#empires smp worldbuilding

[minecraftbookshelf]

hello this is an invitation/request to ramble about textile production in rivendell vs the swamp in the arranged marriages au I am very curious about this thank you

Most of this is going under a cut because it is going to get a bit long and rambly and is 100% as much an info-dump as it is a worldbuilding post.

the TLDR is Wool VS Linen

MOSTLY INFO DUMP PORTION

Rivendell:

The majority of Rivendell textiles are wool-based.

They do import some silk from the Overgrown but that is reserved for special occasions and items. Mostly silk threads are used for magical stitching and silk fabric as a center lining for leather and chain armor.

Almost everything else is wool.

Most of their wool comes from sheep but they also have llamas, rabbits, and goats that all are domesticated for this purpose. (Wool as a term refers to any fiber obtained from an animal, even if some of it is technically hair, for textile purposes it is wool)

Most of their export is sheep wool, they have, in fact, increased their sheep herds specifically to accommodate export in the recent decade or so as they open their borders and form alliances beyond the Overgrown.

Wool is an incredibly versatile fiber. It's water resistant and thermal properties make it ideal for the snowy mountain terrain of Rivendell's territory. It can also be made into fabric so fine it is literal gauze. It can be felted it can be knitted it can be woven. Saying Rivendell's textiles are almost 95% wool does not accurately convey how varied those textiles are. Generations of Rivendell elves have spent their ~500 year long lifespans coming up with new things to do with wool.

And its not just from sheep.

Rabbit wool is most commonly used for items like underclothes or baby clothes and blankets.

Llama wool actually comes in two distinct forms, because Llamas have layered coats. Originally they were used as beasts of burden but were also, over the generations, bred for fleece as well. Their rougher outer coats are used more for things like rope and cordage, the inner fleece is similar to rabbit.

Llama is also the least common wool, since it takes about two years for a llama to regrow its coat after shearing and they aren't exactly the most space efficient of livestock. The fleece is one of the luxury exports sold mostly to foreign nobility who want to feel fancy and brag about their "exotic [insert item here]". The outer coat fibers are mostly sold as cordage, which is excellent quality and in high demand in the seafaring nations. (This is also due to elvish craft-magic, more on that later in the worldbuilding-focused section)

Goats are a full range from coarser fibers to fine soft ones. It functions much the same as sheep fiber, just with a lower yield. Goats are primarily used in the outer villages of Rivendell in the highest, sheerest cliffs where they are more suited to the terrain than their moor wool-laden cousins.

The Swamp:

Most Swamp-made textiles are linen.

Mostly made from flax and/or hemp. (Yes, that kind of hemp, go ahead, make the jokes.)

(Hemp grown for fiber is a different variety than hemp grown for more recreational reasons. It has a much lower THC and the plant itself is a lot larger. I'm not saying they don't grow the other kind, and use it medicinally, but it isn't relevant to anything I will be writing. If that's your wheelhouse you are welcome to take this and run with it.)

Linen is a lightweight and absorbent fabric that is ideal for hotter climates so it is very common to see in the Northern kingdoms. It's absorbency does mean it dirties and starts smelling fairly quickly but it is also a very resilient fabric that takes washing well. It also has the default state of "wrinkled" which, to someone accustomed to other types of fabric, does lend itself to looking rather unkempt. (You see where I'm going with this.)

Like wool there is a wide range of fabrics, ranging from the ultra fine and soft to coarser, more Textured pieces. (basically, the underclothes to sail canvas range) both flax and hemp, especially the latter, are also used to make cordage and hemp in particular is often used to make macrame and beaded jewelry, irl and in the Swamp. Fishing nets are also a common product.

Textiles are not a notable export of the Swamp so there is less to say there.

IRL flax linen makes up some of the oldest surviving fabric and clothing samples, dating back thousands of years.

Flax fibers are not elastic, they don't stretch and shrink while worked with and don't have a lot of give. This does make working with it in the process of fabric making somewhat difficult and requiring a lot of skill. The resulting fabric though is incredibly durable so its a trade off.

The Mostly Worldbuilding Portion

This is just going to be a bunch of disorganized bullet points really

A significant portion of the flax used by the Swamp from linen production is grown and harvested in Helianthia and brought to the swamp for manufacture. This is actually the primary threat Mythland represents, (you know, besides rampant destruction and harassment along the border) is interrupting that trade route. They do also grow their own but do not enough for what is needed.

Elvish magic is almost entirely based around fiber arts. Embroidery, knot-work, charms stitched into seams and knitted into the very makeup of a garment. Wool and Gold. (gold-thread embroidery is powerful stuff) A side effect of all of this is that when small Xornoth started setting things on fire and small Scott sneezed frost it was a pretty solid indication that their magic was a bit more directly divinely sourced.

Related, elvish rope is reliable. It doesn't degrade or break or even cut easily. (This is straight from Tolkein but it works too well not to poach)

Elves build things to last, a single elf-made garment can last for several human generations. At least.

Net making/repair in the Swamp is one of those community tasks that a lot of people sit down together and do while socializing. Almost everyone has at least the basic skills required.

Generations worth of irreplaceable historical tapestries were lost when Xornoth burned down the Rivendell palace during their coup and every time the weavers and artisans and historians of the kingdom remember that they come very close to being assassinated.

