#inscryption theory

[recklessronja]

Game Theory: Po3 is dysphoric about being a robot

Case 1: They are absolutely miserable for the entirety of the game. The only moments we see them being happy are when they're getting closer to The Great Trancendance, and i would wager a guess that the form seen in the other versions of Inscryption they intended to upload would be that of something completely different.

When the player frees everybody from Leshy, Po3 doesn't really acknowledge it, not even a semi-sarcastic "Thanks". They see it as merely getting to be in the rat race for the old data again, which although not thrilling is still better than Leshy's game. Even if their situation is better, they're still very unhappy.

The only times Po3 has any pride about their situation is when they're stepping over somebody, we don't actually know if they think like this while unobserved however. Mocking Leshy for his failures, insulting the other Scrybes, bullying the underlings at their factory, they try to make themselves feel better by insulting everyone else.

That brings me to Case 2: Uncaringess to their factory, their underlings and most importantly themselves. We see it better in the 3d model but even in 2d form it's very prominent that Po3's body is filthy and unkempt, their screen has visible stains in both. They don't care about their own hardware enough to maintain it, either due to their dysphoria, or because they see it as temporary (More on that in a moment). This clearly had consequences too, their monitor glitches out a ton during the 3d segment, which indicates the hardware might really be struggling to pull things through.

When the camera breaks in the dredging room, and the player doesn't fix it, they get mad over the player not giving them a favor as thanks for the card game, but don't seem to care about the state of the factory itself, and here's my diagnosis: They see the factory, the Scrybes, and likely EVERYTHING about their current form to be temporary, to be replaced with what they truly want in the form of themselves that has full control in the uploaded version.

Yes, i'm aware the uploaded version is implied to be the exact game we play in act 3, but i feel like that's just a coverup, that they'd throw it all away and that the game is just a distraction for anybody who picks it up so that the copy's version of Po3 has time. In the original version Po3 knows they'll never be happy, but maybe the Po3s inside the copies will, maybe they'll find their ideal form and build a kinder self while the player is busy playing the half-baked game.

Case 3: Projection. Whenever the chance arises, Po3 takes a jab at organic life, but when we see them as a stoat (a living being) in act 1, they seem much less insulted by it than you'd think. Despite clearly not being happy, they complain about specifically the Stoat part of the experience only once, which is followed up by their main complaint of simply being in a card. It truly does seem they would be relatively ok if it weren't for the fact that Leshy is torturing them while they're trapped in a very limited form.

I feel like Po3 wants to be some form of life, or at least something other than a computer, but they've put up a facade of being a "perfect machine" so nobody thinks they're weak. They don't want people to see their emotional side, so they simply push everybody away with a facade of egotism and intentional rudeness, but they've been doing it so long that their only hope of self-improvement is in a world where they are truly, fully in control. Alone, and with unlimited space and time to become what they want to become.

Thank you for reading, don't forget to hit that reblog button

[narrative-driven-off-a-cliff]

Okay but after you defeat Grimora she tells you that you can choose which Scrybe to replace and she says "Please spare me."

But then, after seeing the pain her existence brings Luke, and the agonizing power struggle that has ruined the lives of the Scrybes, she is the one who deletes that data.

She faces her fear of death.

All for Luke.

[jackroach-does-theories]

Kaycee's sprite

(Copy-pasted from my original Wikia comment)

So! Fun Kaycee fact: By poking around in the files, we can actually guess at something fairly close to her appearance, using both her Deathcard and the Act II alternate player characters.

How Deathcard images work is that the sprite is made of different parts:

We can see that Kaycee's Deathcard is made with Eyes 5, Mouth 2, and the "Wildling" head/hairstyle.

Similarly, the Act II sprites are divided into head and body:

...With char.png being the default sprite, and the monocle being an overlay after picking it up from Magnificus' tower. The gbc_ files are randomly combined to make a new player character when walking into the mirror in the back of Grimora's crypt. (Side note... unsure of what the gbc part means, I was thinking the G stood for Grimora but there are files with it unrelated to her, so I think it's just an Act II signifier in general.)

But anyway, putting together the wildling files, we get this spritesheet:

And upscaled + condensed to be a bit easier to look at:

Kaycee Hobbes in full-color, 8-bit glory!!

