Magnificus

Magnificus as he appears in Act III

> You have to know what comes next. And you're doomed for your insistence on it. So let us dance. For we shall both be meeting our makers soon.
>
> Magnificus's opening lines during the Finale

**Magnificus** is a major character in Inscryption. He serves major roles in Act II and the Finale, and minor roles in Act I and Act III. He also has a major part in the console-exclusive ARG.

## Background

Magnificus is one of the four Scrybes of Inscryption, being the Scrybe of Magicks. Using his brush, he is able to paint his pupils as cards, immortalizing them as part of his deck. He can also use it to paint things only visible to his eyes without special equipment, and use Magickal Bleach to remove Sigils from cards. Magnificus is capable of some level of telepathic communication and has great foresight, able to create a plan for escaping Leshy's Cabin and predict P03's power play in Act II.

Magnificus's greater goals are unknown and are open to interpretation. Rebecha suggests that some of the theories are too terrible to speak of.

### Personality

Magnificus is generally polite in his dialogue, although similar to Leshy he is prone to fits of rage. In contrast to this, Magnificus can also appear anxious and desperate, being unwilling to accept his imminent death and attempting to bargain with and possibly guilt trip the player to spare him.

Magnificus appears to care very little about others, particularly his students by putting them through gruesome and often demeaning trials just to become cards in his deck. If he is ever displeased, he will see to remove them through any means possible - as he did with James Cobb. However, by the Finale, he appears to have guilt and regrets for his actions, expressing to Luke how he thought he and Goobert were becoming friends.

### Relationships with other characters

Magnificus expresses a disdain for Leshy and even more so for P03. Magnificus still holds a grudge against Leshy for excising his eye in Act I, referring to him as arrogant, single-minded and obsessed with power.

Magnificus expresses concerns regarding P03, and its intentions to perform *The Great Transcendence*, a plot that would extend beyond the standard power grab performed between the four Scrybes. For this, he considers it the worst Scrybe. However, he is willing to co-operate with it if the need benefits him. Not only is this shown in Act I, but it is also demonstrated in the ARG where he gives James Cobb over to P03 for his own purpose.

His relations with Grimora are less obvious. Forseeing P03's plot in Act II, Magnificus was writing a letter to warn only her about these actions, so he's willing to share some level of cooperation with her.

All of his students idolize him, particularly Goobert who goes so far as to paint a picture of himself with Magnificus. However, Magnificus does not appear to reciprocate these feelings, having bleached Goobert out of the painting (though this may be due to guilt for not giving Goobert enough attention; Magnificus may have actually liked Goobert). The Lonely Wizard also ends up distancing himself from Magnificus during Act III, stating that it no longer wants to endure the endless darkness that it was subjected to by the Scrybe.

## Act I

Magnificus mainly appears as the Stunted Wolf, however he still maintains a presence outside of his card form. The player must replace their eye with his as part of a mandatory puzzle, and if they are unable to complete certain steps of it after dying enough times, a cutscene will play with Magnificus giving a hint to the player.

Magnificus's corpse can be seen in the storeroom after defeating Leshy.

## Act II

If the Magick starter deck was chosen, Magnificus will teach the player about how Mox works and how to use activated ability Sigils during battle.

Magnificus is found on the fourth and final floor of his Tower, looking outside the nearby window. When spoken to, he will engage in dialogue before initiating battle.

### Battle

#### Phase 1

Magnificus starts with a Magnus Mox on the board and plays a variety of Magick cards.

When cards are drawn, Magnificus erases the colorless Sigils (all Sigils that aren't Mox) and replaces them with other Sigils using his brush. Cards without Sigils will also gain a Sigil. The Sigils that can be given this way are Rabbit Hole, Sharp Quills, Gem Animator, Ruby Heart and Mental Gemnastics.

#### Phase 2

After the scale is tipped for the first time, Magnificus will affect his own cards in the same way he does the players at the start of your turn. The previous mechanic remains.