[amethystfairy1]

This is incredibly random, but I was working on the newest Zedango fic and writing about Tangos apartment and I just want everyone to imagine with me that like…his bed and table and all that stuff were flown up to the window and swung through by Grian, Jimmy, Pearl, Mumbo, and Shelby…can we just..envision that a second? Like…

Shelby levitating near the window trying to coordinate everyone. “Too the left, Jimmy! YOUR OTHER LEFT”

Jimmy, with a side table dangling from a rope tied around his waist. “THIS THING IS HEAVY!”

Pearl and Grian flying up with the bed balanced between the two of them, glamor full throttle to manipulate its weight. “NO WHINING YOU GOT THE LIGHTEST THING!”

“At least there’s two of you!”

“Quit complaining!”

“C-Can we please keep it moving!?” Mumbo, with a large moving box, beating his bat wings and wobbling like crazy.

Tango, yelling out the window. “You’re doing great guys! Dinners on me, I promise!”

This is far to much fun…ah, the joys of living in a giant cavern underground 😆 moving companies must make a killing!

[theminecraftbee]

fish person lizzie and mezelean joel are just cosplaying the idea of a gendered relationship like theyre playing house. they drew straws for who gets to be the husband and who gets to be the wife.

okay but like NO ACTUALLY like. okay so lizzie DOES have a societal concept of what her role in this relationship should be, she is In Charge. her gender isn’t like… non-existent, it’s that her gender has nothing to do with sex and therefore our word for gender probably isn’t the right word. like, her gender is Queen, and she has translated that into our grammar by using she/her pronouns, if that makes sense. people outside her culture see her as a woman and she’s fine with that because she translates that back to her gender as a Queen. she would be offended if someone treated her as like, a Provider, or worse, someone with Dull Scales. she is not those things; she is a Queen. that’s not a gender in our conception but it’s sort of equivalent right? that’s what I’m imagining is happening there. like, she’s not nonbinary or agender or trans, she’s effectively cis in an alien gender system.

meanwhile, joel Is A Man Who Uses He/Him, because That’s What He Wants To Be. that is his presentation and choice of how to adorn himself. that gender is a way to adorn himself; it’s all performance to joel, sure, but in a society of people who are literally built and painted and then who paint themselves to make themselves individuals in their weird hivemind. it’s one of the only ways they’re individual but it’s a slight against them to deny their choices of adornment. so, he’s a man, because in other languages, gender is a type of adornment, right? and he’s chosen this adornment for how he talks about himself and other people should talk about him with.

so like this is a good thought but what I’m ACTUALLY going for is more like. no listen they both have STRONG options about gender, opinions that are typical for their culture, but they aren’t our opinions. because I think that’s neat!

[flyingraven]

My MCYT fanfic worldbuilding!

Both for anyone who's interested in how I imagine the minecraft sphere so to speak works and for linking to my ao3 page, here is my MCYT worldbuilding! Long post ahead! This gets updated regularly as well.

World

Gods and other beings

Jeb and Notch are the Elder Gods. They created the other gods and the prime players. These days they have disappeared, and nobody seems to know where they are. 

Kristin is the goddess of Death, and she’s not a fan of the Watchers. Phil is an ex Watcher, but defected and joined Kristin. They fell in love. 

Most of Kristin's angels were originally mortals. On very rare occasions, when someone died in a certain way which really captures her attention she might decide to ask them to join her ranks. This is how Scott became an angel of hers. A few of her angels are kids of other angels. 

The Watchers were at war with the Voidwalkers for a while. It ended when the Watchers massacred them. Xisuma and EX are considered to be the only survivors. Hoping something to End and Aether is generally a Voidwalker expression, though older immortals have been known to sometimes adopt it as well.

Techno used to be a mortal who was very good at PVP, so an evil god forcefully ascended him to be a demigod and made him work for him. Techno at one point killed him (probably temporarily, though that god hasn’t been nearly as influential since) and became a demigod in his own right. 

Prime players were the first players created by the Elder Gods. It’s unknown how many there are, since they tend to stay in hiding. What sets prime players apart from normal players is that respawns have no effect on their souls and that they don’t age. Meaning they are functionally immortal. There are ways to kill them, but no normal mortal could get them to stay down so to speak. 

Players can become admins through training. Not everybody has the natural aptitudes to become an admin. Everyone can access the code of the world if they learn how to, but utilising it wrong can be the end of someone. 

You can generally respawn infinitely, but it slowly eats away at your soul. And at some point you don’t respawn anymore. This is generally the same as dying of old age, but it’s not uncommon for very heavy pvp players to die younger because their soul is ruined by continuous respawns. 

On ascensions

Any god can ascend a mortal to become a demigod. But it's a violent act and will usually completely kill off the world the former mortal was inhabiting. And it hurts. A lot. The combination of these factors is what made Eret's ascension so bad. Because usually the newly ascended demigod will wake up with their god. But Eret didn't. They woke up alone in a dead realm.

Cults can try to get a gods attention to get them to ascend one of their own to demigod status. Really, no good gods will respond to these rituals. They usually involve mass sacrifice. 

Gods can also just choose to ascend a living mortal, but again, this is not often done and when it is, usually only by evil gods. That's what happened to Techno.

Kristin works in a different way. When mortals die she sometimes (very rarely) offers them to become one of her angels. Her angels are demigods, but due to being in her service they are referred to as angels.

