color = Color.White)
-            Text("Approve this device on $hostLabel.", color = Color.White)
+            CircularProgressIndicator(modifier = Modifier.size(20.dp), strokeWidth = 2.dp, color = ink.fg)
+            Text("Approve this device on $hostLabel.", color = ink.fg)
         }
         DialogText(
             "Open the host's console (or web UI) and approve “$deviceName”. It connects automatically " +
@@ -542,6 +548,7 @@ fun GamepadAwaitingApprovalDialog(hostLabel: String, onCancel: () -> Unit) {
  */
 @Composable
 fun GamepadPairPinDialog(pt: PendingTrust, identity: ClientIdentity?, onPaired: (String) -> Unit, onDismiss: () -> Unit) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     val scope = rememberCoroutineScope()
     val digits = remember(pt) { mutableStateListOf(0, 0, 0, 0) }
     var slot by remember(pt) { mutableIntStateOf(0) } // 0..3 = digit slots, 4 = Pair button
@@ -587,16 +594,16 @@ fun GamepadPairPinDialog(pt: PendingTrust, identity: ClientIdentity?, onPaired:
         Column(
             Modifier.padding(24.dp).widthIn(max = 460.dp).heightIn(max = maxCardHeight)
                 .clip(RoundedCornerShape(24.dp))
-                .background(Color(0xF01A1730)).border(1.dp, Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.12f), RoundedCornerShape(24.dp))
+                .background(Color(0xF01A1730)).border(1.dp, ink.fg(0.12f), RoundedCornerShape(24.dp))
                 .verticalScroll(rememberScrollState())
                 .padding(28.dp),
             horizontalAlignment = Alignment.CenterHorizontally,
             verticalArrangement = Arrangement.spacedBy(18.dp),
         ) {
-            Text("Pair with PIN", style = MaterialTheme.typography.headlineSmall, fontWeight = FontWeight.Bold, color = Color.White)
+            Text("Pair with PIN", style = MaterialTheme.typography.headlineSmall, fontWeight = FontWeight.Bold, color = ink.fg)
             Text(
                 "Enter the 4-digit PIN shown on the host — D-pad ↑↓ sets a digit, ←→ moves.",
-                style = MaterialTheme.typography.bodyMedium, color = Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.7f), textAlign = TextAlign.Center,
+                style = MaterialTheme.typography.bodyMedium, color = ink.fg(0.7f), textAlign = TextAlign.Center,
             )
             Row(horizontalArrangement = Arrangement.spacedBy(12.dp)) {
                 repeat(4) { i -> PinSlot(digits[i], focused = slot == i && !pairing) }
@@ -615,13 +622,14 @@ fun GamepadPairPinDialog(pt: PendingTrust, identity: ClientIdentity?, onPaired:
 
 @Composable
 private fun PinSlot(value: Int, focused: Boolean) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     val shape = RoundedCornerShape(12.dp)
     Box(
         Modifier.size(54.dp, 66.dp).clip(shape)
-            .background(if (focused) Color(0x336656F2) else Color(0x14FFFFFF))
-            .border(if (focused) 2.dp else 1.dp, if (focused) Color(0xFF8678F5) else Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.1f), shape),
+            .background(if (focused) ink.accent(0.20f) else ink.glass)
+            .border(if (focused) 2.dp else 1.dp, if (focused) ink.accent else ink.fg(0.1f), shape),
         contentAlignment = Alignment.Center,
     ) {
-        Text(value.toString(), fontSize = 30.sp, fontWeight = FontWeight.Bold, color = Color.White, fontFamily = FontFamily.Monospace)
+        Text(value.toString(), fontSize = 30.sp, fontWeight = FontWeight.Bold, color = ink.fg, fontFamily = FontFamily.Monospace)
     }
 }
diff --git a/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadHome.kt b/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadHome.kt
index d42a4643..b590e094 100644
--- a/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadHome.kt
+++ b/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadHome.kt
@@ -247,9 +247,10 @@ fun GamepadHome(
 /** One dark-glass landscape console tile — bigger and bolder than the touch grid's HostCard. */
 @Composable
 private fun GamepadHostTile(tile: HomeTile, modifier: Modifier = Modifier) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     val shape = RoundedCornerShape(26.dp)
     val wash = if (tile.filled) {
-        Brush.verticalGradient(listOf(Color(0x336656F2), Color(0x14100C2A)))
+        Brush.verticalGradient(listOf(ink.accent(0.20f), Color(0x14100C2A)))
     } else {
         Brush.verticalGradient(listOf(Color(0x1AFFFFFF), Color(0x0DFFFFFF)))
     }
@@ -258,7 +259,7 @@ private fun GamepadHostTile(tile: HomeTile, modifier: Modifier = Modifier) {
             .fillMaxWidth()
             .clip(shape)
             .background(wash)
-            .border(1.dp, Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.16f), shape)
+            .border(1.dp, ink.fg(0.16f), shape)
             .padding(22.dp),
     ) {
         Row(Modifier.fillMaxWidth(), verticalAlignment = Alignment.Top) {
@@ -269,7 +270,7 @@ private fun GamepadHostTile(tile: HomeTile, modifier: Modifier = Modifier) {
                     Icon(
                         Icons.Filled.Lock,
                         contentDescription = "Paired",
-                        tint = Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.7f),
+                        tint = ink.fg(0.7f),
                         modifier = Modifier.padding(end = 6.dp).size(15.dp),
                     )
                 }
@@ -286,14 +287,14 @@ private fun GamepadHostTile(tile: HomeTile, modifier: Modifier = Modifier) {
             tile.title,
             style = MaterialTheme.typography.titleLarge,
             fontWeight = FontWeight.Bold,
-            color = Color.White,
+            color = ink.fg,
             maxLines = 1,
             overflow = TextOverflow.Ellipsis,
         )
         Text(
             tile.subtitle,
             style = MaterialTheme.typography.bodyMedium,
-            color = Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.55f),
+            color = ink.fg(0.55f),
             maxLines = 1,
             overflow = TextOverflow.Ellipsis,
         )
@@ -302,9 +303,10 @@ private fun GamepadHostTile(tile: HomeTile, modifier: Modifier = Modifier) {
 
 @Composable
 private fun MonogramBadge(tile: HomeTile) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     val shape = RoundedCornerShape(15.dp)
     val fill = if (tile.filled) {
-        Brush.verticalGradient(listOf(Color(0xFF6656F2), Color(0xFF8678F5)))
+        Brush.verticalGradient(listOf(ink.accent, ink.accent))
     } else {
         Brush.verticalGradient(listOf(Color(0x296656F2), Color(0x296656F2)))
     }
@@ -316,18 +318,18 @@ private fun MonogramBadge(tile: HomeTile) {
             tile.connecting -> CircularProgressIndicator(
                 modifier = Modifier.size(24.dp),
                 strokeWidth = 2.dp,
-                color = Color.White,
+                color = ink.fg,
             )
             tile.isAdd -> Icon(
                 Icons.Filled.Add,
                 contentDescription = null,
-                tint = if (tile.filled) Color.White else Color(0xFF8678F5),
+                tint = if (tile.filled) ink.fg else ink.accent,
             )
             else -> Text(
                 tile.title.trim().firstOrNull()?.uppercaseChar()?.toString() ?: "•",
                 style = MaterialTheme.typography.titleLarge,
                 fontWeight = FontWeight.Bold,
-                color = if (tile.filled) Color.White else Color(0xFF8678F5),
+                color = if (tile.filled) ink.fg else ink.accent,
             )
         }
     }
diff --git a/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadInk.kt b/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadInk.kt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a4546749
--- /dev/null
+++ b/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadInk.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+package io.unom.punktfunk
+
+import androidx.compose.runtime.compositionLocalOf
+import androidx.compose.ui.graphics.Color
+
+// The ink the console (gamepad) UI draws with under the chosen background palette.
+//
+// The console screens were white-on-dark throughout with the brand violet hardcoded as the accent.
+// Both had to become palette-derived at once: a pale field needs dark text or it is unreadable,
+// and a violet focus wash on a copper field is exactly the clash this exists to fix.
+//
+// Published as a CompositionLocal rather than passed down, so a leaf (a row, a hint pill, a card)
+// can ask for the right colour without every caller in between knowing about palettes. The Apple
+// client uses an environment value and `pf-console-ui` a thread-local for the same reason.
+
+/** Everything about the console's look that follows the chosen palette. */
+class GamepadInk(
+    /** Primary text/glyph colour. */
+    val fg: Color,
+    /** Focus wash, selected tab pill, switch track — the palette's own accent. */
+    val accent: Color,
+    /** What reads ON the accent (a filled pill's label, a switch knob). */
+    val onAccent: Color,
+    /** The base fill every glass surface starts from, at its resting opacity. */
+    val glass: Color,
+    /** What a wash laid UNDER text tends toward: black on a dark field, white on a pale one. */
+    val shade: Color,
+    /**
+     * How hard those washes go. A pale field needs far less — mixing toward white at the dark
+     * field's strength bleaches the chroma straight out of the gradient.
+     */
+    val shadeScale: Float,
+    /** True when the field is pale, for the few places that branch rather than blend. */
+    val isLight: Boolean,
+) {
+    /** The foreground at [alpha]. */
+    fun fg(alpha: Float): Color = fg.copy(alpha = alpha)
+
+    /** The accent at [alpha]. */
+    fun accent(alpha: Float): Color = accent.copy(alpha = alpha)
+
+    /** A wash under text: [alpha] is the dark-field strength, scaled for a pale one. */
+    fun shade(alpha: Float): Color = shade.copy(alpha = alpha * shadeScale)
+
+    companion object {
+        fun of(p: GamepadPalette): GamepadInk {
+            val accent = p.accentColor
+            // Chosen by luminance, not by `light`: an accent is picked for contrast against the
+            // GLASS, not against the field.
+            val accentLuma =
+                0.2126 * p.accent.first + 0.7152 * p.accent.second + 0.0722 * p.accent.third
+            val onAccent = if (accentLuma > 0.55) Color.Black else Color.White
+            if (!p.light) {
+                return GamepadInk(
+                    fg = Color.White,
+                    accent = accent,
+                    onAccent = onAccent,
+                    glass = Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.08f),
+                    shade = Color.Black,
+                    shadeScale = 1f,
+                    isLight = false,
+                )
+            }
+            val (gr, gg, gb) = p.ground
+            return GamepadInk(
+                // Tinted toward the palette's own ground so it doesn't read as a foreign grey.
+                fg = Color((gr * 0.16).toFloat(), (gg * 0.14).toFloat(), (gb * 0.20).toFloat()),
+                accent = accent,
+                onAccent = onAccent,
+                // More body than the dark glass carries: white frost over a bright gradient has
+                // far less separating it from its backdrop than dark glass over a dark one.
+                glass = Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.55f),
+                shade = Color.White,
+                shadeScale = 0.45f,
+                isLight = true,
+            )
+        }
+
+        /** The shipped dark look — what a preview or a test composition gets. */
+        val DARK = of(GamepadPalette.named("violet"))
+    }
+}
+
+/**
+ * The ink of the palette currently drawing, for everything under [App]. Provided from the live
+ * settings alongside [LocalGamepadPalette], so a change on the gamepad settings screen re-inks
+ * every console surface at once.
+ */
+val LocalGamepadInk = compositionLocalOf { GamepadInk.DARK }
diff --git a/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadPalette.kt b/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadPalette.kt
index 3db75d01..9e4a04d2 100644
--- a/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadPalette.kt
+++ b/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadPalette.kt
@@ -1,78 +1,194 @@
 package io.unom.punktfunk
 
 import androidx.compose.ui.graphics.Color
-import kotlin.math.cos
-import kotlin.math.sin
-import kotlin.math.sqrt
 
-// The console (gamepad) UI's background colour families.
+// The console (gamepad) UI's background colour families, and the ink each one calls for.
 //
-// A palette is NOT a second hand-tuned colour field: it is a hue rotation + saturation scale
-// applied to the ONE field GamepadAuroraBackground already draws, so every palette inherits its
-// structure (dark base, bright drifting pools) and the brand default is exactly the shipped look —
-// `violet` is the identity transform.
+// A palette is a short ordered ramp of DISTINCT hues, not one hue at several brightnesses. The
+// field samples that ramp so several tones show at once and pool into each other, the way a real
+// gradient poster does. An earlier version rotated ONE field's hue per palette, which is why every
+// non-default palette read flat and monotone.
 //
-// The table and the `tint` maths are mirrored in `pf-console-ui`'s `library.rs` (Rust) and the
-// Apple client's `GamepadPalette.swift` under the same ids, so the shared `ui_palette` setting
-// names the same colour family on every client. Keep the three copies in step: a palette added
-// here without the others is a value the other clients will silently render as Violet.
+// A palette also owns the UI sitting on it: [accent] is the focus wash / selected pill / switch
+// colour, and [light] flips the ink so a pale field gets dark text instead of white.
+//
+// The table, [ramp] and [CELL_RAMP] are mirrored in `pf-console-ui`'s `library.rs` (Rust) and the
+// Apple client's `GamepadPalette.swift` under the same ids, so one `ui_palette` value is one look
+// on every client. Keep the three copies in step: a palette added here without the others is a
+// value the other clients silently render as Violet.
 
-/**
- * One background colour family. [hueDegrees] rotates about the grey axis (positive runs
- * red → green → blue) and [saturation] scales saturation about luminance.
- */
+/** One background colour family. */
 class GamepadPalette(
     /** The stored `ui_palette` value ([Settings.uiPalette]). */
     val id: String,
     /** What the settings row shows. */
     val name: String,
-    val hueDegrees: Double,
-    val saturation: Double,
-) {
-    /** True for the identity transform, so the default path skips the per-colour work. */
-    val isIdentity: Boolean get() = hueDegrees == 0.0 && saturation == 1.0
-
-    /** Apply this palette to one packed sRGB colour, keeping its alpha. */
-    fun tint(c: Color): Color {
-        if (isIdentity) return c
-        val (r, g, b) = tint(Triple(c.red.toDouble(), c.green.toDouble(), c.blue.toDouble()))
-        return Color(r.toFloat(), g.toFloat(), b.toFloat(), c.alpha)
-    }
-
     /**
-     * Rotate `c` about the grey axis by [hueDegrees] (Rodrigues — the same rotation, in the same
-     * orientation, that the desktop console's shader uses for its ±8° warm/cool sway) and scale
-     * its saturation about luminance. Clamped, because a large rotation can push a channel out of
-     * gamut.
+     * The colour ramp, dark end first. Empty = the brand default's explicit field, kept
+     * bit-identical to what every install already sees.
      */
-    fun tint(c: Triple<Double, Double, Double>): Triple<Double, Double, Double> {
-        val (r, g, b) = c
-        val a = Math.toRadians(hueDegrees)
-        val cs = cos(a)
-        val sn = sin(a)
-        val invSqrt3 = 1.0 / sqrt(3.0)
-        val grey = (r + g + b) / 3.0 * (1.0 - cs)
-        // The `sn` term is cross(k, c) with k = (1,1,1)/√3.
-        val rr = r * cs + (b - g) * invSqrt3 * sn + grey
-        val rg = g * cs + (r - b) * invSqrt3 * sn + grey
-        val rb = b * cs + (g - r) * invSqrt3 * sn + grey
-        val luma = 0.2126 * rr + 0.7152 * rg + 0.0722 * rb
-        fun mix(v: Double) = (luma + (v - luma) * saturation).coerceIn(0.0, 1.0)
-        return Triple(mix(rr), mix(rg), mix(rb))
+    val stops: List<Triple<Double, Double, Double>>,
+    /** The field's ground — what it settles onto and what the calm mix lifts toward. */
+    val ground: Triple<Double, Double, Double>,
+    /** The UI accent: focus wash, selected tab pill, switch track. */
+    val accent: Triple<Double, Double, Double>,
+    /** A pale field: the UI flips to dark ink and the legibility scrims go white. */
+    val light: Boolean,
+) {
+    /** Four drifting blob colours, spread across the ramp so the field shows several hues. */
+    val blobColors: List<Color> by lazy {
+        val s = stops.ifEmpty { VIOLET_BLOBS }
+        (0..3).map { color(ramp(s, 0.15 + 0.25 * it)) }
     }
 
+    /** The field's ground as a Compose colour. */
+    val groundColor: Color by lazy { color(ground) }
+
+    /** The accent as a Compose colour. */
+    val accentColor: Color by lazy { color(accent) }
+
     companion object {
         /**
-         * The six shipped palettes, in cycling order: the brand violet, then cool → warm, then
-         * the neutral.
+         * Where each of the 16 mesh cells samples the ramp on the clients that draw a mesh. Kept
+         * here so the three ports stay one table even though this client approximates the field
+         * with blobs.
+         */
+        val CELL_RAMP = listOf(
+            0.10, -0.06, 0.04, -0.12,
+            -0.08, 0.14, -0.10, 0.06,
+            0.06, -0.12, 0.16, -0.04,
+            -0.10, 0.08, -0.06, 0.12,
+        )
+
+        /** The brand default's blob ramp — the colours the pre-palette field used. */
+        private val VIOLET_BLOBS = listOf(
+            Triple(0.53, 0.47, 0.96), Triple(0.24, 0.20, 0.72), Triple(0.62, 0.30, 0.80),
+            Triple(0.22, 0.38, 0.86), Triple(0.53, 0.47, 0.96),
+        )
+
+        /**
+         * The twelve shipped palettes: the brand default, five more dark fields, then six pale
+         * ones. Cycling order runs dark → light, so stepping the row walks the range one way.
          */
         val ALL = listOf(
-            GamepadPalette("violet", "Violet", 0.0, 1.0),
-            GamepadPalette("tide", "Tide", -70.0, 1.0),
-            GamepadPalette("forest", "Forest", -130.0, 0.9),
-            GamepadPalette("ember", "Ember", 105.0, 1.0),
-            GamepadPalette("rose", "Rose", 60.0, 0.95),
-            GamepadPalette("graphite", "Graphite", 0.0, 0.12),
+            // --- dark fields (white ink) ---
+            GamepadPalette(
+                "violet", "Violet", emptyList(),
+                ground = Triple(0.075, 0.060, 0.160),
+                accent = Triple(0.525, 0.471, 0.961), light = false,
+            ),
+            GamepadPalette(
+                // Deep indigo climbing through violet into a hot magenta.
+                "nebula", "Nebula",
+                listOf(
+                    Triple(0.07, 0.05, 0.20), Triple(0.26, 0.14, 0.54), Triple(0.52, 0.20, 0.72),
+                    Triple(0.82, 0.26, 0.62), Triple(0.98, 0.46, 0.68),
+                ),
+                ground = Triple(0.055, 0.040, 0.135),
+                accent = Triple(0.95, 0.42, 0.72), light = false,
+            ),
+            GamepadPalette(
+                // Ink-blue water: teal → cerulean → a violet undertow.
+                "abyss", "Abyss",
+                listOf(
+                    Triple(0.02, 0.10, 0.17), Triple(0.04, 0.28, 0.42), Triple(0.07, 0.46, 0.63),
+                    Triple(0.16, 0.38, 0.78), Triple(0.26, 0.22, 0.58),
+                ),
+                ground = Triple(0.018, 0.070, 0.130),
+                accent = Triple(0.26, 0.76, 0.92), light = false,
+            ),
+            GamepadPalette(
+                // Banked coals: plum embers → crimson → burnt orange → gold.
+                "ember", "Ember",
+                listOf(
+                    Triple(0.16, 0.03, 0.10), Triple(0.45, 0.06, 0.12), Triple(0.72, 0.18, 0.06),
+                    Triple(0.90, 0.42, 0.08), Triple(0.95, 0.68, 0.18),
+                ),
+                ground = Triple(0.090, 0.035, 0.040),
+                accent = Triple(0.98, 0.62, 0.26), light = false,
+            ),
+            GamepadPalette(
+                // Forest floor into moss and a lime break.
+                "moss", "Moss",
+                listOf(
+                    Triple(0.03, 0.11, 0.09), Triple(0.06, 0.27, 0.20), Triple(0.09, 0.45, 0.31),
+                    Triple(0.28, 0.61, 0.28), Triple(0.58, 0.77, 0.31),
+                ),
+                ground = Triple(0.025, 0.085, 0.070),
+                accent = Triple(0.48, 0.86, 0.46), light = false,
+            ),
+            GamepadPalette(
+                // Neutral, but never flat: barely-there saturation that still travels from a cool
+                // charcoal to a warm stone.
+                "graphite", "Graphite",
+                listOf(
+                    Triple(0.06, 0.07, 0.11), Triple(0.15, 0.18, 0.25), Triple(0.30, 0.31, 0.35),
+                    Triple(0.45, 0.42, 0.38), Triple(0.60, 0.56, 0.49),
+                ),
+                ground = Triple(0.055, 0.055, 0.070),
+                accent = Triple(0.78, 0.80, 0.86), light = false,
+            ),
+            // --- pale fields (dark ink) ---
+            GamepadPalette(
+                // The holographic foil: rose → lilac → periwinkle → aqua, with a white bloom.
+                "holo", "Holo",
+                listOf(
+                    Triple(0.99, 0.72, 0.90), Triple(0.80, 0.60, 0.98), Triple(0.58, 0.62, 0.99),
+                    Triple(0.55, 0.86, 0.98), Triple(0.94, 0.98, 1.00),
+                ),
+                ground = Triple(0.96, 0.92, 0.99),
+                accent = Triple(0.42, 0.28, 0.86), light = true,
+            ),
+            GamepadPalette(
+                // The poster sunset: periwinkle → magenta → scarlet → tangerine → gold.
+                "sunset", "Sunset",
+                listOf(
+                    Triple(0.55, 0.45, 0.92), Triple(0.86, 0.31, 0.66), Triple(0.97, 0.26, 0.34),
+                    Triple(0.99, 0.51, 0.18), Triple(1.00, 0.80, 0.22),
+                ),
+                ground = Triple(0.98, 0.74, 0.34),
+                accent = Triple(0.64, 0.13, 0.44), light = true,
+            ),
+            GamepadPalette(
+                // Peach into blush and lilac — the softest of the set.
+                "bloom", "Bloom",
+                listOf(
+                    Triple(1.00, 0.86, 0.72), Triple(0.99, 0.73, 0.79), Triple(0.95, 0.65, 0.89),
+                    Triple(0.82, 0.68, 0.96), Triple(0.73, 0.79, 0.99),
+                ),
+                ground = Triple(0.99, 0.90, 0.89),
+                accent = Triple(0.72, 0.24, 0.55), light = true,
+            ),
+            GamepadPalette(
+                // First light: pale gold → coral → lilac.
+                "dawn", "Dawn",
+                listOf(
+                    Triple(1.00, 0.92, 0.70), Triple(1.00, 0.80, 0.62), Triple(0.99, 0.66, 0.62),
+                    Triple(0.90, 0.62, 0.78), Triple(0.77, 0.69, 0.95),
+                ),
+                ground = Triple(1.00, 0.93, 0.82),
+                accent = Triple(0.82, 0.33, 0.28), light = true,
+            ),
+            GamepadPalette(
+                // Sea glass: mint → aqua → a pale sky.
+                "mint", "Mint",
+                listOf(
+                    Triple(0.82, 0.98, 0.90), Triple(0.62, 0.94, 0.88), Triple(0.55, 0.88, 0.95),
+                    Triple(0.63, 0.82, 0.99), Triple(0.82, 0.87, 1.00),
+                ),
+                ground = Triple(0.90, 0.98, 0.96),
+                accent = Triple(0.04, 0.42, 0.40), light = true,
+            ),
+            GamepadPalette(
+                // Near-white, but iridescent rather than flat — rose, sky, mint and cream in turn.
+                "opal", "Opal",
+                listOf(
+                    Triple(0.98, 0.92, 0.96), Triple(0.87, 0.93, 0.99), Triple(0.91, 0.99, 0.95),
+                    Triple(0.99, 0.96, 0.88), Triple(0.94, 0.90, 0.99),
+                ),
+                ground = Triple(0.97, 0.96, 0.99),
+                accent = Triple(0.36, 0.32, 0.44), light = true,
+            ),
         )
 
