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! Currently, it is in the form of an organized page with sections full of bullet points. The goal in the end is to remove those bullet points and make an easy to read story.'''

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 . The Beheaded remarks that the Hand of the King's statue is a little too big, as if it was overshadowing the King's. This might imply The Hand actually holds more power than the King himself.

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 public 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 the Ramparts and the Promenade of the Condemned, a similar order from the King addressed to his officers can be found
 * In the Ramparts and the Promenade, an order from the King reads, "If the cells are overpopulated, use the outdoor jails or the oubliettes. Leave no suspects unsupervised." This shows that the Prisoners' Quarters were becoming full due to the imprisonment of too many people.
 * In Castaing's office in the Prisoners' Quarters, the Beheaded finds a direct, secret order from the King to the prison's warden next to a bag of money. 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.
 * A later secret order to Castaing, along with another bribe, scolds him for making the King's orders public . He also instructs him to not let any prisoners leave, even if they have finished serving their time.

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 Sewers, the Alchemist was collecting mold and mushroom samples for his experiments. However, the increase in the numbers of revenants made his work increasingly difficult.

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. The Sanctuary seems to have been especially important to the Alchemist's research. It's the only (?) biome that contains two different Grimoires.
 * It is unclear if the volunteers actually wanted to take part in the experiments or if they were forced.
 * The Alchemist writes that people believe the sap flowing through the walls of the Sanctuary is responsible for the Malaise, by contaminating the sewer network . He also suggests that this same substance could be the solution to the epidemic. it is unclear if the substance is in fact the source of the Malaise or if it's only a rumor. What is sure is that the Alchemist harvested and used this substance as part of a treatment for the infection, as indicated by the Grimoires of the Ossuary and the Clock Tower.

In the Ossuary, the Alchemist was applying the 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 another Grimoire, the Alchemist references the Time Keeper's efforts to combat the Malaise. He implies that she is manipulating time to contain the Malaise, but that her spell cannot contain it forever.

In the Clock Tower, a grimoire reports that the Alchemist found a formulation (which likely includes the Sanctuary substance as base ingredient) that slows down the mutagenic effects of the Malaise.

The Time Keeper
Information about the Time Keeper can be found in a few lore rooms, mostly located in the Clock Tower.
 * A letter left by the Time Keeper indicates that she is repeating the same day over and over, as if time was rewinding every day . indeed, the Time Keeper keeps track of all the infected people and monsters she has executed, but all her entries are classified as "Day 1". It is also implied that her task makes her increasingly exhausted, as the number of executions decreases each day.

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.
 * The King later asked Castaing to focus on preventing imprisoned villagers to cross the bridge and escape back to their homes, by using force if necessary. It is unclear if those prisoners were infected or not, but it seems they were not guilty of any crime.
 * 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 the King. His motivations for doing so are unclear, but it seems Castaing needed money to support his lazy, rich lifestyle, as indicated by his sunbathing crib on top of the Ramparts.
 * Castaing had a number of offices around the Island, notably in Prisoners' Quarters, the Promenade of the Condemned, the Ramparts 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

 * 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.

Soldiers
The soldiers were given orders by Castaing and by the King, and left some letters to one another.
 * The archers of the King were lousy at their job, as indicated by their terrible accuracy in a "live target training" area in the Ramparts.


 * Some soldiers were panicking and wanted to abandon the Island before they got infected.
 * An order by the King to the soldiers implies that some of them were rebelling against the King and disobeying his orders . The King made it clear dissent would be met with swift execution.

General lore

 * "In the social hierarchy of the island, there are the dogs, the rats, and just below them, the prisoners."
 * "The lucky prisoners had a window in their cells... They ended up choking on the ashes from the Ossuary."
 * "The prison is directly connected to the outer yard. The prisoners can choose between the rats and the crows."

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.

General lore

 * "It's never a good sign, being sent to the yard. Few return. When they do, they're never quite the same."
 * "The charming countryside atmosphere of the forest has given way to a... less wholesome ambience."
 * "Time was, you could still hear the occasional bird singing outside. Now there's nothing but the caw of the crows."

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.

General lore

 * "The worst prisoners were locked up here, in the company of the worst guards."
 * "Few prisoners managed to see out their time here alive. None, actually."
 * ""To be transferred to the Depths" meant you weren't coming back. All you could really hope for was that your execution would be quick."

General lore

 * "To keep things exciting, the guards sometimes threw condemned prisoners from the Ramparts. There's definitely nothing worse than the screams of someone who knows they're headed for the edge."
 * "The guards would perch themselves on the Ramparts at the first sign of the Malaise... It didn't really help."
 * "Once, some poor sod tried to escape over the Ramparts... He died of exhaustion during the climb, so the guards left his body on the wall to make sure everyone got the message,"

General lore

 * "After the Night of the Bloody Riots, the guards decided to condemn a whole wing of the prison so they could dump the bodies in there."
 * "A thick layer of ashes covered the walls of the place. Filth crept into every nook and cranny."
 * "One of the worst places on the island... Or one of the safest, depending on who you ask."

Toxic Sewers

 * "Many believed the sewers were a path to freedom. No one ever made it out the other side."
 * "The prison dumped all its unspeakable filth into the lower galleries, so it's no wonder something horrible emerged from them one day!"
 * This seems to be a reference to Conjunctivius.
 * "A greenish substance oozed its way into a number of pipes along here... and it continues to spread."
 * "Hmm... is that... is that smell normal?"

Ancient Sewers

 * "Even the guards seemed to know nothing about this part of the sewers. Or maybe they all just wanted to pretend it wasn't there."
 * "That same greenish substance, with its pestilent odor..."
 * "Mold everywhere... Spores floating in the fetid air... A perfectly welcoming ecosystem."


 * "One day, a pile of filth started growling. That part of the sewers was promptly blocked off."
 * This seems to be a reference to Conjunctivius.

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.