I just finished playing Minecraft Legends and it was good! And there was a lot to take away from it in terms of Minecraft lore, which Iāll list here. Spoilers ahead
This not only takes place in a Villager legend, but in an alternate universe to vanilla Minecraft. So we can pick and choose what lore we want.
The Piglins appear to be in possession of the Orb of Dominance from Dungeons (although it could hypothetically be any purple cube of death). So the entire war is the End killing two birds with one stone.
The fossils from the base game appear and theyāre much bigger. The Piglins haul fossils to create their bases and the skeletons build their homestead around one.
The zombie homestead is built around a giant corpse flower.
The creeper homestead is carved out of a sulphur deposit.
Hoglins get big. Youāll be mistaking the lava launchers for elephants. The concept art claims this is age though I like to think itās a different species.
The Piglins themselves obviously get big too.
Legends continues Dungeons claim that Piglin survival versus zombification in the overworld is related to Nether fungus spores.
They divide the Piglins into three hordes: the Horde of the Bastion; of the Hunt (so yeah the usual lore assumption of bastion and crimson forest hunters being separate is confirmed); and of the Spore, from the Warped Forests
Three new Overworld mount species! The Regal Tigers as seen in the gameplay demo, and also Big Beaks and Brilliant Beetles!
Prismarine is associated with the Well of the Fate and the magic dimension within. Ocean monuments are unseen.
Lapis Lazuli is used to make robots (I wonāt call them golems) instead of pumpkins.
The robots predate the villagers, and helped the Hosts create the overworld.
Oh yeah, creationism is true in this world.
We see the birth of the illagers as those villagers that take arms against the Piglins
The supernatural implications of soul sand are obvious, but I like to think it could have a more scientific explanation too. Thereās a late Isaac Asimov novel, Nemesis, whereĀ thereās a planet covered with a singular colony of bacteria, each of which essentially functions as a neuron in a gigantic planetary brain. So Iām thinking what if soul sand is partially conductive and passes electrical impulses that function as thoughts, making patches of soul sand effectively living things.
Bought the season pass for Dungeons because itād hooked me. I havenāt played Howling Peaks yet but Iāve finished playing Creeping Winter finally.
Iāve heard the concept of a sky update mentioned once or twice, and the concept as they explained it (adding floating islands and stuff to the sky) did not interest me. But recently Iāve been thinking that a update to the texture of the sky could be in order.
One of the devs has already entertained the notion of adding shooting stars to the sky that could be viewed with the new telescope. But why stop there. Put the moon on a separate cycle to the day-night one, a realistic one that even includes eclipses. Thereās already an effect by the moons phases on mob behaviour and spawning, so lets take that even further. I think some sort of werebeast should be added to the game that only spawn on the full moon, along with other events and effects that occur during eclipses.
Now I titled this as āsky updateā and not Moon update, so there should be some more things to add. Possibly more weather effects. A morning fog, perhaps? Maybe some optical illusions like sundogs in colder biomes or rainbows after rain or near waterfalls.
Or maybe this is all overcomplicated and couldnāt be added without lagging the game to death.
Iāve had a lot of thoughts about what Creepers could be. Iāve seen lots of theories ranging from just a weird animal, to plants, to vengeful nature spirits, to robots. My general theory about how they work puts them heavily in the plant camp, but with a firm stance that theyāre probably animals or are at least edible for carnivores.
Creepers are a strange species with nothing else like them in the world, making them difficult to categorise. Their features of both plant and animal suggest that perhaps theyāre an artificial creation by some mage or alchemist, though Creepers are firmly cemented into the ecosystem suggesting a natural origin.
Creepers are infamous for their ability to explode, which is the final step in their lifecycle. The explosion releases their spores, which use the splattered remains of their victim to grow until the baby creepers are able to live self-sufficiently. Creepers reproduce asexually, so the infants are more or less clones of their parent.
During most of the day Creepers reside in the caves underlying the Overworld. There they feed on mushrooms, mosses, and small animals like the bats, while also seeking out minerals. At night they emerge from the surface to find more nutritious foods and minerals, and to find viable hosts for their seeds. During the day theyāll briefly ācharge upā via photosynthesis but will retreat underground again. As ambush predators, they prefer the darkness.
The explosive ability of the Creeper is the result of their mineral diet. In the caves theyāll seek out and find sulfur (usually found near magma springs) and nitrates (which theyāll get eating guano). On the surface theyāll eat stray twigs and branches to produce charcoal. With all these they create rudimentary gunpowder, with which they can explode with a special heat producing organ and a sharp inhale of oxygen.
Creepers are feared by most animals, but are themselves prey to felines. Ocelots are especially famous for hunting them. With swift attacks to the throat, cats are able to bring them down quickly without triggering the explosive mechanism. This dynamic goes back long enough for Creepers to have developed an instinctual phobia of cats.