         /**
@@ -80,5 +196,23 @@ class GamepadPalette(
          * palette a newer client shipped, not a reason to draw nothing.
          */
         fun named(id: String): GamepadPalette = ALL.firstOrNull { it.id == id } ?: ALL[0]
+
+        /** Sample an ordered colour ramp at [t] ∈ [0, 1] (linear between neighbouring stops). */
+        fun ramp(
+            stops: List<Triple<Double, Double, Double>>,
+            t: Double,
+        ): Triple<Double, Double, Double> {
+            if (stops.isEmpty()) return Triple(0.0, 0.0, 0.0)
+            if (stops.size == 1) return stops[0]
+            val x = t.coerceIn(0.0, 1.0) * (stops.size - 1)
+            val i = x.toInt().coerceAtMost(stops.size - 2)
+            val f = x - i
+            val (ar, ag, ab) = stops[i]
+            val (br, bg, bb) = stops[i + 1]
+            return Triple(ar + (br - ar) * f, ag + (bg - ag) * f, ab + (bb - ab) * f)
+        }
+
+        fun color(c: Triple<Double, Double, Double>): Color =
+            Color(c.first.toFloat(), c.second.toFloat(), c.third.toFloat())
     }
 }
diff --git a/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadSettingsScreen.kt b/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadSettingsScreen.kt
index 48911910..7da32711 100644
--- a/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadSettingsScreen.kt
+++ b/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadSettingsScreen.kt
@@ -346,6 +346,7 @@ fun GamepadSettingsScreen(
 
 @Composable
 private fun SettingRowView(row: GpRow, focused: Boolean, adjustDir: Int, onClick: () -> Unit) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     val visuals = animateConsoleFocus(active = focused)
     val shape = RoundedCornerShape(14.dp)
     // The chevrons keep their layout slot and only fade, so the value never jumps sideways when
@@ -357,7 +358,7 @@ private fun SettingRowView(row: GpRow, focused: Boolean, adjustDir: Int, onClick
         label = "chevrons",
     )
     val valueColor by animateColorAsState(
-        Color.White.copy(alpha = if (focused) 1f else 0.6f),
+        ink.fg(if (focused) 1f else 0.6f),
         tween(160),
         label = "valueColor",
     )
@@ -366,7 +367,7 @@ private fun SettingRowView(row: GpRow, focused: Boolean, adjustDir: Int, onClick
             Text(
                 row.header.uppercase(),
                 style = MaterialTheme.typography.labelMedium,
-                color = Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.45f),
+                color = ink.fg(0.45f),
                 letterSpacing = 1.4.sp,
                 modifier = Modifier.padding(start = 16.dp, top = 14.dp, bottom = 4.dp),
             )
@@ -392,7 +393,7 @@ private fun SettingRowView(row: GpRow, focused: Boolean, adjustDir: Int, onClick
                     fontWeight = FontWeight.SemiBold,
                     // A disabled row (the "No profiles yet" placeholder) dims but stays focusable,
                     // so its detail line can still explain what would go here.
-                    color = Color.White.copy(alpha = if (row.enabled) 1f else 0.45f),
+                    color = ink.fg(if (row.enabled) 1f else 0.45f),
                     maxLines = 1,
                 )
                 Spacer(Modifier.weight(1f))
@@ -400,7 +401,7 @@ private fun SettingRowView(row: GpRow, focused: Boolean, adjustDir: Int, onClick
                     // A toggle is a switch, not text — the sliding knob + tinting track IS the value.
                     ConsoleSwitch(on = row.toggled, focused = focused)
                 } else {
-                    Text("‹ ", color = Color.White, modifier = Modifier.graphicsLayer { alpha = chevronAlpha })
+                    Text("‹ ", color = ink.fg, modifier = Modifier.graphicsLayer { alpha = chevronAlpha })
                     // The value slides in the direction it was stepped and its width animates, so
                     // cycling a choice reads as motion through a list rather than a text swap.
                     AnimatedContent(
@@ -421,7 +422,7 @@ private fun SettingRowView(row: GpRow, focused: Boolean, adjustDir: Int, onClick
                             overflow = TextOverflow.Ellipsis,
                         )
                     }
-                    Text(" ›", color = Color.White, modifier = Modifier.graphicsLayer { alpha = chevronAlpha })
+                    Text(" ›", color = ink.fg, modifier = Modifier.graphicsLayer { alpha = chevronAlpha })
                 }
             }
             // The focused row carries its own one-line description — no dedicated (space-eating)
@@ -434,7 +435,7 @@ private fun SettingRowView(row: GpRow, focused: Boolean, adjustDir: Int, onClick
                 Text(
                     row.detail,
                     style = MaterialTheme.typography.bodySmall,
-                    color = Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.6f),
+                    color = ink.fg(0.6f),
                     maxLines = 2,
                     modifier = Modifier.padding(top = 6.dp),
                 )
diff --git a/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/LibraryScreen.kt b/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/LibraryScreen.kt
index 34fd3a9b..525ee127 100644
--- a/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/LibraryScreen.kt
+++ b/clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/LibraryScreen.kt
@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@ fun LibraryScreen(
     onBack: () -> Unit,
     navActive: Boolean = true,
 ) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     BackHandler(onBack = onBack)
     val context = LocalContext.current
     val scope = rememberCoroutineScope()
@@ -177,8 +178,8 @@ fun LibraryScreen(
                     horizontalAlignment = Alignment.CenterHorizontally,
                     verticalArrangement = Arrangement.spacedBy(14.dp),
                 ) {
-                    CircularProgressIndicator(color = Color.White)
-                    Text("Launching…", color = Color.White, style = MaterialTheme.typography.bodyLarge)
+                    CircularProgressIndicator(color = ink.fg)
+                    Text("Launching…", color = ink.fg, style = MaterialTheme.typography.bodyLarge)
                 }
             }
         }
@@ -202,17 +203,19 @@ fun LibraryScreen(
 
 @Composable
 private fun LoadingState() {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     Column(horizontalAlignment = Alignment.CenterHorizontally, verticalArrangement = Arrangement.spacedBy(14.dp)) {
-        CircularProgressIndicator(color = Color.White)
-        Text("Loading library…", color = Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.7f), style = MaterialTheme.typography.bodyLarge)
+        CircularProgressIndicator(color = ink.fg)
+        Text("Loading library…", color = ink.fg(0.7f), style = MaterialTheme.typography.bodyLarge)
     }
 }
 
 @Composable
 private fun MessageState(text: String) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     Text(
         text,
-        color = Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.75f),
+        color = ink.fg(0.75f),
         style = MaterialTheme.typography.bodyLarge,
         textAlign = TextAlign.Center,
         modifier = Modifier.padding(horizontal = 24.dp),
@@ -226,6 +229,7 @@ private fun Coverflow(
     navActive: Boolean,
     onLaunch: (GameEntry) -> Unit,
 ) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     BoxWithConstraints(Modifier.fillMaxSize()) {
         // Fit a 2:3 poster into the height the detail line leaves; clamp so it never dwarfs the screen.
         val coverHeight = (maxHeight * 0.72f).coerceAtMost(360.dp)
@@ -321,7 +325,7 @@ private fun Coverflow(
                     current?.title ?: " ",
                     style = MaterialTheme.typography.titleLarge,
                     fontWeight = FontWeight.Bold,
-                    color = Color.White,
+                    color = ink.fg,
                     maxLines = 1,
                     overflow = TextOverflow.Ellipsis,
                 )
@@ -330,7 +334,7 @@ private fun Coverflow(
                         if (current.isLauncher) "${current.storeLabel.uppercase()} \u00B7 LAUNCHER"
                         else current.storeLabel.uppercase(),
                         style = MaterialTheme.typography.labelMedium,
-                        color = Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.5f),
+                        color = ink.fg(0.5f),
                         letterSpacing = 2.sp,
                     )
                 }
@@ -342,6 +346,7 @@ private fun Coverflow(
 /** One cover: walks the art candidates (portrait → header → hero) then a text placeholder. */
 @Composable
 private fun Poster(game: GameEntry, loader: ImageLoader, modifier: Modifier = Modifier) {
+    val ink = LocalGamepadInk.current
     val candidates = game.art.posterCandidates
     var idx by remember(game.id) { mutableStateOf(0) }
     val shape = RoundedCornerShape(16.dp)
@@ -349,7 +354,7 @@ private fun Poster(game: GameEntry, loader: ImageLoader, modifier: Modifier = Mo
         modifier = modifier
             .clip(shape)
             .background(Color(0xFF241F3D))
-            .border(1.dp, Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.12f), shape),
+            .border(1.dp, ink.fg(0.12f), shape),
         contentAlignment = Alignment.Center,
     ) {
         if (idx < candidates.size) {
@@ -368,7 +373,7 @@ private fun Poster(game: GameEntry, loader: ImageLoader, modifier: Modifier = Mo
                 if (game.isLauncher) game.storeLabel else game.title,
                 style = MaterialTheme.typography.titleMedium,
                 fontWeight = FontWeight.SemiBold,
-                color = Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.75f),
+                color = ink.fg(0.75f),
                 textAlign = TextAlign.Center,
                 modifier = Modifier.padding(12.dp),
             )
@@ -378,7 +383,7 @@ private fun Poster(game: GameEntry, loader: ImageLoader, modifier: Modifier = Mo
             Text(
                 game.storeLabel,
                 style = MaterialTheme.typography.labelSmall,
-                color = Color.White,
+                color = ink.fg,
                 modifier = Modifier
                     .clip(RoundedCornerShape(50))
                     .background(
diff --git a/clients/android/app/src/test/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadPaletteTest.kt b/clients/android/app/src/test/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadPaletteTest.kt
index 40b40b98..df662de4 100644
--- a/clients/android/app/src/test/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadPaletteTest.kt
+++ b/clients/android/app/src/test/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadPaletteTest.kt
@@ -5,92 +5,118 @@ import org.junit.Assert.assertTrue
 import org.junit.Test
 
 // The console UI's background palettes. These assertions are the CONTRACT the Rust
-// (`pf-console-ui::library::tint`) and Swift (`GamepadPalette.tint`) ports have to reproduce — the
-// same ids, the same rotation orientation, the same in-gamut results — so one `ui_palette` value
-// names the same colour family on every client.
+// (`pf-console-ui::library`) and Swift (`GamepadPalette.swift`) ports reproduce — the same ids in
+// the same order, the same light/dark split, the same ramp — so one `ui_palette` value is one look
+// on every client.
 class GamepadPaletteTest {
-    /** The brightest pool of the field — the colour a palette is judged by. */
-    private val violetPool = Triple(0.49, 0.39, 0.95)
 
-    /**
-     * The brand default must be the IDENTITY transform. Every existing install already sees the
-     * shipped violet backdrop, and a palette table that quietly restyled it would be a regression
-     * dressed as a feature.
-     */
-    @Test
-    fun violetIsTheUntouchedShippedField() {
-        val violet = GamepadPalette.named("violet")
-        assertEquals("violet", GamepadPalette.ALL.first().id)
-        assertTrue(violet.isIdentity)
-        assertEquals(violetPool, violet.tint(violetPool))
-        // An unknown name is a newer client's palette, not an error.
-        assertEquals("violet", GamepadPalette.named("chartreuse").id)
-        assertEquals("violet", GamepadPalette.named("").id)
+    private fun luma(c: Triple<Double, Double, Double>) =
+        0.2126 * c.first + 0.7152 * c.second + 0.0722 * c.third
+
+    /** Hue angle in degrees, or null for something too grey to have one. */
+    private fun hue(c: Triple<Double, Double, Double>): Double? {
+        val (r, g, b) = c
+        val max = maxOf(r, g, b)
+        val min = minOf(r, g, b)
+        val d = max - min
+        if (d < 0.04) return null
+        val h = when (max) {
+            r -> 60.0 * (((g - b) / d) % 6.0)
+            g -> 60.0 * ((b - r) / d + 2.0)
+            else -> 60.0 * ((r - g) / d + 4.0)
+        }
+        return (h + 360.0) % 360.0
     }
 
-    /** The ids and their order are the cross-client contract (strip order, and the L1/R1 cycle). */
+    /** Ids, order and the light/dark split are the cross-client contract. */
     @Test
     fun tableMatchesTheOtherClients() {
         assertEquals(
-            listOf("violet", "tide", "forest", "ember", "rose", "graphite"),
+            listOf(
+                "violet", "nebula", "abyss", "ember", "moss", "graphite",
+                "holo", "sunset", "bloom", "dawn", "mint", "opal",
+            ),
             GamepadPalette.ALL.map { it.id },
         )
-        assertEquals(
-            listOf("Violet", "Tide", "Forest", "Ember", "Rose", "Graphite"),
-            GamepadPalette.ALL.map { it.name },
-        )
+        // Dark fields lead, pale ones follow, so stepping the row walks one direction.
+        val firstLight = GamepadPalette.ALL.indexOfFirst { it.light }
+        assertEquals(6, firstLight)
+        assertTrue(GamepadPalette.ALL.drop(firstLight).all { it.light })
+        // An unknown name is a newer client's palette, not an error.
+        assertEquals("violet", GamepadPalette.named("chartreuse").id)
+        assertEquals("violet", GamepadPalette.named("").id)
+        // The brand default keeps the shipped field rather than a generated ramp.
+        assertTrue(GamepadPalette.named("violet").stops.isEmpty())
     }
 
     /**
-     * A rotation moves the hue while roughly holding luminance, and the saturation scale collapses
-     * toward grey — the same four checks the Rust and Swift tests make.
+     * A palette must read as SEVERAL hues, not one hue at several brightnesses — that was exactly
+     * the complaint about the hue-rotation model this replaced.
      */
     @Test
-    fun tintRotatesHueAndScalesSaturation() {
-        assertTrue(violetPool.third > violetPool.first && violetPool.third > violetPool.second)
-
-        // +105° (Ember) turns the blue-dominant pool red-dominant…
-        val ember = GamepadPalette.named("ember").tint(violetPool)
-        assertTrue("$ember should be warm", ember.first > ember.third)
-        // …−130° (Forest) turns it green-dominant…
-        val forest = GamepadPalette.named("forest").tint(violetPool)
-        assertTrue("$forest", forest.second > forest.first && forest.second > forest.third)
-        // …and −70° (Tide) lands on a cyan whose green and blue both beat red.
-        val tide = GamepadPalette.named("tide").tint(violetPool)
-        assertTrue("$tide", tide.second > tide.first && tide.third > tide.first)
-
-        // Graphite's saturation scale leaves the channels nearly equal…
-        val grey = GamepadPalette.named("graphite").tint(violetPool)
-        val channels = listOf(grey.first, grey.second, grey.third)
-        assertTrue("$grey", channels.max() - channels.min() < 0.08)
-        // …at about the source's luminance (it desaturates, it doesn't dim).
-        val luma = 0.2126 * violetPool.first + 0.7152 * violetPool.second + 0.0722 * violetPool.third
-        assertEquals(luma, grey.second, 0.05)
-    }
-
-    /**
-     * Every palette stays in gamut on every colour the field is built from — an out-of-range
-     * channel would clamp differently on each platform's rasteriser.
-     */
-    @Test
-    fun everyPaletteStaysInGamut() {
-        val field = listOf(
-            Triple(0.075, 0.060, 0.160), Triple(0.34, 0.27, 0.72), Triple(0.30, 0.26, 0.74),
-            Triple(0.42, 0.20, 0.54), Triple(0.49, 0.39, 0.95), Triple(0.28, 0.31, 0.84),
-            Triple(0.16, 0.26, 0.64), Triple(0.45, 0.23, 0.60), Triple(0.53, 0.31, 0.75),
-            Triple(0.35, 0.35, 0.91), Triple(0.19, 0.28, 0.70), Triple(0.22, 0.18, 0.54),
-            Triple(0.24, 0.20, 0.58),
-        )
-        for (palette in GamepadPalette.ALL) {
-            for (c in field) {
-                val t = palette.tint(c)
-                for (v in listOf(t.first, t.second, t.third)) {
-                    assertTrue("${palette.id} $c → $t", v in 0.0..1.0)
+    fun everyPaletteIsMultiTone() {
+        for (p in GamepadPalette.ALL) {
+            val stops = p.stops.ifEmpty { continue }
+            val hues = stops.mapNotNull { hue(it) }
+            assertTrue("${p.id}: too few coloured stops", hues.size >= 3)
+            var spread = 0.0
+            for (a in hues) {
+                for (b in hues) {
+                    val d = Math.abs(a - b) % 360.0
+                    spread = maxOf(spread, minOf(d, 360.0 - d))
                 }
             }
+            // Graphite and Opal are deliberately near-neutral; the rest must travel.
+            val floor = if (p.id == "graphite" || p.id == "opal") 20.0 else 45.0
+            assertTrue("${p.id} spans only $spread° of hue", spread >= floor)
         }
     }
 
+    /** A pale palette really is pale — its ink flips, so a mislabelled one is unreadable. */
+    @Test
+    fun palettesAreHonestAboutLightness() {
+        for (p in GamepadPalette.ALL) {
+            if (p.light) {
+                assertTrue("${p.id}'s ground is dark", luma(p.ground) > 0.6)
+                assertTrue("${p.id}'s accent is too pale", luma(p.accent) < 0.45)
+            } else {
+                assertTrue("${p.id}'s ground is light", luma(p.ground) < 0.2)
+                assertTrue("${p.id}'s accent is too dark", luma(p.accent) > 0.25)
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /** The ramp is the shared sampling rule the Rust and Swift ports reproduce. */
+    @Test
+    fun rampInterpolatesBetweenStops() {
+        val stops = listOf(
+            Triple(0.0, 0.0, 0.0), Triple(1.0, 0.0, 0.0), Triple(1.0, 1.0, 1.0),
+        )
+        assertEquals(Triple(0.0, 0.0, 0.0), GamepadPalette.ramp(stops, 0.0))
+        assertEquals(Triple(1.0, 1.0, 1.0), GamepadPalette.ramp(stops, 1.0))
+        assertEquals(Triple(1.0, 0.0, 0.0), GamepadPalette.ramp(stops, 0.5))
+        assertEquals(0.5, GamepadPalette.ramp(stops, 0.25).first, 1e-9)
+        // Out of range clamps rather than throwing.
+        assertEquals(Triple(0.0, 0.0, 0.0), GamepadPalette.ramp(stops, -3.0))
+        assertEquals(Triple(1.0, 1.0, 1.0), GamepadPalette.ramp(stops, 9.0))
+        assertEquals(Triple(0.0, 0.0, 0.0), GamepadPalette.ramp(emptyList(), 0.5))
+    }
+
+    /** The ink a palette calls for: white on a dark field, near-black on a pale one. */
+    @Test
+    fun inkFollowsTheField() {
+        val dark = GamepadInk.of(GamepadPalette.named("violet"))
+        assertTrue(!dark.isLight)
+        assertEquals(1f, dark.fg.red, 1e-6f)
+        assertEquals(1f, dark.shadeScale, 1e-6f)
+
+        val light = GamepadInk.of(GamepadPalette.named("holo"))
+        assertTrue(light.isLight)
+        assertTrue("pale fields need dark ink", light.fg.red < 0.3f)
+        // A pale field's scrims must pull far less, or they bleach the gradient.
+        assertTrue(light.shadeScale < 0.5f)
+    }
+
     /**
      * Every settings row lands in exactly one tab — a row missing from the tab map is a setting
      * that became unreachable on a TV, which is precisely what this screen exists to prevent.
diff --git a/clients/android/app/src/test/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/screenshots/ScreenshotTest.kt b/clients/android/app/src/test/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/screenshots/ScreenshotTest.kt
index 70dd0e57..8af7d299 100644
--- a/clients/android/app/src/test/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/screenshots/ScreenshotTest.kt
+++ b/clients/android/app/src/test/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/screenshots/ScreenshotTest.kt
@@ -109,6 +109,11 @@ class ScreenshotTest {
     @Test
     fun consoleSettings() = shootRoot("console-settings") { ConsoleSettingsScene() }
 
+    /** A PALE palette: the whole UI flips to dark ink on white frost, which only a shot proves. */
+    @Test
+    fun consoleSettingsLight() =
+        shootRoot("console-settings-light") { ConsoleSettingsScene(paletteId = "holo") }
+
     @Test
     fun trust() = shootScreen("trust") {
         HostsScene()
diff --git a/clients/android/app/src/test/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/screenshots/ShotScenes.kt b/clients/android/app/src/test/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/screenshots/ShotScenes.kt
index 43562f37..de69a24e 100644
--- a/clients/android/app/src/test/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/screenshots/ShotScenes.kt
+++ b/clients/android/app/src/test/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/screenshots/ShotScenes.kt
@@ -31,7 +31,12 @@ import io.unom.punktfunk.BrandDark
 import io.unom.punktfunk.ConnectModal
 import io.unom.punktfunk.ConnectPhase
 import io.unom.punktfunk.ConnectTakeover
+import androidx.compose.runtime.CompositionLocalProvider
+import io.unom.punktfunk.GamepadInk
+import io.unom.punktfunk.GamepadPalette
 import io.unom.punktfunk.GamepadSettingsScreen
+import io.unom.punktfunk.LocalGamepadInk
+import io.unom.punktfunk.LocalGamepadPalette
 import io.unom.punktfunk.Settings
 import io.unom.punktfunk.TouchMode
 import io.unom.punktfunk.SettingsCategory
@@ -415,5 +420,17 @@ internal fun ConnectConsoleScene() =
  * a layout regression would eat first.
  */
 @Composable
-internal fun ConsoleSettingsScene() =
-    GamepadSettingsScreen(initial = SHOT_SETTINGS, onChange = {}, onBack = {})
+internal fun ConsoleSettingsScene(paletteId: String = "violet") {
+    // The scene calls the screen directly, so it has to publish the palette locals `App` would
+    // normally provide — without them a light palette would render with the default DARK ink and
+    // the shot would silently prove nothing.
+    val palette = GamepadPalette.named(paletteId)
+    CompositionLocalProvider(
+        LocalGamepadPalette provides palette,
+        LocalGamepadInk provides GamepadInk.of(palette),
+    ) {
+        GamepadSettingsScreen(
+            initial = SHOT_SETTINGS.copy(uiPalette = paletteId), onChange = {}, onBack = {},
+        )
+    }
+}
diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/ContentView.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/ContentView.swift
index 75bf05b6..2b16327b 100644
--- a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/ContentView.swift
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/ContentView.swift
@@ -536,6 +536,9 @@ struct ContentView: View {
                 waker: waker,
                 gamepadUI: gamepadUIActive,
                 onCancelConnect: { model.disconnect() })
+                // The takeover mounts OUTSIDE the gamepad screens (it covers the whole home), so
+                // it publishes the palette's ink itself rather than inheriting it.
+                .gamepadPaletteInk()
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/ConnectOverlay.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/ConnectOverlay.swift
index b8246e98..c3fe8b3e 100644
--- a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/ConnectOverlay.swift
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/ConnectOverlay.swift
@@ -47,12 +47,16 @@ struct ConnectOverlay: View {
         return nil
     }
 
