The Second Age (NEW)

Age of Mushroom Hunters

Out of the ruins of the early settlements others would sprout: gardens of mushrooms emerging from the decay. The dawn of the second age saw them spread across the land and sea. Players travelled between them to trade in goods and in stories, and so all could benefit and grow. Alas, within the garden of harmless toadstalls and rich truffles, the deadly fool's mushroom grew also, and unleashed its spores onto the world.

Cover Marina wtih Diamonds

Settlements were already established across the world, and the obstacles presented were being overcome. Spread across islands, both artificial and natural, were the Marinas and Northern Marinas. From there, miners tunneled deep into the ground, looking for ores: iron, copper, and gold. Once found, they marked the location then continued, for they did not have the skill yet to mine them. Deeper still a lone miner searched through deepslate for diamonds. They mined during the day, as this was when mobs could not dig through dirt and stone.

Evenutally it was time, the lone miner surfaced, mining through the ores uncovered by their comrades. These ores were handed off to a blacksmith, before the lone miner returned to the deep now a high enough level for diamonds.
Alas, the deepslate ores required a higher level than their stone equivalents, the lone miner would have to grind for longer. With perseverance comes reward, and soon they had a full set of diamond gear, the first for the trial, and became the diamond Marina.

The Marinas also made advancements into the nether, making a highway connecting themselves with Turtle Island, which they shared with Loup Land.
Loup is in french the word for wolf. And so Loup Land was named for the wolves which inhabited their island, and to reflect the real life nationality of many of their founding members. Developing equally as fast as their neighbours, they were becoming a powerhouse of food production with cows, chickens, sheep, wheat and potatoes. Members built a bridge connecting them to Turtle Island, where a casino and cathedral were being constructed. A mining colony was set up for stone, which first went to a sea wall, and after that into the cathedral.
As a horizontal democracy, each citizen had power in decision making. Meetings were held each session in a town hall, where members could present ideas for the group to discuss.

Who is Cutting Mushrooms?

Another island group with food security was Mycelia: they had farms of cane and wheat, as well as their mooshrooms. This fact, along with the resistance to hostile mob spawning both on the surface and in the mines below it, raised eyebrows across the world as it became known to them. To remedy this perceived unfairness, the Mycelians did not hoard their fortunate circumstances: they welcomed visitors and traded mooshrooms with them. As well as domestic build projects such as a town hall and healers hut, some members visited Dead Horse, the largest settlement by population, to build an embassy there.

There were even plans to construct a grand meeting hall in the waters of Mycelia, where delegates from all the world's groups could meet. These plans were dashed by lack of commitement from other groups, but also due to its proximity to the Jestocracy. Ran by a charlatan on the northern mushroom island, the Jestocracy gained a reputation for providing habitual griefers with a safe harbour. The leadership was laid back, not interfering with its members in any way.
Mycelia at first claimed Jestocracy as a subsidiary group of itself, with miners from Mycelia going over to mine underneath the northern island. As the days went by, this stance would become harder to maintain: a split was on the horizon.

Spooky Scary Skeleton Horse

Up until this point, most occurences of griefing had been small: one player killed here, some supplies stolen there, the already abandoned settlement of Capital Hill was set on fire by an arsonist. Often one player was responsible for these acts.
As the world advanced and created more culture, the potential loss due to griefing also grew. On Loup Land, the casino and part of the bridge was destroyed by a lone arsonist. The casino was repaired, the bridge repaired and improved with fire breaks, and the arsonist was continually rebuffed until they left.

In Dead Horse, the charlatan of the Jestocracy arrived and killed the skeleton horse which was the symbol of the settlement. A statue was built in honour of the horse, and a living one chosen as its reincarnation. The charlatan fled before a trial could be held.
Dead Horse was dealing with enough griefers to set up a list for the serious offenders: the Dead Horse Security Alliance's KOS list. A way off the list was to stand trial in Dead Horse. Other developments in Dead Horse included a large stone brick wall surrounding the settlement, as well as the writing of a constitution. Instead of having a single leader, Dead Horsers decided to have guild leaders for each class, and regular meetings to make big decisions. Across the settlement were buildings for each guild, where players stored the products of their trade.

Between these buildings, and on the roads of other settlements, players wearing pumpkins were sometimes spotted. In the early days, all players had a locator bar, allowing them to see where other players were. Wearing a pumpkin as a helmet was one way to prevent yourself appearing on locator bars. These pumpkin people passed through, visiting different settlements, and then disappeared into the sunset. They could not be followed easily, and the pumpkins prevented anyone knowing where they were based. Even when the locator bar was removed for everyone, the stories of pumpkin people remained.

Griefing Spreads

To the east of Dead Horse, the settlement of Brightiom stood out along the coastline because it was surrounded in torches to prevent hostile mobs spawning. It also made it an easy target for griefers. The chest and farms were destroyed by a team of two griefers while members were underground mining. The group was subsequently targeted again, and would apparently fade away entirely.