There are two known instances of Creepers being altered by environmental conditions. Firstly, the byproducts of their search for explosive minerals creates within the Creeper anatomy a chemical store which by chance resembles a battery. Being struck by lightning is easily survived by a Creeper, and the immense energy is stored in this battery. The resulting āchargedā Creeper will explode with twice the usual energy, or else the energy will slowly dissipate as the Creeper exerts itself. The second instance is that Creepers in frigid conditions will explode in a shower of freezing fluids that can cause severe frostbite to anything that survives the initial blast, a result of being too cold for the explosion to vapourise their bodily fluids.
People like to theorise that Minecraft is a post-apocalyptic world. I'd like to propose a far less drastic alternative. Yes, this is well past the prime of some greater civilisation. What I'm envisioning is some sort of Fall of the Roman Empire scenario, but with added zombies.
Once there was a great and bountiful human civilisation stretched across the Minecraft world. It lasted for thousands of years, but came into a slow decline. Firstly, they spread out during a cold glacial period, and the end of that period caused sea levels to rise and decimate many cities (this is why there are ruins in the sea). This started their decline. As they went on, they got caught up in civil wars, interdimensional wars against the Piglins and Endermen, and eventually the undead, and their primary cities ended up sacked. The humans were spread out for a time, but the continuing threat of the undead forced them to retreat and reestablish their main cities in a much smaller and contained kingdom that doesn't interact with other dimensions anymore.
Over the years, only their stronger structures remain. The desert pyramid, the jungle temple, abandoned mineshafts and so on. Things that can survive the test of time. We never see any proper ruined cities because they were humble wooden structures and have long collapsed.
Human still exist as a society. Steve and Alex aren't the last humans. Theyāre just one of few that exist beyond the surviving human borders. As a rule, my lore assumes that only the places the player explores is canon. The infinite generation of the world isn't canon. It's an Earthly world (a sphere!) and the pair doesn't explore far enough to meet humans again.
Alright Mojang youāre doing a Dungeons DLC set in the ocean, thatās a perfect place to bring the Pillagerās early design back as a pirate. Turn them into pirates, please!
I think I posted that End update thing too soon because I suddenly have a whole slew of new ideas. Oh well. I can redo it any time I like. I want to start writing minecraft lore now.
The End as a dimension in Minecraft is in dire need of an update, and Iād like to throw about some ideas and suggestions as to what that could include.
Dragon
Firstly, outside of the End. The Overworld and Nether need to have things that hint at the existence of the Ender Dragon. This new archaeology mechanic appears to have that as a pottery piece, but it needs more. A player that has never heard of Minecraft before should be able to become aware of the End, of the Ender Dragon, and that the Ender Dragon should be destroyed. On that note too, while story and Minecraft donāt really mesh that well together, we need some kind of motivation to kill the Ender Dragon so it doesnāt feel like weāre barging into somethingās home to murder it. The Strongholds could be made a bit more inspiring than just a dark hall infested by the generic darkness spawning gang.
As for the Ender Dragon fight itself, I think itās fine right now. I suppose the platform you spawn on when you enter the End should be tweaked to always spawn on the island instead of at a distance forcing you to make a mad scramble bridge-making exercise to the island.
World Generation
The islands of the End need a serious overhaul. Right now they are nothing more than just white blobs. They really need to take advantage of the floating islands thing and have far more vertical variation. Force a player to build towers up to the next one, or to feather-fall down. There also should be some cave generation inside the islands. There should be some new blocks added to the generation to break up the monotony. Firstly I think gravel and packed ice could fit in here and there, though maybe some new blocks as well.
End Biomes
Like the Nether Update, the Endās landscape will best be broken up with the introduction of new biomes. The world generation should work so that each island has its own biome without sharing. Here are a few suggestions of mine:
End Barrens: The old End, spiced up with a new worldgen a few extra blocks as mentioned above. Also, the central island with the End Dragon can remain untouched. Small patches of chorus trees can still show up, but reduced.
Chorus Forest: A very lush biome. Several varieties of chorus tree grow here. Dominating the islands are giant trees at least as large as the obsidian spikes in the dragon fight, with roots spreading throughout the entire biome. The usual variety fill the biome, and there are smaller shrublike plants. While the regular trees can be smelted into purpur bricks, this giant tree provides you with purple planks, a deeper purple than the Crimson Forest planks. There are mods that add a purple grass to the End, but this looks hideous. A more vine-like effect on the Endstone would be better. Iām on the fence on whether the forest should just rest only on the top of the islands or dangle from the bottom as well. There should definitely be two varieties of forest, purple and that teal of the End Portal frame, so maybe these two forests can fill those two roles. The growth spreads to the island caves in any case. Also, since itās called a āChorusā forest the background noises need to be an alien choir.
Ice Caverns: These islands have very large caves, which are filled with ice and water. These caverns have their own little dangers, but Endermen will never spawn here providing a bit of an End oasis. Their exteriors are poorly distinguished from the End Barrens; you have to go digging for them.
Some additional ideas could come from different shapes of islands. Thin wafer islands, shattered islands, stuff like that. I have a couple of more ideas that revolve around certain blocks or mobs, which Iāll elaborate on when I get to them.
Generated Structures
Gravel bridges: Iāve always loved the gravel ledges that spawn around the Nether that fall down if you disturb them. So I feel we need them to spawn as a deliberate dangerous terrain features. Large structures composed purely of gravel will sometimes span the gap between End islands. The slightest disturbance, such as an Enderman picking up a piece, will send it plummeting into the void.
