#Minecraft lore

[azzayofchaos]

Since my other Nether worldbuilding post was received pretty well... I'm back on my bullshit!

This time featuring zoning and biomes of the Neath: Lore below cut

Nether (noun): the formidable hellscape straddling the boundery between the Fragments of the Overworld and Death's Realms.

Derived from Beneath -> Neath -> Neth -> Nether.

The Nether is most easily accessable through outer regions of the nether, regions that are comparatively closed-off, and lacking in biodiversity compared to the Deep Nether where most Neath civilizations are centered.

The Neth is divided into three primary zones, distinguished by altitude and general climates.

The Calfactory Zone: the largest and most iconic of the three, the Calfactory zone is blisteringly hot and bone-dry, it's most prominent features are its abundant seas and lakes of magma, and the massive Supermagmas atriums that are common above the magma. In the largest of these atriums, the ceiling may be so high above as to be completely invisible from the ground, obscured by an ever present smog of toxic vapor and minerals formed in the self-generated micro-climates that are generated from the rising heat of the lava that begins to cool at a higher altitude.  

In the Basalt Deltas and other biomes around the edges of these lakes, massive pillars of rock and crystals bulwark the more-visible ceiling. 

The most common of this zone’s biomes is the Crimson woods, home to hearty thermal-philic fungi and plants that grow on the minerals and vapors of the lakes. Many are carnivorous in their lack of access to water or sunlight, and these forests contain many sub-biomes and ecosystems of flourishing life. 

The Wastes are perhaps the most desolate regions of the Neath, irradiated deserts of red-rock, brimstone, and sharp sand. Even the vast majority of nether-folk avoid these deserts due to the leftover radiation that rots and destroys anything that waits too long. The only forms of life are particularly robust lichens and bacteria that are happy to sit by the boiling pools of sulfur and mud and toxic sludge that dot the landscape. Growing within the rocks themselves are colonies of amorphous fungus, called geocorpus molds, they get their spores into cracks in the soft netherack and slowly feed on it; the ‘rock meat’ is considered a delicacy in nether cuisine. 

The Temperate Zone: Cradled in the heights of the Neath’s atriums and sat below the roof is the temperate zones; the rising heat of the zone below begins to cool and by doing so, distinct weather patterns form within this zone, leaving it, while still sweltering, a cooler though much more humid climate.

The main biome are the luminescent warped-fungal rainforests that collect the high-rising minerals and odd moisture from the lakes. Liquid is actually present here, though, if it’s not safely filtered through the innards of the various plants and fungi, this water is usually aggressively corrosive, and it is best to shelter from the acidic precipitation to avoid chemical burns. The nether folk and ender local to these rainforests are suited to deal with these conditions and the ender especially do not have trouble with the extreme pH of the water here like they would in the overworld. The zone is lit almost exclusively by the biolumincense of the organisms there and have often been described as false-stars.

In the Deep Nether, the ceiling may give way, allowing one to pass onto the plateaus of the Nether Roof and the yawning void above. The bedrock of the nether roof is jagged and layered in huge slabs, sometimes broken up my mazes of pillar-like structures and shallow, thermal pools of crystal-clear liquid. The kind you don't want to touch of course. fogs may hang low to the ground, but when its clear, or above the fog, the entire universe seems to spill out into the sky. The nether roof was culturally significant and a source of much knowledge and inspiration in the early days, but I'll get more into that in a later post 0.0

The Rime Zone: Plunge deep enough and one might find themselves bellow the lava beds. Here, where the heat can't quite penetrate, the temperatures will drop rapidly to sub-zero.

Namely, the Rime Zone is made up of the soul valleys, flat steppes of cinder and clotted sand, you can imagine it almost with the blindness effect, a fog that pools by your feet, and a heavier darkness hanging from the sky, it feels massive and endless and claustrophobic all at once. Frost collects as crystals on the irradiated, soul-soaked barrens, and the bones of the massive nether wyrms lie fossilized, breaking up the landscape. The sands are also split with patches of crazing on the ground and vents of blue fire that spills out and sets the sand ablaze.

These same wryms can be found sometimes, ancient things that dig through sand and soft rocks and the magma lakes, far and few between and treated with both fear and reverence.

And in the deepest pits of the Neath are the glowing frozen lakes that are colloquially and rightfully called the Gates to Death, glowing blue from beneath their surfaces. Indeed, any further down and you pass into limbo, the edge of Death's Realms.