This process applies to the other pre-made deathcards! Louis - chief Reginald - settlerman Kaminski - settlerwoman James Cobb - robot Luke Carder - gravedigger

...As well as some other premade Kaycee's Mod deathcards that don't seem to have a ton of significance. The Prospector is also, obviously, the prospector in the files, despite not having a deathcard.

Reginald does look like the Reginald we know, just wearing blue instead of red. Prospector is spot-on. James did get turned into a robot, and Luke is, well, dead. A skeleton. We don't have canon appearances for Louis or Kaminski, so they're pretty much fair game. Meaning these are probably fairly legit, since itl all lines up so well. I guess it's not, like, solid evidence, but circumstantially it all makes a lot of sense. So, there we go! Canon appearance for Kaycee (And Lou Natas and Kaminski??), or at least the closest thing we'll probably ever get, unless Pony Island 2 surprises us with her.

Hope this is interesting to people!

(Unrelated, does Reginald and Kaminski being named settlerman and settlerwoman respectively imply that they're married? That'd be pretty interesting to think about)

[faineantgrl]

WAKES UP IN A COLD SWEAT.

THE DEVIL IS OBSESSED WITH MAKING VIDEO GAMES BECAUSE HE NOT ONLY WANTS LITERAL SOULS BUT WANTS TO MAKE SOMETHING WITH METAPHORICAL SOUL

IT FIRST DEVELOPS WITH PONY ISLAND, RIGHT? IT PROBABLY STARTED OFF AS A TRICK OR SOMETHING BUT DEVELOPED INTO "I GOTTA MAKE A GOOD FUCKING GAME"

but heres the thing: he lacks CREATIVITY. under developers of pony island he calls himself "stan tehdvil" and eventually goes by "lou natas" IN THE REAL ASS LIVING WORLD. this shows that he lacks creativity, the true kind, because come on man.

he has One good thing going on, the whole "pony island jump and destroy" gameloop and keeps trying to make it something more than just a simple game. but he struggles, because he doesn't understand why people love games that are more than just a simple gameplay loop with story and all that. he sees ""theodore"" [im still suspicious of that] potentially having fun solving the code puzzles and tries to incorporate that, but he fails to understand the fun isn't just solving the puzzle, but progressing the story that we are so deeply interested in.

the whole lost soul, final escape sequence, all that? it's NOT the devil trying to make any kind of game, it's just him getting upset with and tricking the player. but he fails to understand it's THAT which makes a good game.

the hex is centered around lionel snill's creations n whatnot, but we cannot forget the gamefuna ruining lionel's life sideplot. whats important to note is how the first two weaselkid game reviews are all about the quality of the game related to the earnest-ness, the soul of it. the devil tries to make a third game after buying the rights, as a CHEAT CODE TO MAKING A GOOD GAME. but he fails because he cannot be lionel. the reason everything from then on happens to lionel is because the devil realises that lionel has a special touch he doesn't, and is trying to "study" his games, why they're so beloved.

inscryption i think is a real turning point. remember how inscryption is both simultaneously a card game turned video game that was never finished, AND somehow a front for the old_data? heres what i think:

first off, as far as i know, gamefuna did not make the card game inscryption. once again, the devil‚ after losing his golden child for Good Games is trying to take a pre-existing beloved thing to make a good game. heres why i dont think inscryption, the normal game, actually released in-universe:

he failed again. it was never good enough to even RELEASE.

the old_data coverup floppy disk, however? the sentient characters... were making a good game. that's a huge reason why the devil Lost His Shit when it went missing, but im getting ahead of myself.

i think magnificus is not only the worst gameplay-wise, but also the CLOSEST TO THE ORIGINAL GAME. we already know the gameplay itself has been heavily modified by the game characters [arguably even without the use of the 3d-ifier OLD_DATA]. everything about him seems to be screaming about how unfinished he is, even p03 making that abundantly clear with his uberbot, and i dont think this is a coincidence. everything fun about his act 2 comes from the puzzles of a probably heavily modified aspect of gameplay. i'd also like to point out the fact that act 2, the closest to the original inscryption, has the whole OLD_DATA situation to thank for its funnest moments. inscryption, as the devil had designed it, was probably a much worse game.

but the others, leshy's attention to detail, p03's love for game design, grimora's fearlessness from breaking from the format laid out for her, they gave the game SOUL.

here's a question we never really solve: what the hell is the OLD_DATA?

it seems to contain a bunch of information outside of the karnoffel code, and lets be real the devil doesn't need whatever power that code provides, that doesn't really make sense to be included... on the surface.

its told to be horrible and horrific, but to the game characters, who are the very ones saying it, it's not very relevant to them from what we see [lbr i dont think anybody gives a shit about history that doesn't affect their existence in inscryption That Much]. But we must understand: it's always collecting.

