"Maukie"

"Maukie", real name Escher, is a quest-exclusive NPC who appears in the World Quest Series A Long Day in the Mountains.

Profile

Escher is a painter who lived around 400 years ago. He got the nickname "Maukie" from his grandfather and father in his childhood. Sometime in his younger life^{[Note 1]} he was selected to be elevated to the Temple of Space, in order to be preserved as a living memory.^[2]

Dottore would later use Escher's (older) appearance and identity to infiltrate Tatarasuna in Inazuma, posing as a mechanic. The staff investigated his background and recognized Escher was an alias, but never came across evidence that suggested Escher was someone who actually existed.^[3]

Appearance

Escher is a tall fair-skinned man with medium-length dark brown hair swept to the side. He wears attire from Fontaine, consisting of a dark red shirt with a white tie bow under a striped black vest. He wears black pants and white knee-high boots with black soles.

His older appearance shown in The Night-Bird Falls at the Curtain's Call is nearly the same, with the only differences being the addition of a goatee, as well as his hair having turned gray.

Quests and Events

World Quests

• A Long Day in the Mountains
  • Prologue: Magic Mountain
    • The Wind Has Ceased (In Pre-Quest Dialogue)
  • Chapter 1: Paradise
    • A Day the Grand Temple Inscribed with Ages
      • Long Live Life

Story

In the Temple of Space

After being uplifted to the Temple of Space, Escher became known for his disturbing and unsettling paintings. Some time before the Traveler appears in the temple, Escher ended up trapped in the Desert Pavilion after Yoshitoshi wanted him to show the Pavilion's people how shocking the "spatial distortion" was.^[2]

There, he did something that "defiled the laws of space," leading Melanta to forcibly exile him from the temple.^[4] However, before Escher was seized, Vitruvius handed him a note with his name on it.^[5]

Present

When interacting with the Statue of The Seven in Windrest Peak for the first time, a confused Escher appears searching for the Anemo Archon Statue at the Old Sanatorium Site to find his way back to the Temple of Space. He only has the note Vitruvius gave him with him and realizes that his name must be "Maukie."^[6] What happens to him after is currently unknown.

During World Quest Long Live Life in Series A Long Day in the Mountains: Chapter 1 - Paradise the Traveler and Paimon encounter a "fake" Escher, which ends up having been created by Melanta to prevent the Traveler from freeing Luyang Academy.

Dialogue

Approaching the two Domain Keepers on the road to the sanatorium triggers the following dialogue, regardless of whether the Quest Series "A Long Day in the Mountains" has been started or not:

Unlocking the Statue of The Seven in Windrest Peak triggers the following dialogue, regardless of whether the Quest Series "A Long Day in the Mountains" has been started or not:

Trivia

• M. C. Escher was a Dutch graphic artist, famous for mathematics-based and abstract art. He was known to his friends and family as "Mauk".

Other Languages

Change History

Notes

References