+    @Environment(\.gamepadInk) private var ink
+
     var body: some View {
         if let phase {
             ZStack {
                 if gamepadUI {
-                    // Console: an opaque, living aurora over everything.
-                    Color.black.ignoresSafeArea()
+                    // Console: an opaque, living aurora over everything, in the chosen palette.
+                    // The takeover's own text rides `ink`, so a pale palette flips it here too —
+                    // without that this is the one console screen that stays white-on-white.
+                    ink.isLight ? Color.white.ignoresSafeArea() : Color.black.ignoresSafeArea()
                     GamepadScreenBackground().ignoresSafeArea()
                     Color.clear.contentShape(Rectangle()).onTapGesture {}
                     content(phase).padding(40).frame(maxWidth: 460)
@@ -70,7 +74,8 @@ struct ConnectOverlay: View {
                         .padding(40)
                 }
             }
-            .environment(\.colorScheme, .dark)
+            // The console takeover follows the palette; the default UI's modal stays dark.
+            .environment(\.colorScheme, gamepadUI && ink.isLight ? .light : .dark)
             .transition(.opacity)
             #if os(iOS) || os(macOS)
             .background { ConnectControllerInput(waker: waker, onCancelConnect: onCancelConnect) }
diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadAddHostView.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadAddHostView.swift
index 30a820c5..f5af6b36 100644
--- a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadAddHostView.swift
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadAddHostView.swift
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import SwiftUI
 #if os(iOS) || os(macOS) || os(tvOS)
 
 struct GamepadAddHostView: View {
+    @Environment(\.gamepadInk) private var ink
     @Environment(\.dismiss) private var dismiss
     let onAdd: (StoredHost) -> Void
 
@@ -47,12 +48,12 @@ struct GamepadAddHostView: View {
             VStack(spacing: 4) {
                 Text("Add Host")
                     .font(.geist(gamepadTitleSize(compact: compact), .bold, relativeTo: .title))
-                    .foregroundStyle(.white)
+                    .foregroundStyle(ink.fg)
                 if !compact {
                     Text("Hosts on this network appear automatically — add one by address "
                         + "for everything else.")
                         .font(.geist(GamepadFormMetrics.detailFont, relativeTo: .caption))
-                        .foregroundStyle(.white.opacity(0.55))
+                        .foregroundStyle(ink.fg(0.55))
                         .multilineTextAlignment(.center)
                         .frame(maxWidth: GamepadFormMetrics.rowMaxWidth * 0.72)
                 }
@@ -73,6 +74,9 @@ struct GamepadAddHostView: View {
         }
         // No aurora — the same clean Liquid-Glass-over-dark base as the gamepad settings screen.
         .background { GamepadFormBackground() }
+        // Publish the palette's ink to this screen (text, glass, accent, scrims) — a
+        // pale palette flips all of them, and no leaf should have to read the setting.
+        .gamepadPaletteInk()
         // A port can't exceed 5 digits — cap while typing so the row can't grow absurd.
         .onChange(of: port) { _, value in
             if value.count > 5 { port = String(value.prefix(5)) }
@@ -143,7 +147,7 @@ struct GamepadAddHostView: View {
         Button { dismiss() } label: {
             Image(systemName: "xmark")
                 .font(.system(size: GamepadFormMetrics.closeFont, weight: .semibold))
-                .foregroundStyle(.white)
+                .foregroundStyle(ink.fg)
                 .frame(width: GamepadFormMetrics.closeSide, height: GamepadFormMetrics.closeSide)
                 .glassBackground(Circle(), interactive: true)
                 .contentShape(Circle())
@@ -180,22 +184,22 @@ struct GamepadAddHostView: View {
             if row.isAction {
                 Label("Add Host", systemImage: "plus.circle.fill")
                     .font(.geist(m.labelFont, .semibold, relativeTo: .body))
-                    .foregroundStyle(canAdd ? Color.brand : .white.opacity(0.35))
+                    .foregroundStyle(canAdd ? ink.accent : ink.fg(0.35))
                     .frame(maxWidth: .infinity)
             } else {
                 Text(row.label)
                     .font(.geist(m.labelFont, .semibold, relativeTo: .body))
-                    .foregroundStyle(.white)
+                    .foregroundStyle(ink.fg)
                 Spacer(minLength: 12)
                 Text(row.value.isEmpty ? row.placeholder : row.value)
                     .font(.geistFixed(m.valueFont, .medium))
-                    .foregroundStyle(row.value.isEmpty ? .white.opacity(0.35) : .white)
+                    .foregroundStyle(row.value.isEmpty ? ink.fg(0.35) : ink.fg)
                     .lineLimit(1)
                     .truncationMode(.head) // keep the end of a long address visible while typing
                 if editing == row.id {
                     // The live-edit caret: this row is what the keyboard tray is typing into.
                     Rectangle()
-                        .fill(Color.brand)
+                        .fill(ink.accent)
                         .frame(width: 2, height: m.labelFont + 2)
                 }
             }
@@ -206,12 +210,12 @@ struct GamepadAddHostView: View {
         // takes the brand wash, and the edited row keeps its brand caret border.
         .consoleGlass(
             RoundedRectangle(cornerRadius: m.rowCorner, style: .continuous),
-            tint: (focused || editing == row.id) ? Color.brand.opacity(0.30) : nil,
+            tint: (focused || editing == row.id) ? ink.accent(0.30) : nil,
             interactive: focused)
         .overlay {
             RoundedRectangle(cornerRadius: m.rowCorner, style: .continuous)
                 .strokeBorder(
-                    editing == row.id ? Color.brand.opacity(0.7) : .white.opacity(focused ? 0.28 : 0.06),
+                    editing == row.id ? ink.accent(0.7) : ink.fg(focused ? 0.28 : 0.06),
                     lineWidth: 1)
         }
         .scaleEffect(focused ? 1.0 : 0.98)
diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadChrome.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadChrome.swift
index 80c5390e..f0fb8fc4 100644
--- a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadChrome.swift
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadChrome.swift
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@ struct GamepadHint: Identifiable {
 /// worn as a self-contained Liquid Glass pill (like the top-bar controller chip) so it floats over
 /// the backdrop instead of dissolving into it.
 struct GamepadHintBar: View {
+    @Environment(\.gamepadInk) private var ink
     let hints: [GamepadHint]
 
     // 10-foot legend on tvOS, in-hand sizes elsewhere.
@@ -108,17 +109,17 @@ struct GamepadHintBar: View {
                 HStack(spacing: 7) {
                     Image(systemName: hint.glyph)
                         .font(.system(size: Self.glyphFont))
-                        .foregroundStyle(.white)
+                        .foregroundStyle(ink.fg)
                     Text(hint.text)
                 }
                 .fixedSize() // keep glyph + label together; never truncate a hint mid-word
             }
         }
         .font(.geist(Self.textFont, .semibold, relativeTo: .subheadline))
-        .foregroundStyle(.white.opacity(0.85))
+        .foregroundStyle(ink.fg(0.85))
         .padding(Self.pad)
         .consoleGlass(Capsule())
-        .overlay(Capsule().strokeBorder(.white.opacity(0.12), lineWidth: 1))
+        .overlay(Capsule().strokeBorder(ink.fg(0.12), lineWidth: 1))
     }
 }
 
@@ -145,6 +146,7 @@ struct GamepadHintBar: View {
 /// can't inflate the caller's layout past the safe area (see the layout note in GamepadHomeView's
 /// header). Honors Reduce Motion by freezing the field at a fixed phase.
 struct GamepadScreenBackground: View {
+    @Environment(\.gamepadInk) private var ink
     /// Quiet the field for a form screen (see the type comment).
     var calm = false
 
@@ -171,36 +173,41 @@ struct GamepadScreenBackground: View {
     /// vignette, and the title/hints legibility scrim — in that order, matching the console
     /// shader's `composite` so the two platforms' backdrops stay the same picture.
     private func composite(at t: TimeInterval, palette: GamepadPalette) -> some View {
-        ZStack {
-            Color.black
+        // Where the scrims tend, and how hard. Mixing a PALE field toward white at the dark
+        // field's strength bleaches the chroma straight out of the gradient, so a pale palette
+        // gets under half — the same `u_scrim.a` the console shader carries.
+        let scrim: Color = palette.light ? ink.fg : .black
+        let strength = palette.light ? 0.45 : 1.0
+        return ZStack {
+            Self.color(palette.ground)
             colorField(at: t, palette: palette)
                 // ±8° over ~5 min — the whole field very slowly warms and cools.
                 .hueRotation(.degrees(sin(t * 0.021) * 8))
-                // Calm = col·0.6 + corner·0.4: over black, `.opacity` IS the multiply…
+                // Calm = col·0.6 + ground·0.4: over the ground, `.opacity` IS the multiply…
                 .opacity(calm ? 0.6 : 1)
             if calm {
-                // …and a plusLighter wash of the palette's own corner colour IS the add. Chosen so
-                // a corner lands exactly where it was and the bright pools come down to meet it.
-                Self.color(palette.tint(Self.cornerRGB))
+                // …and a plusLighter wash of the palette's own ground IS the add. Chosen so the
+                // ground lands exactly where it was and the bright pools come down to meet it.
+                Self.color(palette.ground)
                     .opacity(0.4)
                     .blendMode(.plusLighter)
             }
-            // Cinematic vignette: darker toward the edges so the cards sit in the pooled light.
-            // Soft (extends past the frame) so the corners deepen rather than crush to black.
-            // Halved under calm: a launcher's cards sit in the pooled centre, but a form screen's
-            // rows run out toward the edges, where crushing to black just eats them.
+            // Cinematic vignette: the edges settle toward the scrim so the cards sit in the
+            // pooled light. Soft (extends past the frame) so the corners deepen rather than
+            // crush. Halved under calm: a launcher's cards sit in the pooled centre, but a form
+            // screen's rows run out toward the edges, where crushing them just eats the list.
             EllipticalGradient(
-                colors: [.clear, .black.opacity(calm ? 0.21 : 0.42)],
+                colors: [.clear, scrim.opacity((calm ? 0.21 : 0.42) * strength)],
                 center: .center, startRadiusFraction: 0.25, endRadiusFraction: 1.15)
             // Legibility grounding for the pinned title (top) and hint pill (bottom). This one
-            // darkens the aurora itself (it's the backdrop's bottom layer — nothing behind it to
-            // blur), so it stays a gradient, just a light one now.
+            // works on the field itself (it's the backdrop's bottom layer — nothing behind it to
+            // blur), so it stays a gradient, just a light one.
             LinearGradient(
                 stops: [
-                    .init(color: .black.opacity(0.38), location: 0),
-                    .init(color: .black.opacity(0.06), location: 0.32),
-                    .init(color: .black.opacity(0.08), location: 0.68),
-                    .init(color: .black.opacity(0.40), location: 1),
+                    .init(color: scrim.opacity(0.38 * strength), location: 0),
+                    .init(color: scrim.opacity(0.06 * strength), location: 0.32),
+                    .init(color: scrim.opacity(0.08 * strength), location: 0.68),
+                    .init(color: scrim.opacity(0.40 * strength), location: 1),
                 ],
                 startPoint: .top, endPoint: .bottom)
         }
@@ -211,7 +218,7 @@ struct GamepadScreenBackground: View {
             MeshGradient(
                 width: 4, height: 4,
                 points: Self.meshPoints(at: t),
-                colors: Self.meshColors(palette),
+                colors: palette.meshColors.map(Self.color),
                 smoothsColors: true)
         } else {
             LegacyBlobField(t: t, palette: palette)
@@ -224,28 +231,6 @@ struct GamepadScreenBackground: View {
         Color(red: c.x, green: c.y, blue: c.z)
     }
 
-    /// The corner colour — the four pinned corners AND the calm lift's base.
-    static let cornerRGB = SIMD3(0.075, 0.060, 0.160)
-
-    /// Sixteen mesh colours (row-major, 4×4): dark-violet corners sink the frame, the edges carry
-    /// mid-tone violets, and the four interior points hold the bright brand family — a violet and a
-    /// blue-violet up top, a magenta-violet and a violet below — so warm pools on the left, cool on
-    /// the right, and the silk shifts temperature as those interior points drift. A palette rotates
-    /// the whole grid; `violet` is the identity, so this array IS what the default draws.
-    private static let baseMeshRGB: [SIMD3<Double>] = [
-        cornerRGB, SIMD3(0.34, 0.27, 0.72), SIMD3(0.30, 0.26, 0.74), cornerRGB,
-        SIMD3(0.42, 0.20, 0.54), SIMD3(0.49, 0.39, 0.95), SIMD3(0.28, 0.31, 0.84), SIMD3(0.16, 0.26, 0.64),
-        SIMD3(0.45, 0.23, 0.60), SIMD3(0.53, 0.31, 0.75), SIMD3(0.35, 0.35, 0.91), SIMD3(0.19, 0.28, 0.70),
-        cornerRGB, SIMD3(0.22, 0.18, 0.54), SIMD3(0.24, 0.20, 0.58), cornerRGB,
-    ]
-
-    /// `baseMeshRGB` under a palette. Recomputed per frame rather than cached — sixteen `tint`
-    /// calls at 30 Hz costs nothing next to rasterising the mesh, and the obvious cache would be
-    /// mutable global state on a type SwiftUI is free to evaluate off the main actor.
-    private static func meshColors(_ palette: GamepadPalette) -> [Color] {
-        baseMeshRGB.map { color(palette.tint($0)) }
-    }
-
     /// The 4×4 control points at time `t`: every boundary point is PINNED to the frame (so the mesh
     /// always fills edge-to-edge — a drifting edge point would shrink the mesh and expose the black
     /// behind it), while only the four interior points wander on slow, out-of-phase sinusoids
@@ -280,9 +265,9 @@ private struct LegacyBlobField: View {
     let palette: GamepadPalette
 
     /// One drifting color blob: a base position + drift ellipse (unit coordinates), angular speeds
-    /// (rad/s — periods of 30–90 s), and a radius that slowly breathes.
+    /// (rad/s — periods of 30–90 s), and a radius that slowly breathes. The COLOUR comes from the
+    /// palette's ramp at draw time (see `blobColors`), so an older OS honours the setting too.
     private struct Blob {
-        let rgb: SIMD3<Double>
         let center: CGPoint
         let drift: CGSize
         let speed: (x: Double, y: Double)
@@ -293,20 +278,16 @@ private struct LegacyBlobField: View {
     }
 
     private static let blobs: [Blob] = [
-        Blob(rgb: SIMD3(0.53, 0.47, 0.96), // brand violet
-             center: CGPoint(x: 0.30, y: 0.24), drift: CGSize(width: 0.16, height: 0.10),
+        Blob(center: CGPoint(x: 0.30, y: 0.24), drift: CGSize(width: 0.16, height: 0.10),
              speed: (0.111, 0.083), phase: (0.0, 1.9),
              radius: 0.52, breathe: (0.07, 0.061), opacity: 0.52),
-        Blob(rgb: SIMD3(0.24, 0.20, 0.72), // deep indigo
-             center: CGPoint(x: 0.78, y: 0.66), drift: CGSize(width: 0.13, height: 0.14),
+        Blob(center: CGPoint(x: 0.78, y: 0.66), drift: CGSize(width: 0.13, height: 0.14),
              speed: (0.071, 0.096), phase: (2.4, 0.7),
              radius: 0.58, breathe: (0.08, 0.049), opacity: 0.55),
-        Blob(rgb: SIMD3(0.62, 0.30, 0.80), // plum
-             center: CGPoint(x: 0.16, y: 0.82), drift: CGSize(width: 0.12, height: 0.09),
+        Blob(center: CGPoint(x: 0.16, y: 0.82), drift: CGSize(width: 0.12, height: 0.09),
              speed: (0.089, 0.067), phase: (4.1, 3.2),
              radius: 0.44, breathe: (0.09, 0.078), opacity: 0.42),
-        Blob(rgb: SIMD3(0.22, 0.38, 0.86), // cool blue
-             center: CGPoint(x: 0.70, y: 0.12), drift: CGSize(width: 0.10, height: 0.08),
+        Blob(center: CGPoint(x: 0.70, y: 0.12), drift: CGSize(width: 0.10, height: 0.08),
              speed: (0.059, 0.104), phase: (1.2, 5.0),
              radius: 0.40, breathe: (0.06, 0.055), opacity: 0.38),
     ]
@@ -316,19 +297,21 @@ private struct LegacyBlobField: View {
             let side = max(geo.size.width, geo.size.height)
             ZStack {
                 ForEach(Self.blobs.indices, id: \.self) { i in
-                    blobView(Self.blobs[i], in: geo.size, side: side)
+                    blobView(Self.blobs[i], tone: palette.blobColors[i], in: geo.size, side: side)
                 }
             }
             .drawingGroup()
         }
     }
 
-    private func blobView(_ blob: Blob, in size: CGSize, side: CGFloat) -> some View {
+    private func blobView(
+        _ blob: Blob, tone: SIMD3<Double>, in size: CGSize, side: CGFloat
+    ) -> some View {
         let x = blob.center.x + blob.drift.width * CGFloat(sin(t * blob.speed.x + blob.phase.x))
         let y = blob.center.y + blob.drift.height * CGFloat(cos(t * blob.speed.y + blob.phase.y))
         let r = side * blob.radius
             * (1 + blob.breathe.amount * CGFloat(sin(t * blob.breathe.speed + blob.phase.x)))
-        let color = GamepadScreenBackground.color(palette.tint(blob.rgb))
+        let color = GamepadScreenBackground.color(tone)
         return Circle()
             .fill(RadialGradient(
                 colors: [color, color.opacity(0)],
@@ -336,7 +319,9 @@ private struct LegacyBlobField: View {
             .frame(width: r, height: r)
             .position(x: x * size.width, y: y * size.height)
             .opacity(blob.opacity)
-            .blendMode(.plusLighter)
+            // Additive only works over a DARK ground; over a pale one every blob saturates to
+            // white and the field turns grey. Pale palettes tint instead.
+            .blendMode(palette.light ? .normal : .plusLighter)
     }
 }
 
@@ -346,15 +331,17 @@ private struct LegacyBlobField: View {
 /// the tray's text sits on a softly blurred backdrop that dissolves into the rows.
 struct GamepadTrayScrim: View {
     let edge: VerticalEdge
+    @Environment(\.gamepadInk) private var ink
 
     var body: some View {
         let fromEdge: UnitPoint = edge == .top ? .top : .bottom
         let toContent: UnitPoint = edge == .top ? .bottom : .top
         Rectangle()
             .fill(.ultraThinMaterial)
-            // These trays always sit on the dark console UI; force dark so the material frosts dark
-            // (white text stays legible) regardless of the system appearance.
-            .environment(\.colorScheme, .dark)
+            // Force the frost to match the PALETTE, not the system appearance: the tray exists
+            // to keep the pinned title legible, so it has to frost dark under white ink and
+            // light under dark ink.
+            .environment(\.colorScheme, ink.isLight ? .light : .dark)
             // Fade the whole blur out toward the content so it dissolves rather than ending on a line.
             .mask {
                 LinearGradient(
@@ -404,6 +391,7 @@ struct ConsoleBareButtonStyle: ButtonStyle {
 /// chip in the launcher's top bar. Callers observe GamepadManager already, so this re-renders
 /// when the pad or its battery state changes.
 struct ControllerStatusChip: View {
+    @Environment(\.gamepadInk) private var ink
     let controller: GamepadManager.DiscoveredController
 
     // Legible from the couch on tvOS, quiet in hand elsewhere.
@@ -428,15 +416,15 @@ struct ControllerStatusChip: View {
                 Image(systemName: batterySymbol(level))
                     .font(.system(size: Self.font))
                     .foregroundStyle(level <= 0.2 && !controller.isCharging
-                        ? AnyShapeStyle(.red) : AnyShapeStyle(.white.opacity(0.7)))
+                        ? AnyShapeStyle(.red) : AnyShapeStyle(ink.fg(0.7)))
             }
         }
         .font(.geist(Self.font, .medium, relativeTo: .caption))
-        .foregroundStyle(.white.opacity(0.7))
+        .foregroundStyle(ink.fg(0.7))
         .padding(.horizontal, Self.hPad)
         .padding(.vertical, Self.vPad)
-        .background(Capsule().fill(.white.opacity(0.08)))
-        .overlay(Capsule().strokeBorder(.white.opacity(0.12), lineWidth: 1))
+        .background(Capsule().fill(ink.fg(0.08)))
+        .overlay(Capsule().strokeBorder(ink.fg(0.12), lineWidth: 1))
     }
 
     private func batterySymbol(_ level: Float) -> String {
diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadHomeView.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadHomeView.swift
index 1282fdb8..030ce2dd 100644
--- a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadHomeView.swift
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadHomeView.swift
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ private struct HomeTile: Identifiable {
 }
 
 struct GamepadHomeView: View {
+    @Environment(\.gamepadInk) private var ink
     @ObservedObject var store: HostStore
     @ObservedObject var model: SessionModel
     @ObservedObject var discovery: HostDiscovery
@@ -115,6 +116,9 @@ struct GamepadHomeView: View {
                 .padding(.top, compact ? 4 : 8)
         }
         .background { GamepadScreenBackground() }
+        // Publish the palette's ink to this screen (text, glass, accent, scrims) — a
+        // pale palette flips all of them, and no leaf should have to read the setting.
+        .gamepadPaletteInk()
         .onAppear { discovery.start() }
         .onDisappear { discovery.stop() }
         // Reachability sweep (mDNS-independent) so routed/VPN hosts that never advertise still show
@@ -186,7 +190,7 @@ struct GamepadHomeView: View {
             statusChip(hidden: true)
             Text("Select a Host")
                 .font(.geist(gamepadTitleSize(compact: compact), .bold, relativeTo: .title))
-                .foregroundStyle(.white)
+                .foregroundStyle(ink.fg)
                 .lineLimit(1)
                 .minimumScaleFactor(0.75)
                 .frame(maxWidth: .infinity)
@@ -355,6 +359,7 @@ struct GamepadHomeView: View {
 /// touch grid's `HostCardView`. Renders only its base look; the centered-tile pop is layered on by
 /// the caller's `.scrollTransition` so it always tracks the real scroll position.
 private struct GamepadHostTile: View {
+    @Environment(\.gamepadInk) private var ink
     let tile: HomeTile
     let size: CGSize
 
