Although I believe that the dimension as it is is great already, I have a few suggestions for improving Utumno. Along with the jail cells, treasure rooms, torture chambers, laboratories and Warg pits mentioned in the Utumno structures thread (all of which are great ideas), I think several other features could be added - these will be detailed below.
-structures/biomes
1. mines/slave pits - areas in the fire levels of Utumno where slaves are forced to extract ores to make new armour and weaponry for Melkor's former army. These should contain rare ores and Orc steel to repair Utumno armour (this should give an additional incentive for players to enter the deepest levels of the underworld), as well as forges and new mobs (detailed below).
2. Utumno supply tunnels - a new biome in Utumno, which can be accessed via certain archways in the far western reaches of the obsidian and fire levels (most frequently in the latter). Once the player enters these arches, they will enter a series of interconnecting tunnels filled with various Utumno mobs, including Orcs, Tormented Elves and Ice Spiders. These would resemble vanilla Minecraft's abandoned mineshafts, but far larger and far from abandoned. There are also areas for the orcs to recieve water - the further west the payer goes, the more of these will have a primitive form of filter above them to remove salt from the water, and more of the tunnels closest to the surface will be blocked off...
note: should the player go west enough from the first set of tunnels, they will enter another version of regular Utumno, albiet with more wear and less of the ice levels being accessable; however, should the player go further west through a second ste of supply tunnels, they will enter...
3. The Utumno Sanctum/Greater Utumno - the main section of Utumno, where Melkor held court before the War of Powers, which has partially been rebuilt in the thousands of years since that conflict (only the deepest fire levels are accessable - the rest have been blocked off to prevent the sea from flooding what remains of the fortress). It mostly resembles the fire level of regular Utumno, but with higher cielings and wider corridors, but has two distinct sub-biomes:
. Stagnant Lakes - underground lakes which have formed from sea water getting through the barriers the creatures of Utumno made to keep it out. The bricks around them should be Utumno Obsidian brick, as the fires have been put out by the water. Thre are some wooden bridges which allow players to cross them, but are regularly used by the slaves to darkness which have made their home in the fortress.
.The Infernal Hall - at the very lowest level of the Sanctum, there is a long, wide corridor leading straight on into the dark. No regular mobs spawn here, but new minibosses (detailed below) will spawn near the beginning of it, and near the end, one (or more) Balrog(s) will stand guard. The reason for this intense security becomes clear once the player reaches the end of the hall (presuming they survive long enough to get there) - they will reach the Great Door: the doorway to Melkor's throne room. If the player right-clicks to open the door, they will recieve a warning message stating that: "Behind this door is the former court of the Dark Enemy, master of the Great Eye of Mordor. None know what now lies in the throne room save perhaps the Valar themselves - this is your last chance to turn back..." Once the message is dismissed, a fully activated Melkor plate will appear, ready to return the player to the surface. If the player ignores this, and right-clicks on the Great Door again, it will swing open, allowing them to enter. Once inside, the Door will close behind the player, who will then see... (the contents of the room will be left to the mod development team to decide)
(the thread is continued in the next post)