#minecraft ancient cities

[mumblesplash]

end result of the Evil Art Style Challenge! it's the deep dark :)

i asked my followers what traits they associate with my art and then had to try drawing without any of them (readmore for list)

thin smooth lineart -> no lineart

shiny highlights -> no shiny ­:(­

3/4ths angle for faces -> straight on view

expressive eyes -> character is wearing goggles (i wasn’t really sure how to Not do this? it would be an interesting challenge to try to do this without hiding the eyes but i’d need more detail abt what ‘expressive’ means)

good hands -> only one hand is visible + it is a blob

clothing folds -> ok look i was trying not to put any folds on that cloak but looking at it now i think i did it anyway on accident. i was just trying to color it in i swear

minimalist background -> detailed background

[theclockworkowl]

I’m going to share what I think is the full timeline of Minecraft lore- not like any smp lore or anything, just Minecraft lore, base game.

So like it’s very obvious that there was an ancient civilization that died out for one reason or another, leaving only the things they created in their wake. And this is obvious by the Temples, Sand/Ocean/Jungle, the shipwrecks, the igloos, the mineshafts, all these buildings they leave behind.

Because it certainly wasn’t the villagers who built them.

Ages ago there was this theory that this ancient civilization was driven out by something dangerous and powerful, I think this theory was MatPats?

So here’s what I’m thinking happened. Because of the different architecture style of all the temples and such it’s easy to assume that there were many different cultures In this ancient civilization. And I think it’s very likely that they were at war. The reason being? Creepers.

Think about it- gunpowder is not something that forms in nature, it has to be specifically filtered and put together for it to properly form gunpowder. Take into account that Creepers are completely silent at all times until they’re close enough to you to explode. And they don’t seem to have any conscious thought other than to kamikaze a human. Now there is the possibility that they could have been made by the Pillagers, but they don’t seem to have any scientific capabilities and are more focused on barbaric tactics, so that means there could have been wars going on between the ancient cultures, and that could explain why the only cities we find are the ones that are destroyed in the ocean and the ancient cities underground, they all destroyed themselves leaving only the sacred temples. Additionally Creepers don’t have a will to live, they don’t try to survive, and if they were formed via evolution, they would have a will to live and not solely explode upon seeing a person, further indicating they were genetically created. At some point during this time, they discovered the Nether.

All those incomplete Nether portal ruins you can find, likely remnant of what they built. So they built these portals and traveled the Nether. Discovering all the things it has to offer. I believe they are the ones who built the Nether fortresses, and discovered that Nether Wart and Blaze rods can be used to create powerful elixirs and potions, so they breed the blaze, making them an active part of the temple, and have the little Nether wart farms. And the fact they have been to the Nether would explain why chiseled red sandstone has the Wither carved into it. So we all know that the Piglins and hoglins seem to carry an innate zombifying virus that triggers whenever they enter the overworld.

So after some time of peace, something happens, and a human is infected by the virus that the Piglins carry. The virus is devastating and spreads far too quickly. All the zombies we see in game are very clearly human, and there’s a clear distinction between zombie humans and zombie villagers. So all the zombies we encounter are likely remnants of those ancient civilizations. The portal ruins we see all over the place? They weren’t failed portals, they were intentionally destroyed to try and slow down the infection rate. Eventually there is left with only a few handfuls of survivors, so they flee below ground, down into the depths where they built their new cities. The Ancient Cities that were added in the latest update. I believe they lived here for some time in relative peace just surviving in the depths. But then their newest and possibly oldest foe came. The Warden. The skulk spread incredibly fast and far, the Warden leaving little left alive in its wake. So once more the ancient people had to flee. They fled and built the Stronghold, one final safe haven against the monsters outside. But they knew it was only temporary. Driven by fear and a will to keep going, the people who remained of the ancient civilization fled into the End.

