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I asked @chrisgardiner.bsky.social for some references to the various kinds of UK folklore we've been reading about for our upcoming game, Mandrake, and here's a long and juicy thread! There are so many worth telling you about!

Mandrake is a rural life sim set in a village called Chandley, whose people have to get along with all sorts of neighbours, some far from human. Regal woods-gods; dangerous, rootless spirits roving the wilds; gentler, domestic sprites that nevertheless abide by their own, sometimes obtuse, rules.

Sunken Lands: Atlantis might be the most famous sunken land, but we've taken inspiration from examples closer to home. Lost Lyonesse that lay beyond Land's End in Cornwall, and became associated with Arthurian legend.

In Mandrake, our drowned isle is poor Oleas, which lay just off the coast near Chandley, and was home to the Rose dynasty – the historic rivals to the Mandrakes, our protagonist’s family house. The locals say that on quiet evenings, you can still hear the bells of Oleas ringing under the waves…

Seal-Folk: Haunting the sunken streets of Oleas are the korrigan, who swim in the shape of seals, but can take human form on the shore. They are attuned to the tides of fate, dangerous to cross, and have magics of their own. Our sea-fisherman, Ruan, knows to treat seals with the utmost courtesy.

They are of course primarily inspired by the Scottish legends of selkies. A favourite modern version of the archetypal selkie story can be found in Kevin Crossley-Holland's short collection Outsiders, which retells folktales from the point of view of those who don't fit in.