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snakeoilferryman · 14 days ago

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Finally after procrastinating for way too long I’m going to share my headcanons about the ancient Humans in the minecraft world - Aka The Ancient Builders!

Ok let’s get this out the way first - from now on, when I say ‘humans’, I mean the folk who are typically referred to as ‘the ancient builders’ by theorists. The elusive ancient people who built all the majority of the strange abandoned structures in the Overworld and Nether, can live and die once and that’s it, and are just normal Homo sapiens - and most importantly, are, excluding Players, extinct. I’ll also refer to them as ‘ABs’. When I say ‘players’ I mean the genetically altered humans that have more than one life, heightened strength durability and adaptability and are what you play as in Minecraft.

First off, in this post I will talk about Humans (ABs) - and in a second follow up post, I’ll talk about Players (Steve and Alex as my examples).

Originally, 2 major hominids ruled the similarly earth-sized temperate high oxygen planet which is known as The Overworld. There was Homo Testificate, whom what we now know as Villagers and Illagers, but during those times were one group and kind of did their own thing and Homo sapiens which are humans. Humans were by far the most technologically advanced civilization at the time, and had conquered all corners of the globe. They had harnessed the fantastical power of magic, and had a plethora of rich cultures and languages - the most common language being the ancestral language for CEL (Common Enchanting Language). A golden era of innovation and exploration had begun as the humans had discovered other alien dimensions existed - potentially thousands - hosting a plethora of bizarre environments, beings (potentially sapient ones) and most importantly, riches and resources.

The first dimension the humans discovered was The Nether. This fiery chasm had similar laws of physics and a vaguely similar physical makeup to the Overworld, however it was extremely humid and hot as an oven, it’s oceans not of water but molten rock and it’s lakes not of liquid but of gaseous water vapour which only became liquid in the coldest regions of the endless chasm or boiling in pockets underneath geysers.

The Nether was a natural sister dimension to The Overworld. Imagine the Overworld as a tree and the Nether a branch.

Millions of years prior to humans, natural portals formed in extremely rare circumstances where a hard, igneous rock meets a sudden and extreme heat - a common instance of these portals were wildfires occurring in geologically active areas. Due to these natural portals, Overworld life seeped into the Nether, however Nether beings rarely lasted long in the Overworld due to the lack of heat. The most adaptable Overworld beings survived within the alien realm - Fungi and hardy omnivorous creatures such as small pigs and insects. However, the animals were far trumped by the more formidable native beings of the realm (Ghasts, striders, various other Nether alien animals). Fungi passed with flying colours due to the humid and dark environment, feeding off of the foracious cycle of life and death within the Nether and fitting into it’s ecosystem with relative ease.

Originally, a few of these portals natural portals were discovered, documented and explored by humans. Very few of these humans brave enough to enter came back alive (understandably) but those who did return (and soon died of permanent lung problems and 3rd degree burns) told tales of a land of no sun, crimson porous rock, warped beasts and unbearable heat. A land of blood, sweat and tears. Not exactly someone’s #1 holiday destination. However, there was also great amounts of gold and other resources, which enticed the extradimensional pioneers. Souls were already a pre established ecological basis in the Overworld - and a key feature in magic, if not the entire fuel for it - but the Nether was ample with souls, it’s entire web of ecosystems based entirely off of them so much there were literal entire valleys that functioned as soul sinks where souls would condense and infuse with the soil.

And so, slowly but surely, humans dipped their toes into the alien inferno, and reaped the benefits. If they weren’t already powerful, they certainly were now. Potion brewing, extradimensional travel (and as a result, teleportation) and various other branches of magic were extensively studied due to the new knowledge given by the Nether, and many colonies within the dimension were established.

Anyway, this sounds all well and good except it absolutely wasn’t. For one, the nether was preoccupied. There was an entire species of sentient being - the Piglin - who had previously been relatively content and undisturbed until a bunch of freaky monkey aliens came and took all their shit and started obsessing over a bunch of wailing sand. Secondly, countless amounts of humans died or otherwise suffered permanent health problems because of the lack of knowledge of what the Nether and condensed souls do to their bodies, especially in those first few years of exploration. Crimson and warped spores will ruin your lungs, radiation poisoning isn’t particularly good for you and the alien life - particularly ghasts - weren’t quite so docile and meek like the cows, chickens and sheep of the Overworld.