@@ -394,7 +399,7 @@ private struct GamepadHostTile: View {
                     if tile.isPaired {
                         Image(systemName: "lock.fill")
                             .font(.system(size: Self.statusFont, weight: .semibold))
-                            .foregroundStyle(.white.opacity(0.5))
+                            .foregroundStyle(ink.fg(0.5))
                     }
                     if tile.isOnline {
                         Circle()
@@ -407,7 +412,7 @@ private struct GamepadHostTile: View {
             Spacer(minLength: 0)
             Text(tile.title)
                 .font(.geist(Self.titleFont, .bold, relativeTo: .title2))
-                .foregroundStyle(.white)
+                .foregroundStyle(ink.fg)
                 .lineLimit(1)
                 .minimumScaleFactor(0.7)
             if let profile = tile.profile {
@@ -417,7 +422,7 @@ private struct GamepadHostTile: View {
             }
             Text(tile.subtitle)
                 .font(.geist(Self.subtitleFont, relativeTo: .caption))
-                .foregroundStyle(.white.opacity(0.55))
+                .foregroundStyle(ink.fg(0.55))
                 .lineLimit(1)
                 .padding(.top, 2)
         }
@@ -427,12 +432,12 @@ private struct GamepadHostTile: View {
         // Add-Host tiles stay neutral glass with a dashed edge. Glass clips to the shape itself.
         .consoleGlass(
             RoundedRectangle(cornerRadius: Self.corner, style: .continuous),
-            tint: tile.filled ? Color.brand.opacity(0.20) : nil)
+            tint: tile.filled ? ink.accent(0.20) : nil)
         .overlay {
             RoundedRectangle(cornerRadius: Self.corner, style: .continuous)
                 .strokeBorder(
                     LinearGradient(
-                        colors: [.white.opacity(0.22), .white.opacity(0.04)],
+                        colors: [ink.fg(0.22), ink.fg(0.04)],
                         startPoint: .top, endPoint: .bottom),
                     style: StrokeStyle(lineWidth: 1, dash: tile.filled ? [] : [6, 5]))
         }
@@ -444,15 +449,15 @@ private struct GamepadHostTile: View {
         return ZStack {
             shape.fill(tile.filled
                 ? AnyShapeStyle(LinearGradient(
-                    colors: [Color.brand, Color.brand.opacity(0.68)],
+                    colors: [ink.accent, ink.accent(0.68)],
                     startPoint: .top, endPoint: .bottom))
-                : AnyShapeStyle(Color.brand.opacity(0.16)))
+                : AnyShapeStyle(ink.accent(0.16)))
             if tile.isConnecting {
-                ProgressView().tint(.white)
+                ProgressView().tint(ink.fg)
             } else if let icon = tile.icon {
                 Image(systemName: icon)
                     .font(.system(size: Self.iconFont, weight: .semibold))
-                    .foregroundStyle(Color.brand)
+                    .foregroundStyle(ink.accent)
             } else if let mark = osIconImage(for: tile.osChain) {
                 // The OS mark stands in for the initial (template asset — tints like the text it
                 // replaces), and carries the label, since nothing else on the tile names the OS.
@@ -460,18 +465,18 @@ private struct GamepadHostTile: View {
                     .resizable()
                     .scaledToFit()
                     .frame(width: Self.monogramFont, height: Self.monogramFont)
-                    .foregroundStyle(tile.filled ? .white : Color.brand)
+                    .foregroundStyle(tile.filled ? ink.fg : ink.accent)
                     .accessibilityLabel(tile.osChain ?? "")
             } else {
                 Text(monogram(tile.title))
                     .font(.geistFixed(Self.monogramFont, .bold))
-                    .foregroundStyle(tile.filled ? .white : Color.brand)
+                    .foregroundStyle(tile.filled ? ink.fg : ink.accent)
             }
         }
         .frame(width: Self.badgeSide, height: Self.badgeSide)
         .overlay {
             if !tile.filled {
-                shape.strokeBorder(Color.brand.opacity(0.5), lineWidth: 1)
+                shape.strokeBorder(ink.accent(0.5), lineWidth: 1)
             }
         }
     }
diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadInk.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadInk.swift
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fbb74b34
--- /dev/null
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadInk.swift
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+// The ink the gamepad UI draws with under the chosen background palette.
+//
+// The console screens were white-on-dark throughout with the brand violet hardcoded as the
+// accent. Both had to become palette-derived at once: a pale field needs dark text or it is
+// unreadable, and a violet focus wash on a copper field is exactly the clash this exists to fix.
+//
+// Handed down the view tree as an environment value rather than passed to each screen, so a
+// leaf (a row, a hint pill, a card) can ask for the right colour without every caller in between
+// knowing about palettes. `pf-console-ui` does the same thing with a thread-local `Ink`.
+
+import PunktfunkShared
+import SwiftUI
+
+#if os(iOS) || os(macOS) || os(tvOS)
+
+struct GamepadInk: Equatable, Sendable {
+    /// Primary text/glyph colour.
+    let fg: Color
+    /// Focus wash, selected tab pill, switch track, caret — the palette's own accent.
+    let accent: Color
+    /// What reads ON the accent (a filled pill's label).
+    let onAccent: Color
+    /// The base fill every glass surface starts from.
+    let glass: Color
+    /// What a wash laid UNDER text tends toward: black on a dark field, white on a pale one.
+    let shade: Color
+    /// How hard those washes go. A pale field needs far less — mixing toward white at the dark
+    /// field's strength bleaches the chroma straight out of the gradient.
+    let shadeScale: Double
+    /// True when the field is pale, for the few places that need to branch rather than blend
+    /// (a material's `colorScheme`, a shadow's presence).
+    let isLight: Bool
+
+    /// The foreground at `alpha`.
+    func fg(_ alpha: Double) -> Color { fg.opacity(alpha) }
+    /// The accent at `alpha`.
+    func accent(_ alpha: Double) -> Color { accent.opacity(alpha) }
+    /// A wash under text: `alpha` is the dark-field strength, scaled for a pale one.
+    func shade(_ alpha: Double) -> Color { shade.opacity(alpha * shadeScale) }
+
+    static func of(_ p: GamepadPalette) -> GamepadInk {
+        let accent = Color(red: p.accent.x, green: p.accent.y, blue: p.accent.z)
+        let accentLuma = 0.2126 * p.accent.x + 0.7152 * p.accent.y + 0.0722 * p.accent.z
+        // Chosen by luminance, not by `light`: an accent is picked for contrast against the
+        // GLASS, not against the field.
+        let onAccent: Color = accentLuma > 0.55 ? .black : .white
+        guard p.light else {
+            return GamepadInk(
+                fg: .white, accent: accent, onAccent: onAccent,
+                glass: Color(red: 0.086, green: 0.086, blue: 0.125),
+                shade: .black, shadeScale: 1, isLight: false)
+        }
+        return GamepadInk(
+            // Tinted toward the palette's own ground so it doesn't read as a foreign grey.
+            fg: Color(red: p.ground.x * 0.16, green: p.ground.y * 0.14, blue: p.ground.z * 0.20),
+            accent: accent, onAccent: onAccent,
+            glass: .white,
+            shade: .white, shadeScale: 0.45, isLight: true)
+    }
+
+    /// The shipped dark look — what a preview or a test composition gets.
+    static let dark = GamepadInk.of(GamepadPalette.named("violet"))
+}
+
+private struct GamepadInkKey: EnvironmentKey {
+    static let defaultValue = GamepadInk.dark
+}
+
+extension EnvironmentValues {
+    /// The ink of the palette currently drawing. Set once, high up (see `GamepadInkModifier`).
+    var gamepadInk: GamepadInk {
+        get { self[GamepadInkKey.self] }
+        set { self[GamepadInkKey.self] = newValue }
+    }
+}
+
+extension View {
+    /// Resolve the stored `ui_palette` and publish its ink to everything below. Applied by the
+    /// gamepad screens' common root so no individual view has to read the setting.
+    func gamepadPaletteInk() -> some View { modifier(GamepadInkModifier()) }
+}
+
+private struct GamepadInkModifier: ViewModifier {
+    @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.uiPalette) private var paletteID = "violet"
+
+    func body(content: Content) -> some View {
+        content.environment(\.gamepadInk, GamepadInk.of(GamepadPalette.named(paletteID)))
+    }
+}
+
+#endif
diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadKeyboard.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadKeyboard.swift
index 05882914..88965c6c 100644
--- a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadKeyboard.swift
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadKeyboard.swift
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import SwiftUI
 #if os(iOS) || os(macOS)
 
 struct GamepadKeyboard: View {
+    @Environment(\.gamepadInk) private var ink
     @Binding var text: String
     /// Restricts typed characters (e.g. digits for a port field); backspace always works.
     var allowed: CharacterSet?
@@ -79,7 +80,7 @@ struct GamepadKeyboard: View {
         }
         .overlay {
             RoundedRectangle(cornerRadius: 22, style: .continuous)
-                .strokeBorder(.white.opacity(0.12), lineWidth: 1)
+                .strokeBorder(ink.fg(0.12), lineWidth: 1)
         }
         .sensoryFeedback(.selection, trigger: cursor)
         .sensoryFeedback(.impact(weight: .light), trigger: pressTick)
@@ -110,11 +111,11 @@ struct GamepadKeyboard: View {
                     .font(.geist(15, .semibold, relativeTo: .callout))
             }
         }
-        .foregroundStyle(focused ? Color.black : .white)
+        .foregroundStyle(focused ? Color.black : ink.fg)
         .frame(maxWidth: .infinity, minHeight: compact ? 34 : 42)
         .background {
             RoundedRectangle(cornerRadius: 9, style: .continuous)
-                .fill(focused ? AnyShapeStyle(Color.brand) : AnyShapeStyle(.white.opacity(0.08)))
+                .fill(focused ? AnyShapeStyle(ink.accent) : AnyShapeStyle(ink.fg(0.08)))
         }
         .animation(.smooth(duration: 0.12), value: focused)
         .contentShape(Rectangle())
diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/LibraryCoverflowView.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/LibraryCoverflowView.swift
index e4d3593f..5f73b0ef 100644
--- a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/LibraryCoverflowView.swift
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/LibraryCoverflowView.swift
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import SwiftUI
 import GameController
 
 struct LibraryCoverflowView: View {
+    @Environment(\.gamepadInk) private var ink
     let games: [GameEntry]
     let imageSession: URLSession?
     var onLaunch: ((String) -> Void)?
@@ -46,6 +47,9 @@ struct LibraryCoverflowView: View {
                 .padding(.vertical, compact ? 6 : 10)
         }
         .background { GamepadScreenBackground() }
+        // Publish the palette's ink to this screen (text, glass, accent, scrims) — a
+        // pale palette flips all of them, and no leaf should have to read the setting.
+        .gamepadPaletteInk()
     }
 
     @ViewBuilder private func content(for size: CGSize) -> some View {
@@ -97,7 +101,7 @@ struct LibraryCoverflowView: View {
             }
             .overlay {
                 RoundedRectangle(cornerRadius: 16, style: .continuous)
-                    .strokeBorder(.white.opacity(0.12), lineWidth: 1)
+                    .strokeBorder(ink.fg(0.12), lineWidth: 1)
             }
             .shadow(color: .black.opacity(0.5), radius: 16, y: 12)
             .scrollTransition { content, phase in
@@ -131,7 +135,7 @@ struct LibraryCoverflowView: View {
         return Text(selected?.isLauncher == true ? "LAUNCHERS" : "GAMES")
             .font(.geist(11, .semibold, relativeTo: .caption2))
             .tracking(1.4)
-            .foregroundStyle(.white.opacity(0.45))
+            .foregroundStyle(ink.fg(0.45))
     }
 
     /// The centered title + store tag — empty (not hidden) so the layout doesn't jump.
@@ -140,18 +144,19 @@ struct LibraryCoverflowView: View {
         VStack(spacing: 6) {
             Text(game?.title ?? " ")
                 .font(.geist(compact ? 22 : 25, .bold, relativeTo: .title))
-                .foregroundStyle(.white)
+                .foregroundStyle(ink.fg)
                 .lineLimit(1)
                 .minimumScaleFactor(0.75)
                 .multilineTextAlignment(.center)
             if let game {
+                // main's richer store label, in the palette's ink.
                 Text(
                     game.isLauncher
                         ? "\(game.storeLabel.uppercased()) · LAUNCHER" : game.storeLabel.uppercased()
                 )
                 .font(.geist(11, .semibold, relativeTo: .caption2))
                 .tracking(1.2)
-                .foregroundStyle(.white.opacity(0.5))
+                .foregroundStyle(ink.fg(0.5))
             }
         }
         .frame(maxWidth: .infinity)
diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Settings/GamepadSettingsView.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Settings/GamepadSettingsView.swift
index 355c72d7..c23452cb 100644
--- a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Settings/GamepadSettingsView.swift
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Settings/GamepadSettingsView.swift
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ enum GpSettingsTab: String, CaseIterable, Hashable {
 }
 
 struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
+    @Environment(\.gamepadInk) private var ink
     @Environment(\.dismiss) private var dismiss
     /// The saved-host store — the pin picker writes `setPinned` through it and the profile rows
     /// count pins from its live hosts. Threaded in from GamepadHomeView like the home screen
@@ -136,7 +137,7 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
             VStack(spacing: compact ? 4 : 8) {
                 Text(title)
                     .font(.geist(gamepadTitleSize(compact: compact), .bold, relativeTo: .title))
-                    .foregroundStyle(.white)
+                    .foregroundStyle(ink.fg)
                     .frame(maxWidth: .infinity)
                     .overlay(alignment: .trailing) { closeButton.padding(.trailing, 20) }
                 // The picker is one layer deeper — its rows aren't sections of anything, so the
@@ -151,7 +152,7 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
             VStack(alignment: .leading, spacing: 8) {
                 Text(focusedDetail)
                     .font(.geist(GamepadFormMetrics.detailFont, relativeTo: .caption))
-                    .foregroundStyle(.white.opacity(0.55))
+                    .foregroundStyle(ink.fg(0.55))
                     .lineLimit(2, reservesSpace: true)
                     .animation(.smooth(duration: 0.2), value: focusID)
                 GamepadHintBar(hints: hints)
@@ -168,6 +169,9 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
         // colour and luminance to lens without the launcher's contrast, and the palette setting
         // applies here too, so this screen previews the row you're stepping.
         .background { GamepadFormBackground() }
+        // Publish the palette's ink to this screen (text, glass, accent, scrims) — a
+        // pale palette flips all of them, and no leaf should have to read the setting.
+        .gamepadPaletteInk()
         .onAppear {
             gamepads.refresh()
             gamepads.startDiscovery()
@@ -220,7 +224,7 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
         let selected = t == tab
         return Text(t.rawValue)
             .font(.geist(compact ? 12 : 13, .semibold, relativeTo: .footnote))
-            .foregroundStyle(selected ? .white : .white.opacity(0.55))
+            .foregroundStyle(selected ? ink.fg : ink.fg(0.55))
             .padding(.horizontal, 13)
             .padding(.vertical, 7)
             .background {
@@ -228,7 +232,7 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
                 // in and out — the highlight travels the way the press did.
                 if selected {
                     Capsule()
-                        .fill(Color.brand.opacity(0.85))
+                        .fill(ink.accent(0.85))
                         .matchedGeometryEffect(id: "tab", in: tabHighlight)
                 }
             }
@@ -276,7 +280,7 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
         Button { dismiss() } label: {
             Image(systemName: "xmark")
                 .font(.system(size: GamepadFormMetrics.closeFont, weight: .semibold))
-                .foregroundStyle(.white)
+                .foregroundStyle(ink.fg)
                 .frame(width: GamepadFormMetrics.closeSide, height: GamepadFormMetrics.closeSide)
                 .glassBackground(Circle(), interactive: true)
                 .contentShape(Circle())
@@ -347,18 +351,18 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
             HStack(spacing: 14) {
                 Image(systemName: row.icon)
                     .font(.system(size: m.iconFont))
-                    .foregroundStyle(focused ? Color.brand : .white.opacity(0.55))
+                    .foregroundStyle(focused ? ink.accent : ink.fg(0.55))
                     .frame(width: m.iconWidth)
                 Text(row.label)
                     .font(.geist(m.labelFont, .semibold, relativeTo: .body))
-                    .foregroundStyle(.white)
+                    .foregroundStyle(ink.fg)
                     .lineLimit(1)
                 Spacer(minLength: 12)
                 HStack(spacing: 9) {
                     Image(systemName: "chevron.left")
                         .font(.system(size: m.chevronFont, weight: .semibold))
                         .foregroundStyle(
-                            .white.opacity(focused && row.adjustable && row.enabled ? 0.6 : 0))
+                            ink.fg(focused && row.adjustable && row.enabled ? 0.6 : 0))
                     // Keyed by the value so a change slides the new option in instead of
                     // hard-swapping the string — a QUIET horizontal slip following the user's
                     // motion (a right-step enters from the right), crossfading over ~14 pt.
@@ -369,7 +373,7 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
                     ZStack {
                         Text(row.value)
                             .font(.geist(m.valueFont, .medium, relativeTo: .callout))
-                            .foregroundStyle(focused ? .white : .white.opacity(0.6))
+                            .foregroundStyle(focused ? ink.fg : ink.fg(0.6))
                             .lineLimit(1)
                             .id(row.value)
                             .transition(.asymmetric(
@@ -380,7 +384,7 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
                     Image(systemName: "chevron.right")
                         .font(.system(size: m.chevronFont, weight: .semibold))
                         .foregroundStyle(
-                            .white.opacity(focused && row.adjustable && row.enabled ? 0.6 : 0))
+                            ink.fg(focused && row.adjustable && row.enabled ? 0.6 : 0))
                 }
             }
             // Contents only — the glass and border below stay at full strength, so a dimmed row
@@ -391,11 +395,11 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
             // Every row is Liquid Glass; the focused one takes a brand wash and reacts to press.
             .consoleGlass(
                 RoundedRectangle(cornerRadius: m.rowCorner, style: .continuous),
-                tint: focused ? Color.brand.opacity(0.30) : nil,
+                tint: focused ? ink.accent(0.30) : nil,
                 interactive: focused)
             .overlay {
                 RoundedRectangle(cornerRadius: m.rowCorner, style: .continuous)
-                    .strokeBorder(.white.opacity(focused ? 0.28 : 0.06), lineWidth: 1)
+                    .strokeBorder(ink.fg(focused ? 0.28 : 0.06), lineWidth: 1)
             }
             .scaleEffect(focused ? 1.0 : 0.98)
             .animation(.smooth(duration: 0.18), value: focused)
diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Support/GlassStyle.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Support/GlassStyle.swift
index bfa111c7..6f429e44 100644
--- a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Support/GlassStyle.swift
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Support/GlassStyle.swift
@@ -80,6 +80,12 @@ private struct ConsoleGlass<S: Shape>: ViewModifier {
     let shape: S
     var tint: Color?
     var interactive = false
+    /// The console surface follows the background palette: a PALE field needs the material to
+    /// frost light and the glass to read as white, or the dark ink on top of it disappears.
+    /// Defaults to the dark ink, so every non-gamepad caller is unchanged.
+    @Environment(\.gamepadInk) private var ink
+
+    private var scheme: ColorScheme { ink.isLight ? .light : .dark }
 
     func body(content: Content) -> some View {
         #if os(tvOS)
@@ -89,16 +95,16 @@ private struct ConsoleGlass<S: Shape>: ViewModifier {
         // the 10-foot platform). The tint rides an overlay so the focused row keeps its wash.
         content.background {
             shape.fill(.ultraThinMaterial)
-                .environment(\.colorScheme, .dark)
+                .environment(\.colorScheme, scheme)
                 .overlay {
                     if let tint { shape.fill(tint) }
                 }
         }
         #else
         if #available(iOS 26, macOS 26, *) {
-            content.glassEffect(glass, in: shape)
+            content.glassEffect(glass, in: shape).environment(\.colorScheme, scheme)
         } else {
-            content.background { shape.fill(.ultraThinMaterial).environment(\.colorScheme, .dark) }
+            content.background { shape.fill(.ultraThinMaterial).environment(\.colorScheme, scheme) }
         }
         #endif
     }
diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkShared/GamepadPalette.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkShared/GamepadPalette.swift
index c5c1b976..09b6d702 100644
--- a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkShared/GamepadPalette.swift
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkShared/GamepadPalette.swift
@@ -1,14 +1,18 @@
-// The gamepad UI's background colour families.
+// The gamepad UI's background colour families, and the ink each one calls for.
 //
-// A palette is NOT a second hand-tuned colour field: it is a hue rotation + saturation scale
-// applied to the ONE field GamepadScreenBackground already draws, so every palette inherits its
-// structure (dark corners, bright interior pools, warm-left/cool-right) and the brand default is
-// exactly the shipped look — `violet` is the identity transform.
+// A palette is a short ordered ramp of DISTINCT hues, not one hue at several brightnesses. The
+// 4×4 mesh samples that ramp diagonally with a per-cell offset (`cellRamp`), so neighbouring
+// cells land on different parts of it and the colours pool and swirl the way a real gradient
+// poster does; the mesh's existing control-point drift then moves those pools around. An earlier
+// version rotated ONE field's hue per palette, which is why every non-default palette read flat.
 //
-// The table and the `tint` math are mirrored in `pf-console-ui`'s `library.rs` (Rust) and the
-// Android client's `GamepadPalette.kt` (Kotlin) under the same ids, so the shared `ui_palette`
-// setting names the same colour family on every client. Keep the three copies in step: a palette
-// added here without the others is a value the other clients will silently render as Violet.
+// A palette also owns the UI sitting on it: `accent` is the focus wash / selected pill / switch
+// colour, and `light` flips the ink so a pale field gets dark text instead of white.
+//
+// The table, `ramp` and `cellRamp` are mirrored in `pf-console-ui`'s `library.rs` (Rust) and the
+// Android client's `GamepadPalette.kt` (Kotlin) under the same ids, so one `ui_palette` value is
+// one look on every client. Keep the three copies in step: a palette added here without the
+// others is a value the other clients silently render as Violet.
 //
 // It lives in PunktfunkShared rather than next to the views because that is the target the tests
 // can reach — the arithmetic below is the part that has to agree across three languages.
@@ -21,20 +25,121 @@ public struct GamepadPalette: Identifiable, Equatable, Sendable {
     public let id: String
     /// What the settings row shows.
     public let name: String
-    /// Hue rotation about the grey axis, degrees — positive runs red → green → blue.
-    public let hueDegrees: Double
-    /// Saturation scale about luminance; 1 keeps the source saturation.
-    public let saturation: Double
+    /// The colour ramp, dark end first. Empty = use `violetMesh` verbatim (the brand default,
+    /// kept bit-identical to what every install already sees).
+    public let stops: [SIMD3<Double>]
+    /// The field's ground — what the corners settle onto and what the calm mix lifts toward.
+    public let ground: SIMD3<Double>
+    /// The UI accent: focus wash, selected tab pill, switch track, caret.
+    public let accent: SIMD3<Double>
+    /// A pale field: the UI flips to dark ink and the legibility scrims go white.
+    public let light: Bool
 