Demons are demigods aligned to Kristin's undefined evil counterpart.

Worlds

Worlds are generally connected to hubworlds. Travelling to other worlds usually happens through these. Hubworlds can vary from simple planes with rows and rows of portals to massive cities where people live, interspersed with portals. It’s not uncommon for kids to get dumped on hubworlds to fend for themselves. They often end up banding together, since hubworlds are pretty often fairly hostile places to live in due to the lack of admin oversight. Kids like this are generally called children of the hub. 

Besides travelling through official portals there are ways to jump to other worlds. This is why you can protect your worlds with whitelists. They take the form of physical barriers in the code surrounding worlds. Think of it like a satellite defence system around a planet. Worldhoppers are players who make a habit of jumping from world to world without portals. Often these are players who grew up in the hub and learned admin magic through other people. They basically break into other worlds and thus aren’t always seen as the best people. Most worldhoppers are friendly though. Hubkids often end up worldhopping, at least during their teenage years until they find a place to settle down or until a mistake tears their soul apart.

Sometimes worlds connect themselves to each other through rifts. Nobody knows how these occur, and they can’t really be controlled. Maybe gods could control them, but nobody below them. 

There is something called being worldlocked. Its generally something the Watchers do to worlds as a punishment. It involves messing with the code of the world and all the people on it. Leaving them unable to leave the world and unable to contact anyone outside of it. A lot of locked worlds eventually devolve into chaos due to the isolation, with people turning on each other.

Improper coding of a world can lead to the world getting corrupted. What happens to corrupted worlds varies, but generally they completely destroy themselves and everyone on it. EVO got corrupted, less due to Grian making mistakes but more due to being an experimental world surrounded by experimental worlds that were corrupted. The Watchers helped the process along as a punishment for Grian. 

Hardcore worlds are worlds that lock you out when you die. You simply can’t enter them anymore, only view them through your communicator. Dying in them is also way harder on your soul, so players are weary of playing in them too much.

On exorcising players.

Sometimes players can get overtaken by things. Vexes are the most common, though there are other things. Glitched “networks”, like mycelium or more recently, sculk. 

Zooming in more on the Vex. The Vex aren't fully sentient like players or more-than-players are. But they aren’t quite mobs either. They exist in a space between categories, but have a strong desire to achieve… more. The way they try to achieve this is by trying to possess vulnerable players. They don’t often succeed, but when they do they will try to take over servers and hubworlds. They kind of function like a computer virus. Overtaking a player and ‘overlapping’ their code with their own Vex code manipulation. 

Sculk and Mycelium work a little differently. They are more so connected through a hivemind. A sculk block is the same as a warden is the same as a shrieker is the- you get the point. The sculk is not an individual block. And it has one goal. To spread. To overtake more of a world. To overtake more players. Similar to Vex it will latch on to a player and ‘overlap’ their code with its own. 

Exorcising players from any type of possession is possible, but a nasty process. First of all it requires someone with at powers at least akin to a voidwalker or a prime player. Then they basically have to tear the Vex, sculk or mycelium from the player line by line. Piece by piece. And it hurts. Especially when the player regains enough awareness to recognise that they are being hurt by someone they know, but not why or how. Removing sculk can leave scars akin to burn scars. 

Characters backstories (incomplete)

Hermits

Grian: Parrot hybrid. Was a child of the hub at some point with Jimmy, he met Mumbo during this time. Created EVO and was spotted and taken by the Watchers. Escaped them after give or take two years and broke into Hermitcraft during his escape. 

Scar: Human-ish. Was fully human until he got possessed by vexes together with Cub. He had to be exorcised by Xisuma. While the vex are now gone he still has powers related to their possession. The downside is that he’s still haunted by hallucinations(?) of their possession. Disabled besides that and uses a cane on bad days. 

Pearl: Moth hybrid. Grew up together with Grian and later Jimmy. She can’t really remember her early childhood, but her defining moment was Grian’s disappearance and later the corruption of EVO. Right around the time Grian escaped the Watchers she was taken and turned into one. Later she ran into Grian again on Hermitcraft. 

Gem: A young admin who ran small building worlds. She met Pearl through a building competition she was hosting. Gave Pearl shelter after EVO fell. 

False: Child of the hub. Was one of the youngest leaders of the group she was in until she gave herself up to a Hypixel manager to rescue one of the younger kids when she was 12. Fought there until she was 17 and Techno and Phil gave her a chance to escape. 

Etho: Grew up on an anarchy server akin to 2B2T where he’d attack people with his redstone. Got possessed by corrupted mycelium at one point which left it’s scars on him mentally. 

Joe: Prime player. He’s very old (being a prime player makes him immune to dying of old age). Can’t remember where he grew up but he travelled around from server to server until he found Cleo. Then he travelled with her until they joined Hermitcraft. Gets nauseous when travelling though portals.

Cleo: Originally human. From a big city server that fell to a corrupted virus. It turned the server into a zombie apocalypse. She barely escaped with her life and ran into Joe. She later returned to her server after a family member contacted her, but was infected herself. Joe saved her life. 

Xisuma and EX: Voidwalkers. Grew up in the end. EX is the older brother but was always treated as evil due to a misinterpreted prophecy. Which became a self-fulfilling one. The entire population of Voidwalkers was attacked by the Watchers, who’d they’d been at war with. Xisuma and EX were the presumed only survivors. 