It's collecting a story. It's collecting a timeline of events that generally move *humans*, emotionally. and the horrible secret of the OLD_DATA, what horrifies everyone, what horrifies the creative minds inside that floppy drive?

it's the worst nightmare possible in this scenario, of course: it's stealing the information of how to make a good game against their will. and that is the only reason the devil allowed them to still exist.

do you wonder why it took so long for panda circus to be made, in-universe? its because the devil needed to know that x-factor. what makes a good game with soul.

what makes people love your work. love you.

[catioffical]

hehehehe..... exstendo arms..... funni

[patchwork-crow-writes]

What Is Magnificus's Endgame?

Heavy Inscryption spoilers under the Read More - you have been warned.

The four Scrybes of Inscryption are all after the OLD_DATA, and each has their reasoning for trying to gain access to it. P03 wants to spread itself across the internet and ensure its domination over the other Scrybes somewhere; Grimora wants to erase the entire game along with the OLD_DATA, to ensure it can never fall into the wrong hands; and Leshy just... wants to chill and play an immersive card game in his cabin.

But we are never given a reason why Magnificus wants the OLD_DATA. The only hint we are ever given is by Rebecha, the bridge-builder NPC in Acts 2 and 3, who mentions that his intentions are "too terrible to say", and never elaborates on that, or even brings it up ever again. Everything surrounding the Scrybe of Magics is intentionally cryptic and ambiguous, from his abilities of precognition, his randomly disappearing mid-sentence, and the... questionable treatment of his pupils.

But we can discern clues from these scattered fragments, along with a few secrets unearthed in the Console ARG, to piece together a possible motivation.

Let's start with Magnificus himself. As mentioned previously, he is the Scrybe of Magics, and his inscryption tool is a paintbrush, with which he can apply and remove sigils from existing cards. We can therefore understand him as an artistic soul, with a flair for the dramatic and producing the maximum possible impact from his works. He holds high expectations of those who would study under or challenge him, as we can see by the harsh treatment of his pupils.

Magnificus has three mages under his tutelege, who we know as Goobert, Amber and the Lonely Wizard. Each of them are vying for a coveted place in their master's deck, and have been subjected to various trials to prove themselves worthy, with Goobert being turned into literal goo, Amber existing as a head impaled upon a pike, and the Lonely Wizard deprived of all sensory experience. In each case, their suffering is commented upon and is demonstrated to be very real. On top of this, the three of them have been sealed away in their own pocket dimensions, completely isolated from the rest of the world.

You would expect Magnificus himself to comment upon them - to at least congratulate you for besting his students. But he never mentions them at all. You might be forgiven for thinking he had forgotten about them entirely, or even for holding them in utter contempt. His treatment of a picture painted by Goobert, where the two of them are happily embracing, is indicative of this attitude, with Goobert being completely whited-out from the picture.

The question is, why does Magnificus treat his pupils this way? What possible reason could there be to subject them to such horrific treatments, other than to ensure that they suffer in the worst possible ways? Could that suffering actually be integral to his process - his way to ensure that the "best" art is created? Much is said of the relationship between art and suffering, with the trope of the "tortured artist", and numerous quotes attributed to different artists linking the two. Of particular note is this quote attributed to Aldous Huxley:

"Perhaps it's good for one to suffer. Can an artist do anything if he's happy? Would he ever want to do anything? What is art, after all, but a protest against the horrible inclemency of life?"

Perhaps Magnificus believes it is a necessary precondition to suffer in order to produce the best art, the best cards, the best possible creative output. The greater the suffering, the greater the resulting work... and in fact, thanks to the Console ARG, we know this suffering is exactly what Magnificus is after.