-    /// The six shipped palettes, in cycling order: the brand violet, then cool → warm, then the
-    /// neutral.
+    /// Where each of the 16 mesh cells samples the ramp. The base is the diagonal
+    /// `0.5·(x + y)` — top-left is the ramp's dark end, bottom-right its bright one — and the
+    /// per-cell nudges break the banding a pure diagonal would give, so hues pool instead of
+    /// striping.
+    static let cellRamp: [Double] = [
+         0.10, -0.06,  0.04, -0.12,
+        -0.08,  0.14, -0.10,  0.06,
+         0.06, -0.12,  0.16, -0.04,
+        -0.10,  0.08, -0.06,  0.12,
+    ]
+
+    /// The brand default's 16 mesh colours, row-major 4×4: dark-violet corners sink the frame,
+    /// the edges carry mid-tone violets, and the interior holds the bright brand family.
+    public static let violetMesh: [SIMD3<Double>] = {
+        let corner = SIMD3(0.075, 0.060, 0.160)
+        return [
+            corner, SIMD3(0.34, 0.27, 0.72), SIMD3(0.30, 0.26, 0.74), corner,
+            SIMD3(0.42, 0.20, 0.54), SIMD3(0.49, 0.39, 0.95), SIMD3(0.28, 0.31, 0.84), SIMD3(0.16, 0.26, 0.64),
+            SIMD3(0.45, 0.23, 0.60), SIMD3(0.53, 0.31, 0.75), SIMD3(0.35, 0.35, 0.91), SIMD3(0.19, 0.28, 0.70),
+            corner, SIMD3(0.22, 0.18, 0.54), SIMD3(0.24, 0.20, 0.58), corner,
+        ]
+    }()
+
+    /// The brand default's blob ramp — the four colours the pre-18/15 legacy field used, kept so
+    /// `violet` is unchanged on older OSes too.
+    static let violetBlobs: [SIMD3<Double>] = [
+        SIMD3(0.53, 0.47, 0.96), SIMD3(0.24, 0.20, 0.72), SIMD3(0.62, 0.30, 0.80),
+        SIMD3(0.22, 0.38, 0.86), SIMD3(0.53, 0.47, 0.96),
+    ]
+
+    /// The twelve shipped palettes: the brand default, five more dark fields, then six pale
+    /// ones. Cycling order runs dark → light, so stepping the row walks the whole range one way.
     public static let all: [GamepadPalette] = [
-        GamepadPalette(id: "violet", name: "Violet", hueDegrees: 0, saturation: 1.0),
-        GamepadPalette(id: "tide", name: "Tide", hueDegrees: -70, saturation: 1.0),
-        GamepadPalette(id: "forest", name: "Forest", hueDegrees: -130, saturation: 0.9),
-        GamepadPalette(id: "ember", name: "Ember", hueDegrees: 105, saturation: 1.0),
-        GamepadPalette(id: "rose", name: "Rose", hueDegrees: 60, saturation: 0.95),
-        GamepadPalette(id: "graphite", name: "Graphite", hueDegrees: 0, saturation: 0.12),
+        // --- dark fields (white ink) ---
+        GamepadPalette(
+            id: "violet", name: "Violet", stops: [],
+            ground: SIMD3(0.075, 0.060, 0.160), accent: SIMD3(0.525, 0.471, 0.961), light: false),
+        GamepadPalette(
+            // Deep indigo climbing through violet into a hot magenta.
+            id: "nebula", name: "Nebula",
+            stops: [SIMD3(0.07, 0.05, 0.20), SIMD3(0.26, 0.14, 0.54), SIMD3(0.52, 0.20, 0.72),
+                    SIMD3(0.82, 0.26, 0.62), SIMD3(0.98, 0.46, 0.68)],
+            ground: SIMD3(0.055, 0.040, 0.135), accent: SIMD3(0.95, 0.42, 0.72), light: false),
+        GamepadPalette(
+            // Ink-blue water: teal → cerulean → a violet undertow.
+            id: "abyss", name: "Abyss",
+            stops: [SIMD3(0.02, 0.10, 0.17), SIMD3(0.04, 0.28, 0.42), SIMD3(0.07, 0.46, 0.63),
+                    SIMD3(0.16, 0.38, 0.78), SIMD3(0.26, 0.22, 0.58)],
+            ground: SIMD3(0.018, 0.070, 0.130), accent: SIMD3(0.26, 0.76, 0.92), light: false),
+        GamepadPalette(
+            // Banked coals: plum embers → crimson → burnt orange → gold.
+            id: "ember", name: "Ember",
+            stops: [SIMD3(0.16, 0.03, 0.10), SIMD3(0.45, 0.06, 0.12), SIMD3(0.72, 0.18, 0.06),
+                    SIMD3(0.90, 0.42, 0.08), SIMD3(0.95, 0.68, 0.18)],
+            ground: SIMD3(0.090, 0.035, 0.040), accent: SIMD3(0.98, 0.62, 0.26), light: false),
+        GamepadPalette(
+            // Forest floor into moss and a lime break.
+            id: "moss", name: "Moss",
+            stops: [SIMD3(0.03, 0.11, 0.09), SIMD3(0.06, 0.27, 0.20), SIMD3(0.09, 0.45, 0.31),
+                    SIMD3(0.28, 0.61, 0.28), SIMD3(0.58, 0.77, 0.31)],
+            ground: SIMD3(0.025, 0.085, 0.070), accent: SIMD3(0.48, 0.86, 0.46), light: false),
+        GamepadPalette(
+            // Neutral, but never flat: barely-there saturation that still travels from a cool
+            // charcoal to a warm stone.
+            id: "graphite", name: "Graphite",
+            stops: [SIMD3(0.06, 0.07, 0.11), SIMD3(0.15, 0.18, 0.25), SIMD3(0.30, 0.31, 0.35),
+                    SIMD3(0.45, 0.42, 0.38), SIMD3(0.60, 0.56, 0.49)],
+            ground: SIMD3(0.055, 0.055, 0.070), accent: SIMD3(0.78, 0.80, 0.86), light: false),
+        // --- pale fields (dark ink) ---
+        GamepadPalette(
+            // The holographic foil: rose → lilac → periwinkle → aqua, with a white bloom.
+            id: "holo", name: "Holo",
+            stops: [SIMD3(0.99, 0.72, 0.90), SIMD3(0.80, 0.60, 0.98), SIMD3(0.58, 0.62, 0.99),
+                    SIMD3(0.55, 0.86, 0.98), SIMD3(0.94, 0.98, 1.00)],
+            ground: SIMD3(0.96, 0.92, 0.99), accent: SIMD3(0.42, 0.28, 0.86), light: true),
+        GamepadPalette(
+            // The poster sunset: periwinkle → magenta → scarlet → tangerine → gold.
+            id: "sunset", name: "Sunset",
+            stops: [SIMD3(0.55, 0.45, 0.92), SIMD3(0.86, 0.31, 0.66), SIMD3(0.97, 0.26, 0.34),
+                    SIMD3(0.99, 0.51, 0.18), SIMD3(1.00, 0.80, 0.22)],
+            ground: SIMD3(0.98, 0.74, 0.34), accent: SIMD3(0.64, 0.13, 0.44), light: true),
+        GamepadPalette(
+            // Peach into blush and lilac — the softest of the set.
+            id: "bloom", name: "Bloom",
+            stops: [SIMD3(1.00, 0.86, 0.72), SIMD3(0.99, 0.73, 0.79), SIMD3(0.95, 0.65, 0.89),
+                    SIMD3(0.82, 0.68, 0.96), SIMD3(0.73, 0.79, 0.99)],
+            ground: SIMD3(0.99, 0.90, 0.89), accent: SIMD3(0.72, 0.24, 0.55), light: true),
+        GamepadPalette(
+            // First light: pale gold → coral → lilac.
+            id: "dawn", name: "Dawn",
+            stops: [SIMD3(1.00, 0.92, 0.70), SIMD3(1.00, 0.80, 0.62), SIMD3(0.99, 0.66, 0.62),
+                    SIMD3(0.90, 0.62, 0.78), SIMD3(0.77, 0.69, 0.95)],
+            ground: SIMD3(1.00, 0.93, 0.82), accent: SIMD3(0.82, 0.33, 0.28), light: true),
+        GamepadPalette(
+            // Sea glass: mint → aqua → a pale sky.
+            id: "mint", name: "Mint",
+            stops: [SIMD3(0.82, 0.98, 0.90), SIMD3(0.62, 0.94, 0.88), SIMD3(0.55, 0.88, 0.95),
+                    SIMD3(0.63, 0.82, 0.99), SIMD3(0.82, 0.87, 1.00)],
+            ground: SIMD3(0.90, 0.98, 0.96), accent: SIMD3(0.04, 0.42, 0.40), light: true),
+        GamepadPalette(
+            // Near-white, but iridescent rather than flat — rose, sky, mint and cream in turn.
+            id: "opal", name: "Opal",
+            stops: [SIMD3(0.98, 0.92, 0.96), SIMD3(0.87, 0.93, 0.99), SIMD3(0.91, 0.99, 0.95),
+                    SIMD3(0.99, 0.96, 0.88), SIMD3(0.94, 0.90, 0.99)],
+            ground: SIMD3(0.97, 0.96, 0.99), accent: SIMD3(0.36, 0.32, 0.44), light: true),
     ]
 
     /// The palette stored under `id`, falling back to the brand default — an unknown name is a
@@ -43,37 +148,30 @@ public struct GamepadPalette: Identifiable, Equatable, Sendable {
         all.first { $0.id == id } ?? all[0]
     }
 
-    /// `true` for the identity transform, so the default path can skip the per-colour work.
-    public var isIdentity: Bool { hueDegrees == 0 && saturation == 1 }
-
-    /// Apply this palette to one RGB triple.
-    public func tint(_ c: SIMD3<Double>) -> SIMD3<Double> {
-        guard !isIdentity else { return c }
-        return GamepadPalette.tint(c, hueDegrees: hueDegrees, saturation: saturation)
+    /// Sample an ordered colour ramp at `t` ∈ [0, 1] (linear between neighbouring stops).
+    public static func ramp(_ stops: [SIMD3<Double>], _ t: Double) -> SIMD3<Double> {
+        guard let first = stops.first else { return SIMD3(0, 0, 0) }
+        guard stops.count > 1 else { return first }
+        let x = min(max(t, 0), 1) * Double(stops.count - 1)
+        let i = min(Int(x.rounded(.down)), stops.count - 2)
+        let f = x - Double(i)
+        return stops[i] + (stops[i + 1] - stops[i]) * f
     }
 
-    /// Rotate `c` about the grey axis by `hueDegrees` (Rodrigues — the same rotation the field's
-    /// own ±8° warm/cool sway uses, in the same orientation) and scale its saturation about
-    /// luminance. Clamped, because a large rotation can push a channel out of gamut.
-    ///
-    /// Deliberately computed here rather than left to SwiftUI's `.hueRotation`: that modifier's
-    /// exact behaviour is the framework's, and the Rust and Kotlin clients have no equivalent —
-    /// doing the arithmetic on the COLOURS keeps the three implementations identical.
-    public static func tint(
-        _ c: SIMD3<Double>, hueDegrees: Double, saturation: Double
-    ) -> SIMD3<Double> {
-        let a = hueDegrees * .pi / 180
-        let cs = cos(a)
-        let sn = sin(a)
-        let invSqrt3 = 1 / 3.0.squareRoot()
-        let grey = (c.x + c.y + c.z) / 3 * (1 - cs)
-        // The `sn` term is cross(k, c) with k = (1,1,1)/√3.
-        let rot = SIMD3(
-            c.x * cs + (c.z - c.y) * invSqrt3 * sn + grey,
-            c.y * cs + (c.x - c.z) * invSqrt3 * sn + grey,
-            c.z * cs + (c.y - c.x) * invSqrt3 * sn + grey)
-        let luma = 0.2126 * rot.x + 0.7152 * rot.y + 0.0722 * rot.z
-        func mix(_ v: Double) -> Double { min(max(luma + (v - luma) * saturation, 0), 1) }
-        return SIMD3(mix(rot.x), mix(rot.y), mix(rot.z))
+    /// The 16 mesh colours for this palette: the ramp sampled per cell, or `violetMesh` verbatim
+    /// for the brand default.
+    public var meshColors: [SIMD3<Double>] {
+        guard !stops.isEmpty else { return Self.violetMesh }
+        return (0..<16).map { i in
+            let (x, y) = (Double(i % 4) / 3.0, Double(i / 4) / 3.0)
+            return Self.ramp(stops, 0.5 * (x + y) + Self.cellRamp[i])
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Four drifting blob colours for the pre-18/15 legacy field. Spread across the ramp so it
+    /// still shows several hues at once.
+    public var blobColors: [SIMD3<Double>] {
+        let s = stops.isEmpty ? Self.violetBlobs : stops
+        return (0..<4).map { Self.ramp(s, 0.15 + 0.25 * Double($0)) }
     }
 }
diff --git a/clients/apple/Tests/PunktfunkKitTests/GamepadPaletteTests.swift b/clients/apple/Tests/PunktfunkKitTests/GamepadPaletteTests.swift
index 8b2ab4f7..2a5f7b28 100644
--- a/clients/apple/Tests/PunktfunkKitTests/GamepadPaletteTests.swift
+++ b/clients/apple/Tests/PunktfunkKitTests/GamepadPaletteTests.swift
@@ -1,81 +1,110 @@
 // The gamepad UI's background palettes. These assertions are the CONTRACT the Rust
-// (`pf-console-ui::library::tint`) and Kotlin (`GamepadPalette.tint`) ports have to reproduce —
-// the same ids, the same rotation orientation, the same in-gamut results — so one `ui_palette`
-// value names the same colour family on every client.
+// (`pf-console-ui::library`) and Kotlin (`GamepadPalette.kt`) ports reproduce — the same ids in
+// the same order, the same light/dark split, the same ramp — so one `ui_palette` value is one look
+// on every client.
 
 import XCTest
 import simd
 @testable import PunktfunkShared
 
 final class GamepadPaletteTests: XCTestCase {
-    /// The brightest interior pool of the mesh field — the colour a palette is judged by.
-    private let violetPool = SIMD3(0.49, 0.39, 0.95)
+    private func luma(_ c: SIMD3<Double>) -> Double {
+        0.2126 * c.x + 0.7152 * c.y + 0.0722 * c.z
+    }
 
-    /// The brand default must be the IDENTITY transform. Every existing install already sees the
-    /// shipped violet backdrop, and a palette table that quietly restyled it would be a
+    /// Hue angle in degrees, or nil for something too grey to have one.
+    private func hue(_ c: SIMD3<Double>) -> Double? {
+        let maxV = max(c.x, c.y, c.z)
+        let minV = min(c.x, c.y, c.z)
+        let d = maxV - minV
+        guard d >= 0.04 else { return nil }
+        let h: Double
+        if maxV == c.x {
+            h = 60 * (((c.y - c.z) / d).truncatingRemainder(dividingBy: 6))
+        } else if maxV == c.y {
+            h = 60 * ((c.z - c.x) / d + 2)
+        } else {
+            h = 60 * ((c.x - c.y) / d + 4)
+        }
+        return (h + 360).truncatingRemainder(dividingBy: 360)
+    }
+
+    /// The brand default must still be the SHIPPED field, colour for colour. Every install
+    /// already sees it, and a palette table that quietly restyled the default would be a
     /// regression dressed as a feature.
     func testVioletIsTheUntouchedShippedField() {
         let violet = GamepadPalette.named("violet")
         XCTAssertEqual(GamepadPalette.all.first?.id, "violet")
-        XCTAssertTrue(violet.isIdentity)
-        XCTAssertEqual(violet.tint(violetPool), violetPool)
+        XCTAssertTrue(violet.stops.isEmpty, "the default is the explicit grid")
+        XCTAssertEqual(violet.meshColors, GamepadPalette.violetMesh)
         // An unknown name is a newer client's palette, not an error.
         XCTAssertEqual(GamepadPalette.named("chartreuse").id, "violet")
         XCTAssertEqual(GamepadPalette.named("").id, "violet")
     }
 
-    /// The ids and their order are the cross-client contract (the strip order, and the order
-    /// L1/R1 and A cycle through).
+    /// Ids, order and the light/dark split are the cross-client contract.
     func testTableMatchesTheOtherClients() {
         XCTAssertEqual(
             GamepadPalette.all.map(\.id),
-            ["violet", "tide", "forest", "ember", "rose", "graphite"])
-        XCTAssertEqual(
-            GamepadPalette.all.map(\.name),
-            ["Violet", "Tide", "Forest", "Ember", "Rose", "Graphite"])
+            ["violet", "nebula", "abyss", "ember", "moss", "graphite",
+             "holo", "sunset", "bloom", "dawn", "mint", "opal"])
+        // Dark fields lead, pale ones follow, so stepping the row walks one direction.
+        let firstLight = GamepadPalette.all.firstIndex { $0.light }
+        XCTAssertEqual(firstLight, 6)
+        XCTAssertTrue(GamepadPalette.all.dropFirst(6).allSatisfy(\.light))
     }
 
-    /// A rotation moves the hue while roughly holding luminance, and the saturation scale
-    /// collapses toward grey — the same four checks the Rust test makes.
-    func testTintRotatesHueAndScalesSaturation() {
-        XCTAssertTrue(violetPool.z > violetPool.x && violetPool.z > violetPool.y, "blue-dominant")
-
-        // +105° (Ember) turns the blue-dominant pool red-dominant…
-        let ember = GamepadPalette.named("ember").tint(violetPool)
-        XCTAssertGreaterThan(ember.x, ember.z, "\(ember) should be warm")
-        // …−130° (Forest) turns it green-dominant…
-        let forest = GamepadPalette.named("forest").tint(violetPool)
-        XCTAssertTrue(forest.y > forest.x && forest.y > forest.z, "\(forest)")
-        // …and −70° (Tide) lands on a cyan whose green and blue both beat red.
-        let tide = GamepadPalette.named("tide").tint(violetPool)
-        XCTAssertTrue(tide.y > tide.x && tide.z > tide.x, "\(tide)")
-
-        // Graphite's saturation scale leaves the channels nearly equal…
-        let grey = GamepadPalette.named("graphite").tint(violetPool)
-        let spread = max(grey.x, grey.y, grey.z) - min(grey.x, grey.y, grey.z)
-        XCTAssertLessThan(spread, 0.08, "\(grey)")
-        // …at about the source's luminance (it desaturates, it doesn't dim).
-        let luma = 0.2126 * violetPool.x + 0.7152 * violetPool.y + 0.0722 * violetPool.z
-        XCTAssertEqual(grey.y, luma, accuracy: 0.05)
-    }
-
-    /// Every palette stays in gamut on every colour the field is built from — an out-of-range
-    /// channel would clamp differently on each platform's rasteriser.
-    func testEveryPaletteStaysInGamut() {
-        let field: [SIMD3<Double>] = [
-            SIMD3(0.075, 0.060, 0.160), SIMD3(0.34, 0.27, 0.72), SIMD3(0.30, 0.26, 0.74),
-            SIMD3(0.42, 0.20, 0.54), SIMD3(0.49, 0.39, 0.95), SIMD3(0.28, 0.31, 0.84),
-            SIMD3(0.16, 0.26, 0.64), SIMD3(0.45, 0.23, 0.60), SIMD3(0.53, 0.31, 0.75),
-            SIMD3(0.35, 0.35, 0.91), SIMD3(0.19, 0.28, 0.70), SIMD3(0.22, 0.18, 0.54),
-            SIMD3(0.24, 0.20, 0.58),
-        ]
-        for palette in GamepadPalette.all {
-            for c in field {
-                let t = palette.tint(c)
-                for v in [t.x, t.y, t.z] {
-                    XCTAssertTrue((0...1).contains(v), "\(palette.id) \(c) → \(t)")
+    /// A palette must read as SEVERAL hues, not one hue at several brightnesses — that was
+    /// exactly the complaint about the hue-rotation model this replaced.
+    func testEveryPaletteIsMultiTone() {
+        for p in GamepadPalette.all {
+            let hues = p.meshColors.compactMap(hue)
+            XCTAssertGreaterThanOrEqual(hues.count, 8, "\(p.id): too few coloured cells")
+            var spread = 0.0
+            for a in hues {
+                for b in hues {
+                    let d = abs(a - b).truncatingRemainder(dividingBy: 360)
+                    spread = max(spread, min(d, 360 - d))
                 }
             }
+            // Graphite and Opal are deliberately near-neutral; the rest must travel.
+            let floor = (p.id == "graphite" || p.id == "opal") ? 20.0 : 45.0
+            XCTAssertGreaterThanOrEqual(spread, floor, "\(p.id) spans only \(spread)° of hue")
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Every colour stays in gamut, and a pale palette really is pale — its ink flips, so a
+    /// mislabelled one would put dark text on a dark field.
+    func testPalettesAreInGamutAndHonestAboutLightness() {
+        for p in GamepadPalette.all {
+            for c in p.meshColors + p.blobColors {
+                for v in [c.x, c.y, c.z] {
+                    XCTAssertTrue((0...1).contains(v), "\(p.id) \(c)")
+                }
+            }
+            let mean = p.meshColors.map(luma).reduce(0, +) / Double(p.meshColors.count)
+            if p.light {
+                XCTAssertGreaterThan(mean, 0.5, "\(p.id) is flagged light")
+                XCTAssertGreaterThan(luma(p.ground), 0.6, "\(p.id)'s ground is dark")
+                XCTAssertLessThan(luma(p.accent), 0.45, "\(p.id)'s accent is too pale")
+            } else {
+                XCTAssertLessThan(mean, 0.45, "\(p.id) is flagged dark")
+                XCTAssertLessThan(luma(p.ground), 0.2, "\(p.id)'s ground is light")
+                XCTAssertGreaterThan(luma(p.accent), 0.25, "\(p.id)'s accent is too dark")
+            }
         }
     }
+
+    /// The ramp is the shared sampling rule the Rust and Kotlin ports reproduce.
+    func testRampInterpolatesBetweenStops() {
+        let stops = [SIMD3(0.0, 0.0, 0.0), SIMD3(1.0, 0.0, 0.0), SIMD3(1.0, 1.0, 1.0)]
+        XCTAssertEqual(GamepadPalette.ramp(stops, 0), SIMD3(0.0, 0.0, 0.0))
+        XCTAssertEqual(GamepadPalette.ramp(stops, 1), SIMD3(1.0, 1.0, 1.0))
+        XCTAssertEqual(GamepadPalette.ramp(stops, 0.5), SIMD3(1.0, 0.0, 0.0))
+        XCTAssertEqual(GamepadPalette.ramp(stops, 0.25).x, 0.5, accuracy: 1e-9)
+        // Out of range clamps rather than trapping.
+        XCTAssertEqual(GamepadPalette.ramp(stops, -3), SIMD3(0.0, 0.0, 0.0))
+        XCTAssertEqual(GamepadPalette.ramp(stops, 9), SIMD3(1.0, 1.0, 1.0))
+        XCTAssertEqual(GamepadPalette.ramp([], 0.5), SIMD3(0.0, 0.0, 0.0))
+    }
 }
diff --git a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/glyphs.rs b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/glyphs.rs
index 72422b44..fa224355 100644
--- a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/glyphs.rs
+++ b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/glyphs.rs
@@ -5,9 +5,9 @@
 //! no pad at all the legend swaps to keyboard keycaps — the console stays fully
 //! drivable either way.
 
