Servants/prisoners....explain? SPOILERS

[sjr12]

The "Gatherers" are what the locals call them based on what they saw in the forest around Aldstalt, although the game mentions that this is folklore and may or may not be true.

The water monster, or the "Kaernk" (I believe that's how it's spelled) is mentioned in the game to be an otherworldly creature that traps you within its own dimension. If a creature from another world exists there, the servants may also originate from another world and existed to replace Alexander's human servants.

I think, originally, the monster servants were originally supposed to have been human but were transformed into what they are now by Alexander. When you read the notes and listen to the dialogue of the men who were trapped in the wine cellar, not only do they experience gross mutations that pierce through their flesh, but you can see all sorts of guts and flesh on the ground where the notes' author supposedly died.