Things were understandably tense between Piglin and Humankind. The Piglin weren’t just going to let the humans mine up all the gold and (then far more common and purer) netherite and tear apart their land willy nilly and the humans wanted some of that Sweet Sweet Soul Stuff and also nearly indestructible material such as Netherite would be a bonus. Threats of a war between the two groups were on the horizon and so the humans forged fearsome golems known as Blaze who guarded their colonies. The Piglin fortified their then intact bastions for war, designing them in a way knowing the humans were weak and inexperienced with the dangers of the nether compared to them.

However, in the end, it was too late for a war.

MEANWHILE - Another dimension had been discovered by researchers - The End. This place was far more elusive and bizarre. It was a land of eternal darkness and void - timeless, sunless and it’s floating landmasses seperated not by waters but by empty, infinite void. This land was inhabited by the strange Endermen. These Enderfolk were a hive mind, connected in a web of consciousness known as the Chorus which I have talked about before (just look it up on my acc it’s one of my most popular posts). The humans were intimidated by these creatures hyperintelligence (despite the Endermen not being outwardly aggressive) and while already being paranoid about their other extradimensional neighbours, they constructed a gigantic mechanical entity to oppress the Endermen’s Chorus, figuratively cutting out their tongues and stopping them from further evolution or progression. This entity is known as The Dragon. However, the end had no resources. It was an empty expanse of nothingness, and eventually was abandoned by the humans. The Dragon also went rogue, it’s programming malfunctioning and sending it into an infinite loop - No one comes in, no one comes out. It was the eternal guardian and not even its creators could stop it. Endermen who had travelled outside of their realm out of curiosity were now permanently shut out and partially severed from their sacred hive mind. This traumatic and abrupt schism of the dimensions sent ripples through generations of Endermen.

However, all things must come to an End (get it) and the humans soon stumbled upon their final comeuppance.

in the Overworld, a strange disease was emerging - not in the living, but among the dead. Humans who had died and had intact bodies had been suddenly reanimated, and were beginning to wreak havoc among the people as the disease spread. This bizarre pathogen was the Zombie virus, and was spread through saliva, blood, or other bodily fluids. Soon the disease overwhelmed the Overworld’s human inhabitants, and they fled to the Nether. However, due to the soul experiments, another disease had emerged - this time, artificial. Withering. People were withering - their bodies quite literally falling apart at the seams. The end was off bounds by their own doing - The Dragon was performing it’s purpose too well - No one comes in and no one comes out - And so, the survivors soon realized there was no other choice but to descend to the depths of the Overworld beneath the deepslate.

And that brings us to the Ancient cities, where the sculk super-organism resides. The tiny amount of survivors, in an act of desperation, descended to the caverns to create an environment devoid of the viruses that plundered them. There, they discovered a strange being - not plant, not animal and not fungi. It fed on souls - a trait thought unique to Nether beings - and reacted to sound. This being’s relationship with souls was a subject of study, however, the sculk had a strange psychological reaction with the humans. The humans began to study it to the point of worshipping it. Over generations they developed a religion around the organism, sacrificing mobs and humans to the sculk’s jaws - of which were The Warden. They lived in silence, speaking in a language of hand gestures and expressions, and walking barefoot on carpeted floors. It was basically kind of like the film A Quiet Place. However, disaster struck one again. Some kind of fatal error - or perhaps willing mass suicide - caused the entirety of the ancient city to be killed and consumed by the sculk, causing it to spread and eat away at the structure over time as it fed on the plethora of corpses strewn about by Wardens.

And that was the downfall of the Ancient Builders. However, seeing that the fate of their people had been sealed, a small sect of soul researchers stored some human souls to be reanimated years and years after they inevitably perished, modifying the soul to be able to die and come back once again through the power of experience, like a living totem of undying. Two of these human souls were constructed, originally taken from two deceased individuals called Alex and Steve, and would eventually grow into 2 completely new human beings with the same names. They would spawn fully grown, with no memories other than concepts of what certain things are (such as what a tree is) and their own names. They will not know what they are, they will not know where they are and they will not know where others of their kind are.

Those recycled souls were the New Spawn - Players.

I will go into players in a part 2!

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snakeoilferryman · 14 days ago

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At the Riverbank

Steve raised his axe high in the air, and with a swift, clean swing, one piece of wood became two. He chucked the two small pieces into his pile, which had grown to a considerable size as he had worked through the morning. Winter was coming soon. The Stonemason family’s eldest daughter had just had a little baby, and Steve wanted to make sure they stayed warm.

The soft trickling of the nearby creek beckoned Steve over to take a break. He did just that, throwing his axe aside and plonking himself down into the soft riverside grass. He closed his eyes and listened to the water for a moment.

It was time to practise.

My name is Steve. I live in the village of Creek-in-Meadow. I like the colour blue. I am something called a person.