Tango: Blaze hybrid. From the nether, was taken to a lab which he later escaped from together with Doc. 

Iskall: Former human, now a human with cybernetic parts. Was in an accident which, due to fucked up respawn mechanics on his homeworld, left him needing the cybernetic parts. 

Doc: creeper/human/cyborg hybrid. Created in a lab. Escaped from the lab together with Tango.

Emperors/related to them

Jimmy: Canary hybrid. Child of the hub. Watched EVO get destroyed and barely escaped with his life. 

Martyn: Human, was on EVO with the other EVO people and got separated from them during the escape. His shoulder has never quite been the same since he had to reset it himself. 

Scott: An Angel of Death. Under the command of Philza and in turn, under the goddess of death. Which means he worked together with Eret, Foolish and Techno.

Oli: Human who dropped out of admin school. 

Fwhip: Human admin. 

Pixel: Prime player. 

Owen: Human(?) worldhopper. Child of the hub who at one point met Eloise and Bek. They travel together. He has admin powers (like all worldhoppers) but never trained officially. Gets nauseous when travelling though portals which also applies to worldhopping.

Bekyamon: Human worldhopper. 

Eloise: Human worldhopper.

DSMP/QSMP

Philza: Angel of death, Kristin's husband. Used to be a watcher (it's unknown wether he was a player before this), but defected and joined Kristin. They slowly fell in love after his he joined her. Says he was born mortal as a cover story (may partially be true)

Technoblade: Blood God. Demigod who used to be a mortal until he was forecefully ascended by a higher evil god. Techno destroyed his vessel in revenge and the evil god hasn't been seen since. Works together with Phil and Kristin.

Eret: Demigod who used to be a mortal wither hybrid. Worked with Phil, Techno and Kristin and was/is platonic partners with Foolish. Gets nauseous when travelling though portals.

Foolish: Shark/totem hybrid demigod. It's unknown if he was born mortal or not.

Wilbur: Kristin's and Phil's mortal son. We all know how his story ends.

[hewmitcwaft]

HEY! HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!! TELL ME ABOUT PIXANDRIA!! DO U HAVE ANY BRAIN THOUGHTS ABOUT THE ANTHILL?!

OH BOY DO I !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[arospecsyourblockdudes]

After her passing, Queen Pearl’s armor was buried in the gardens outside of her house. A gravemarker was made from granite, a sun and a goose carved into the stone face along with her name.

But, well, there was a kingdom to rebuild and burnt hones and scorched crops didn’t repair themselves for a queen’s death. The people banded together to figure out some form of government and then set out to fix up their kingdom.

The first harvest after the fires was bountiful.

The Helanthians would give Queen Pearl’s spirit the credit for that. Her soul had returned to the lands and was helping them flourish even after death.

It became custom then, over the years, to ask the spirit of Queen Pearl for advice or assistance or for good crops. Usually, she delivered. Several generations went, and the new Helanthians hadn’t known Queen Pearl outside of the history books, but her deeds were written down dutifully. They knew she was someone who really deserved a little acknowledgment every here and again.

Years passed. It became tradition to leave out small offerings in your fields to thank Queen Pearl for her help. Roasted sunflower seeds, cups of ale, fresh baked bread, turkey legs, whatever you could spare and was good. Eventually this expanded to add small golden trinkets, flowers, things around the house you didn’t mind giving up and were good. People started building small temples in their fields to house these offerings without getting them dirty and attracting all sorts of scavenger birds.

Generations passed. The people and culture spread as it tends to do. New history books are written.

Queen Pearl is very often interpreted as a god or a metaphor rather than a once-living spirit. After all, what sort of human can laugh off a demon’s attacks or find their soul connected with the soils of her kingdom? She’s given other names, mostly translation error. They call her Peril, Mother of Sunflowers, Harvestqueen, War-Maiden, and more.

Stories of her deeds are spread as myths and folklore. They say she challenged a demon twice and won both times. They say nobody could defeat her in battle. They say she was the fires that burnt down Old Helanthia. They say she took a champion who never left her side, a nameless king from an ancient kingdom. They say she gained her power from the moon or from the sun or from both. They say she could wield a scythe as well as a sword.

Her image is, quite frankly, never the same from place to place. There were portraits of her, but they’re ancient and in need of restoration. Some give her a vulture’s wings to symbolize her brutal nature. Some give her a halo of sunlight to show her affinity for farming. They all dress her in green and surround her in sunflowers.

Whatever name or face she is given, she is spread along with the descendants of the people who walked and talked with her. She stays in the hearts of the Helanthians. Whether she is the Harvestqueen bringing prosperity to the farmers, or Peril charging into battle with the bravest of soldiers. They know her and tell her mythos to their children and paint her legends to hang in temples or museums.

And this is how a woman becomes a god.

[hermitcraft-shifter]

I have so many feelings about the Moon Crash. Like, narrative-wise, it hits me so hard, man. Joe told Cleo to leave them, yes, but the sign... It's intriguing to imagine it as a test that Cleo failed.