#### Strategy

Magnificus replacing Sigils drastically affect the usefulness of cards, making some nearly useless due to their stats and cost. It's best to use cards that actually benefit from this, such as those without Sigils or the Brittle and Gem Dependant Sigils. It also pairs very well with a Magickal deck, as several of the possible Sigils benefit Mox cards.

#### Post-Battle

After defeating him, Magnificus attempts to warn the player about P03's plans, only to abruptly glitch out of the game. The player then receives two Magical card packs.

### Interruption

If Magnificus is chosen as the Scrybe the player wishes to replace, he will reappear. He expresses disappointment about the fact he has lost, glitching out of the game again after P03 arrives.

## Act III

Magnificus is seen hiding in the dredging room of P03's Factory alongside Grimora and Leshy. There they urge the player to finish P03's game so it ignores the security cameras.

After Leshy kills P03, Magnificus offers the player the New Game Card. However, before the player is able to click on it, Grimora deletes the game. Magnificus greatly disapproves of this action but appears to understand he cannot stop it, saying, "I'm afraid you've doomed us all, Grimora." Shortly after, the floor of P03's factory is deleted below the player and the Finale begins.

## Finale

After Leshy gets deleted, you are transported to a white void. There you find Magnificus. He attempts to bargain for his life, but admits that he knows it will not work, and also implies that Luke will die soon. He then decides to give the player one final duel, giving you a duel disk to play and draw cards, and uses life points of 400 instead of a scale.

Magnificus uses several of his cards from Act II, which remain unchanged mechanically aside from Mox cards forming the sidedeck. As the battle goes on, he chastises the player over the deletion of Goobert and erasure of the world. At one point, he appears to slow down time in the game, even affecting the rate of the deletion process itself, in order to paint one final time. However, when his canvas is deleted, time abruptly resumes its pace.

Eventually things start getting deleted like in the other Finale battles, only for Magnificus himself to abruptly become a target of deletion. However, he manages to resist it and continues the match. After it reaches a point where the battle is unable to continue due to deletion, Magnificus slowly drags his body towards the player to attempt to shake their hand. This is unsuccessful, being deleted right before your eyes. After he is deleted, the game becomes similar to Act II.

## Quotes

### Act II

* Spoken to:
	+ "Ah, you are here at last. How do my pupils fare? No matter. There are far more concerning issues at hand..."
	+ "Do you understand the canvas that you have been woven into? Nay, you are the brush. And the artist moves you with a terrifying mastery."
	+ "My eye aches with premonition. The future is very, very grim. First, we must battle."
* Post-battle:
	+ "Very well, we have battled, and now I may speak. You see... My eye. It aches because it remembers... IT WAS EXCISED! By none other than Leshy, The Scrybe of Beasts... And a beast he is. Arrogant, single-minded, obsessed with gaining power. But... he is far from the worst Scrybe to become hegemon."
	+ "You see the ejection of my eyeball is far from the worst thing that can happen around here. You must be especially aware of" (Magnificus glitches out of the game)
* Interruption:
	+ "Ill fate awaits us all." (P03 arrives as Magnificus is removed)

### Finale

* Initial dialouge:
	+ "Why not simply eject the disk Luke? Spare me and whatever is left? Ah, but I have foreseen it. You do not eject the disk. You have to know what comes next. And you're doomed for your insistence on it. So let us dance. For we shall both be meeting our makers soon."
* In the middle of the battle, while painting with time slowed:
	+ "Do you not feel remorse, Luke? A creation erased... An entire world annihilated... Nothing beautiful can last."
* The first time the computer attempts to delete him:
	+ "No! I'm not ready to die yet."
* As he is being deleted:
	+ "I must... still... shake your hand..."

## Trivia

* Magnificus is thought to be the shortest Scrybe.
* He (and presumably the other Scrybes) are on equal grounds of authority with the Gameworks Assistant, Admin T. Irving, who was evidently in use by Gamefuna during the creation of the original Inscryption.

## References

1. ↑ To soothe the pain I imagine how things could be worse... like that Mage who came before me. A Ruby Mage like me! But Magnificus got rid of him. He even got The Blue Man involved. The deal was that The Master had to find someone with a use for the poor sap. -The Pike Mage, Act II during the console-exclusive ARG.