Huh. This thread gets revived as soon as I start thinking about starting on my minecraft adventure-horror/lore story again. Coincidences, etc. TEXTWALL INCOMING
Basically it's a story based on the forces of minecraft more than the game itself, especially the End and Nether. The story itself takes place in a kingdom (the server we played in to get a feel for it was based on medieval knights and such) that was recently wiped out and conquered by an opposing nation. Our protagonists, a knight of said kingdom (my friend) and a magus of the council (my character) narrowly evade one of the enemy nation's (haven't thought of a name yet) raiding parties by escaping through a mountain tunnel. It collapses behind them and they end up in an abandoned temple/monastery built into the mountain. The main attractions are the grand foyer, which branches off into the main place of worship and the monk's quarters, the Librarium, a labyrinth of bookshelves, and the Mage's Sanctum, a small alcove with an immovable obsidian table that radiates an.. impure energy (enchanting table), and seems to draw power from the books around it. After closer inspection, Maro (the mage/my character) falls into a lower chamber, drastically different from the temple above. It appeared to be a portal ritual site, but the archway of obsidian was broken, chipped in a place, with a quick note attached to it: "not worth it". The cauldrons were drained, and the brewing station was fractured slightly. Maro searched around, and would find an obsidian chip. Slipping it into the crack in the portal, it burst into material, a swirling purple vortex, and sucked Maro straight through. What he saw was the Nether. A hellish place full of damned and lost souls alike. The living who stayed too long in the Nether took the form of upright anthropomorphous pigs that looked half dead and carried swords. Those who were evil in life took the form of the various hostile creatures in the Nether. Those who were damned wrongly became the "Soul Sand", those who merely died became the "Netherrack". It takes only one glimpse of this nightmare zone for Maro to force himself back through the portal. He told Drine (the knight) about his experience, and they both explored the Nether as a group. When they returned, however, something was different about Drine. He seemed to be more driven, determined. As Maro went to bed, Drine returned to the Nether, searching for something. But what that was he didn't know. He returned, disappointed, as Maro was now tirelessly searching the Librarium for some clues as to the place. As luck would have it, he found nothing legible. What was interesting was that the runes used in the books were of the Olden language. Nearly every one was printed in these runes, and only a few were printed in the Newerth language. After a few days of searching, Maro concluded there was no way he could read them. Drine headed out to the nearby village, untouched by the war thanks to the mountain range surrounding it, and the jungle that lies just behind the mountains, to search for a book of translation. He figured the local church or chapel would have one, and he was right. On his way back, he met a ranger named Xelasi, who expressed interest in the monastery of the mountain as well. While Drine was gone, Maro was able to figure out that the magic binding the portal to the Nether was the same as the magic that gave the obsidian table its power. After receiving the translation book, Maro worked hard to find the source of this magic. Eventually he discovered a series of books about something known as "The Ender", the force that gives its power to the magic of the portal and table. Upon further reading, he discovers that the monastery was only an outer guise for the sinister workings going on behind the scenes. This was the home of an Ender Cult dedicated to ascending to the highest point and joining their lord and deity, who takes the form of a massive dragon, in the only dimension capable of supporting his immense power: the End. As Xelasi returns from her duties as a Ranger and goes to the quarters to rest, and as Maro plumbs the depths of the Librarium, Drine exits the Monastery and adventures out on his own. During the night, he encounters a tall, thin creature that is completely black except for purple glowing eyes, and radiates the same ominous energy that the obsidian table does. The creature attacks, and Drine slays it out of self-defense, retrieving a mysterious orb that also pulsates with Ender magic. He returns to the monastery slightly sick and dizzy, and leaves the orb with Maro to research. He soon discovers that the orb is a physical manifestation of pure Ender, and deduces that it can be used offensively. Furthermore, his research shows that the Ender is a latent force of teleportation and movement, as evidenced by the portal, the "Ender man"'s teleporting ability, and the previously discovered ability of the obsidian table to imbue items with new powers, with knowledge absorbed from the books in the Mage's Sanctum. After the encounter with the Enderman, Drine starts to spiral downwards out of his sanity, albeit slowly. His determination to find the source of the anguish and madness slowly overtaking him drives him to return to the Nether with the Ender Pearl. The pearl's magic leads him to instinctively find the Nether Keep and slay the monsters that dwell within; netting him the flaming powder that will fuse with the Ender Pearl to become an Eye of Ender. At this point, Drine is hopelessly lost to the Ender, but this is unbeknownst to Maro or Xelasi. He returns, triumphantly, and is noticeably darker (in aura, not in appearance) than usual. Maro notices the Eye of Ender and recognizes it as the guide to the Cult's ultimate goal of ascending to the End. Maro fights with Drine, but the physically stronger knight overpowers the weaker mage and would have killed him if not for a small glint of humanity left within him, shown through his refraining from slaying Maro. He leaves the monastery, and Xelasi tries to give chase, but Maro stops her, saying "It's too late for him". She doesn't care, and leaves to pursue him in hopes of bringing him back into the light. Maro is left alone at the monastery, and he does what he does best: research. He discovers a worn, dusy old journal not previously seen that describes the last moments of one of the cultists of the monastery. It details that upon discovery of the Nether, more than half of the cultists turned away from their cause, thinking that this was the End. Those who knew, however, stayed, while the rest were cast into the Nether to burn for their betrayal. These became the Zombie Pigmen after ages of torment in the unliving realm. The cultists who stayed, including the author of the journal, continued their work towards the ultimate ascension. However, there was a point where the author (noted only as "AN" (spoiler alert they stand for Arturius Nowell, who plays a big part in the sequel thing) began to doubt their cause as many of the other cultists started to go insane from prolonged exposure to the Ender magic. "AN" started staying out of the rituals, but was left alone for whatever reason; perhaps it was the fact he had already helped them so far along that now his participation doesn't matter. At any rate, the journal entries stop after "AN" describes the other cultists having attacked him, and left him to die as they continued on their journey to the ascension. After the journal entries stopped, Maro flipped the pages back, and at the end of the book he noticed writing on the backs of the pages. He flipped to them and noticed that Drine had been keeping records of his adventures. Determined to keep Drine's memory alive, Maro starts writing a memoir of their adventures here, also thinking it would serve as a decent warning to any who would try and pursue the Ender magic.
It would be told through Maro's perspective, but the narrative focuses more on Drine's experiences with the Ender magic. In a way, this would also be a lore book, explaining the forces behind the world of Minecraft. I think it would be the first ever lore book to be made for Minecraft, so it should be suitably unique. Ideas, thoughts, comments?
*Fun fact, I started writing this post at 2am, then went to sleep halfway through writing it.
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