Extra Notes??:

Soul sand/soil is tread on carefully or not at all, is one form of remnants from the apocolyspe. Like the general radiated rubble present through the Nether, it's a fault of nuclear fallout. Unlike other areas of radiation, its also been infused with the souls of those who didn't survive the joining of worlds. That said, unlike soul sand, soul soil is used productively to grow certain nether crops. It’s minerally and magically dense.

This infused quality is also precent in Nether Debris, resulting in a material that takes magic particularly well.

Iron cannot be found in dense veins and crystals like gold or quartz in the nether, but it's a pretty rich mineral a lot of netherack, giving it its ruddy coloring.

Sorry for this massive rant that no one asked for. If you have questions please feel free to send an ask, I may not have an answer yet but I'll certainly come up with one if I can.

I'm also hoping to do a pass on my headcanons about history and culture in the Nether and then we might start talking about character headcanons since this is also an actual AU.

If you read this far, here's some notes on striders and ghast

[soupdrinkinglincoln]

Very interesting advancement note that I’m obviously not the first to comment on but

The wording is ‘rescue’ a Ghast from the Nether, and bring it ‘safely home’. Which has always been the idea of, are Ghasts from the Nether? Was the Nether always like this; and are they so miserable because they were forced to adapt to a ruined fiery hellscape? Well, now we know that presumably when young especially, they’re liable to dry out. That if they’re rescued from being dried, they thrive in a more earthly environment. That they grow up happy when doing so. I do think that Ghasts may be from the Nether, but not from the current Nether. A much colder one, maybe more like the Overworld, maybe not. Probably a cavernous fungal paradise if I had to guess. But now they live in a world that’s been ruined by something, and turned into the human embodiment of hell, forced to spit fire just to no longer be filled with it when they’d much rather eat snow to cool down. Is it any wonder they cry?

[terman]

Simple illustrations of bioms for my minecraft lore

Desert, savanna, jungle

[illwilledomen]

Guardians.

[aniisol]

the nether is terrifying because it is hell and monsters live there who want to hurt you. however, it gets even more terrifying when you think about Intentional Game Design. a world where you'll die if you try to sleep. you could get stuck there, growing wearier and wearier, until your eyes start to blur with the waves of heat rising from the earth. when you cave in and lay your head to rest the ground will explode. the souls trapped in the dirt will scream with you. you will never be heard. this world will rip you apart for the crime of being human. you cannot win. you cannot rest now. there are always monsters nearby.

[somedudewithantlers]

minecraft “lore” idea: what if the villagers have last names based on their careers (i.e a librarian’s last name could be “Bookkeeper”). When Steve meets the villagers he decides he ought to have a last name, and following the villager custom of a last name being based on what you do, he calls himself Steve Minecraft.

[olessan]

During this Live we learned that ghasts:

Are biological creatures

that they have infant forms (that appear to have external gills like salamanders)

that they rely on water for their life cycle to complete

that, related to #3, they like chomping on snowballs

that they're neutral and even friendly when not dehydrated like a frog in summer

In addition to the points in the graphic:

Flat faces with the eyes at the front, like many amphibians

smooth skin

mouth that looks tiny until opened (have you seen an axolotl or caecilian with its mouth open?)

fireballs may be analogous to skin and saliva-based weapons in amphibians

has zero mercy

cannot aim at all

makes sounds quite like the axolotl when you think about it

operates on 1.5-2 brain cells at all times

... We may be able to conclude that ghasts are amphibians.

If we look at this phylogenetically, then we may be able to speculate that ghasts are highly derived (specialized) temnospondyls, which are huge prehistoric amphibians who were like 25% mouth.

[god-of-identity]

Hey what the FUCK is up with end cities in Minecraft anyway

Where did you get blaze powder for ender chests. Where did you get beetroot seeds. Why do you know what a boat looks like?? Are the shulkers only in cities because they're guarding them or because they moved in ages ago and adapted to the environment? Why is the front door built for someone two blocks tall when the only guys around are enderman??

Minecraft lore what the actual fuck.

[man-person-guy]

I believe the warden is a prey species in it's home Dimension. We never see it go out of its way to hunt for food only attack what comes into its territory. Yes it could be an ambush predator but if it was why would it stay in the isolated lifeless cave we find it in.

[avemakuta]

Thinking about minecraft languages again I fear.