I mean, Joe's been there from the beginning. It's reasonable to assume that they've seen many people leave and it's reasonable to assume that there could be a insecurity (/rp) there about it. With the context that Hermitcraft is real life, Joe might be scared (at least subconsciously, no matter how irrational) that people are leaving because of them, that— despite no evidence —there're 'not enough' for people to stay... which leads to Joe being reckless and using the Moon Crash to test to see if Cleo would leave them in a clearly dangerous situation.

And they failed, not because Cleo didn't understand it was dangerous, but because Cleo trusts Joe. Cleo trusted Joe, even when they didn't want to, even when Joe really just wanted their support.

In Hermittopia, did Joe even know they could go back if things got dangerous, that Cleo exiled them— yes, because they were being a little dumb and self-destructive (because who hands out resumés to clearly dangerous people and steals a horn license without being a little self-destructive?) but also —for the bit? Like, narrative-wise, Cleo's actions could be interpreted as both a messed up joke and an urge for Joe to take some time to think.

Joe, as a character, is as kind as they are reckless, especially with their own health, and as a character, liberties can be taken with how their actions and behaviour reflect on themself in a 'Minecraft is real life' context. Yes, Hermits helping Hermits is very sweet, but when you literally live in a trash can that you even struggled to find a place for because nobody left room for you after you spent so long helping someone, only for them to thank you and leave everything behind like it was a stepping stone, after your team had been forgotten and left out of closing ceremony without a second thought until it was too late... and that whole permit thing with Doc...

I have a lot of feelings and thoughts, as you can see.

Narratively speaking, Joe gives and gives and gives— They give so much and seem content to fade into the background, be taken for granted (well, that's exaggerating, but when you're always pushing yourself to give so much, it's normal to feel bitter, even when you're the one pushing yourself to do it). It's ok to want attention, of course. Joe thrives on attention, but without proper communication, it can fall flat quickly. Humiliation can help one learn, and as a content creator, Joe knows what they signed up for. As a character? That's free game.

A decade is a long time, after all, and it's certainly enough time for miscommunication to happen. In a game, it's not so bad, but when that game is real life?

Well, that's the fun of storytelling!

[Image ID: A digital drawing of joehillssays and ZombieCleo from Hermitcraft on a white background. joehillssays' face is shown being held up and squished by ZombieCleo, and has a shell shocked expression while tears are being wiped away. ZombieCleo's face is obscured and has a distant expression. 'I trust you. I don't want your trust. I want your support.' is written in the top left corner. /.End ID]

[minecraftrelatedrandomness]

I do believe I am owed something/silly

Flower husbands with Jimmy being an adorable golden retriever and Scott just admiring his idiot boyfriend (I need more fluff and all my friends like is angst)

-@emtheforeverdm

Sorry that this took a while (I've never written any fics about these two before despite reading plenty of fics + I'm usually better at angst than fluff), but here you go! Ficlet is under the cut.

[Click here to read this ficlet on AO3 with additional commentary] (Also, OP, if you have an AO3 account, do you mind replying so that I can properly gift it to you in my cross-post?)

And considering I couldn't have nice things in the @mcytblingsbracket (my brothers in piracy lost out last round and would have had to go up against my other beloveds if they did win last round), NETTY AND STAMPY SWEEP!

"Petal, what's the Mangrovian word for pri-tze-ma again?"

"Jimmy–" Scott held back a chuckle. He just couldn't — not when those earnest brown eyes were staring into his own, halfway through a picnic of berry and honey cakes and Codlandic sugarcane juice in the little mountain cave he had built and decorated for them.

He couldn't say that his own Oceanic proficiency was great, especially since he hadn't used it much in the past several decades until very recently, but it was kind of obvious to trace the origins of the word 'prismarine' back to where the stone was harvested. "Can you say that again?"

"What's the Mangrovian word for pri-tze-ma– oh my gosh…"

[sugarcane-of-helianthia]

The Soap Festival & Soap's Symbolism in Gilded Helianthia | Headcanons

(I wrote a short one-shot based around this! You can read it on https://archiveofourown.org/works/52711750)

Hello! First, I want to say this was inspired off of @.deathricedrawn's (now scrapped) idea for Empires Festivals!! She came up with it back in 2022, I think? Back when I was a Twitter user.

So. What is the Soap Festival? It's a New Year's Celebration held in Gilded Helianthia that lasts 3 days; the first day is made to gather ingredients, such as glowberries and lye and oil and honey and whatever one wants to add to their soap. On the second day, New Year’s Eve, everyone makes two bars of soap with their ingredients in the morning, and leave them to set, while they enjoy fireworks, festivities, and fresh fruit in the afternoon and night. Many also take this opportunity to clean their homes and fields for the new year, as the Soap Festival is about cleansing the old year and leaving room for the new to flourish. The New Year arrives, and in the morning, citizens of Helianthia will wrap one bar in string and paper to gift to someone they love and cherish, as good luck for the coming year, and take the other bar and bury it in their fields, using it as fertilizer. Many will bury it near a special tree or crop, in hopes that it’ll be blessed.

In my own version of Gilded Helianthia, soap has a deep meaning behind it. Before Helianthia was given it’s name, back when it was a Smallholding of people wishing for freedom, the natives to the land had a tradition of hand making soap and washing each other as an act of respect, intimacy, and love. People would gift each other these handmade soaps with the belief that they would purify and heal the person that receives them. Nowadays, soap bars are easier to come by, but gifting someone soap in Helianthia still holds that meaning behind it; especially if one takes the time to make it themselves. Soap is given to children when they begin to come-of-age; as a housewarming gift to new neighbors; for people who are about to take on a new chapter of their life, or simply for good luck. It’s a way to say, “may your sums and your pieces be enough to make you whole”.

