#cold striders are rare but they're the ones you see riding on other striders' backs

[larks-and-katydids]

nether hot/cold anon here!! In my mind nether dwellers don't necessarily see the hot/cold change as bad, it's a biological process like how irl sea turtles become male/female depending on the temperature of the nest they hatch from, but for species where the change is rapid and irreversible, like piglins, there's a lot of... I guess cultural anxiety? about unexpected or unwanted changes, getting zombified against your will is extremely unpleasant esp. if you're happy with being Hot, and conversely piglins who spawn as zombies sometimes resent the fact that they never get to experience being Hot. I have this mental image of a baby piglin running around with a ghast or blaze friend who shoots fireballs at them every once in a while to keep them from going Cold, and adult piglins usually carry around magma blocks or flint and steel to heat themselves up in emergencies. Piglins who want to 'transition' into being zombie piglins get asked 'are you sure about this, this is irreversible, once you do this there's no going back, please make sure you're absolutely certain that you want this' a LOT. Some piglins are VERY envious of villagers and how they can unzombify just with a potion and some gold- wdym gold is harder to find in the Overworld? Skill issue- some random zombie piglin who much prefers being Hot, probably.

in keeping with how people tend to superimpose their cultural ideas of gender on other cultural groups, magma cubes are considered oddballs in the nether, since as far as anyone can tell they don't seem to have a hot/cold distinction??? at least until they learn about slimes, at which point they go "I've connected the dots!!" (incorrect. magma cubes and slimes are separate species- the only similarity they have is being natural enemies with frogs)

kinda weird trans tangotek headcanon: given minecraft spawning/breeding mechanics, most mobs don't really... have a concept of gender, in the sense of sexual reproduction and roles relating thereof BUT nether-dwelling mobs in general have a set of binary roles and traits that are culturally assigned to Hot/Cold. It's not necessarily a personally assigned role, sometimes it's locally assigned. You act in certain ways and do certain things in a Hot place and do different things in a Cold place, and Cold places can cause changes to you that may or may not be irrevocable(see: striders vs piglins/hoglins and their zombified counterparts) and it's somewhat less rigid than Player ideas of gender, bc the exact threshold of Hot/Cold varies across both species and individuals (striders are Very Very Very Hot; some piglins zombify if they go to cooler places in the nether (naturally spawned zombie piglins) while other piglins only zombify when they enter the Very Cold Overworld)

anyway, TangoTek may or may not be trans by human standards, but as far as the nether dwellers are concerned, for all intents and purposes, building the Deepfrost Citadel and becoming Dungeon Master was an act of him transing his gender.

GOD HELLO ANON I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. the nether worldbuilding that we were sorely missing right here. this also resonates with what i wrote in my trans hcs document which is just "tango - trans"

i can imagine someone else who is a netherborn or just Knows About this stuff coming into decked out and being like "I Know What You Are" and tango is like "i transificated my gender" (canon)

the deepfrost citadel is also so important to both tango and the hermits which feels so beautiful to me because by inviting them in and sharing it with them hes also sharing such a like. integral part of himself. something that is Big for him that they wont exactly understand because of cultural regional species differences. but he still wants them there in whatever way will work. the joy of creation!! the joy of sharing it with your friends!! the joy of transing your gender!!

also im so obsessed with thinking ab how this affects other nether dwellers. im especially obsessed with thinking ab how this came about like evolutionary wise which i wont get far into thinking ab but. it will be in the back of my brain. god and like what is the culture surrounding this, are nether dwellers who change easier based on temp viewed any differently by others (whether positive or negative), how does each species view these changes?? yeah. god. very cool. thank u very much for sharing this.

[ask-those-dumbasses]

Mob Masterpost

I’ve gotten many asks about the mobs in this world, and I figured I might as well list them since there are a good chunk I removed, as well as custom lore for some. These will probably be paired with pictures one day, we’ll see. 

Passive Mobs  

Bat 

- exist as they do in real life (no art needed) 

Cat

- exist as they do in real life (no art needed) 

Axolotl 

- exist as they do in real life (no art needed) 

Chicken 

- exist as they do in real life (no art needed) 

Fox

- exist as they do in real life (no art needed) 

All the fish (and more) 

- exist as they do in real life (no art needed) 

Turtle

- exist as they do in real life (no art needed) 

Cows 

- exist as they do in real life (no art needed) 

Horses / Donkeys 

- exist as they do in real life (no art needed) 

Skeleton Horses (not zombie ones they freak me out)

- Literally just the skeleton of a horse nothing interesting here 

Pig

- exist as they do in real life (no art needed) 

Parrot 

- exist as they do in real life (no art needed) 

Sheep 

- exist as they do in real life (no art needed) 

Rabbit

- exist as they do in real life (no art needed) 

Mooshroom / Moobloom 

- Mooshroom exist as they do in game

- Mooshroom are found around massive dead trees in damp forests. They can also be found in mushroom biomes 

- In flower fields are a subspecies of Mooshroom, the Moobloom - which have many different varieties depending on the flower (but there are mainly yellow ones) 

- Mooblooms co-regulate with bees 

- Mooshrooms just need to break down dead plants for nutrients.  

- Mooblooms just need sunlight and water 

Striders 

- Co-regulate with Piglins, who keep them safe. In return Striders are a popular form of transportation (very big) to get around the large lava lakes in the Nether. 

- Eats the mushrooms and plant life of the nether (the plant’s spores stick of their bodies and travel to grow and shit).