-use crate::theme::{white, Fonts, W};
+use crate::theme::{fg, Fonts, W};
 use punktfunk_core::config::GamepadPref;
-use skia_safe::{Canvas, Color4f, Paint, Path, Point, RRect, Rect};
+use skia_safe::{Canvas, Paint, Path, Point, RRect, Rect};
 
 #[derive(Clone, Copy, PartialEq, Eq, Debug)]
 pub(crate) enum GlyphStyle {
@@ -94,13 +94,13 @@ pub(crate) fn hint_bar(
     let rect = Rect::from_xywh((x) as f32, (bottom - h) as f32, w as f32, h as f32);
     canvas.draw_rrect(
         RRect::new_rect_xy(rect, (h / 2.0) as f32, (h / 2.0) as f32),
-        &Paint::new(Color4f::new(0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.30), None),
+        &Paint::new(crate::theme::shade(0.30), None),
     );
     canvas.draw_rrect(
         RRect::new_rect_xy(rect, (h / 2.0) as f32, (h / 2.0) as f32),
-        &Paint::new(white(0.06), None),
+        &Paint::new(fg(0.06), None),
     );
-    let mut sp = Paint::new(white(0.12), None);
+    let mut sp = Paint::new(fg(0.12), None);
     sp.set_style(skia_safe::PaintStyle::Stroke);
     sp.set_stroke_width(1.0);
     sp.set_anti_alias(true);
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ pub(crate) fn hint_bar(
             cy + LABEL_SIZE * k * 0.36,
             W::SemiBold,
             LABEL_SIZE * k,
-            white(0.85),
+            fg(0.85),
         );
         pen += lw + gap_hint;
     }
@@ -199,8 +199,8 @@ fn draw_glyph(
         Resolved::Badge(face) => {
             let r = BADGE_D * k / 2.0;
             let center = Point::new((x + r) as f32, cy as f32);
-            canvas.draw_circle(center, r as f32, &Paint::new(white(0.10), None));
-            let mut ring = Paint::new(white(0.32), None);
+            canvas.draw_circle(center, r as f32, &Paint::new(fg(0.10), None));
+            let mut ring = Paint::new(fg(0.32), None);
             ring.set_style(skia_safe::PaintStyle::Stroke);
             ring.set_stroke_width((1.2 * k) as f32);
             ring.set_anti_alias(true);
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ fn draw_glyph(
                     cy + size * 0.36,
                     W::SemiBold,
                     size,
-                    white(0.92),
+                    fg(0.92),
                 );
             }
         }
@@ -235,7 +235,7 @@ fn draw_glyph(
                 let rect = Rect::from_xywh(pen as f32, (cy - h / 2.0) as f32, w as f32, h as f32);
                 canvas.draw_rrect(
                     RRect::new_rect_xy(rect, (4.0 * k) as f32, (4.0 * k) as f32),
-                    &Paint::new(white(0.10), None),
+                    &Paint::new(fg(0.10), None),
                 );
                 let size = 10.0 * k;
                 let tw = fonts.measure(label, W::SemiBold, size) as f64;
@@ -246,7 +246,7 @@ fn draw_glyph(
                     cy + size * 0.36,
                     W::SemiBold,
                     size,
-                    white(0.92),
+                    fg(0.92),
                 );
                 pen += w + 3.0 * k;
             }
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ fn draw_glyph(
             let (cx, cyf) = ((x + r) as f32, cy as f32);
             let (tw, th) = ((4.5 * k) as f32, (5.5 * k) as f32);
             let gap = (2.6 * k) as f32;
-            let paint = Paint::new(white(0.85), None);
+            let paint = Paint::new(fg(0.85), None);
             let mut left = Path::new();
             left.move_to((cx - gap, cyf - th));
             left.line_to((cx - gap - tw, cyf));
@@ -277,9 +277,9 @@ fn draw_glyph(
             let rect = Rect::from_xywh(x as f32, (cy - h / 2.0) as f32, w as f32, h as f32);
             canvas.draw_rrect(
                 RRect::new_rect_xy(rect, (5.0 * k) as f32, (5.0 * k) as f32),
-                &Paint::new(white(0.10), None),
+                &Paint::new(fg(0.10), None),
             );
-            let mut ring = Paint::new(white(0.28), None);
+            let mut ring = Paint::new(fg(0.28), None);
             ring.set_style(skia_safe::PaintStyle::Stroke);
             ring.set_stroke_width(1.0);
             ring.set_anti_alias(true);
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ fn draw_glyph(
                 cy + size * 0.36,
                 W::SemiBold,
                 size,
-                white(0.92),
+                fg(0.92),
             );
         }
     }
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@ fn draw_glyph(
 /// The PlayStation face shapes, stroked inside the badge: Confirm=✕, Back=○, X-position
 /// =□, Y-position=△ (the DualSense's physical layout).
 fn draw_ps_shape(canvas: &Canvas, face: Face, center: Point, r: f32, stroke: f32) {
-    let mut p = Paint::new(white(0.92), None);
+    let mut p = Paint::new(fg(0.92), None);
     p.set_style(skia_safe::PaintStyle::Stroke);
     p.set_stroke_width(stroke);
     p.set_stroke_cap(skia_safe::PaintCap::Round);
diff --git a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/library.rs b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/library.rs
index 0e7f6cf1..53158e13 100644
--- a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/library.rs
+++ b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/library.rs
@@ -205,62 +205,158 @@ pub const MESH_INTERIOR: [(f64, f64, f64, f64, f64, f64); 4] = [
 
 // --- Background palettes -------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-/// One background colour family for the console's living backdrop. A palette is NOT a second
-/// hand-tuned 16-colour grid: it is a hue rotation + saturation scale applied to
-/// [`MESH_COLORS`], so every palette inherits the field's structure (dark corners, bright
-/// interior pools, warm-left/cool-right) and the brand default is exactly the shipped look —
-/// `violet` is the identity transform. The Apple and Android clients carry the same table and
-/// the same [`tint`] math, so a palette reads as the same colour family on every client.
+/// One background colour family for the gamepad UI's living backdrop.
+///
+/// A palette is a short ordered ramp of [`Palette::stops`] — several DISTINCT hues, not one hue
+/// at several brightnesses. The 4×4 mesh samples that ramp diagonally with a per-cell offset
+/// ([`CELL_RAMP`]), so neighbouring cells land on different parts of it and the colours pool and
+/// swirl the way a real gradient poster does; the interior points' existing domain warp then
+/// drifts those pools around. An earlier version rotated ONE field's hue per palette, which is
+/// why every non-default palette read as flat and monotone.
+///
+/// A palette also owns the UI it sits under: [`Palette::accent`] is the focus wash / selected
+/// pill / switch colour, and [`Palette::light`] flips the ink (see [`crate::theme::Ink`]) so a
+/// pale field gets dark text instead of white. The Apple and Android clients carry the same
+/// table under the same ids, so one `ui_palette` value is one look everywhere.
 pub struct Palette {
     /// The stored `ui_palette` value (see `trust::Settings::ui_palette`).
     pub id: &'static str,
     /// What the settings row shows.
     pub name: &'static str,
-    /// Hue rotation about the grey axis, degrees — positive runs red → green → blue.
-    pub hue_deg: f64,
-    /// Saturation scale about luminance; `1.0` keeps the source saturation.
-    pub sat: f64,
+    /// The colour ramp, dark end first. `None` = use [`MESH_COLORS`] verbatim (the brand
+    /// default, kept bit-identical to what every install already sees).
+    pub stops: Option<&'static [(f64, f64, f64)]>,
+    /// The field's ground — what the corners settle onto and what the calm mix lifts toward.
+    pub ground: (f64, f64, f64),
+    /// The UI accent: focus wash, selected tab pill, switch track, caret.
+    pub accent: (f64, f64, f64),
+    /// A pale field: the UI flips to dark ink and the legibility scrims go white.
+    pub light: bool,
 }
 
-/// The six shipped palettes, in cycling order (the brand violet first, then cool → warm,
-/// then the neutral). Adding one here adds it to every console settings screen; the Apple
-/// and Android tables must gain the same entry to keep the `ui_palette` key portable.
-pub const PALETTES: [Palette; 6] = [
+/// Where each of the 16 mesh cells samples the ramp. The base is the diagonal
+/// `0.5·(x + y)` — top-left is the ramp's dark end, bottom-right its bright one, like both
+/// reference gradients — and the per-cell nudges break the banding that a pure diagonal would
+/// give, so hues pool instead of striping.
+#[rustfmt::skip]
+const CELL_RAMP: [f64; 16] = [
+     0.10, -0.06,  0.04, -0.12,
+    -0.08,  0.14, -0.10,  0.06,
+     0.06, -0.12,  0.16, -0.04,
+    -0.10,  0.08, -0.06,  0.12,
+];
+
+/// The twelve shipped palettes: the brand default, five more dark fields, then six pale ones.
+/// Cycling order runs dark → light, so stepping the row walks the whole range in one direction.
+/// Adding one here adds it to every console settings screen; the Apple and Android tables must
+/// gain the same entry to keep the `ui_palette` key portable.
+#[rustfmt::skip]
+pub const PALETTES: [Palette; 12] = [
+    // --- dark fields (white ink) ---
     Palette {
-        id: "violet",
-        name: "Violet",
-        hue_deg: 0.0,
-        sat: 1.0,
+        id: "violet", name: "Violet", stops: None,
+        ground: (0.075, 0.060, 0.160), accent: (0.525, 0.471, 0.961), light: false,
     },
     Palette {
-        id: "tide",
-        name: "Tide",
-        hue_deg: -70.0,
-        sat: 1.0,
+        // Deep indigo climbing through violet into a hot magenta.
+        id: "nebula", name: "Nebula",
+        stops: Some(&[
+            (0.07, 0.05, 0.20), (0.26, 0.14, 0.54), (0.52, 0.20, 0.72),
+            (0.82, 0.26, 0.62), (0.98, 0.46, 0.68),
+        ]),
+        ground: (0.055, 0.040, 0.135), accent: (0.95, 0.42, 0.72), light: false,
     },
     Palette {
-        id: "forest",
-        name: "Forest",
-        hue_deg: -130.0,
-        sat: 0.9,
+        // Ink-blue water: teal → cerulean → a violet undertow.
+        id: "abyss", name: "Abyss",
+        stops: Some(&[
+            (0.02, 0.10, 0.17), (0.04, 0.28, 0.42), (0.07, 0.46, 0.63),
+            (0.16, 0.38, 0.78), (0.26, 0.22, 0.58),
+        ]),
+        ground: (0.018, 0.070, 0.130), accent: (0.26, 0.76, 0.92), light: false,
     },
     Palette {
-        id: "ember",
-        name: "Ember",
-        hue_deg: 105.0,
-        sat: 1.0,
+        // Banked coals: plum embers → crimson → burnt orange → gold.
+        id: "ember", name: "Ember",
+        stops: Some(&[
+            (0.16, 0.03, 0.10), (0.45, 0.06, 0.12), (0.72, 0.18, 0.06),
+            (0.90, 0.42, 0.08), (0.95, 0.68, 0.18),
+        ]),
+        ground: (0.090, 0.035, 0.040), accent: (0.98, 0.62, 0.26), light: false,
     },
     Palette {
-        id: "rose",
-        name: "Rose",
-        hue_deg: 60.0,
-        sat: 0.95,
+        // Forest floor into moss and a lime break.
+        id: "moss", name: "Moss",
+        stops: Some(&[
+            (0.03, 0.11, 0.09), (0.06, 0.27, 0.20), (0.09, 0.45, 0.31),
+            (0.28, 0.61, 0.28), (0.58, 0.77, 0.31),
+        ]),
+        ground: (0.025, 0.085, 0.070), accent: (0.48, 0.86, 0.46), light: false,
     },
     Palette {
-        id: "graphite",
-        name: "Graphite",
-        hue_deg: 0.0,
-        sat: 0.12,
+        // Neutral, but never flat: barely-there saturation that still travels from a cool
+        // charcoal to a warm stone, so even the restrained option has somewhere to go.
+        id: "graphite", name: "Graphite",
+        stops: Some(&[
+            (0.06, 0.07, 0.11), (0.15, 0.18, 0.25), (0.30, 0.31, 0.35),
+            (0.45, 0.42, 0.38), (0.60, 0.56, 0.49),
+        ]),
+        ground: (0.055, 0.055, 0.070), accent: (0.78, 0.80, 0.86), light: false,
+    },
+    // --- pale fields (dark ink) ---
+    Palette {
+        // The holographic foil: rose → lilac → periwinkle → aqua, with a white bloom.
+        id: "holo", name: "Holo",
+        stops: Some(&[
+            (0.99, 0.72, 0.90), (0.80, 0.60, 0.98), (0.58, 0.62, 0.99),
+            (0.55, 0.86, 0.98), (0.94, 0.98, 1.00),
+        ]),
+        ground: (0.96, 0.92, 0.99), accent: (0.42, 0.28, 0.86), light: true,
+    },
+    Palette {
+        // The poster sunset: periwinkle → magenta → scarlet → tangerine → gold.
+        id: "sunset", name: "Sunset",
+        stops: Some(&[
+            (0.55, 0.45, 0.92), (0.86, 0.31, 0.66), (0.97, 0.26, 0.34),
+            (0.99, 0.51, 0.18), (1.00, 0.80, 0.22),
+        ]),
+        ground: (0.98, 0.74, 0.34), accent: (0.64, 0.13, 0.44), light: true,
+    },
+    Palette {
+        // Peach into blush and lilac — the softest of the set.
+        id: "bloom", name: "Bloom",
+        stops: Some(&[
+            (1.00, 0.86, 0.72), (0.99, 0.73, 0.79), (0.95, 0.65, 0.89),
+            (0.82, 0.68, 0.96), (0.73, 0.79, 0.99),
+        ]),
+        ground: (0.99, 0.90, 0.89), accent: (0.72, 0.24, 0.55), light: true,
+    },
+    Palette {
+        // First light: pale gold → coral → lilac.
+        id: "dawn", name: "Dawn",
+        stops: Some(&[
+            (1.00, 0.92, 0.70), (1.00, 0.80, 0.62), (0.99, 0.66, 0.62),
+            (0.90, 0.62, 0.78), (0.77, 0.69, 0.95),
+        ]),
+        ground: (1.00, 0.93, 0.82), accent: (0.82, 0.33, 0.28), light: true,
+    },
+    Palette {
+        // Sea glass: mint → aqua → a pale sky.
+        id: "mint", name: "Mint",
+        stops: Some(&[
+            (0.82, 0.98, 0.90), (0.62, 0.94, 0.88), (0.55, 0.88, 0.95),
+            (0.63, 0.82, 0.99), (0.82, 0.87, 1.00),
+        ]),
+        ground: (0.90, 0.98, 0.96), accent: (0.04, 0.42, 0.40), light: true,
+    },
+    Palette {
+        // Near-white, but iridescent rather than flat — rose, sky, mint and cream in turn.
+        id: "opal", name: "Opal",
+        stops: Some(&[
+            (0.98, 0.92, 0.96), (0.87, 0.93, 0.99), (0.91, 0.99, 0.95),
+            (0.99, 0.96, 0.88), (0.94, 0.90, 0.99),
+        ]),
+        ground: (0.97, 0.96, 0.99), accent: (0.36, 0.32, 0.44), light: true,
     },
 ];
 
@@ -270,35 +366,58 @@ pub fn palette(id: &str) -> &'static Palette {
     PALETTES.iter().find(|p| p.id == id).unwrap_or(&PALETTES[0])
 }
 
-/// Rotate `(r, g, b)` about the grey axis by `deg` (Rodrigues — the same rotation the shader
-/// already uses for the ±8° warm/cool sway) and scale its saturation about luminance. Clamped,
-/// because a large rotation can push a channel out of gamut. Ported verbatim to Swift and
-/// Kotlin: keep the three copies in step or the palettes drift apart between clients.
-pub fn tint(c: (f64, f64, f64), deg: f64, sat: f64) -> (f64, f64, f64) {
-    let (r, g, b) = c;
-    let a = deg.to_radians();
-    let (sn, cs) = a.sin_cos();
-    let inv_sqrt3 = 1.0 / 3.0f64.sqrt();
-    let grey = (r + g + b) / 3.0 * (1.0 - cs);
-    // The `sn` term is `cross(k, c)` with k = (1,1,1)/√3 — the SAME orientation the shader's
-    // own `hue()` uses, so a palette rotation and the ±8° sway agree on which way is warmer.
-    let rot = (
-        r * cs + (b - g) * inv_sqrt3 * sn + grey,
-        g * cs + (r - b) * inv_sqrt3 * sn + grey,
-        b * cs + (g - r) * inv_sqrt3 * sn + grey,
-    );
-    let luma = 0.2126 * rot.0 + 0.7152 * rot.1 + 0.0722 * rot.2;
-    let mix = |v: f64| (luma + (v - luma) * sat).clamp(0.0, 1.0);
-    (mix(rot.0), mix(rot.1), mix(rot.2))
+/// Sample an ordered colour ramp at `t` ∈ [0, 1] (linear between neighbouring stops). Ported
+/// verbatim to Swift and Kotlin — keep the three copies in step or a palette drifts between
+/// clients.
+pub fn ramp(stops: &[(f64, f64, f64)], t: f64) -> (f64, f64, f64) {
+    match stops.len() {
+        0 => (0.0, 0.0, 0.0),
+        1 => stops[0],
+        n => {
+            let x = t.clamp(0.0, 1.0) * (n - 1) as f64;
+            let i = (x.floor() as usize).min(n - 2);
+            let f = x - i as f64;
+            let (a, b) = (stops[i], stops[i + 1]);
+            (
+                a.0 + (b.0 - a.0) * f,
+                a.1 + (b.1 - a.1) * f,
+                a.2 + (b.2 - a.2) * f,
+            )
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 impl Palette {
-    /// [`MESH_COLORS`] under this palette's transform.
+    /// The 16 mesh colours for this palette: the ramp sampled per cell (see [`CELL_RAMP`]), or
+    /// [`MESH_COLORS`] verbatim for the brand default.
     pub fn mesh_colors(&self) -> [(f64, f64, f64); 16] {
-        core::array::from_fn(|i| tint(MESH_COLORS[i], self.hue_deg, self.sat))
+        let Some(stops) = self.stops else {
+            return MESH_COLORS;
+        };
+        core::array::from_fn(|i| {
+            let (x, y) = ((i % 4) as f64 / 3.0, (i / 4) as f64 / 3.0);
+            ramp(stops, 0.5 * (x + y) + CELL_RAMP[i])
+        })
+    }
+
+    /// Four drifting blob colours, for the clients that approximate the mesh with a blob field
+    /// (Android). Spread across the ramp so the field still shows several hues at once.
+    pub fn blob_colors(&self) -> [(f64, f64, f64); 4] {
+        let stops = self.stops.unwrap_or(&VIOLET_BLOBS);
+        core::array::from_fn(|i| ramp(stops, 0.15 + 0.25 * i as f64))
     }
 }
 
+/// The brand default's blob ramp — the four colours the pre-palette Android/legacy-Apple field
+/// used, kept so `violet` is unchanged there too.
+const VIOLET_BLOBS: [(f64, f64, f64); 5] = [
+    (0.53, 0.47, 0.96),
+    (0.24, 0.20, 0.72),
+    (0.62, 0.30, 0.80),
+    (0.22, 0.38, 0.86),
+    (0.53, 0.47, 0.96),
+];
+
 /// The mesh gradient as SkSL, palette + motion baked into the source (resolution, time and
 /// the calm mix are uniforms). A smooth bicubic blend of the 16 colours — a separable
 /// cubic-Bézier basis in x then y, C∞ and edge-to-edge, the fragment-shader analogue of
@@ -337,6 +456,11 @@ pub fn mesh_sksl(colors: &[(f64, f64, f64); 16]) -> String {
          // rgb = the palette's corner colour scaled for the calm lift; a is unused (float4\n\
          // so the uniform block stays 16-byte aligned under any packing rule).\n\
          uniform float4 u_lift;\n\
+         // rgb = what the vignette and scrims tend toward (black under a dark palette, white\n\
+         // under a pale one — darkening a pastel field would strand the dark text on it), and\n\
+         // a = how hard. A pale field needs far less: mixing toward white at the dark field's\n\
+         // strength bleaches the chroma straight out of the gradient.\n\
+         uniform float4 u_scrim;\n\
          \n\
          // Cubic-Bézier basis over four control values — the smooth 4-point blend per axis.\n\
          float bz(float t, float a, float b, float c, float d) {{\n\
@@ -380,15 +504,16 @@ pub fn mesh_sksl(colors: &[(f64, f64, f64); 16]) -> String {
          \x20   // Halved under calm: a launcher's cards sit in the pooled centre, but a form\n\
          \x20   // screen's rows run out toward the edges, where crushing to black just eats them.\n\
          \x20   float2 e = (xy / u_res - 0.5) * 2.0;\n\
-         \x20   float vig = clamp((length(e) - 0.25) / 0.90, 0.0, 1.0) * mix(0.42, 0.21, calm);\n\
-         \x20   col *= 1.0 - vig;\n\
+         \x20   float vig = clamp((length(e) - 0.25) / 0.90, 0.0, 1.0)\n\
+         \x20             * mix(0.42, 0.21, calm) * u_scrim.a;\n\
+         \x20   col = mix(col, u_scrim.rgb, vig);\n\
          \n\
          \x20   // Vertical legibility scrim: black 0.38/0.06/0.08/0.40 at 0/0.32/0.68/1.\n\
          \x20   float v = xy.y / u_res.y;\n\
          \x20   float s = v < 0.32 ? mix(0.38, 0.06, v / 0.32)\n\
          \x20           : v < 0.68 ? mix(0.06, 0.08, (v - 0.32) / 0.36)\n\
          \x20           : mix(0.08, 0.40, (v - 0.68) / 0.32);\n\
-         \x20   col *= 1.0 - s;\n\
+         \x20   col = mix(col, u_scrim.rgb, s * u_scrim.a);\n\
          \n\
          \x20   return half4(half3(col), 1.0);\n\
          }}\n",
@@ -661,49 +786,132 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(src.matches('{').count(), src.matches('}').count());
     }
 
-    /// The brand default must be the IDENTITY transform — the shipped violet backdrop is
-    /// what every existing install already sees, and a palette table that quietly restyled
-    /// it would be a regression dressed as a feature.
+    /// The brand default must still be the SHIPPED field, colour for colour. Every install
+    /// already sees it, and a palette table that quietly restyled the default would be a
+    /// regression dressed as a feature.
     #[test]
     fn violet_is_the_untouched_shipped_field() {
         assert_eq!(PALETTES[0].id, "violet");
-        for (a, b) in palette("violet").mesh_colors().iter().zip(&MESH_COLORS) {
-            assert!((a.0 - b.0).abs() < 1e-9, "{a:?} vs {b:?}");
-            assert!((a.1 - b.1).abs() < 1e-9, "{a:?} vs {b:?}");
-            assert!((a.2 - b.2).abs() < 1e-9, "{a:?} vs {b:?}");
-        }
+        assert!(
+            PALETTES[0].stops.is_none(),
+            "the default is the explicit grid"
+        );
+        assert_eq!(palette("violet").mesh_colors(), MESH_COLORS);
         // An unknown name is a newer client's palette, not an error.
         assert_eq!(palette("chartreuse").id, "violet");
         assert_eq!(palette("").id, "violet");
     }
 