As griefers continued to target settlements, players began to argue for counter-actions. The griefers had a safe haven, where they were able to recuperate between raids: the Jestocracy. That group's leader, the charlatan, came to Dead Horse for their trial regarding killing the skeleton horse. At first, the charlatan was exonerated, but a vote among the members of Dead Horse later rejected this and the charlatan was found guilty. They fled, and their followers poured lava onto the town hall. This attack was stopped and only directly resulted in the town hall roof being changed from wood to copper. However, it indicated a change in the world: through the Jestocracy the griefers had been brought together so now worked as one to attack other groups, where previously they had worked alone.

Mycelians learned of the attack in Dead Horse when a sign reading Death to Dead Horse appeared in the sky above the Jestocracy island, now renamed to North Sentinel Island by its inhabitants. The Mycelian leadership distanced itself from Jestocracy, reflecting the fact the latter group had been effectively independent since its origins. In a show of good faith, they offered free food from their embassy in Dead Horse, where some mooshrooms were housed.
The leadership of the nearby Marinas also spoke against the Jestocracy, however, one of its members appeared to disagree. The diamond Marina opposed any threats made to the Jestocracy, a stance they could easily enforce with their gear.

The world reached its point of decision: what should be done about the griefers? Let them reside in the Jestocracy, from where they can launch attacks; go in and rout them out; or try to reason with the charlatan. The time to choose came and went, with no concrete action taken.

A Lot of Hot Stuff

Mycelia had a leader, the founder of the group, who could sort out disputes. However, there weren't regular town meetings for consensus to be understood by all members. Projects were enacted by individual members without too much cohesion to form a common grand plan. In the early days the borders were open to new members, and the lack of town meetings to form bonds meant picking out the outsider from fellow citizens could be hard. Their proximity to the Jestocracy meant inhabitants of those islands often visited Mycelia. They had not griefed Mycelia, and this allowed good relations between individuals of each group to form, even as the leadership views differed.
Other settlements may call this duplicity, that Mycelia was able to benefit from its proximity to the Jestocracy, even while decrying the griefing elsewhere. To quell doubts about them, the Mycelian leadership sent a delegation to do a diplomatic world tour, there first destination was Dead Horse.

Any hopes for a quiet day were quashed when there was a second lava attack. This time the griefers were able to pour water too, creating a giant lavacast above the townhall. Even though the attack was stopped, they left behind a cobblestone scar in the blue skies above Dead Horse.
The Dead Horsers called a meeting to decide on a next course of action. One faction pushed for a vote to concentrate power behind one player, a leader, so they could steer the settlement through this crisis. The vote passed, providing another point of decision. The player in question, the guild leader for blacksmiths, rejected the outcome. The system of guild leaders and meetings would stay. A stone ceiling would be built about the settlement to shield from future attempts at lavacasts. Also, supplies from the different guild buildings would be moved to a central armory, where they could be better protected.

The Mycelian delegation watched from the sidelines as the Dead Horsers celebrated their apparent victory, and planned moves against the griefers and the Jestocracy. The delegation learned that while on their trip, their mushroom home had been hit with TNT, destroying the animal pens and damaging the town hall. The Jestocracy had also been raided, making it unclear who was to blame. In response, the Mycelian leadership sent out a request that all Mycelians should return home to protect it.

Heroes of the Village

Elsewhere, the settlement of Fort Red Berry was quickly becoming an example of how to succeed in the specific conditions of the world. Their home was situation on the inside of a river as it bended towards the mouth to the ocean. They had tall stone brick walls, which were complemented by berry bushes and lava traps. Inside their walls, they had farms and mining pits.
A small group of players resided here, but this meant they could come to consensus quickly on new ideas. As equals they worked together, but had an chosen member who would speak as leader to outsiders if asked for one. Able to cover the classes well enough, progress was made in gear and enchantments. Other projects, such as an outer wall and more farmland, had been suggested but was unnecessary for their size so not heavily pursued.
At night they fished in the river while watching the world go by. They often saw travelers wander by, sometimes they invited them in to trade, to look around, or to survive a night. They had been friendly with their neighbours in Dead Horse and in Brightiom, and would sometimes still see ex-members of the latter come by.

One day, a traveler in a boat passed a group of players from the Marinas heading towards the mainland. Among them was the diamond Marina. Later, this group would pass by the riverside fort, where they were spotted by a player building an outer wall. They were heavily armoured, and heading towards Dead Horse, but the inhabitants of Fort Red Berry thought nothing of it.
At Dead Horse, they arrived: players from the Marinas had captured some of the lavacasters, recognised by their numbers being on the kos list. This grooup, led by the diamond Marina, were let into the settlement and plans for trials for the lavacasters were set in motion. However, before anything could begin, the lavacasters fled and the armoured Marinas began killing the Dead Horsers. It had been a ruse. The Dead Horsers were unprepared and many fell to the better geared and higher leveled raiders.