- They can easily swim through lava using their big, duck-like webbed feet.  

- They get too cold and freeze up if they’re outside of lava for too long.  

- Strider babies like to ride on their parents backs. 

__________________________

Neutral Mobs 

Goat

- exist as they do in real life (no art needed) 

Dolphin

- exist as they do in real life (no art needed) 

Piglin

- Already done 

Panda 

- exist as they do in real life (no art needed) 

Polar Bear 

- exist as they do in real life (no art needed) 

Wolf 

- exist as they do in real life (no art needed) 

Bee 

- Most are just normal bees like in real life  

- There are, however, rare large square bees-like creatures that roam around the world. These creatures only attack when attacked, and can be tamed to ride on by people (think like Appa from Avatar).

- They can mentally control other, smaller bees if they desire (think like the Alphas in HTTYD2) 

- Every 10 years; there is a small chance of seeing The Elegant White Beefly/ The Queen bee and other rare bees flying around. 

(CONCEPT ART PROVIDED BY LLEN_BEE)

Endermen 

- These are void creatures that are made by the Enderdragon 

- They have no real thoughts or will of their own and are not considered to be fully conscious or aware. 

- They are a collective hivemind under the command of the Enderdragon 

- It’s rumored that the Enderdragon sees through their eyes. When Endermen fly into rages due to making eye contact with people, it’s said that’s the Enderdragon, trying to exact her revenge on humanity.

Iron Golem

- Iron Golems are man-made guardians/ machines built to protect villages and trader outposts from monsters at night. 

- They’re considered to be gentle giants, only attacked when they’re provoked. They’ve even been known to pick flowers to give to children as a gift.

- They are, however, extremely powerful and bulky, and are not to be casually messed with. 

__________________________

Hostile Mobs 

Zombies & Skeletons (They're basically the same thing)

- Literally just dead people idk what to tell you 

Drowned 

- Literally just Water Dead People™  

Spider (only cave ones) 

- Literally just extra big spiders that live in caves congratulations

Creeper

- They’re a conscious mass of moss / plant life.  

- They spread their spores by exploding near living things and attaching the seeds to those things. The seeds grow from these. This is why it is important to clean your clothes well after encountering one. 

Elder Guardian + Guardians

- These are ancient magical sea creatures that were made by the gods. They were made to guard Sea Temples from outsiders. 

- Guardians watch over the outside and most of the inside under the Elder Guardian’s command. 

- The Elder Guardian's eye can cause time to slow for the person whose gaze it lands on. After tests it has been confirmed that it simply feels this way to the victim, time does not actually slow.

Ghast 

- An eternally crying spirit of the nether. They are extremely dangerous and hostile if they spot you, since they are able to spit liquid fire from their mouths. 

- Their tears are made of liquid silver and are extremely valuable if you can manage to collect them. 

Blaze

- These creatures are created inside nether fortresses by odd objects called “spawners.”

- They’re made of fire, smoke, and bright, eternally hot metal they can use to swing around to harm their opponents. This metal is commonly referred to as “Blaze Rods”  

- They guard nether fortresses with their lives, willing to sacrifice anything to protect them. 

Hoglin 

- They’re considered the elephants of the nether; very strong, very destructive, and potentially deadly. 

- Warped fungi are a tasty treat for Striders, but are extremely toxic to Hoglins. Because of this, they have developed a fear to the signature pattern of the warped fungus. 

- They eat / scrape against wood and plants for food as well as to sharpen their tusks. 

Phantom

- They’re small nocturnal creatures who live up in the trees . 

- They make nests out of bones they find, and mostly eat bugs 

- They’re very shy, and only come out to try and “help” other creatures get sleep at night. 

Shulker

- Very tiny, almost pixie like creatures that live in the ancient ender cities. They build themselves purple shells to hide away from danger. 

- Their shells are made from a mixture of sticky saliva and mucus, and plant matter from chorus tree plants. 

- They are able to spit out a sticky magic chemical that cause people to start floating into the air. The only way to get out of this is to wait for it to wear off.

Slime

- They’re mutant creatures made of a translucent ooze. The color can change depending on where they originated. 

- The lighter, outside ooze is very sticky, but also has bouncing properties. The inside, darker layer of ooze is very toxic and can dissolve metal. 

- While smaller ones are basically harmless, bigger Slimes can be very deadly. They trap it’s prey inside it’s body to immobilize it, and digest it alive.

Wither Skeleton

- These are skeletons that have had prolonged exposure to soul sand, turning black and “withered.” They also have a small blue fire in their chest. 

- They’re faster, stronger, more deadly and more hostile then regular skeletons, and are known for pursuing their targets over long distances. However, their bones are slowly withering away.

- Only fresh wither skeletons are fully intact. This is why it’s so hard to get fully intact wither skulls. 

The Wither

- When three wither skulls are combined with a great amount of soul sand, and is lit with soul fire, a Wither is born. 

- It’s an ancient creature built for only one purpose, to destroy and kill all life it sees

- Long ago, all the Piglin tribes came together to defeat a Wither that was rampaging across the Nether. Ancient writings of how it came to be were drawn along the walls of Nether Fortresses. 

- The tears of a Wither makes Wither Roses - an apology to the lives it has taken. 

- Nether stars, which appear once a Wither is defeated, can be used to make beacons. They can also be used to make Totems of Undying, when it’s combined with god-blessed liquid gold, and an emerald pure of corruption.