The ancient civilization began building the began building their new home there. Building the strange and towering End Cities and the flying ships we see there. They invent Shulkers as a security measure to defend themselves. There’s only one food source that can be found in the End. Chorus fruit. The fruit that when eaten causes you to teleport randomly. I believe that after centuries of a diet of this fruit and the harsh conditions of their new living environment. The ancient civilization evolved, transforming into what we know today as Endermen.

The more they transformed from human to Enderman, they became enthralled by the Ender Dragon. They go around to the overworld, begging the player to save them, telling them to look for the eye. I think they can’t stand eye contact just because of the pain they feel. You look just like they once did and it enrages them that they can’t have that anymore.

[ryan-the-thing]

There’s candles and statues everywhere in the ancient city

Ancient builders were really religious *nods*

[silveraxolotl]

Okay, so. I decided I would try to come up with solutions to some of the issues people currently have with the “Wild” update for minecraft.

1.) Fireflies Toxicity and Removal:

So, they decided to remove fireflies due to them being toxic to frogs. Why? Why scrap them completely instead of finding alternative uses, and even then it’s not like we don’t have bats which don’t do anything outside of build atmosphere so why can’t fireflies do the same? Not to mention that Minecraft is big on introducing animals that are endangered. Well guess what? There are a variety of firefly species which are threatened (this is just one study done for the U.S. but there is thought to be a decline in their population all over due to climate change and habitat loss)! Not only that but I’ve also seen valid concerns on how its far more likely that a child could get their hands on a frog and some of that slime that there was a craze for then get a frog and firefly and force-feed them that.

In honesty I’ve already seen a lot of great suggestions from the community on how to work around this issue. A simple solution I see is just...move what biome they’re in? Make them so they only spawn in river biomes and x blocks away from water or something. Plus add in so that if frogs do eat them, they get poisoned/nauseated/die since let’s be real, we can already feed parrots cookies to purposely murder them.

2.) Ancient City Loot:

Plenty have complained that the loot for the Ancient Cities just doesn’t feel worth having to traverse past a potentially powerful mob like the warden to get. Currently the only unique loot it presents is echo shards, disk fragments, and the new swift sneak enchantment. Overall those...aren’t very exciting things to get from a place defended by a mob that that can kick your ass even when wearing the strongest armor. So, here’s some ideas on what the can do with the loot they currently have without having to add new things to chests.

Add more uses for echo shards/recovery compass. With the recovery compass, maybe you could have it so that if you right click a pet or nametagged mob it attaches to them. When alive, the compass simply spins wildly, but then when they die, it will point to where they died, just like with a player. Then maybe have something that makes that useful. For example, let’s say you pet dog dies. You go to where they died and then maybe you have to perform some ritual like sacrificing a nether star to a special sculk catalyst so that you’re dog revives. However, now you’re dog is skeleton dog, like the ones from Minecraft Earth! And then to change it up, maybe this skeleton dog doesn’t attack skeletons anymore, but goes for zombies so it can get flesh. This revival process could even be used as a way to finally implement a vanilla way of getting a zombie horse which have been in the game forever with no way to obtain them. 

With the echo shards, maybe we could craft an unusual dagger using a shard, stick and sculk vein. Then, maybe you could basically turn it into a mobile version of the sculk catalyst, where it stores xp until broken. Or maybe have it so that the dagger can track a player after you hit them with it. Idk. Maybe make them like amethyst shards, where you can craft special glass with it, and then make it so you use this glass to make a “soul jar”. Then with a soul jar, you can capture any of those souls you see fly out of soul sand/soil and do something with them, or you can just click on the blocks to remove the souls, turning it into normal sand and dirt! Maybe this could even tie into my previous idea of a revival process! Use a filled soul jar and nether star together to create a soul star!

3.) Warden Difficulty:

Oof, where to start with this one. Overall, the Warden is just...overly beefed up for no real purpose. If he either defended something super rare or incredible maybe? But even then, this guy feels a little too much. Therefore, here’s some ideas on how he could more easily balanced.