Enderman Settlements: Places similar to the Bastions in which the Endermen live. Maybe the End Cities could be repurposed, I donāt know. One idea I had is that they would live in much larger structures made from hollowed islands. Or maybe theyāre overtly artificial islands. Have some mechanics to allow for peaceful interaction with my Enderboys.
Ruined Nether Portals: Similar to the ones in the Overworld, these portals were used by the Endermen in their first ventures to the Nether before they could do it individually. Built taller than Overworld portals, and have Endstone bricks instead of regular stone. The Nether landscape spreading back through is Warped Forest themed, with the Nylium and even some Warped Fungus trees, since thatās the Nether biome they live in.
Ruined Summoning Circles: Shattered obsidian spikes that clearly formed a structure similar to the central End island. I took this from an End mod that managed to get something worthwhile in.
Blocks and Items
Not every block, but some key ones. Iām more imaginative with landscapes and mobs than mechanics.
Purpur but Teal: Maybe called Turqur or something. Unlike Purpur which is baked (which is pretty cool and unique honestly) I feel this should be an ore to mine out. The End is sorely lacking that right now. Like Purpur itās just decorative, but hey we need a teal brick.
Chiseled Blocks: Chisled variants of Endstone, Purpur, and the new teal one, because I love the pictures chisled blocks always have.
Purple and Teal wood: Like I mentioned before. Logs and planks and all that.
Some kind of leaf block: For the trees. I had an idea theyād be some sort of metallic structure, like natural solar panels or something. No clue other than that.
Mercury: A third liquid for the game, since Endermen hate water and the End is too cold for lava. Lots of mods add some sort of purple lava, but I feel something more real was in order. It should have some unique flow mechanics. You get a poison effect if you swim in it. Rivers of it flow in the forest biomes, and maybe it can have a swamp biome dedicated to it with large lakes and weird End pads floating on it to step on.
Mobs
Endermen: Have a severely reduced spawning. Currently theyĀ swarm the End milling about doing nothing, but since theyāre a sapient species (we assume) they should act as such. They still swarm the central island, but in the outer islands they spawn only in little patrols like Piglins do in the Nether, and in larger groups in specialised End Settlements.
End slime: Since thereās Magma Cubes in the Nether acting as Nether-slimes, there should be an End equivalent too. I feel they should be like balloons; they start as the smallest form and grow larger and deadlier until the largest one just dies.
Undead Endermen: Iāve always been fascinated by the undead afflicting different Minecraft species; humans, villagers, piglins, and I feel the Endermen should not be immune. Iām leaning towards zombie Endermen spawning in the darkest caves of the lowest islands.
Enderswarms: Some kind of flying insect about the size of the player. Have a āhiveā biome dedicated all to themselves where they build their nests, introducing new kinds of blocks like some sort of Endwax. Can also spawn in little hunting parties across the End, and are always hostile. I donāt want to imply theyāre a sapient species, just complicated.
A passive flyer: Like how you have the Strider to traverse Magma seas, there should be something you can tame in the End to ride and fly about. It should be very difficult to tame. Iām picturing something like a squid, but made deliberately different from the Ghasts.
Ice predator: An aquatic mob that spawns in the ice caves biome I mentioned. Lurks in the water and is super dangerous, just to keep you on your toes inside those caves.
I suppose Endmites should be able to spawn naturally. Every biome that Iāve mentioned should have a unique mob to inhabit it and make it feel like a living place.
The Cinderscapes mod is a bit hit and miss in my opinion. It adds four new biomes (it advertises six; I guess the other two are still in development) to the Nether post-Nether Update. The Luminous Grove is too fairy-tale and doesnāt fit the Nether, and the Quarts Canyon and Blackstone Shales feel like they should be structures scattered into the biomes rather than biomes themselves.
Oh but the Ashen Shoals! This biome here my friends is utterly perfect and retail quality. It should be added to the base game. Should have been part of the Nether Update. I know I have pictures but it needs to be described.
The most obvious feature is the colour of the Nether Fog. Itās black. There is also constant black particles floating through the air. Covering the ground is ash, which acts just like black snow. It is constantly replenished by theĀ āash fallā This biome is also cooler than the rest in which the lava ocean is replaced with magma blocks.
There are trees in biome, scorched looking things that are all stem with no leaves or wartblock associated with them. They give black wood. There are also some foliage plants scattered about, like in the other Nether forests. There are also some berries which give fire resistance when eaten which is the sole thing I donāt like about this biome. It makes fire resistance potions pointless.
Now Iāve saved the best until last. In this biome naturally spawns Zoglins! Zoglins are super difficult to encounter in the base game, so having a biome where they spawn naturally immediately endeared this place to me. The darkest Nether biome, home to these terrifying hostile mobs. They exist with the Zombified Piglins, and fight them in an undead parallel to their living counterparts.
Bad Minecraft idea: Introduce jade and mercury ores, which after mined you can brew into a potion of Immortality which when drunk will kill you permanently like in hardcore mode.
