Failbetter Games Discusses Mandrake Folklore Inspirations

Failbetter Games posted a new blog post for its upcoming rural life sim Mandrake. In the post, Narrative Director Chris Gardiner discusses some of the folklore that has inspired many parts of the game.

Mandrake is inspired by British history and folklore, with one such folklore is that of sunken lands. While Atlantis may be the most famous, there are others around the British Isles including Lyonesse, beyond Land’s End in Cornwall and associated with Arthurian legend; the Brittany city of Ys, which features in the Barzaz Breiz collection of Breton folk-songs; and Cantre’r Gwaelod, said to lie off the Cardigan Bay in Wales. Mandrake’s own version is Oleas, which lay just off the coast near the game’s village of Chandley. It was home to the rival Rose dynasty of the protagonist’s Mandrake house.

Oleas’s underwater streets are roamed by korrigan, which are inspired by Scottish selkies but named after the Breton fey. They in the shape of seals, but can take human form on the shore and can use their own magics. Another creature is Hob Halfling, who lives in the hearth of the player’s lodge. He is inspired by Scottish brownies, household spirits that come out at night and help clean up and do chores, provided they are well treated.

Meanwhile, Malory Rosevere is a pigkeeper in the game, but descended from a long line of doctors inspired by the Welsh Meddygon Myddfai (Physicians of Myddfai) who practiced between the 13th and 18th centuries. Malory also owns a collection of books that is planned to work with Mandrake’s scholarship system that lets players uncover more about the lore of the world, including some inspired by the Welsh Triad medieval manuscripts. Chadley is also home to restless spirits of varying types, referred to by the witch Josselin as the peregrini. Each of the peregrini is inspired by different folklore, including the Salt Mare kelpie and the Russian story Misery. Other folklore inspirations include the Irish Voyage of Máel Dúin.

Mandrake sees players returning to their family’s abandoned home, where they look to make a life in the village and uncover mysteries that were left behind. Players grow various crops that get stranger as their skills grow, such as plants that can call down rain to water the gardens for them. The game is planned to release on Steam Early Access, though a date has not been announced.