-Make it so it takes setting off the shriekers 5 times to summon instead of 3. Allows for more room for mistakes. Also make it so that the counter is unique per shrieker instead of per player. That would allow for a player to learn after their first summoning what will happen if they set it off too much and then not to have to worry about accidentally setting off a shrieker once . Maybe after their first summoning it could drop to 3 for all other shriekers so they can still make mistakes but still have consequences until they summon another warden. Then it can drop down to summoning a warden everytime while maintaining the feature that “the warning level decreases by 1 every 10 minutes” back to 3 when a shrieker isn’t set off. Also add some visual way for the player to tell the danger level like maybe the shrieker tips start their usual color and then gradually turn some color the more times you set it off. This overall allows for the player to learn from their experiences.

-Maybe to prevent summoning a ton, a shrieker is disabled for a longer amount of time after summoning a warden and have it linked per shrieker instead of player to rebalance that fact in combination with my first point. Also don’t include the shrieking time into the cooldown time. Start the cooldown after the shriek ends.

-Maybe decrease the size of the spawning range of the warden? So instead of it checking an 11x13x11 box it does 7x10x7 or something.

-Add more distraction methods. Maybe in addition to projectiles, you can have it so that it will be attracted to jukeboxes that are playing or noteblocks that are going off. Make it so that at least the jukebox is far more aggitating than other sound effects since it constantly plays. Then once it investigates, maybe it can destroy the blocks in an attempt to stop the sound or something, allowing time for a player to flee while it checks out the constant noise and stops it.

-Remove their immunity to fire and lava. Seriously, what’s the point of that except to make it ridiculously harder? If you really want to make it annoying but still tank lava, make it so it only takes fire tick damage or something.

-” The warden has an inherent bias towards player vibrations, attacks and contact - even if already enraged at another mob, players can override this to be targeted themselves. “ <-- Get rid of that. Completely. What’s even the point of distractions then? Not to mention, how the hell would it even be able to differentiate us from normal mobs realistically? Maybe contact I guess since then you’re close enough it can smell you...

-Make it so the sonic boom doesn’t just...bypass blocks completely. There’s a reason you see sound barriers on freeways. Cause having something ya know, between you and the sound helps muffle it. Make it so the sound wave decreases in power per each block it goes through until reaching a certain number of blocks where it just stops or something.

-Don’t make sound waves just lock on. Once the warden starts charging, that’s it, that’s the way the sound wave is headed regardless of if you move.

-Make it so the sound is reduced or nullified by using a shield with a banner instead of a normal shield. I already talked about this idea here.

[xharzo]

X: Are you ok?

Me: The Wardens killed everyone and everything living in the Cities and that's why they are all covered in sculk, and why when you break them they give us experience, I am not ok, I brought that to the surface now, gods, I brought them to the overworld surface. Does this make me as cruel and inconsiderate as the one that brought them to the dark depths in the first place? Is my legacy... Will be my legacy to keep bringing misfortune to this world? Are the supposed "hero" deeds I have done really good things? Or I am being controlled by my greed and ambition, walking this lands, the vast red coals and yellow sands like I am the owner of them, without really taking in consideration the few that still breathe this air? Am I the greater evil here? And not this unsightly creatures that hunger for the living, for the flesh and blood?

[king-of-the-oranges]

Okay so I just got reminded of the theory I made when I checked out one of 1.19 snapshots (It was the one that released the new disc). After listening to it, and exploring for awhile I thought about this.

There was two different sets of ancient builders. They were one, once. They worked together, exploring and investigating their world around them. There was a problem though. Some of them wanted to focus on magic, and some of them wanted to focus on science (redstone).

And so they split, whether that was peacefully or in anger. The magic users went on to build mansions and meddle with death, becoming the creatures we know today like Evokers. The scientists went down into the ground where their precious materials lay, building entire cities in the deep dark. They learn and experiment, and grow to live best with little light.

This si where things start to get a little messy. I’m not sure how yet but I think the Skulk and the Warden was the creation of the two sides meeting again, mixing their new skills to try and become something more than they should know. Maybe it was to do with the portal in the middle of the city?