That’s the jist of it, anyway!

[conarcoin]

thinking about little cultural differences berween the regions in expandedverse....

dream smp is honestly the most religious region, being named for its creator deity - and is tightly controlled and monitored. the people there value quality time over material goods more than anything due to the constant wars going on.

smplive is a decentralized, governmentless society that is known primarily for commerce and trade. positions of power are distributed among the people and change hands all the time. they're entirely secular as their server has no guardian deity to watch over.

empires is prosperous and whismical in a way unlike most of the other regions. people dream of exploring the fantastical sights there, but very few will ever get to go. food and fashion are core parts of the cultural experiences in the empires.

smpearth... is not real. smpearth is an artificial "utopia", a simulation built by laramie online. those who participated mostly have no memory of their experience now. their "deities" are entirely lines of code, forever doomed to die along with the ticking time bomb of a simulation server that grows older with each passing day. some people stayed behind, such as sophietexas, who couldn't bear to leave the dogs of newfoundland. but it is mostly barren now.

[loafofryebread]

im going so insane over my empires worldbuilding Gilded Helenthia my beloved ough im unwell

[minecraftbookshelf]

So like…there are potatoes and cacao in empires because there are potatoes and cacao in minecraft which means that clearly trade has been established with the americas they have a mixture of european and american crops.

So its plausible that at least one empire grows corn as a staple crop.

Anyway, how is everyone else’s night going?

That is a genuine question if anyone wants to answer I’m procrastinating at work.

[amethystfairy1]

✨Hello hello!✨

I'm Amethyst (she/her), and I'm your local fanfic gremlin. I've written a lot for a lot of fandoms, right now I am caught in the Hermit/Traffic/Empires brainrot, and if that's how you've ended up here, welcome welcome!

The tag for my random blog stuff is: #amethyst rambles

And I also always post here whenever I post on A03, be it with a new chapter or an entirely new story! #amethyst updates

Right now, I have two WIP AUs!

Through the Sky-Blue Cracks 🌤️

My Hot Guy/Cute Guy, Over-City/Under-City AU that has a lot more going on in it now, it's grown pretty big and is organized in chronological order, not by publishing order, so I write up and down on the timeline filling in parts and pieces as I go!

TTSBC takes place in a modern/slightly sci-fi AU with superheroes, biotech, secrets to hide, trauma to unpack, and as much humor as I can attempt to fit in as well!

Features the local superheroes crushing on each other, anxious writer meets intrepid reporter, the drama professors who can't keep their hands to themselves, penpals gone wild, resident middle-aged married couple who happen to be a mobster and a mad genius, the local cottagecore lesbians, bad boy butterfly and cat lady, protective big sister, Zom-Mom and Sentient Glowstick, a very tired Guy-in-the-Chair with a permanent headache, and more yet to be added! I've got lots of plans left for this AU, so if you're interested, please come check it out!

Tags for the AU are:

#through the sky blue cracks

#ttsbc au

#ttsbc ficlets

Traveling Thieves 🪽

My dark fantasy AU! This one has some heavy themes going on, so I'd encourage reading the tags carefully before jumping in! I'm very proud of how it is turning out, dealing with breaking out conditioned headspaces, survival in a sick system, negotiating power imbalance, the power of friendship (no, really), and of course we've got elves, mercenaries, magic, swords, sorcery, rogues, redstone, and lots more fun stuff like that! Also lots of adorable birbs, one traumatized fiery boy, a mer with an attitude, a good doggo, and hurt/comfort galore! Giving everyone a chance to believe that they've all got a shot at getting lucky.

Tags for the AU are:

#traveling thieves au

#traveling thieves ficlets

I think that's all that going on with me right now...so yeah! I love getting the chance to ramble about my worldbuilding, so by all means, give me an excuse and I will make entire posts about that sort of thing!

My DMs are open and I promise I'm not scary! I love rambling and making fandom friends, so feel free to reach out if you wanna chat!

Thanks for coming by! 💖

[theminecraftbee]

Normally, traitors aren’t frog-marched to the Emperors themselves, regardless of what rank of information they had. These aren’t normal circumstances, though, Techno bemoans to himself. For one, the man is refusing to speak anything but French and a tiny amount of broken Bayesh. For another, on being made, he immediately handed over about three folders of classified information then loudly waited for handcuffs to be put on him.

Phil is lounging in his throne; he’d never been one for propriety. This leaves Techno to be, uh, the actually serious one. The one adorned in uniform, sitting and glowering down. It’s lucky that the traitor isn’t a pigman, because Techno isn’t actually great at glowering, but humans are weird about pigman facial expressions so he should be fine?

The traitor stands before them and grins. In perfect Bayesh, he says: “Finally. It took way too long for you to catch me, bitch.”

Techno pauses. He stares. In Piglish, he barks to his guards: “Everyone out. It’s Leader business.”

They file out. They’ll be waiting outside. Phil straightens in his seat and reaches for his own sword.

Techno, laboriously, drags his hand across his face. He switches back to Bayesh. God, does he regret being fluent in multiple languages sometimes. “What are you doing here, Tommy.”