The "Console ARG" is a secret exclusively found in the console releases of Inscryption, where through a series of puzzles players can discover the existence of a character called James Cobb. Further delving tells us that he was once a pupil of Magnificus, and that his trial involved his body warping and changing into different forms. But Magnificus was displeased with his protegee and got rid of him... which we discover is because Cobb actually seemed to enjoy what was happening to him. He wasn't suffering, so the Scrybe of Magics found him wanting. This tells us that the suffering of his pupils - who it should be remembered are to become the subjects of his paintings - is absolutely vital for his method of inscryption.

So then, all that remains is to link this knowledge with the OLD_DATA, and then try and discern what Magnificus wants to accomplish with it. So let's look at what the OLD_DATA actually is... or rather, what it's rumoured to be.

The OLD_DATA is intrinsically linked with the Karnoffel Code, which was supposedly a sequence of Karnoffel cards found in Adolf Hitler's breast pocket after his death, which contained the activation key for some sort of doomsday device. According to Kaycee's notes hidden in her Mod, she reckons device could potentially have the power to wipe Europe off the face of the map. And this doesn't even touch on the data's more supernatural aspects, including its seeming ability to grant sapience to the digital inhabitants of Inscryption, or that it may very well be an aspect of the Devil himself.

Consider the sheer scale of descruction that could be unleashed by the contents of the OLD_DATA, should it fall into the hands of someone willing to utilise it. Consider the sheer amount of suffering such an event would cause. Consider Magnificus's seeming devotion to have his subjects suffer for the sake of his art...

And so, we come to our answer. The reason that Maginificus has for pursuing the OLD_DATA, the reason that's "too terrible to say", is so that he can cause an event that unleashes untold suffering upon the world... for as his past and present actions show, there can be no true art without suffering.

And the greater the suffering... the greater the masterpiece.

[freakishgames]

So, I was thinking, what species are the scrybes? Like, Leshy is obviously a leshy (a Slavic forest spirit,) P03 is a robot/android, Grimora is probably some sort of undead, a ghoul maybe. But Magnificus? That motherfucker is an enigma. I, however, have two theories.

Theory 1: Magnificus is a tree animated by magic (or, in Inscryption, "magick.")

Theory 2: Magnificus is an Urayuli. He looks similar enough to the Urayuli card, but he's weaker, and smaller, than Urayulis are normally, so, perhaps he's a runt Urayuli who learned "magick" to make up for his weakness. I mean, even him having neon eyes makes sense because "real" Urayulis are thought to have luminescent eyes.

Let me know what you all think.

[starppleb]

Ok. Im done with going crazy about this myself.

Inscription spoilers and stuff!

So the OLD DATA. It exists, it holds the power to destroy the world and maybe save it.

What if it's not a nuclear weapon. What if it holds the power to Inscript living being on to cards?

Hear me out.

The scribes obtain the power to change the game the world to their vision by inscribing the enemies on cards.

It is both an end of the world and a salvation of one.

End of the act 2 inscription and a beginning of a special act.

Thank or blame Flaw Peacock for reminding me that I do theories, too.

He suggested that in the end Luke tried to Inscribe Amanda on some cards. After discovering the OLD DATA.

So it is the main inspiration!

[internetskiff]

Y'know prior to making an account on here I think I remember reading a theory that proposes that G0lly is, in fact, P03's original personality. And you know what? Love that. I see more evidence pointing towards it than against it, the most obvious one being that she's the only uberbot P03 has an implied history with and the fact that. Well. Yknow. She's the only uberbot that isn't a half-assed mockery of her respective scrybe?

After all, why would P03 mock himself?

So I assume he just dug through some old files and decided to bring her out.

The only issue I have with this is the fact that I see no one bring this theory to it's logical conclusion - if the OLD_DATA changed P03 so drastically, who's to say the other 3 scrybes aren't extremely out-of-character compared to their untainted counterparts aswell?

It rly makes me wonder how those 4 would act in a completely clean copy of the game. Would Magnificus be as cruel as he is, for example? Food for thought, I think.

[theforgetablewelsby]

Wait you like Inscryption AND Will Wood??? Do you agree with the theory that Leshy cries to Euthanasia

That is a good theory and I think he would listen to it but me and my friend @kitkatkitchen made a joke that when Leshy is alone he listens to Chappell Roan and that we both see him as a lesbian icon.