We know of at least two diagetic writing systems used in the world of minecraft— enchanting table language and some form of the Roman alphabet. We know that some form of the Roman alphabet is diagetic, because it exists in the world already before the Player arrives. Whoever built the desert temples assigned significance to the letters "TNT" enough to put it on their explosives. Pictographic writing also seems to exist, based on naturally-generating chiseled blocks, but that's harder to definitively state isn't purely decorative.

Villagers also presumably use some form of writing, given that they have librarians, but whatever that writing is, it doesn't seem to be legible to the Player, since we can't read books until we write in them ourselves.

The villager/illager species definitely creates symbolic art, given the use of banners by the illagers and of creeper face symbols on clerical robes. Piglins also use symbolic art, given the snouts carved into bastions, and it seems reasonable to conclude that they have some form of language.

This gives at least three languages in the world of minecraft— Piglin, Villager, and Desert Temple. Possibly a fourth, with Enchanting, but that could just be the writing system used by villagers, given that the Player doesn't seem to be able to read it.

What would those languages be like? What kinds of poetry are written in the Hnnngs and Hrrs of the villagers, or the grunts and snorts of the piglins? Could a piglin and a villager learn each other's languages, or are they too different not just in terms of vocabulary but in terms of the physical features required to communicate? Do piglins carry information in the flapping of their ears? Do villagers produce complex tones by resonance in their large noses?

And what about etymologies? For villagers, wool comes from sheep, but to a piglin, if wool exists at all, it's woven from strider hair. If the inhabitants of the desert temples had a word for gunpowder, was it related to their word for creeper? If piglins do, is it related to their word for ghast?

[eunakitsune]

minecraft art of ghasts having fun bc i almost cried over the babies lol. speedpaint on insta!

[nickpeppermint]

New baby Ghast was added, and they're super adorable!!!

But now i wonder if the baby Ghasts from Minecraft Dungeons are not canon anymore, or maybe they're translucent only in the newborn stage, and the rehydrated ones are more like toddlers? 🤔

[scrimblethecat]

I’m sure this isn’t a new opinion and probably the main opinion but like

Fucking killed me when I realized

[xesnox]

Save me Ancient builder tribe gajinkas, save me…

Structure constructors or something, idk, I never played the Minecraft.

In the nether fortress crafting my Withers, and by Withers, heh… let’s justr say.. inter dimensional societal collapse…

Usual design rant below

I believed veils would work great for the Ancient builders as not only can they hide their identity efficiently, keeping them relatively ambiguous, but also protect from the weather in the generally warmer climates they were largely stationed in, and equally work as face masks against disease and virus‘, all whilst still being able to be stylised in different ways, allowing the shape language to remain distinct.

Other visual inspirations were pirate and sailor clothing for the cold costal tribe, Ancient Greek and farmer attire for the warm costal tribe, and funnily enough: sci-fi desert planet Civilisation concept art for the desert tribes design.

Aswell as ofcourse their own respective structures and the loot within.

The colouration does differ in my head from what I rendered, I believe a lot of the little trinkets and details would have different colors, but I didn’t want the shillouettes to clash or melt into one another in this lineless style so here are the base colors for now, as I tried the former and it didn’t look good.

Look I know they were like a massive imperial force or whatever but you cannot tell me a group of artists inventors and architects that relied heavily on their semi sentient bio-mechanical hellspawn machines (and some necromancy) to do their bidding, bunkering up immediately once the odds were no longer in their favour, could handle a punch or two.

These people probably looked like starving artists, especially after the overworled was turned into a withering shithole for a couple years, legends was definitely a fanfiction they wrote about themselves. /j

[illwilledomen]

Piglin

Hog-folk of the infernal nether. They’re in a post-apocalyptic state now, but they were once the most advanced civilization in Minecraft, even trumping the Ancient Builders. They use machines instead of magic.

Sows are slightly larger and fatter than males, with smaller tusks. Boars are more muscular, with bony faces and coarse black manes. Boars often adorn themselves with jewelry, body paint, and the like, to woo sows, and bachelors marry into groups run by old matriarchs. Sows of high rank in bastions usually have a harem of males serving both as concubines and bodyguards. Piglin are for the most part polyamorous.

They communicate in Piglish, a mixture of signing and vocalisations. Complex sentences are signed, and sounds are used as emotive context clues, like auditory tone tags.