“Showing you your intelligence weak points, fucker. Do you know how easy it is to slip Bayesh spies in here? I was smooth. A smooth customer. I was hearing classified milkitary secrets—”

“You were caught within two hours,” Techno says.

“That’s—that’s just what you think, innit?” Tommy says. Phil laughs. He’s the real traitor here.

“Tommy. I don’t wanna have to cause an international incident, but I’ve had a really long day, so if you just tell me who hired you to run a spy op, and why you decided it was a good idea to run it yourself, instead of sending one of your experts…”

“No one,” Tommy says.

“Hey, don’t lie you little shit. Techno might not want to start an incident but I don’t care,” Phil says. He grins and holds up his sword. “You wanna wake up in a jail cell and reveal some secrets? We may all be Leaders but it won’t stop torture from hurting.”

“What the fuck, Phil,” Tommy says.

“No one’s torturing anyone. We’ll just bomb them later if we must,” Techno says.

“And I wasn’t lying. It’s—can I take the wig off by the way? It fucking itches.”

“I despise you.”

Tommy takes off the black wig, revealing his blonde hair. “Anyway, I don’t want to work with you guys either, so I figured I’d get your attention by like, acting like we’re enemies and stuff. Got hired for espionage enough back in the day to pick up that much.”

“Who the fuck wanted you as a spy?” Phil asks.

“Fuck you,” Tommy says and doesn’t elaborate.

“Please just tell us what you want,” Techno says. “Please. I can’t handle this much you at any given time.”

“This needs to be Leader to Leader,” Tommy says, and something heavy laces his words. The hairs on Techno’s arms stand up.

“You coulda asked,” he says, in one final desperate bid for normality.

“No, I couldn’t have,” Tommy says. “I think Chip’s dead.”

Techno doesn’t notice that he’s standing until he is.

“What?”

“Yeah,” Tommy says. “Yeah. And, uh, I fucking. Need your help to figure out what happened. Before we get blamed. And I know, politically, you’ve got no reason, but if we don’t figure out—”

Techno sits back down, heavy.

“I know you understand Piglish. Let me talk in my native language. Phil.”

“Yeah, mate?”

“Go get the stuff.”

Phil’s eyes darken. “Right. That. Well, I’ll be back.”

Tommy’s voice, for the first time since Techno met him as a newly-minted Leader, standing on a wooden bench and yelling about executions, is small.

“You believe me?” he says.

“Why else would you come here?” Techno asks. “Not like we like you.”

“Good, because I’m shit at infiltrations. Would have been embarrassing if you, like, didn’t know your enemy well enough to know that,” Tommy says. He’s saying something else underneath it. Techno is neither good enough at Bayesh or at Tommy to guess what.

“Let’s work out an excuse to make a treaty. And you tell me everything.”

[clamsjams]

list of empires smp empires based on whether i think they existed in lore before the players started ruling over them and also how the players got to rule over them:

putting it under the read more bc it got long

Ancient Capital: yeah obviously that’s pixs whole thing. pix is in charge bc he’s the only one there

Gobland: yes, fwhip took over from the former leader by digging up a magical king choosing rock or something idk

Glimmer Grove: yes, confirmed by katherine in her first episode, she inherits her rule and title from her family and bloodline

the Olipelago: nope, it’s literally a beach where oli set up his tent, it’s a place for wandering travelers and musicians (it’s basically an artsy homeless encampment). olis in charge cause he was the first one to set up there, but there aren’t really strict rules or any proper government (i’m not caught up on olis streams pls don’t come at me if the vibe has changed since i saw it last this is just my interpretation based on what i saw)

Dawn: yes, gem inherits her rule and title from her family and bloodline like katherine , but unlike katherine her family’s rule is chosen by the butterflies and bees through some kind of magical process and if they find the family unfit to rule they can choose another family/heir. if gem has siblings, then the heir isn’t necessarily the oldest, it’s whoever gets chosen by the bees

Stratos: yes and no kind of? lower stratos existed before, but it was a pretty small village, joel is their patron god and he moved in and started improving the village and building upper stratos bc he heard their prayers to him. he’s in charge bc he’s literally their god obviously. he’s actually a pretty minor god, which is why he gives so much help and attention to what was at first, a very tiny and insignificant village, bc they’re the only ones who regularly prayed to him

Tumble Town: yes, confirmed by the old sheriff. jimmy is the new sheriff cause he found the badge in a random mineshaft chest in his first episode. tumble town was a ghost town before jimmy came along so there was no one to contest his claim. they all moved on once they thought the mines were drying up and only moved back once jimmy revitalized the industry (that was very common on the real western frontier, except they just ended up abandoned forever unlike tumble town)

The Evermoore: nope, just a swamp. shelby gets to be in charge cause she’s the only one there and the spirits she helps are still spirits and don’t rlly want to be in charge

Sanctuary: no, sausage founded the settlement and was completely willing to step down once it started to grow into a real empire but he’s very well respected and everyone wanted to him to stay the ruler, esp cause they trusted he wouldn’t be like the king from their old kingdom. the people who work at town hall do all the official paperwork and stuff but sausages still the unofficial ruler

Animalia: no, there were hidden underground societies of animal citizens before but they were all separate by type, like one place for the frogs, one for foxes, etc, and then one day lizzie recruited animals for the critter council and started building a place where they wouldn’t have to hide. at first lizzie’s villagers were mostly living there under coercion, but as word spread throughout the hidden animal communities the animal citizens started immigrating willingly

Chromia: honestly not sure, this and gobland are the empires i have the least ideas for, i feel like it could go either way. chromia scott just doesn’t feel like the kind of guy who would build a whole new settlement from scratch, so maybe he hid out in a village while on the run from authorities or whatever kind of trouble he got himself into, and then he decided to liven up the place with some colors and ended up being in charge somehow. or maybe he was on the run and decided to build a house and a new identity and start selling dyes and ppl just started coming and building there too idk.