-    /// The transform's two knobs do what they claim: a rotation moves the hue while holding
-    /// roughly the same luminance, and the saturation scale collapses toward grey. These are
-    /// the numbers the Swift and Kotlin ports have to reproduce.
+    /// Hue angle in degrees, or `None` for something too grey to have one.
+    fn hue(c: (f64, f64, f64)) -> Option<f64> {
+        let (r, g, b) = c;
+        let max = r.max(g).max(b);
+        let min = r.min(g).min(b);
+        let d = max - min;
+        if d < 0.04 {
+            return None;
+        }
+        let h = if max == r {
+            60.0 * (((g - b) / d) % 6.0)
+        } else if max == g {
+            60.0 * ((b - r) / d + 2.0)
+        } else {
+            60.0 * ((r - g) / d + 4.0)
+        };
+        Some((h + 360.0) % 360.0)
+    }
+
+    /// A palette must read as SEVERAL hues, not one hue at several brightnesses — that was
+    /// exactly the complaint about the hue-rotation model this replaced. Measured as the
+    /// widest gap between any two of the 16 mesh colours' hue angles.
     #[test]
-    fn tint_rotates_hue_and_scales_saturation() {
-        let violet = MESH_COLORS[5]; // the brightest interior pool: blue dominates
-        assert!(violet.2 > violet.0 && violet.2 > violet.1);
-        // +105° (Ember) turns the blue-dominant pool red-dominant.
-        let ember = tint(violet, 105.0, 1.0);
-        assert!(ember.0 > ember.2, "{ember:?} should be warm");
-        // −130° (Forest) turns it green-dominant.
-        let forest = tint(violet, -130.0, 1.0);
-        assert!(forest.1 > forest.0 && forest.1 > forest.2, "{forest:?}");
-        // Graphite's saturation scale leaves the three channels nearly equal…
-        let grey = tint(violet, 0.0, 0.12);
-        let spread = grey.0.max(grey.1).max(grey.2) - grey.0.min(grey.1).min(grey.2);
-        assert!(spread < 0.08, "{grey:?} spread {spread}");
-        // …at about the source's luminance (it desaturates, it doesn't dim).
-        let luma = 0.2126 * violet.0 + 0.7152 * violet.1 + 0.0722 * violet.2;
-        assert!((grey.1 - luma).abs() < 0.05, "{grey:?} vs luma {luma}");
-        // Every palette stays in gamut on every mesh colour.
+    fn every_palette_is_multi_tone() {
         for p in &PALETTES {
-            for c in p.mesh_colors() {
+            let hues: Vec<f64> = p.mesh_colors().iter().filter_map(|c| hue(*c)).collect();
+            assert!(hues.len() >= 8, "{}: too few coloured cells", p.id);
+            let spread = hues
+                .iter()
+                .flat_map(|a| {
+                    hues.iter().map(move |b| {
+                        let d = (a - b).abs() % 360.0;
+                        d.min(360.0 - d)
+                    })
+                })
+                .fold(0.0f64, f64::max);
+            // Graphite and Opal are deliberately near-neutral; everything else must carry a
+            // real hue journey.
+            let floor = if matches!(p.id, "graphite" | "opal") {
+                20.0
+            } else {
+                45.0
+            };
+            assert!(spread >= floor, "{} spans only {spread:.0}° of hue", p.id);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Ids, order and the light/dark split are the cross-client contract — the Apple and
+    /// Android tables must match this exactly.
+    #[test]
+    fn table_matches_the_other_clients() {
+        let ids: Vec<&str> = PALETTES.iter().map(|p| p.id).collect();
+        assert_eq!(
+            ids,
+            [
+                "violet", "nebula", "abyss", "ember", "moss", "graphite", "holo", "sunset",
+                "bloom", "dawn", "mint", "opal",
+            ]
+        );
+        // Dark fields lead, pale ones follow, so stepping the row walks one direction.
+        let first_light = PALETTES
+            .iter()
+            .position(|p| p.light)
+            .expect("some are light");
+        assert!(PALETTES[first_light..].iter().all(|p| p.light));
+        assert_eq!(first_light, 6);
+    }
+
+    /// Every colour a palette produces stays in gamut, and a pale palette really is pale —
+    /// its ink flips, so a mislabelled one would put dark text on a dark field.
+    #[test]
+    fn palettes_are_in_gamut_and_honest_about_lightness() {
+        let luma = |c: (f64, f64, f64)| 0.2126 * c.0 + 0.7152 * c.1 + 0.0722 * c.2;
+        for p in &PALETTES {
+            for c in p.mesh_colors().iter().chain(p.blob_colors().iter()) {
                 for v in [c.0, c.1, c.2] {
                     assert!((0.0..=1.0).contains(&v), "{} {c:?}", p.id);
                 }
             }
+            let mean = p.mesh_colors().iter().map(|c| luma(*c)).sum::<f64>() / 16.0;
+            if p.light {
+                assert!(mean > 0.5, "{} is flagged light but means {mean:.2}", p.id);
+                assert!(luma(p.ground) > 0.6, "{}'s ground is dark", p.id);
+            } else {
+                assert!(mean < 0.45, "{} is flagged dark but means {mean:.2}", p.id);
+                assert!(luma(p.ground) < 0.2, "{}'s ground is light", p.id);
+            }
+            // The accent tints glass of the OPPOSITE polarity to the field, so it has to be
+            // legible there: dark accents on white frost, bright ones on dark glass.
+            let a = luma(p.accent);
+            if p.light {
+                assert!(a < 0.45, "{}'s accent is too pale for white glass", p.id);
+            } else {
+                assert!(a > 0.25, "{}'s accent is too dark for dark glass", p.id);
+            }
         }
     }
+
+    /// The ramp is the shared sampling rule the Swift and Kotlin ports reproduce.
+    #[test]
+    fn ramp_interpolates_between_stops() {
+        let stops = [(0.0, 0.0, 0.0), (1.0, 0.0, 0.0), (1.0, 1.0, 1.0)];
+        assert_eq!(ramp(&stops, 0.0), (0.0, 0.0, 0.0));
+        assert_eq!(ramp(&stops, 1.0), (1.0, 1.0, 1.0));
+        assert_eq!(ramp(&stops, 0.5), (1.0, 0.0, 0.0));
+        let q = ramp(&stops, 0.25);
+        assert!((q.0 - 0.5).abs() < 1e-9 && q.1 == 0.0);
+        // Out of range clamps rather than panicking.
+        assert_eq!(ramp(&stops, -3.0), (0.0, 0.0, 0.0));
+        assert_eq!(ramp(&stops, 9.0), (1.0, 1.0, 1.0));
+        assert_eq!(ramp(&[], 0.5), (0.0, 0.0, 0.0));
+    }
 }
diff --git a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/screens/add_host.rs b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/screens/add_host.rs
index c60347e5..71f815a2 100644
--- a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/screens/add_host.rs
+++ b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/screens/add_host.rs
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 use crate::glyphs::{Hint, HintKey};
 use crate::model::ConsoleCmd;
 use crate::screens::{Ctx, Outbox};
-use crate::theme::{Fonts, DIM, W};
+use crate::theme::{fg, Fonts, W};
 use crate::widgets::{permits, Charset, KeyMsg, Keyboard, ListMsg, MenuList, RowSpec};
 use pf_client_core::gamepad::{MenuEvent, MenuPulse};
 use skia_safe::{Canvas, Rect};
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ impl AddHostScreen {
             "Hosts on this network appear automatically — add one by address for everything else.",
             W::Regular,
             13.0 * k,
-            DIM,
+            fg(0.55),
             cx,
             f64::from(rect.top) + 2.0 * k,
             f64::from(rect.width()) * 0.72,
diff --git a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/screens/home.rs b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/screens/home.rs
index 482e6213..7165af33 100644
--- a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/screens/home.rs
+++ b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/screens/home.rs
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ use crate::glyphs::{Hint, HintKey};
 use crate::library::{step_cursor, StepResult, BUMP_C, BUMP_K, BUMP_PX, SPRING_C, SPRING_K};
 use crate::model::{ConsoleCmd, HostRow};
 use crate::screens::{ConnectIntent, Ctx, Outbox, Screen};
-use crate::theme::{brand, white, Fonts, PanelStroke, BRAND, DIM, ONLINE_GREEN, W, WHITE};
+use crate::theme::{accent, fg, Fonts, PanelStroke, ONLINE_GREEN, W};
 use pf_client_core::gamepad::{MenuDir, MenuEvent, MenuPulse};
 use skia_safe::{Canvas, Color4f, MaskFilter, Paint, Path, Point, RRect, Rect};
 
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ impl HomeScreen {
                 "Hosts on this network appear automatically — add one by address for everything else.",
                 W::Regular,
                 13.0 * k,
-                DIM,
+                fg(0.55),
                 f64::from(rect.left) + w / 2.0,
                 cy + tile_h / 2.0 + 24.0 * k,
                 w * 0.7,
@@ -265,7 +265,7 @@ fn draw_host_tile(canvas: &Canvas, fonts: &Fonts, h: &HostRow, rect: Rect, k: f6
         canvas,
         rect,
         TILE_CORNER as f32,
-        h.saved.then(|| brand(0.20)),
+        h.saved.then(|| accent(0.20)),
         if h.saved {
             PanelStroke::Gradient
         } else {
@@ -327,7 +327,7 @@ fn draw_host_tile(canvas: &Canvas, fonts: &Fonts, h: &HostRow, rect: Rect, k: f6
                 sub_base,
                 W::Regular,
                 13.0 * k,
-                white(0.55),
+                fg(0.55),
                 max_w,
             );
             let x = l + addr_w + 8.0 * k;
@@ -352,7 +352,7 @@ fn draw_host_tile(canvas: &Canvas, fonts: &Fonts, h: &HostRow, rect: Rect, k: f6
                 sub_base,
                 W::Regular,
                 13.0 * k,
-                white(0.55),
+                fg(0.55),
                 max_w,
             );
         }
@@ -364,22 +364,22 @@ fn draw_host_tile(canvas: &Canvas, fonts: &Fonts, h: &HostRow, rect: Rect, k: f6
         sub_base - 22.0 * k,
         W::Bold,
         23.0 * k,
-        WHITE,
+        fg(1.0),
         max_w,
     );
 }
 
-/// A profile's `#RRGGBB` accent as a color, defaulting to the brand tint. Parsed
+/// A profile's `#RRGGBB` accent as a color, defaulting to the PALETTE's accent. Parsed
 /// leniently — a malformed accent (hand-edited catalog) falls back rather than erroring.
-fn accent_color(accent: Option<&str>) -> skia_safe::Color4f {
-    let Some(hex) = accent
+fn accent_color(hex: Option<&str>) -> skia_safe::Color4f {
+    let Some(hex) = hex
         .and_then(|a| a.strip_prefix('#'))
         .filter(|h| h.len() == 6)
     else {
-        return BRAND;
+        return accent(1.0);
     };
     let Ok(v) = u32::from_str_radix(hex, 16) else {
-        return BRAND;
+        return accent(1.0);
     };
     skia_safe::Color4f::new(
         ((v >> 16) & 0xff) as f32 / 255.0,
@@ -404,9 +404,9 @@ fn draw_add_tile(canvas: &Canvas, fonts: &Fonts, rect: Rect, k: f64) {
     let badge = Rect::from_xywh(l as f32, t as f32, (52.0 * k) as f32, (52.0 * k) as f32);
     canvas.draw_rrect(
         RRect::new_rect_xy(badge, (15.0 * k) as f32, (15.0 * k) as f32),
-        &Paint::new(brand(0.16), None),
+        &Paint::new(accent(0.16), None),
     );
-    let mut ring = Paint::new(brand(0.5), None);
+    let mut ring = Paint::new(accent(0.5), None);
     ring.set_style(skia_safe::PaintStyle::Stroke);
     ring.set_stroke_width(1.0);
     ring.set_anti_alias(true);
@@ -415,7 +415,7 @@ fn draw_add_tile(canvas: &Canvas, fonts: &Fonts, rect: Rect, k: f64) {
         &ring,
     );
     let (bcx, bcy) = (l + 26.0 * k, t + 26.0 * k);
-    let mut p = Paint::new(BRAND, None);
+    let mut p = Paint::new(accent(1.0), None);
     p.set_style(skia_safe::PaintStyle::Stroke);
     p.set_stroke_width((3.0 * k) as f32);
     p.set_stroke_cap(skia_safe::PaintCap::Round);
@@ -441,7 +441,7 @@ fn draw_add_tile(canvas: &Canvas, fonts: &Fonts, rect: Rect, k: f64) {
         sub_base,
         W::Regular,
         13.0 * k,
-        white(0.55),
+        fg(0.55),
         max_w,
     );
     fonts.draw_clipped(
@@ -451,7 +451,7 @@ fn draw_add_tile(canvas: &Canvas, fonts: &Fonts, rect: Rect, k: f64) {
         sub_base - 22.0 * k,
         W::Bold,
         23.0 * k,
-        WHITE,
+        fg(1.0),
         max_w,
     );
 }
@@ -467,8 +467,8 @@ fn draw_monogram(canvas: &Canvas, fonts: &Fonts, name: &str, filled: bool, x: f6
                 Point::new(badge.left, badge.bottom),
             ),
             skia_safe::gradient_shader::GradientShaderColors::Colors(&[
-                BRAND.to_color(),
-                brand(0.68).to_color(),
+                accent(1.0).to_color(),
+                accent(0.68).to_color(),
             ]),
             None,
             skia_safe::TileMode::Clamp,
@@ -477,8 +477,8 @@ fn draw_monogram(canvas: &Canvas, fonts: &Fonts, name: &str, filled: bool, x: f6
         ));
         canvas.draw_rrect(rr, &p);
     } else {
-        canvas.draw_rrect(rr, &Paint::new(brand(0.16), None));
-        let mut ring = Paint::new(brand(0.5), None);
+        canvas.draw_rrect(rr, &Paint::new(accent(0.16), None));
+        let mut ring = Paint::new(accent(0.5), None);
         ring.set_style(skia_safe::PaintStyle::Stroke);
         ring.set_stroke_width(1.0);
         ring.set_anti_alias(true);
@@ -499,13 +499,13 @@ fn draw_monogram(canvas: &Canvas, fonts: &Fonts, name: &str, filled: bool, x: f6
         y + 26.0 * k + size * 0.36,
         W::Bold,
         size,
-        if filled { WHITE } else { BRAND },
+        if filled { fg(1.0) } else { accent(1.0) },
     );
 }
 
 /// A small padlock: filled body + stroked shackle (the paired-identity mark).
 fn draw_lock(canvas: &Canvas, x: f64, y: f64, k: f64) {
-    let ink = white(0.5);
+    let ink = fg(0.5);
     let body_w = 11.0 * k;
     let body_h = 8.0 * k;
     let body_top = y + 5.0 * k;
diff --git a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/screens/library.rs b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/screens/library.rs
index 558abd7b..3f62a2a3 100644
--- a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/screens/library.rs
+++ b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/screens/library.rs
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ use crate::library::{
 };
 use crate::model::{ConsoleCmd, HostRow};
 use crate::screens::{ConnectIntent, Ctx, Outbox};
-use crate::theme::{brand, white, Fonts, DIM, W, WHITE};
+use crate::theme::{accent, fg, Fonts, W};
 use pf_client_core::gamepad::{MenuDir, MenuEvent, MenuPulse};
 use skia_safe::{Canvas, Color4f, Data, Image, Paint, Point, RRect, Rect, M44};
 use std::collections::HashMap;
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ impl LibraryScreen {
                     "Loading library…",
                     W::Regular,
                     14.0 * k,
-                    DIM,
+                    fg(0.55),
                     cx,
                     cy_all + 16.0 * k,
                     w * 0.8,
@@ -249,7 +249,7 @@ impl LibraryScreen {
                     "No games found",
                     W::Bold,
                     22.0 * k,
-                    WHITE,
+                    fg(1.0),
                     cx,
                     cy_all - 20.0 * k,
                     w * 0.8,
@@ -259,7 +259,7 @@ impl LibraryScreen {
                     "Install Steam titles or add custom entries in the host's web console.",
                     W::Regular,
                     14.0 * k,
-                    DIM,
+                    fg(0.55),
                     cx,
                     cy_all + 12.0 * k,
                     w * 0.8,
@@ -271,7 +271,7 @@ impl LibraryScreen {
                     &title,
                     W::Bold,
                     22.0 * k,
-                    WHITE,
+                    fg(1.0),
                     cx,
                     cy_all - 32.0 * k,
                     w * 0.8,
@@ -281,7 +281,7 @@ impl LibraryScreen {
                     &body,
                     W::Regular,
                     14.0 * k,
-                    DIM,
+                    fg(0.55),
                     cx,
                     cy_all + 4.0 * k,
                     (600.0 * k).min(w * 0.85),
@@ -315,7 +315,7 @@ impl LibraryScreen {
                 heading,
                 W::SemiBold,
                 12.0 * k,
-                white(0.5),
+                fg(0.5),
                 f64::from(rect.left) + w / 2.0,
                 cy - card_h / 2.0 - 22.0 * k,
                 w * 0.5,
@@ -382,9 +382,9 @@ impl LibraryScreen {
                     };
                     canvas.draw_rect(crect, &Paint::new(face, None));
                     let (glyph, size, ink) = if game.launcher {
-                        (store_label(&game.store).to_string(), 22.0 * k, white(0.85))
+                        (store_label(&game.store).to_string(), 22.0 * k, fg(0.85))
                     } else {
-                        (initials(&game.title), 38.0 * k, white(0.45))
+                        (initials(&game.title), 38.0 * k, fg(0.45))
                     };
                     let font = fonts.font(W::Bold, size);
                     let tw = font.measure_str(&glyph, None).0;
@@ -409,9 +409,9 @@ impl LibraryScreen {
                 // Brand-filled for a launcher, smoked glass for a game — the one cue that
                 // survives being three cards deep in the recede.
                 let pill = if game.launcher {
-                    brand(0.85)
+                    accent(0.85)
                 } else {
-                    Color4f::new(0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.55)
+                    crate::theme::shade(0.55)
                 };
                 canvas.draw_rrect(
                     RRect::new_rect_xy(
@@ -428,7 +428,7 @@ impl LibraryScreen {
                     py + 14.0 * k,
                     W::SemiBold,
                     size,
-                    WHITE,
+                    fg(1.0),
                 );
             }
             // The brightness recede: an opaque-black veil, never whole-card alpha.
@@ -452,7 +452,7 @@ impl LibraryScreen {
                 &g.title,
                 W::Bold,
                 27.0 * k,
-                WHITE,
+                fg(1.0),
                 cx,
                 f64::from(rect.bottom) - 64.0 * k,
                 w * 0.8,
@@ -467,7 +467,7 @@ impl LibraryScreen {
                 &sub,
                 W::Regular,
                 12.0 * k,
-                white(0.5),
+                fg(0.5),
                 cx,
                 f64::from(rect.bottom) - 30.0 * k,
                 w * 0.5,
diff --git a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/screens/pair.rs b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/screens/pair.rs
index 20a87703..45244d69 100644
--- a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/screens/pair.rs
+++ b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/screens/pair.rs
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 use crate::glyphs::{Hint, HintKey};
 use crate::model::{ConsoleCmd, HostRow, PairPhase};
 use crate::screens::{ConnectIntent, Ctx, Outbox};
-use crate::theme::{Fonts, DIM, ERROR, W};
+use crate::theme::{fg, Fonts, ERROR, W};
 use crate::widgets::{permits, Charset, KeyMsg, Keyboard, ListMsg, MenuList, RowSpec};
 use pf_client_core::gamepad::{MenuEvent, MenuPulse};
 use skia_safe::{Canvas, Rect};
@@ -297,7 +297,7 @@ impl PairScreen {
             intro,
             W::Regular,
             13.0 * k,
-            DIM,
+            fg(0.55),
             cx,
             f64::from(rect.top) + 2.0 * k,
             f64::from(rect.width()) * 0.72,
@@ -336,7 +336,7 @@ impl PairScreen {
                 "Pairing… confirm the PIN on the host",
                 W::Regular,
                 13.0 * k,
-                DIM,
+                fg(0.55),
                 cx + 10.0 * k,
                 status_y,
                 f64::from(rect.width()) * 0.6,
diff --git a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/screens/pin_hosts.rs b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/screens/pin_hosts.rs
index ad7dab4e..924b643b 100644
--- a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/screens/pin_hosts.rs
+++ b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/screens/pin_hosts.rs
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 use crate::glyphs::{Hint, HintKey};
 use crate::model::ConsoleCmd;
 use crate::screens::{Ctx, Outbox};
-use crate::theme::{Fonts, DIM, W};
+use crate::theme::{fg, Fonts, W};
 use crate::widgets::{ListMsg, MenuList, RowSpec};
 use pf_client_core::gamepad::{MenuEvent, MenuPulse};
 use skia_safe::{Canvas, Rect};
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ impl PinHostsScreen {
                 "No saved hosts yet — pair with a host first, then pin this profile to it.",
                 W::Regular,
                 14.0 * k,
-                DIM,
+                fg(0.55),
                 cx,
                 f64::from(rect.top) + f64::from(rect.height()) / 2.0,
                 f64::from(rect.width()) * 0.7,
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ impl PinHostsScreen {
             "A pinned profile appears as its own card on the host — one press connects with it.",
             W::Regular,
             13.0 * k,
-            DIM,
+            fg(0.55),
             cx,
             f64::from(rect.bottom) - detail_h + 6.0 * k,
             f64::from(rect.width()) * 0.8,
diff --git a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/screens/settings.rs b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/screens/settings.rs
index 4fe1d83b..550d29d7 100644
--- a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/screens/settings.rs
+++ b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/screens/settings.rs
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 
 use crate::glyphs::{Hint, HintKey};
 use crate::screens::{Ctx, Outbox, Screen};
-use crate::theme::{Fonts, DIM, W};
+use crate::theme::{fg, Fonts, W};
 use crate::widgets::{ListMsg, MenuList, RowSpec, TabStrip, TAB_STRIP_H};
 use pf_client_core::gamepad::{MenuEvent, MenuPulse};
 use pf_client_core::trust::{MouseMode, StatsVerbosity, TouchMode};
@@ -405,7 +405,7 @@ impl SettingsScreen {
             detail,
             W::Regular,
             13.0 * k,
-            DIM,
+            fg(0.55),
             f64::from(rect.left) + f64::from(rect.width()) / 2.0,
             f64::from(rect.bottom) - detail_h + 6.0 * k,
             f64::from(rect.width()) * 0.8,
diff --git a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/shell.rs b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/shell.rs
index f92cc23c..ab146c41 100644
--- a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/shell.rs
+++ b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/shell.rs
@@ -86,10 +86,16 @@ pub(crate) struct Shell {
     /// re-colours under the cursor as the row is stepped, which is the whole point of putting
     /// the picker on a screen the backdrop is behind.
     mesh_palette: String,
-    /// The palette's corner colour × 0.4 — the calm lift, precomputed with `mesh`. Chosen so
-    /// `col*0.6 + lift` leaves a corner EXACTLY where it was and pulls the bright pools down
+    /// The palette's ground × 0.4 — the calm lift, precomputed with `mesh`. Chosen so
+    /// `col*0.6 + lift` leaves the ground EXACTLY where it was and pulls the bright pools down
     /// to it: the form screens lose the launcher's contrast, not its colour.
     mesh_lift: [f32; 3],
+    /// The backdrop's scrim under this palette: rgb = what the vignette and scrims tend
+    /// toward (black on a dark field, white on a pale one), a = how hard. Kept with the ink.
+    mesh_scrim: [f32; 4],
+    /// The text/accent/glass the palette calls for, published to the whole crate once per
+    /// frame (see [`crate::theme::set_ink`]).
+    ink: crate::theme::Ink,
     /// 0 = launcher aurora, 1 = the calm form field — chased, so the backdrop settles into
     /// (or out of) calm alongside the screen transition.
     bg_mix: f64,
@@ -110,7 +116,7 @@ impl Shell {
     ) -> Result<Shell> {
         anyhow::ensure!(!stack.is_empty(), "the console needs a root screen");
         let settings = trust::Settings::load();
-        let (mesh, mesh_lift) = build_mesh(&settings.ui_palette)?;
+        let (mesh, mesh_lift, mesh_scrim, ink) = build_mesh(&settings.ui_palette)?;
         let bg_mix = match stack.last().expect("non-empty").background() {
             Bg::Aurora => 0.0,
             Bg::Form => 1.0,
@@ -135,6 +141,8 @@ impl Shell {
             toast: None,
             mesh,
             mesh_lift,
+            mesh_scrim,
+            ink,
             bg_mix,
             glyphs: GlyphStyle::Keyboard,
             chip: None,
@@ -206,9 +214,11 @@ impl Shell {
         // because someone picked a colour.
         if self.settings.ui_palette != self.mesh_palette {
             match build_mesh(&self.settings.ui_palette) {
-                Ok((mesh, lift)) => {
+                Ok((mesh, lift, scrim, ink)) => {
                     self.mesh = mesh;
                     self.mesh_lift = lift;
+                    self.mesh_scrim = scrim;
+                    self.ink = ink;
                     self.mesh_palette = self.settings.ui_palette.clone();
                 }
                 Err(e) => {
@@ -468,8 +478,9 @@ impl Shell {
     /// screens sit on; the shell chases it, so there is only ever ONE backdrop pass — the
     /// former aurora-over-static-form crossfade is now a single uniform.
     fn draw_aurora(&self, canvas: &Canvas, w: f64, h: f64, t: f64, calm: f64) {
-        // Laid out to match the SkSL block: u_res (float2), u_tc (float2), u_lift (float4).
-        let uniforms: [f32; 8] = [
+        // Laid out to match the SkSL block: u_res (float2), u_tc (float2), u_lift (float4),
+        // u_scrim (float4).
+        let uniforms: [f32; 12] = [
             w as f32,
             h as f32,
             t as f32,
@@ -478,11 +489,15 @@ impl Shell {
             self.mesh_lift[1],
             self.mesh_lift[2],
             0.0,
+            self.mesh_scrim[0],
+            self.mesh_scrim[1],
+            self.mesh_scrim[2],
+            self.mesh_scrim[3],
         ];
-        // SAFETY: `uniforms` is a local `[f32; 8]` — exactly 32 bytes — and `f32` has no padding or
-        // invalid bit patterns, so reading it as bytes is sound; the slice is copied by
+        // SAFETY: `uniforms` is a local `[f32; 12]` — exactly 48 bytes — and `f32` has no padding
+        // or invalid bit patterns, so reading it as bytes is sound; the slice is copied by
         // `Data::new_copy` before `uniforms` goes out of scope.
-        let bytes = unsafe { std::slice::from_raw_parts(uniforms.as_ptr().cast::<u8>(), 32) };
+        let bytes = unsafe { std::slice::from_raw_parts(uniforms.as_ptr().cast::<u8>(), 48) };
         match self.mesh.make_shader(Data::new_copy(bytes), &[], None) {
             Some(shader) => {
                 let mut paint = Paint::default();
@@ -496,28 +511,30 @@ impl Shell {
     }
 }
 