But something goes wrong, and instead they doom themselves to a world of fear and silence at the hands of the unbeatable creature they created.

[xxfrizzyxx]

Hey does anyone know if there is any way to tell how many times you’ve set off a sculk shrieker??

[seraphsredemption]

Found my first Ancient City!!!!

[revenant-chaos]

found this and thought it looked cool :]

[mumblesplash]

don’t you hate it when your civilization flees deep underground to escape the wither only to find yourselves trapped down there with something even worse. anyway surprise! i can still draw

[creeperchild]

Made some doodles of this nightmare that I captured in one of the houses I build for him in survival. I love him, even tho he beat me up so damn often!</3

The abuse I am going through for some hugs..

anyways, hope you like it. And no, I am not dead lol. Just burned out and trying to chill out with minecraft.

[vampyriix]

ok i caved

[spiffybits357]

as per @an-ace-rabbit's request, an Ancient City background! What should I do next?

[citrous241]

1.21 is looking fire, but 1.22 has got to be an End update.

Minecraft has always had really good lore and story-telling, but does anyone else feel like the End is just missing something?

It's to be expected, it hasn't been updated for the last 7 years and the last update added more questions than answers. I feel like it's just on the cusp of being as clear as the rest of the game.

It's a dimension that's supposed to feel off, and uncanny. Literally the only track that plays is 15 minutes of warped mash-ups of Overworld tracks. End stone is just inverted Cobblestone.. etc. But even then it's still wrong.

I just have to know, Minecraft lore is built off of head canons but I'm just unable to form one that makes sense regarding the End. Endermen make sense, I believe they're warped and "evolved" humans. Eating only chorus makes them teleport, their long arms and bodies to reach the high snaking chorus plants, their larger eyes to see in perpetual darkness, etc. Their aversion to water is a wrench in that but I'm not perfect and my head canon isn't right. Endermen could have nothing to do with humans.

Shulkers and End Cities are what confounds me. Are Shulkers natural living organisms? The Dragon and Ender-men both have black skin and dark purple eyes but this thing has yellow skin and an almost magenta shell. I think they're some sort of automatons, but built by who? The ancient builders, the ones who evolved into Endermen? But the spiral staircases in the End Cities don't seem designed for humans (or maybe I just suck at climbing them) and the ceilings aren't really high enough for Endermen. Maybe Shulkers are another protector mob of their area. But protecting what? Protecting the means of personal flight maybe, but that looks nothing like the rest of the end - its literally made from the wings of the Phantoms of the Overworld.

End Cities themselves do kind of make sense to me, their architecture mimics the branches of a chorus plant. But whilst chorus seems to be the only natural thing in the End, the cities very much aren't. There's no way that structure would work under normal gravity. But surely the End just has weak gravity? Nope, it's the same as the Overworld.

Everything in the End just feels so artificial. The central island; with Obsidian pillars punching through the whole thing, a material that can only be made using 2 fluids that don't exist in the End, topped with a crystal made partially from the tears of a creature in another dimension and some sort of Eye which we can only make by killing an Enderman and fusing it's remains with the ground up remains of another creature from said other dimension. Also, it is so far away from the rest of the End, as if someone destroyed or moved these other islands away. The Dragon itself to, she works like no other mob. People say that she's a machine which I don't agree with, her erratic behaviour is because she is the only mob of her type and hasn't been updated like ever. I don't think she's native to the End though; Endermen, the only other creature in existence that looks like her, can be hostile to her.

Trying to piece this together as I'm writing this is making me think of a new head canon: The End is just a melting pot of travellers who got lost and stuck. Think of something like the Void from the Loki show. I think the End was initially just a mass of floating islands with the chorus fruit, in the Void between dimensions. Then the ancient builders arrived, constructing the obsidian pillars and the bedrock portal frame. I think they found something, maybe it could be whatever made the End Cities. But regardless, something dangerous. Something that made them separate the only way out of the dimension by several kilometres of Void, that made them create a Dragon to guard said way out. Something that made them sacrifice themselves by sealing themselves into the End.

