Master Payne
Name	Payne
Occupation	Circus master
Residence	Itinerant
First Appearance	What an entrance! ✣
Marital Status	Married

Head of Master Payne's Circus of Adventure and minorly Sparky self-professed evil (or is that good?) ✣ magician. He is married to Countess Marie (to whom he often wisely defers as voice of the last word), a member of the International Brotherhood of Evil Magicians, and protective of his circus family as its pseudo-patriarch. He is responsible and deeply aware of the long-term difficulties of hiding a troupe of minor sparks in Europa. He is a captivating ringmaster ✣ in his star-spangled longcoat, and knows how to manipulate an audience with his flashy brand of illusion. He has a superstitious (or perhaps just highly intuitive) side, seriously observing and relying on Moxana's mysterious games. He is also superb at quickly assessing talent when he sees it ✣ .

Agatha first encounters him ✣ when he realizes she is on the run from Castle Wulfenbach. However, he is also responsible for keeping Agatha with the circus and disguising her ✣ from the forces of Bang Dupree and Gilgamesh Wulfenbach when they appear at the circus ✣ searching for her. Clearly, he is quick at devising a good subterfuge and respecting honorable risk-takers when he meets them. However, Master Payne is not one for foolish bravery ✣ ; he knows that despite his troupe being Sparky, they are still actors and not trained to handle real combat like Zeetha or the Jägermonsters. After foolishly stealing ✣ one of the Baron's airships to rescue Agatha and faced with the horrible prospect to disband his beloved circus/family, Master Payne accepts Ardsley Wooster's offer to take the Circus of Adventure back to England.

His name, despite being a homophone for pain, may be a reference to a pane of glass, as would be used to create a mirror, appropriate for a man who uses "smoke and mirrors" to hide things.

The Works Edit

In The Works, Master Payne is labeled (uniquely) Circus Magician.

Outside world Edit

Art imitates life. Just like magic itself, Master Payne is very real. See him in full sparky regalia here (for as long as the link stays up) assisting the Professors Foglio with one of their popular radio plays. See also his own site here for information on how to hire him for your own great dissemblances.^[1]

Powers? Edit

In this scene ✣ , Abner refers to Master Payne's actions as "such a great act". Countess Marie replies "Act?" It is unclear whether they are referring to Master Payne's intimidating speech, or his apparent growth to giant size, with attendant blue flames. If the latter, it may imply that his "stage magic" may be something far, far more. Note that at no time does anyone refer to Master Payne as a Spark, nor do we see him using technology more involved than a cart. But In The Works, Master Payne is labeled (uniquely) Circus Magician The Works: Circus Magician. The rules of The Works specify that the description for each character is to be taken literally. And the Foglios tend towards being pretty darn literal. His powers may, possibly, be rather more than an illusion.

Master Payne
Name	Payne
Occupation	Circus master
Residence	Itinerant
First Appearance	What an entrance! ✣
Marital Status	Married

Paynes MagykesEdit

See the thimble rigger rig thimbles!

Master Paynes Circus of AdventureEdit

Still Amazing after Fifty Years

References

1. ↑ Er, assemblages. ✣