Minecraft II

    My last blog post was a disorganized blog post on the subject of Minecraft. (Sorry about that, I didn't use Preview as much as I should have.) I used to play vanilla (unmodded) Minecraft (which I'll call the V), but recently I installed the Technic Pack to add a little something to my worlds.

    The V 1.0.0 has three 'planes', of which only two are officially named. The two which are officially named are the Nether and the End. The unnamed plane, on which the player spawns and respawns, is the Unnamed (under which is the Void). I named this plane the World, in keeping with the Trend. I'll start there first.

    The World is the first place any save will have, and the place most people will spend their time in. Most mods focus on editing this plane, and this is the only plane which has ores in the V. However, it's also arguably the most dangerous plane the V has to offer, with creepers, skeletons, spiders, and zombies, along with the occasional Enderman. Since this is the only place in the V which offers ores to mine, any players who want to explore the other planes will have to spend extensive time in their mines here. While mining down to find lava to enter the Nether, a player may accidentally find a hole in the Bedrock and find the Void.

    The Void isn't an actual plane of Minecraft, more of an accident. It's caused by falling through holes in the Bedrock layer of Minecraft, and will in fact kill the player quite rapidly - destroying any items they drop after they die. The Void lies under the World and is strictly the same plane. If I recall correctly, there is now a solid floor of Bedrock at the bottom layer of the map, regardless of the terrain generator, making it impossible to fall into the Void in the V.

    Near the Void is lava, occuring in all naturally-occuring air pockets at the tenth layer of the map and lower. Lava is required to make Obsidian, which is in turn required to make a Nether portal, a rectangular four-by-five doorway-type structure which, when lit on fire, forms a bluish-purple thick layer of liquid-type material. If the player stands in this substance for a period of about three seconds, they enter the Nether, the least dangerous of the three realms (which is ironic, considering its Hellish nature.) The only threats which can be found in the Nether are the Ghasts and the Zombie Pigmen. As the Zombie Pigmen are neutral (passive until attacked), they're no threat - unless you hit one, in which case you should probably RUN.
    As for the Ghasts, their gigantic size may intimidate the player at first... but they have truly awful aim and weak firepower. The Ghast fireball can't break through stone, but it can deactivate portals and destroy weaker materials. However, the Ghast is still one of the scarier mobs of Minecraft. Worse, it can go through blocks, meaning walls won't stop it. It can literally drift into your house and start shooting at you.

    Possibly the hardest of the three planes to get into is the End, home to the Endermen and the Enderdragon. To get to the End requires around sixteen Ender pearls. Not only does one have to activate an only partially activated Ender portal by placing Ender pearls in the deactivated slots, but one also has to locate a Stronghold with such an Ender portal in it ... a portal which could be potentially miles away. Once one has successfully found and activated this portal, they appear in the End with only a small Obsidian ledge to stand on, and hundreds of Endermen below on a giant floating island of stone. The End is the inverse of the Nether - instead of enormous pockets of air surrounded by stone, the End is filled with enormous pockets of stone surrounded by air.

    I have myself been to two of these four areas legitimately - the World and the Nether. As for my plans to enter the Void, I have better things to do in Minecraft than die. The End is on my list of places to visit in Minecraft, although it seems unlikely I'll get there soon. I have much, much more essential things to do in Minecraft than gather sixteen Ender pearls.

    There's also an unofficial fourth plane which follows the Trend, called the Aether. I've never installed the Aether mod, so I can't give a description of it. I plan to try it sometime, but I don't know when. As for my worlds, that will have to wait for another post!