There are a few holes in this. Maybe the ancient builders did build the End Cities before/after becoming Endermen. Maybe the danger was the Dragon, but why would it guard the exit portal? And I've kind of ignored the fact that Endstone is inverted Cobblestone, maybe the whole dimension if artificial? Built by the ancient builders entirely? Or maybe the End was spawned from ancient humanities collective mind, like a sort of yin to their yang.

I would love an End update to add a few things. I don't like most popular ideas or mods for an End update, as they often stray too far from what the End is. I would like to be able to find whatever gravity-defying sentient race built the End Cities, maybe they could also be warped into Endermen like the ancient builders were - but could still have a sense of self and humanity, or maybe they're some sort of Phantom People. I would like to find this danger that caused the ancient builders to sacrifice themselves, a new huge boss at the edge of the End would be awesome. I would also like, if they made them less annoying that is, for Phantoms to spawn in the End just normally. They feed on Insomnia right? What's more insomniac then an entire dimension where it's always night and nothing can sleep?

I would also like purple chorus wood lol.

[shadeswift99]

SHADE. Shade I need your minecraft worldbuilding brain.

They introduced a bunch of new shards to 1.20. The one depicting the Warden is called "mourner."

THE POSSIBILITIES?? It's not just guarding these ancient cities, it's mourning what they once were? Maybe it's similar to an iron golem, a construct built to protect and then abandoned? Maybe it caused the ruination and it mourns what it destroyed? Maybe it's just cranky we disturbed it????

I really like all of those ideas! But, as is my duty as Shade, I am going to introduce you to an extra and more horrifying possibility!

So. Sculk. It's a fungus-like corruption that spreads when it's fed by XP, which is essentially souls or life energy in-universe released at the death or breaking of something. No mobs other than the Warden can spawn in the Deep Dark, which to me suggests sculk has a level of toxicity that even the undead can't handle. Except some people - players - seem to be able to withstand it, at least for a short period of time.

There sure is a lot of sculk in ancient cities, isn't there. A whooole lotta sculk. Whole lot of that stuff that duplicates through death of other living things.

Maybe the cities were full, when the first sculk was discovered. Maybe the toxicity claimed the first person to find it and spread as a result of that, the danger growing the more it took, until it was a wave few could escape. Maybe some got away through those odd portals, the ones with higher natural resistances lasting long enough to flee. ...Or, maybe some of them, left alive long enough to watch everyone else die, couldn't bring themselves to leave. Maybe they stayed to mourn the loss, exposing themselves for longer than even they could withstand. Maybe instead of dying, they changed.

The Warden has the same size hitbox as a player. In spite of visually far exceeding that size, it can fit through the same size gaps. Almost as if it outgrew the volume the Universe had calculated for it. And its ribcage, open and filled with sculk-like texture inside, has always read as human-like to me. The sculk controls it, so the body tries to kill living things to fuel the spread. It's only natural.

But maybe, like the cordyceps fungus, the sculk leaves the brain intact while bending the muscles of the body to its own purposes. Perhaps the Warden's eyes are closed because the mourner is still mourning - the loss of their city, still, or what they lost of themselves by not turning away.

[loud-whistling-yes]

its took me absolutely fucking forever, but the first draft of the scattered au pmv is done!!!!!! for those who dont know, scattered au was how i got introduced into hermitcraft in the first place, so this au really takes a soft spot in my heart

anyways, here's scattered!etho's adventure in becoming a suicidal one man search-and-rescue team 👍 once again this pmv is unsurprisingly based of my own fic of the scattered au (coughcough shameless self promotion) so if you know this au and the sequence of events feel different thats probably why!

and as always, everyone say thank you to @hermitcraftheadcanons and the entire community that helped make the original au!!! yall are real cool people!!!! <33