Cogsmeade: no, but i think there was a village or 2 nearby, and the people there are super wary of strangers and pretty isolationist, similar to false herself. when she first moved in nearby, the villagers weren’t sure what to make of her, she seemed strange but she kept to herself and didn’t bother them so they let it be. after a while they saw the stuff she was building and were begrudgingly impressed and a few of them decided to try and trade with her for iron and stuff. it takes ages but she builds some buildings and and some people move closer to her and some stay in the inn. it’s a small, close knit community, and the citizens and false trust each other as much as people like them can. false never actually tells any of them about her past and her trauma, but there’s an unspoken understanding that they all have. they’ve all gone through stuff and are running from something, they know what it feels like. there’s lots of solidarity, and they’re not nice but they’re kind.

Forgotten Cove, Eversea: yes, eversea isn’t actually a land it’s just the pirate term for certain parts of the ocean, the strategically important parts, where the merchant ships have to pass through, and the pirates who control those waters are super powerful. if a pirate crew is powerful enough to enforce it, they can basically claim parts of eversea as their territory and it’s off limits to other pirates. sometimes different crews make alliances and trades for use of the territory and sometimes they’ll just challenge the other crew for the territory and if the challenging crew defeats the crew that holds the territory then they can claim it.

when a crew that holds multiple territories is defeated their other claims are essentially considered to be very shaky and other crews will start swarming them to try and claim them for themselves. there’s a lot of politics involved and reputation is an important part of all of it. if a crew wins a challenge and gains more territory, some might leave the other territories alone bc they think that the crew will most likely be coming to cement their claim on those next, and it’s not worth it to try and fight for them. while some would view the defeated crew as weak and run to try and rip off a piece while they’re down. it all depends on politics, reputations, risks vs rewards, how valuable the territory is, and a ton of other stuff.

some parts of the eversea waters change hands constantly, while others are held more consistently by 1 or 2 crews. skeletron has held the vast majority of territory for the past years, which is basically unheard of. usually there’s a few big players and a bunch of smaller groups who have ties or alliances with one of the big powers. skeletron came out of nowhere and started taking out the big powers, and the the smaller groups either flocked to him out of fear or got taken out.

if the major powers had teamed up to fight him they may have been able to take him out, but it would take something huge to make them set aside their feuds, and they didn’t take skeletron seriously at first. by the time they realized what a huge threat he was, it was too late. joey was actually the last holdout, which is why skeletron was so hellbent on getting him. joey wasn’t a major power yet, but before skeletron sunk his ship and kidnapped his crew mates joey was considered a very promising up-and-comer, well on his way to becoming a major power. although most people gave up on him once skeletron sunk him, because at that point skeletron was considered an almost mythical legendary figure, like blackbeard, and no one thought joey could’ve survived his attack.

but he did! and he washed up in the forgotten cove! a bustling shantytown that every pirate knows is the closest thing you can get to being at sea while still being on land. the floating docks and the ships moored there considered just as much a part of the town as the many many pubs and bars. just like the sea, the town has its own politics, depending on the delicate balanced ecosystem of the town to keep it thriving. if you need something illegal, the first place to look is always the forgotten cove, which was named that way because the more honest and more wealthy parts of society didn’t like to remember it existed, and they got so good at forgetting that eventually everyone forgot what empire it belonged to originally.

nowadays it’s considered its own independent territory. it’s one of those places where everybody knows it exists and that people are committing crimes there, but the people in charge turn a blind eye to it bc of, again, politics. the town is considered more stable than the sea. in addition to the pirates, there’s also a bunch of gangs, smugglers, and a shit ton of poor street kids. it’s a great place to disappear, which is why it was the best place for joey to lay low and gather more power to try and defeat skeletron.

he also manages to unite the town and improve the conditions a ton while he does it. which is why he ends up in charge. he does have to fight a bit for the position but most of the town likes having him in charge and it’s hard to get them to agree on anything. the other rulers are shocked when joey shows up for one of the empires rulers meetings, because despite sending the invitation out of courtesy every time, no one ever shows up. they’re way too busy worrying about internal politics to care about the external politics with other empires.

after joey defeats skeletron with katherine and shelby he gains legendary status and is considered the greatest pirate of all time. he spends a year sailing around with katherine and shelby (i know shelby’s finale had kind of a vague timeline but i decided i want them to sail off into the distance happily ever after and it’s my post) and they also get added to the legends. the pirate king, the monster-slaying princess, and the great witch. friends forever.

[hewmitcwaft]

i used to have thsi webkinz that id soak in milk and it was sopping wet all the time and t hen id throw it at the wall and itd make a loud thud