Steve opened his eyes again and frowned. Other villagers could say so much more in an introduction, but Steve knew very few things about himself.

He tried again, gleaning his mind for any information that he was certain was true.

My name is Steve. I live in the village of Creek-in-Meadow. I like the colour blue, and my favourite flowers are poppies. I am something called a person, and I am a Man.

No, he wasn’t sure if he was a Man. He didn’t really know what those were, or how they were different from Women.

My name is Steve. I live in the village of Creek-in-Meadow. I have a horse named Butterscotch. I like the colour blue, and my favourite flowers are poppies. I am something called a person–

A branch snapped, and Steve shook himself awake. He looked around for the source of the noise.

For a split second, he saw a pale, freckled face watching him from behind a tree, before disappearing with a frightened gasp.

The water trickled on, and Steve carefully averted his eyes from the tree.

The face peeked out again. Steve slowly looked back, and once again the blur of white and ginger ducked behind the tree trunk. He decided to fix his gaze on the riverbank below them.

Steve felt a little nervous, but not scared. He had seen them before. Not all too much of them, they were awfully timid, but he’d known they were there.

“Hello.” Steve tentatively called out. “It’s a nice morning.”

The face slowly peeked out. It was rounded and thin, framed with fiery red hair, with big green eyes and freckles. Their nostrils flared with nervous breaths as they clung to the tree.

“Do you live here?” Steve asked. The face didn’t respond, they only stared, flinching a bit when he spoke.

“Um… My name’s Steve. I live in– I live in a village, and my favourite horse– My fa– Um, I have a horse.” Steve cursed himself for messing up his carefully planned introduction. “Do… Do you know what a horse is?”

The face seemed to have relaxed a tad, and moved out further from behind the tree. Steve could now see their hair was long, tied into a braid. They also wore a stained green tunic.

“...You can ride them. Horses.” Steve swallowed nervously. “I don’t live here. I live in a village. In case you forgot.”

The face and body was now a person, standing with only their hand on the tree. They watched Steve curiously, their fear ebbing away slowly but surely.

Steve slowly looked back up, and this time they didn’t flinch when their eyes met.

“My papa is a cleric. He’s not really– He didn’t get married or nothing, but he found me. I’m not a cleric. My profession is doing things for people. I, um, I like to help. I can make… I can make things too.”

Steve rummaged around in his pockets, before procuring a little wooden statue of a villager. Steve held it out for the visitor to see. “You see it? I made it.”

The figure craned forward, before they crouched down for a better look. They looked back at Steve with a blank expression, though Steve sensed no displeasure.

“I can make other things too. Like houses. I am real strong. I can make things without getting tired. I dunno why, I was born in a funny way. That’s why my nose is small, see.” Steve pressed a finger into his nose. The figure furrowed their brows in intrigue. They lifted a finger, and pressed it to their own.

“Hey!” Steve grinned. “You’re like me.”

The person’s lips twitched with the ghost of a smile, and they nodded ever so slightly. They glanced to the side, a hint of trepidation in their movement, before they sucked in a breath and pointed to their chest. Out came a toneless, croaky voice, wavering and whistling as if it had not been used for a very long time. “A–leks.”

Steve furrowed his brows.

“A… Alex. Name is Alex.”

“Oh!” Steve paused, and nodded in understanding. “Hello, Alex.”

Alex sniffed, nodding back, before pointing at Steve. “Stefe.”

“Aye! That’s my name.” Steve beamed. “Are you a person?”

Alex nodded. “Yes.”

“So am I. I didn’t know there was anyone else like me.”

“Me as well.”

“Where’d you come from?” Steve bit back his questions though his mind was on fire. He wasn’t alone! He wasn’t alone!

“Nowhere.”

“Nowhere? Me too. I was found.”

“By village?” Alex glanced to the side nervously.

“Yes. And they are very nice to me.”

“Hm.” Alex trailed off, hunching their shoulders. “Good.”

“Do you want to meet them?” Steve asked, sitting up at the idea.

Alex shrank back a bit toward the tree. They glanced to the side reluctantly and shook their head. “No.”

“Oh.” Steve hung his head. “Are you sure?”

Alex nodded their head vigorously, their eyebrows knitted together in a fearful expression. “I can’t.”

“Can I still see you, Alex? Outside of the village?”

Alex thought for a moment, before nodding. “Yes. Here.”

Steve’s smile returned. “Okay. Here. I’ll meet you here tomorrow.”

Alex nodded, smiling a bit themselves. “Tomorrow.”

“Goodbye, Alex.”

“...Goodbye, Steve.”

The two departed, having arrived as halves and leaving as whole. They were not alone.

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