Lore

'''This page is intended as a summary of the game lore and story elements. Feel free to create sections and write some stuff and/or add your own screenshots and gifs!'''

Prisoners

 * Tom the Mushroomologist is a prisoner who collects, studies and sells mushrooms . His cell and stash are found in different parts of the Island, which implies he was able to move around the Prison to sell psychoactive mushrooms to other prisoners.
 * Prisoner 545 died from exhaustion and hunger as he was making his escape through a spoon-carved tunnel in the Promenade of the Condemned . He did not manage to get out of the well.
 * A prisoner managed to escape his cell before he got infected with the Malaise . It could be the same prisoner we find dead in the Toxic Sewers.
 * A prisoner is found hanged in a cell full of flowers. He holds a red flower resembling the Gardener's keys, which implies he is the Gardener himself . Why he was imprisoned is unclear. A weird flower with the note "do not water after midnight" seems to be a reference to the Gremlins movie. It might be the result of an experiment with the Malaise or with infected materials.

King statues
There are a number of statues of the king scattered around the island, notably in the Promenade of the Condemned, in the Stilt Village and in the Graveyard.
 * There is a statue of the King in the Promenade of the Condemned . The Beheaded wonders how he can see with a helmet covering his face.
 * Close to this statue and in other areas of the island, there can sometimes be another, desecrated statue bearing the inscription "We'll skin you alive" . A cow head lies beside it, emblazoned with the King's coat of arms, which shows that some citizens were violently opposed to the King's policies.
 * Another statue in the Stilt Village depicts the King with his Hand.

Orders of the King
All over the island, the Beheaded finds a variety of orders written by the King. Most of these relate to the imprisonment and quarantining of criminals, infected or plain innocent people. Some of them are direct orders to high ranking public officers such as Castaing or the Alechmist.
 * An order by the King can be found next to hanged prisoners. It orders the imprisonment and execution of all people presenting signs of abnormal behavior or physical appearance, i.e. suspected of infection by the Malaise . A bottom note in brackets adds "(if the prison doctor confirms the diagnosis of infection)", which implies that confirmation is actually not important, and that suspicion of infection is enough proof.
 * In Castaing's office in the Prisoners' Quarters, the Beheaded finds a direct, secret order from the King to the prison's warden. The King asks Castaing to stop controlling the entrances to the prison until further notice, which seems to imply unlawful imprisonments and prisoner transfers were taking place on orders of the King.

Grimoires
The Alchemist's Grimoires are scattered around the island and recount his various experiments with the Malaise and how to cure it.
 * In the Stilt Village, the Alchemist has set up a laboratory dedicated to curing ill "volunteers". He reports that the essence of bupleurum seems to relieve symptoms, especially blood vomiting.
 * It is unclear if the volunteers actually wanted to take part in the experiments or if they were forced.
 * In the Ossuary, the Alchemist was applying a substance found in the Sanctuary on bones from corpses, likely executed prisoners. The substance's effects were unpredictable and the Alchemist reflects whether his experiments are worth killing so many people.
 * In the Clock Tower, a grimoire reports that the Alchemist found a formulation that slows the down the mutagenic effects of the Malaise.

The Concierge

 * The Concierge used to be the prison's Warden back when he was still human. He was called Castaing and was in charge of controlling the prison's entrance as well as managing prison guards.


 * Castaing received secret orders from the King to stop controlling the entrances to the Prison and to keep all prisoners inside, even those who had finished their sentence. Castaing put a public sign asking for citizens to report any signs of infection or odd behaviour, but was scolded by the King for making his secret orders public.
 * Castaing became ill and his body mutated after he got the Malaise, which led to him being the Concierge monster.
 * It is implied that Castaing was taking bribes from an unknown person and at least partly disobeying the King's orders (to be completed).
 * Castaing had a number of offices around the Island, notably in Prisoners' Quarters, the Promenade of the Condemned and Prison Depths.
 * Castaing had a book titled "Directing a prison for dummies", which includes a chapter on "bridge construction", which is a reference to the Black Bridge where the Beheaded fights him.

Prisoners lore

 * A prisoner managed to escape his cell before he got infected with the Malaise . It could be the same prisoner we find dead in the Toxic Sewers.
 * A prisoner is found hanged in a cell full of flowers. He holds a red flower resembling the Gardener's keys, which implies he is the Gardener himself . Why he was imprisoned is unclear. A weird flower with the note "do not water after midnight" seems to be a reference to the Gremlins movie. It might be the result of an experiment with the Malaise or with infected materials.

The Well
There is a well in the Promenade which can contain a number of things.
 * Sometimes, the well contains rubbish and a rotting drowned corpse . The Beheaded reflects that it's no wonder people get sick when filthy stuff gets thrown in the water supply.
 * In another instance, the Beheaded finds a prisoner who died from exhaustion and hunger as he was making his escape through a spoon-carved tunnel.

Malaise lore

 * Contaminated bodies are found the sewers . The Beheaded wonders if those bodies are responsible for the initial infection of the citizens, or if those bodies only helped spread the Malaise by contaminating the whole water network.

Conjunctivius lore

 * The beheaded stumbles upon a trail of green goo close to a corpse. The trail of goo leads to the remains of a huge cocoon and a gigantic hole, which was carved by Conjunctivius as he escaped.
 * The corpse doesn't seem infected and wears prisoner clothes, which could imply it's the prisoner who escaped from the Prisoners' Quarters. Why he is not infected despite being killed by Conjunctivius is unclear.