Lore

## Before the Malaise

There is little to go off on what the island had been before the malaise outbreak and its inevitable downfall following it. Though, it can be said the island had been somewhat prosperous.

Otherwise, the island had been ruled by the king and queen who resided in the High Peak Castle. The gates of the castle were defended by the giant, the interior defended by the royal guards, and royals themselves protected by the Hand Of The King and The Servants.

Beyond the High Peak Castle is Stilt Village, where the lower class citizens of the island resided, Where they would spend most of their time fishing as their source of food and as an activity. Occasionally, some managed to retrieve crystals from the caverns to sell, how they obtained the crystals was never mentioned.

Connected to the village is the black bridge, acting as an exit and entrance to the prison, personally guarded by the prison warden, Castaing. Back then, it had only been used during special occasions.

## During The Malaise

Things quickly changed after a sudden deadly illness spread across the island. The illness was named a variety of names such as: the malaise, the gloom, or the green poison. Its symptoms were itchiness, belly aches, feeling down, headaches, blurred vision and eventual death. However, it reanimated the once dead infected and mutated them into aggressive monsters who attacked the living.

In an attempt to contain the infection, The King ordered the imprisonment and execution of anyone who was infected, those who were only suspected would also be hanged. The king ordered the prison warden, Castaing, to stop controlling the gates and keep all prisoners inside even if they’ve finished their sentence. When the cells became overpopulated, due to many imprisonments, the king ordered the guards to use the outside jails and to leave no suspects unsupervised.

The king’s orders confused the guards as they questioned why they were transferring sick villagers to the prison and not getting them treatment. Because of this, the guards were threatened with execution if they failed to obey the king’s orders.

Inside the prison, the prisoners wrote on the cell walls questioning why the prison was being filled with the innocent, or why they didn’t want to get infected and die.

Eventually, they began escaping. Digging tunnels to the Sewers or Promenade, and climbing the Ramparts. However, these escapes always resulted in death to either exhaustion, starvation, or by the hands of Castaing had they gotten to the bridge.

Because of his actions, The Giant confronted the King warning him his actions would bring ruin to his kingdom. The king, however, ordered the Giant to be executed and have his body thrown in the prison quarters.

Within the village, the villagers revolted against the king. Vandalising the statue of him and his hand, his posted orders, and even demanding his death. This led to the nights of bloody riots. After which, the guard’s condemned a wing of the prison, the Ossuary, to dump corpses in, and in an additional attempt to burn excess bodies when the Graveyard became full. Even then, the bodies piled up endlessly and burning them was no longer good enough as they were reanimating and acquiring weapons.

At this time, The king wasn’t the only one taking action against the malaise: A sorceress, called The Time Keeper, resorted to rewinding time to the same day, executing infected and keeping the malaise at bay, although this exhausted her as noticed by The Alchemist.

The Alchemist, alongside the King and the Time Keeper, took action against the malaise, using scientific means to find a cure. He gathered research from all over the island to learn the origin of the malaise and conducted many experiments to combat the malaise, using corpses or villagers who volunteered their bodies for his work.

His research took him to a sanctuary beneath the village. Some believed the liquid sap running through the walls of the sanctuary could've been contaminating the sewer network and thus causing the malaise. With this knowledge, the alchemist began experimenting with the sap. Over time, he discovered mutations in the infected slowed down when submerged in a solution of the sap. However, the sap provided unpredictable results on the bones of corpses. He reflects on whether the king’s methods were worth killing so many people.

During the final retreat, when the malaise was at its peak, the King gave The Alchemist a wing of the castle to continue his experiments. Although, everything proved to be futile as the royal guard once protected within succumbed to the infection and the king himself succumbed to the Malaise.

As a final desperate attempt, The Time Keeper set the island in an endless time loop, containing the malaise to the island.

## Important characters

### The King

The King was the ruler of the island and the main antagonist.

He was once respected and loved, or perhaps tolerated, by his people, and was looked up to as a model for them. He is also portrayed as egotistical: leaving statues in various biomes, such as the Caverns, the Promenade, Stilt Village and other notable places.

It is unclear what relationship the King had with the queen before and during the malaise, outside their marriage. It’s potential the queen expresses a sentimental love for the king and resents the Malaise ruining whatever they had. Although, it could be interpreted as sarcasm.

Furthermore, The King disdained foreign beliefs and barely tolerated the temples in the fractured shrines. To add onto this, He banished the pagan cult out to the wild parts of the island, receiving unanimous support for it. After this, he created a law preventing anyone from travelling to Fractured Shrines, a useless law as nobody wanted to go there.

Aside from banishing the pagans, The King also banished the Apostates to the Undying Shores for unspecified “crimes against the crown.” Furthermore, The King had also executed his most senior medical advisor for unspecified reasons.

Before the Malaise, The King allowed the Time Keeper to construct the Clock Tower under unknown terms discussed between them.

The following information **contains spoilers** regarding the true ending of the game. Discretion is advised.

He too ordered the construction of the Astrolab and Observatory; these facilities were only used by The Alchemist. Reasons for their constructions are currently unknown.

He was created into The Beheaded by the Alchemist, presumably, within the Undying Shores. Anything else regarding his transformation is unknown.

### The Alchemist

The Alchemist is an unseen figure throughout the island. He searches for a cure for the malaise, all ending up in failure. Additionally, the Alchemist was rather unpopular as the giant and the king’s hand both agreed nobody liked him.

The following information **contains spoilers** regarding the true ending of the game. Discretion is advised.

It’s also heavily implied the Alchemist is the Collector seen in every transition, excluding 5bc, during the game. Evident by the boss fight in the Observatory and a shelf of flasks, in the Astrolab, which The Beheaded remarks, “the flasks of the Alchemist and Collector look similar. they must buy them at the same place, or… ...!"

## The Malaise

*Main article:* Malaise
The origins of the Malaise are relatively unknown. It's widely suspected to come from the Slumbering Sanctuary’s sap that infected the sewer network below the prison.

The Malaise was helped spread across the island by infected insects, contaminated fish feasted on by the villagers, and improperly disposed infected corpses within the sewers, evidently spreading rampantly amidst the Island's population.

The symptoms of the Malaise are itchiness, belly aches, feeling down, headaches, and blurred vision, and always resulting in death. Apart from this, the Malaise caused mutations in both the living and dead, and reanimating the dead into bloodthirsty monsters.