News of the on-going attack made it to Fort Red Berry. On impulse, the inhabitants decided to go to the aid of Dead Horse. They donned armour and weapons and marched overland to the larger settlement to join the Dead Horsers, who were starting to overcome the raiders through numbers as they could keep respawning within the settlement. In the fighting there, the raiders were killed one by one. The diamond Marina's helmet broke, and this was taken as a sign to retreat. They fled Dead Horse before they could be killed.
The members of Fort Red Berry returned home and realised two things, they had chosen a side by defending Dead Horse, which might make them a target for griefers. However, they had also proven themselves in battle by fending off the raiders, they decided to become a mercenary group, known as The Red Thorns.

Dead Horsers weren't as jubilant. Ostensibly victory had been achieved, but the settlement was in disarry. The constant attacks were beginning to take their toll on morale and resources. Group activities such as singing and building still continued, but these big shows of endurance masked the disquiet at the edges. Players were starting to abandon Dead Horse. The settlement which had benefitted from the collapse of spawn groups was now reaping the consequences of being near to spawn, visible, and big.

Wolf Getaway

Those who left Dead Horse had few options for stable alternatives: one obvious route was to Loup Land. The rebuilt casino was a hit with visitors, the construction on the cathedral was progressing well. It would have walls of stone, a vaulted ceiling, and a roof of chiseled copper. These attractions offered a fun distraction for visitors, perhaps preventing them being targeted by griefers. Another factor was their distance from spawn, great enough that many players didn't risk the time to find it. Being on an island surrounded by open water limited the paths of attack for griefers, who had no obvious nearby location to set a bed.
Distance to other settlements did have its drawbacks, for one it hurt traffic to the casino. For another, it meant news of the world reached them slowly. It took a former member of Brightiom to bring the news of the Dead Horse raids, and point out the culprits who were at that time playing in the casino. The raiders promptly left, even as immigrants from Dead Horse began to arrive.

In the Marinas it was revealed that some of their members, including the diamond Marina, had turned traitor and sided with the griefers in Dead Horse, while another had been behind the TNT attacks in Mycelia. In the subsequent turmoil, the group appeared to disband, potentially moving to Turtle Island through the nether highway.

Nearby in Mycelia, citizens returned to repair their town hall and animal pens. Countless mooshroom had perished, prompting a pair to be taken to a secure location in case of further attacks. Among them, as cordial as ever, were members of the Jestocracy who were dismayed by the raid on their island. They asked the Mycelians for food and gear, kindly enough. A sense of dread spread when the diamond Marina arrived, and was welcomed by the Jesterites. The leader, the charlatan was nowhere to be seen, for now. Unwilling to help the griefers, unable to fight them off, and without clear leadership, the Mycelians fled their homeland. Some remained, working begrudgingly with the griefers in order to maintain a Mycelian presence on the island. Those who left went mostly to Loup Land, where a government in-exile was established. Loup Land was accommodating to the growing population, and many refugees would become members and so benefit the settlement.

The actions of the griefers had destabilized the equilibrium which had been emerging in the world, sending multiple groups into a downward spiral, while others continued to rise.

Hot Tourist Settlements

Meanwhile, in the backyard of spawn, a small settlement was growing. It was started by two members with a farm and house, and happened to be on a migration route from Dead Horse to Loup Land. With the movement of players, some chanced on the settlement and decided to join it for a simpler life. Its name was Hell. It didn't have many players of high level, and struggled from hostile mobs. A perimeter wall of wood logs and stone bricks was built around them and they had wheat fields, mooshrooms, and other animals for food. They didn't venture too deep into the ground, so didn't get much high level gear. However, they weren't trying to impress anyone, they were just trying to survive and build a little home for themselves. The griefers, along with most of the rest of the world, ignored them.

There was another place untouched by griefer's hand. One distant enough that not many players had even seen it. TheLiving so secretly their existence was questioned by some. Unlike any myth, they had ventured into the rest of the world: they were the pumpkin people, and their home was Skyland. A lofty home of thesecluded pumpkinprogress: people:it Skyland.appeared Duringdistant and secret was the chaosbest ofdefence theagainst early days of the world, a player had found the perfect spot for a base: a group of low elavation islands with multiple steep sided mountains on all sides, like columns around a forum. This player had returned to spawn, where they told their friends on the skyplatforms about it. Below them, the Berrywood Commune BERRYWOOD was suffering from another mob attack: some of its members already eyeing the platforms as a potential safe haven.
The skylanders knew they shouldn't stay so near to spawn for long. Together, they disappeared into the west, using pumpkins to not be seen on locator bars. They lived in isolation, unfazed by the petty conflicts of the world. A large sky base was built between the mountain tips, while farms grew around the shallow waters below. From time to time, the had ventured out to see what became of the world they left behind. Their isolation meant safety to progress in peace, but also a touch of boredom. griefers.

And so the second age drew to a close, as the once bright settlements of the future faced darkened skies, and once unassuming groups shone brighter than ever before. The griefers were emboldened with their successes: they would attack again, it was just a matter of where.