-/// Compile the mesh shader for a palette, returning it with its precomputed calm lift.
+/// Compile the mesh shader for a palette and resolve everything else that palette decides:
+/// the calm lift, the scrim direction, and the ink the whole UI draws with.
 /// `uniform_size` is checked rather than assumed: the byte buffer [`Shell::draw_aurora`]
 /// hands Skia is hand-packed, and a silent layout change would feed the field garbage
 /// instead of failing.
-fn build_mesh(palette_id: &str) -> Result<(RuntimeEffect, [f32; 3])> {
+type MeshLook = (RuntimeEffect, [f32; 3], [f32; 4], crate::theme::Ink);
+
+fn build_mesh(palette_id: &str) -> Result<MeshLook> {
     let p = palette(palette_id);
     let colors = p.mesh_colors();
     let effect = RuntimeEffect::make_for_shader(mesh_sksl(&colors), None)
         .map_err(|e| anyhow!("mesh-gradient SkSL: {e}"))?;
     anyhow::ensure!(
-        effect.uniform_size() == 32,
-        "mesh uniform block is {} bytes, expected 32 (u_res, u_tc, u_lift)",
+        effect.uniform_size() == 48,
+        "mesh uniform block is {} bytes, expected 48 (u_res, u_tc, u_lift, u_scrim)",
         effect.uniform_size()
     );
-    let corner = colors[0];
+    let ink = crate::theme::Ink::of(p);
+    let g = p.ground;
     Ok((
         effect,
-        [
-            (corner.0 * 0.4) as f32,
-            (corner.1 * 0.4) as f32,
-            (corner.2 * 0.4) as f32,
-        ],
+        [(g.0 * 0.4) as f32, (g.1 * 0.4) as f32, (g.2 * 0.4) as f32],
+        [ink.scrim.r, ink.scrim.g, ink.scrim.b, ink.scrim.a],
+        ink,
     ))
 }
 
diff --git a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/shell/overlays.rs b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/shell/overlays.rs
index 24601855..4a042d8c 100644
--- a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/shell/overlays.rs
+++ b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/shell/overlays.rs
@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@
 
 use crate::anim::{approach, ease_out_cubic};
 use crate::glyphs::{hint_bar, Hint, HintKey};
-use crate::theme::{white, Fonts, PanelStroke, DIM, W, WHITE};
-use skia_safe::{gradient_shader, Canvas, Color4f, Paint, Point, Rect, TileMode};
+use crate::theme::{fg, Fonts, PanelStroke, W};
+use skia_safe::{gradient_shader, Canvas, Paint, Point, Rect, TileMode};
 
 use super::{Shell, BOTTOM_BAND};
 
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ impl Shell {
                 let rect = Rect::from_xywh(bx as f32, by as f32, bw as f32, bh as f32);
                 canvas.draw_rrect(
                     skia_safe::RRect::new_rect_xy(rect, (bh / 2.0) as f32, (bh / 2.0) as f32),
-                    &Paint::new(Color4f::new(0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.6), None),
+                    &Paint::new(crate::theme::shade(0.6), None),
                 );
                 crate::theme::panel(
                     canvas,
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ impl Shell {
                     by + bh / 2.0 + size * 0.36,
                     W::Medium,
                     size,
-                    white(0.92),
+                    fg(0.92),
                 );
                 canvas.restore();
             }
@@ -167,14 +167,15 @@ impl Shell {
         // Opaque aurora — the same living backdrop the home wears, so the takeover reads as the
         // console taking over rather than a card popping up.
         self.draw_aurora(canvas, w, h, t, 0.0);
-        // A soft pool of shade under the centre seats the white text against a bright aurora.
+        // A soft pool of shade under the centre seats the text against a bright field —
+        // dark on a dark palette, light on a pale one, so it always separates.
         let mut vignette = Paint::default();
         vignette.set_shader(gradient_shader::radial(
             Point::new(cx as f32, (h / 2.0) as f32),
             (w.max(h) * 0.42) as f32,
             gradient_shader::GradientShaderColors::Colors(&[
-                Color4f::new(0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.5).to_color(),
-                Color4f::new(0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0).to_color(),
+                crate::theme::shade(0.5).to_color(),
+                crate::theme::shade(0.0).to_color(),
             ]),
             None,
             TileMode::Clamp,
@@ -193,7 +194,7 @@ impl Shell {
             title,
             W::SemiBold,
             23.0 * k,
-            WHITE,
+            fg(1.0),
             cx,
             title_y,
             w * 0.82,
@@ -204,7 +205,7 @@ impl Shell {
                 body,
                 W::Regular,
                 14.0 * k,
-                DIM,
+                fg(0.55),
                 cx,
                 title_y + 32.0 * k,
                 w * 0.66,
diff --git a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/shell/render.rs b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/shell/render.rs
index c9c99eec..a5728d0a 100644
--- a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/shell/render.rs
+++ b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/shell/render.rs
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ use crate::glyphs::{hint_bar, GlyphStyle};
 use crate::library::LibraryShared;
 use crate::model::HostRow;
 use crate::screens::{Bg, Ctx, Screen};
-use crate::theme::{white, Fonts, PanelStroke, W, WHITE};
+use crate::theme::{fg, Fonts, PanelStroke, W};
 use pf_client_core::gamepad::PadInfo;
 use pf_client_core::trust;
 use skia_safe::{Canvas, Rect};
@@ -31,6 +31,10 @@ impl Shell {
             .replace(now)
             .map_or(1.0 / 60.0, |t| (now - t).as_secs_f64().clamp(0.0, 0.05));
         self.sync();
+        // Publish the palette's ink before ANYTHING draws — every widget, glyph and panel in
+        // the crate reads it (see `theme::set_ink`), so a frame that skipped this would paint
+        // the previous palette's text over the new palette's field.
+        crate::theme::set_ink(self.ink);
         self.pads = pads.to_vec();
         self.glyphs = GlyphStyle::from_pref(pad_pref);
         self.chip = Some(pad.map_or_else(
@@ -168,7 +172,7 @@ impl Shell {
                 18.0 * k + 16.0 * k,
                 W::Medium,
                 size,
-                white(0.7),
+                fg(0.7),
             );
         }
 
@@ -224,7 +228,7 @@ impl LayerEnv<'_> {
             &screen.title(&ctx),
             W::Bold,
             30.0 * self.k,
-            WHITE,
+            fg(1.0),
             self.w / 2.0,
             18.0 * self.k,
             self.w * 0.7,
diff --git a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/shell/tests.rs b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/shell/tests.rs
index da58255f..0c0af972 100644
--- a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/shell/tests.rs
+++ b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/shell/tests.rs
@@ -249,25 +249,34 @@ fn dump_console_screens() {
     dump(&mut s, 3, 25, "02-transition", true);
     dump(&mut s, 40, 8, "03-settings", true);
 
-    // The Interface tab (5 shoulder presses along) leads with the Background row, so this frame
-    // shows both the strip mid-list and the palette picker…
+    // The Interface tab (5 shoulder presses along) leads with the Background row, so these
+    // frames show the strip mid-list AND the palette picker. Palettes are set directly rather
+    // than by counting Confirm presses, so reordering the table can't silently shoot the wrong
+    // one. Each is a whole LOOK, not just a backdrop: accent, ink and scrim move together, so
+    // the pale ones must be eyeballed with dark text on them.
     for _ in 0..5 {
         s.handle_menu(MenuEvent::JumpForward);
     }
-    dump(&mut s, 40, 8, "03b-settings-interface", true);
-    // …and cycling it three times lands on Ember, which is the whole point: the CALM backdrop
-    // behind these rows recolours live.
-    for _ in 0..3 {
-        s.handle_menu(MenuEvent::Confirm);
-    }
-    dump(&mut s, 40, 8, "03c-settings-ember", true);
-    // Back to the brand default and the first tab so the later scenes look like they always did.
-    for _ in 0..3 {
-        s.handle_menu(MenuEvent::Confirm);
+    for id in ["violet", "ember", "abyss", "holo", "sunset", "mint"] {
+        s.settings.ui_palette = id.to_string();
+        dump(&mut s, 40, 8, &format!("03-settings-{id}"), true);
     }
+    // Back to the first tab so the later scenes look like they always did.
     for _ in 0..5 {
         s.handle_menu(MenuEvent::JumpBack);
     }
+    // …and the LAUNCHER at full contrast under a few of them — the backdrop's loudest form,
+    // and the one the palettes are really chosen by.
+    s.handle_menu(MenuEvent::Back);
+    dump(&mut s, 20, 8, "_settle", true);
+    for id in ["nebula", "sunset", "holo"] {
+        s.settings.ui_palette = id.to_string();
+        dump(&mut s, 40, 8, &format!("01-home-{id}"), true);
+    }
+    s.settings.ui_palette = "violet".to_string();
+    dump(&mut s, 20, 8, "_settle2", true);
+    s.handle_menu(MenuEvent::Tertiary); // back into Settings for the scenes below
+    dump(&mut s, 20, 8, "_settle3", true);
 
     // Add Host with the keyboard tray up (keyboard glyph style: no pad).
     s.handle_menu(MenuEvent::Back);
diff --git a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/theme.rs b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/theme.rs
index fb59b0e9..ac58f7db 100644
--- a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/theme.rs
+++ b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/theme.rs
@@ -14,28 +14,117 @@ use skia_safe::{
     Point, RRect, Rect, TileMode, Typeface,
 };
 
-// --- Palette -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// --- Ink ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-/// The punktfunk brand violet — the DARK-appearance value (#8678F5); the console UI is
-/// always dark. (Light surfaces use #6656F2; nothing here is light.)
-pub(crate) const BRAND: Color4f = Color4f::new(0.525, 0.471, 0.961, 1.0);
-pub(crate) const WHITE: Color4f = Color4f::new(1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0);
-pub(crate) const DIM: Color4f = Color4f::new(1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.55);
-pub(crate) const FAINT: Color4f = Color4f::new(1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.35);
-/// The error/status red (the GTK client's #ff938a).
+/// The error/status red (the GTK client's #ff938a). Fixed: a warning must not change meaning
+/// with the wallpaper.
 pub(crate) const ERROR: Color4f = Color4f::new(1.0, 0.576, 0.541, 1.0);
 pub(crate) const ONLINE_GREEN: Color4f = Color4f::new(0.20, 0.84, 0.29, 1.0);
 
-pub(crate) fn white(alpha: f32) -> Color4f {
-    Color4f::new(1.0, 1.0, 1.0, alpha)
+/// Everything about the console's look that follows the chosen background palette: which way
+/// the text runs, what the glass is made of, and the accent that marks focus.
+///
+/// The console UI was white-on-dark throughout, with the brand violet hardcoded as the accent.
+/// Both had to become palette-derived at once: a pale field needs dark text or it is
+/// unreadable, and a violet focus wash on a copper field is the clash this exists to fix.
+#[derive(Clone, Copy)]
+pub(crate) struct Ink {
+    /// Primary text/glyph colour, opaque.
+    fg: Color4f,
+    /// Focus wash, selected pill, caret — the palette's own accent.
+    accent: Color4f,
+    /// The base fill every glass panel starts from.
+    glass: Color4f,
+    /// What the vignette and legibility scrims tend toward — black under a dark field, white
+    /// under a pale one (darkening a pastel field would strand the dark text on it) — with the
+    /// alpha carrying HOW HARD. A pale field needs far less: mixing toward white at the dark
+    /// field's strength bleaches the chroma straight out of the gradient.
+    pub(crate) scrim: Color4f,
 }
 
-pub(crate) fn brand(alpha: f32) -> Color4f {
-    Color4f::new(BRAND.r, BRAND.g, BRAND.b, alpha)
+/// The shipped dark look — also what a test or a preview gets before any palette is applied.
+const DARK_INK: Ink = Ink {
+    fg: Color4f::new(1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0),
+    // The punktfunk brand violet, DARK-appearance value (#8678F5).
+    accent: Color4f::new(0.525, 0.471, 0.961, 1.0),
+    glass: Color4f::new(0.086, 0.086, 0.125, 0.62),
+    scrim: Color4f::new(0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0),
+};
+
+impl Ink {
+    /// The ink a palette calls for. On a pale field the text goes near-black (tinted toward the
+    /// palette's own ground so it doesn't read as a foreign grey) and the glass turns to white
+    /// frost, which is what keeps a row legible over a bright gradient.
+    pub(crate) fn of(p: &crate::library::Palette) -> Ink {
+        let accent = Color4f::new(p.accent.0 as f32, p.accent.1 as f32, p.accent.2 as f32, 1.0);
+        if !p.light {
+            return Ink { accent, ..DARK_INK };
+        }
+        let g = p.ground;
+        Ink {
+            fg: Color4f::new(
+                (g.0 * 0.16) as f32,
+                (g.1 * 0.14) as f32,
+                (g.2 * 0.20) as f32,
+                1.0,
+            ),
+            accent,
+            // More body than the dark glass carries: white frost over a bright gradient has
+            // far less to separate it from its backdrop than dark glass over a dark one.
+            glass: Color4f::new(1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.66),
+            scrim: Color4f::new(1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.45),
+        }
+    }
 }
 
-/// The dark-glass base fill every panel starts from.
-const GLASS_BASE: Color4f = Color4f::new(0.086, 0.086, 0.125, 0.62);
+thread_local! {
+    /// The ink the CURRENT frame draws with. A thread-local rather than a parameter because
+    /// every widget, glyph and panel in the crate reads it and the console renders on exactly
+    /// one thread — threading an `Ink` through ~90 call sites would be all cost and no safety.
+    /// [`crate::shell::Shell::render`] sets it once per frame, before anything draws.
+    static INK: std::cell::Cell<Ink> = const { std::cell::Cell::new(DARK_INK) };
+}
+
+pub(crate) fn set_ink(ink: Ink) {
+    INK.with(|i| i.set(ink));
+}
+
+pub(crate) fn ink() -> Ink {
+    INK.with(std::cell::Cell::get)
+}
+
+/// The foreground at `alpha` — white on a dark palette, near-black on a pale one.
+pub(crate) fn fg(alpha: f32) -> Color4f {
+    let c = ink().fg;
+    Color4f::new(c.r, c.g, c.b, alpha)
+}
+
+/// The palette's accent at `alpha`.
+pub(crate) fn accent(alpha: f32) -> Color4f {
+    let c = ink().accent;
+    Color4f::new(c.r, c.g, c.b, alpha)
+}
+
+/// A wash laid UNDER text to seat it against the field — black on a dark palette, white on a
+/// pale one. `alpha` is the dark-field strength; a pale field needs less (see [`Ink::scrim`]),
+/// so it is scaled the same way the backdrop's own scrims are.
+pub(crate) fn shade(alpha: f32) -> Color4f {
+    let s = ink().scrim;
+    Color4f::new(s.r, s.g, s.b, alpha * s.a)
+}
+
+/// Ink that reads ON the accent (a filled key, a selected pill): whichever of black or white
+/// the accent has more room for. Chosen by luminance rather than by `light`, because an accent
+/// is picked for contrast against the GLASS, not against the field.
+pub(crate) fn on_accent() -> Color4f {
+    let a = ink().accent;
+    let luma = 0.2126 * a.r + 0.7152 * a.g + 0.0722 * a.b;
+    if luma > 0.55 {
+        Color4f::new(0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0)
+    } else {
+        Color4f::new(1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0)
+    }
+}
 
 // --- Panels (the Liquid Glass stand-in) --------------------------------------------------
 
@@ -61,7 +150,7 @@ pub(crate) fn panel(
     k: f32,
 ) {
     let rr = RRect::new_rect_xy(rect, corner * k, corner * k);
-    canvas.draw_rrect(rr, &Paint::new(GLASS_BASE, None));
+    canvas.draw_rrect(rr, &Paint::new(ink().glass, None));
     if let Some(tint) = tint {
         canvas.draw_rrect(rr, &Paint::new(tint, None));
     }
@@ -71,10 +160,10 @@ pub(crate) fn panel(
     sp.set_anti_alias(true);
     match stroke {
         PanelStroke::Plain(alpha) => {
-            sp.set_color4f(white(alpha), None);
+            sp.set_color4f(fg(alpha), None);
         }
         PanelStroke::Brand(alpha) => {
-            sp.set_color4f(brand(alpha), None);
+            sp.set_color4f(accent(alpha), None);
         }
         PanelStroke::Gradient | PanelStroke::GradientDashed => {
             sp.set_shader(gradient_shader::linear(
@@ -83,8 +172,8 @@ pub(crate) fn panel(
                     Point::new(rect.left, rect.bottom),
                 ),
                 gradient_shader::GradientShaderColors::Colors(&[
-                    white(0.22).to_color(),
-                    white(0.04).to_color(),
+                    fg(0.22).to_color(),
+                    fg(0.04).to_color(),
                 ]),
                 None,
                 TileMode::Clamp,
@@ -122,7 +211,7 @@ pub(crate) fn drop_shadow(canvas: &Canvas, rect: Rect, corner: f32, k: f32, alph
 /// The loading/connecting spinner: a rotating 270° arc driven by the shell clock.
 pub(crate) fn spinner(canvas: &Canvas, cx: f64, cy: f64, r: f64, t: f64) {
     let start = (t * 300.0) % 360.0;
-    let mut paint = Paint::new(white(0.85), None);
+    let mut paint = Paint::new(fg(0.85), None);
     paint.set_style(skia_safe::PaintStyle::Stroke);
     paint.set_stroke_width((r / 5.0) as f32);
     paint.set_stroke_cap(skia_safe::PaintCap::Round);
diff --git a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/widgets.rs b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/widgets.rs
index b5f9fa0b..916888cd 100644
--- a/crates/pf-console-ui/src/widgets.rs
+++ b/crates/pf-console-ui/src/widgets.rs
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 use crate::anim::{approach, Spring, TRAY_C, TRAY_K};
 use crate::library::{BUMP_C, BUMP_K};
-use crate::theme::{brand, white, Fonts, PanelStroke, BRAND, DIM, FAINT, W, WHITE};
+use crate::theme::{accent, fg, Fonts, PanelStroke, W};
 use pf_client_core::gamepad::{MenuDir, MenuEvent, MenuPulse};
 use skia_safe::{Canvas, Paint, Path, RRect, Rect};
 
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@ impl MenuList {
                     W::SemiBold,
                     12.0 * k,
                     1.4 * k,
-                    white(0.45),
+                    fg(0.45),
                 );
             }
             // Focus scale eases 0.98 → 1.0 about the row center.
@@ -226,9 +226,9 @@ impl MenuList {
                 PanelStroke::Plain(0.06 + 0.22 * f as f32)
             };
             let tint = if row.caret {
-                Some(brand(0.30))
+                Some(accent(0.30))
             } else if f > 0.01 {
-                Some(brand(0.30 * f as f32))
+                Some(accent(0.30 * f as f32))
             } else {
                 None
             };
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ impl MenuList {
             let baseline = cy + 16.0 * k * 0.36;
             if row.value.is_none() {
                 // Action row: centered label, brand when actionable.
-                let color = if row.enabled { BRAND } else { FAINT };
+                let color = if row.enabled { accent(1.0) } else { fg(0.35) };
                 let tw = fonts.measure(&row.label, W::SemiBold, 16.0 * k) as f64;
                 fonts.draw(
                     canvas,
@@ -256,15 +256,15 @@ impl MenuList {
                     baseline,
                     W::SemiBold,
                     16.0 * k,
-                    if row.enabled { WHITE } else { DIM },
+                    if row.enabled { fg(1.0) } else { fg(0.55) },
                 );
                 let value = row.value.as_deref().unwrap_or_default();
                 let vcolor = if row.value_dim {
-                    FAINT
+                    fg(0.35)
                 } else if f > 0.5 {
-                    WHITE
+                    fg(1.0)
                 } else {
-                    white(0.6 + 0.4 * f as f32)
+                    fg(0.6 + 0.4 * f as f32)
                 };
                 let chevron_w = if row.adjustable { 18.0 * k } else { 0.0 };
                 let caret_w = if row.caret { 8.0 * k } else { 0.0 };
@@ -282,7 +282,7 @@ impl MenuList {
                             (2.0 * k) as f32,
                             (18.0 * k) as f32,
                         ),
-                        &Paint::new(BRAND, None),
+                        &Paint::new(accent(1.0), None),
                     );
                 }
                 if row.adjustable && f > 0.01 {
@@ -362,7 +362,7 @@ impl TabStrip {
             canvas,
             Rect::from_xywh(ix as f32, top as f32, iw as f32, pill_h as f32),
             (pill_h / 2.0 / k) as f32,
-            Some(brand(0.85)),
+            Some(accent(0.85)),
             PanelStroke::Plain(0.22),
             k as f32,
         );
@@ -382,7 +382,7 @@ impl TabStrip {
                 baseline,
                 W::SemiBold,
                 size,
-                white(0.5 + 0.5 * covered),
+                fg(0.5 + 0.5 * covered),
             );
             x += widths[i] + gap;
         }
@@ -407,7 +407,7 @@ fn truncate_head(fonts: &Fonts, text: &str, w: W, size: f64, max_w: f64) -> Stri
 
 fn chevron(canvas: &Canvas, x: f64, cy: f64, r: f64, left: bool, alpha: f32) {
     let dir = if left { -1.0 } else { 1.0 };
-    let mut p = Paint::new(white(alpha), None);
+    let mut p = Paint::new(fg(alpha), None);
     p.set_style(skia_safe::PaintStyle::Stroke);
     p.set_stroke_width((1.8 * r / 4.0) as f32);
     p.set_stroke_cap(skia_safe::PaintCap::Round);
@@ -594,7 +594,7 @@ impl Keyboard {
                 let focused = r == self.row && c == self.col;
                 let kr = Rect::from_xywh(x as f32, y as f32, key_w as f32, key_h as f32);
                 let fill = if focused {
-                    let mut b = BRAND;
+                    let mut b = accent(1.0);
                     if self.key_flash > 0.02 {
                         // A just-typed key flashes brighter, then eases back.
                         let f = self.key_flash as f32;
@@ -607,16 +607,18 @@ impl Keyboard {
                     }
                     b
                 } else {
-                    white(0.08)
+                    fg(0.08)
                 };
                 canvas.draw_rrect(
                     RRect::new_rect_xy(kr, (9.0 * k) as f32, (9.0 * k) as f32),
                     &Paint::new(fill, None),
                 );
+                // The focused key is filled with the accent, so its letter needs ink that
+                // reads on THAT, not on the field.
                 let ink = if focused {
-                    skia_safe::Color4f::new(0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0)
+                    crate::theme::on_accent()
                 } else {
-                    WHITE
+                    fg(1.0)
                 };
                 let (cx, cy) = (x + key_w / 2.0, y + key_h / 2.0);
                 match key {