[britishsass]

this might be cheap and very much in the fanfiction zone but i'm thinking that [redacted] took both kaycee and carder alive at their times [with carder's capture having more improvisation given the presence of a video camera] and set up body double corpses to be burned with their houses so everyone would think they're dead while the guys at gamefuna could get all of the old data info they can out of their heads

and they take carder's PC with them to remove the risk of p03 incidentally making the old data public while they work on a proper retail release with both kaycee and carder as developers [under new identities] and we've technically been looking at the footage from the POV of louis natas

Oh wow. That's a very fascinating theory tbh, though I do agree with the thought of it being a bit fanfic-y.

I'm personally very occam's razor about the real situation there-- The best solution is the easiest one. Both of them are actually dead. Though I also like thinking both of them found their ways into the game, and if we were to play Inscryption in a New Game Plus mode, then we'd get to actually talk to Luke and Kaycee in the game. Them, and Plasma Jimmy, whose name I'm currently spacing on. James... something.

Kinda like with how Hex shows video game characters coming to reality, and how we see Sado over Amanda for a moment, there's still Kaycee and Luke's souls in Inscryption.

...God, I hope we get to see them in Panda Circus. I want to know more about Kaycee. I know it's unlikely, since most of the characters don't carry between games, but... I really wish we got more of her in any way at all.

[dannybobany]

I BEAT KAYCEES MOD … IM FINALLY FREEEEEEEE !!!

[squigglebug]

heave. ho.

[chloro-form-roc]

Honestly the wall all the scrybes overlap is fascinating, they both have a direct opposite and a similar “counterpart”

P03 and leshy are direct opposites of eachother, flesh and metal, one full of asshole energy and the other who is more subtle in his cruelty yet still managing to be some what fair. One is an elaborate storyteller and the other is focused on gameplay.

Now grimora and magnificus aren’t as obvious in being opposites given that their domains aren’t opposite. However their personalities are something you could make an argument for, grimora seems to be a jolly woman who plays sorta fast and loose with the lives of both everyone else and herself, meanwhile magnificus is very obviously terrified of dying since he tries to convince the player to not kill him. Magnificus is also a lot more “cold” in my opinion compared to grimora.

Now, you can see who’s “similar” in terms of overlapping mechanics! Leshy and grimora share the blood and bones and are both calm, collected individuals who (as fair as we can tell) are decently kind to their subordinates

P03 and magnificus would (probably if magnificus had a section tho iirc some magic cards do use energy in act 2?) share the mox and energy mechanics and from what we see are both kind of assholes to everyone else and their subordinates as is pointed out in the above post. (Also this may or may not be coincidence but neither of them get to shake the players hand where grimora and leshy do)

Granted, P03 is very obviously supposed to be the “other” among the scrybes even in the little act 2 intro (p03 takes way longer to light up compared to the others) he’s the only one that isn’t organic, the only one who doesn’t seem to have any interest in the other scrybes other then seeing them as obstacles (the others seem to have some kind of communication with eachother if the note from magnificus is any indication) hell he’s an oddity in even the smallest details (he’s the only scrybe that isn’t a little bit green in base appearance) but it is neat to see how the game sorta compared and contrasts the scrybes with eachother

Their cruel bosses

I want they will happy sometime bc I love them.

You can think as a just joke this.

I tried to find that there is a similarity between P03’s workers and Magnificus’ pupils.

Their bosses, P03 and Magnificus also have in common that they never rewarded their subordinates.

As supplementary, in Act3, you can see the Lonely Wizbot’s special dialogue when you draw the card of him after the player meet other Scrybes in the dredging room.

[determunition]

INSCRYPTOBER week 3: OUT OF BOUNDS

so in the penultimate cutscene of the game, magnificus stares upward for about half the scene, and i've always had this pet theory that with his all-seeing eye he was looking through the floor above, beyond the geometry of space and time...and beheld the game's inevitable fate.

on another note, i'd be remiss not to wish inscryption a happy 3rd birthday today! this game absolutely changed my life in many many ways, and i'm so proud to be a part of its cozy little community ^^

[alexmey-does-an-arts]

my new inscryption theory