According to the mod-lore of Taurethrim, their people used gold to build buildings and craft weapons. Their ancient pyramids have a small chance to be in gold, their ancient armours hidden in pyramids are made of gold too. Imagine the amount of gold needed to make these. It's represented in the mod by the high spawnrate of the gold in jungle underground, most importantly in jungle mountains, compared to the other biomes.
But hey! To extract this colossal amount of gold, ancient Taurethrim would certainly have dug tunnels and mines in the mountains to find gold in high quantity.
So I'm said to myself: why to not add old Taurethrim mineshaft or abandonned tunnels in jungle mountains with obvious loots, occasionnal scorpions jungle spawner and all? For the lore's sake!
The Taurethrim should have at least one allied people(or animals), right?
The Jaguars of Far Harad(they only spawn there naturally), friends of the Taurethrim, are Warg-like creatures. They are neither rideable nor, maybe, hire-able. They would spawn on Taurethrim invasions as well as conquest in certain biomes.
They would be smaller than Wargs in size (bigger than wolves), but much faster. They would also have much faster attacks, but with less damage and less health.
Some Morwaith hunters fight these beasts, and as such, some wear the skins of these Taurethrim-friends.
Some of the Jaguars can be befriended(by being fed certain meat, flamingo maybe, while having a considerable positive alignment with the Taurethrim), and they will fight with you inside and around the jungles, but if you tried to take them too far(near the desert maybe?), they would leave you. They would also attack any enemies of the Taurethrim wherever they find them, and attack any wargs and orcs since they can feel the taint of the Dark Lords on them.
They spawn naturally only in Far Harad Jungles, and they hunt flamingos. They will also try to attack crocodiles in packs where they find them. They like to follow the Taurethrim around, especially the soldiers, since they both like to hunt, be it animals or two-legged servants of the Dark One.
This suggestion shares some similar ideas with this suggestion and this suggestion. I think that my ideas are still original, but I figured that I should point those out.
I am in no way trying to shove my thoughts on Mod-lore onto people, but instead trying to throw out some ideas that will stay consistent with what I have heard of the Mod-lore, and make the game more interesting. If Mevans or the Mod Team dislikes part of this suggestion, or thinks that it is not compatible with Mod-lore, I will understand.
If enough people dislike part of this suggestion, (and tell me so) I will probably change it accordingly.
I believe that all of the notions in this suggestion fit together well, but if the mods/admins say that I should divide them into multiple, smaller suggestions, I will.
With those things being said, here we go!
Introduction
The Far Harad Jungle is one of most beautiful places in the mod, in my opinion. There is quite a variety of plants, and it is nice to see the butterflies and the new birbs, but after a long hike through the jungle, trying to find a clearing, it gets a little boring. Please don't get me wrong, I appreciate all of the work that has gone into the jungle, but it would be nice if there was a little more excitement when traversing the jungle, as well as when going through the Savanna to get to the jungle in the first place. Many people have suggested the additions of new plants and animals, (check out the Overview Boards!) but I will be focusing on structures to spice up the jungle, and the surrounding area.
Abandoned Tauredain Villages
The Tauredain live simple lives in villages in clearings that they have made in the jungle, and seem to be relatively happy with those simple lives. Unfortunately, some of these happy, simple lives were taken by diseases that were carried and spread by the small animals and insects that live in the jungle. Because of this, some of those peaceful villages are now empty of all that used to live there, save the midges and scorpions that now thrive in the once happy homes of the now deceased Tauredain.
Abandoned Tauredain Villages would spawn rarely in the jungle (but not the edge), and would also have a 5% chance to replace a village in a clearing. They would be a ruined variant of the current village, but, unlike most ruins, would be more of a decayed version of it than a purposely destroyed one, because the late residents would have died from (more) natural causes. There would be no perishable food items in the chests, (i.e, no mangoes or bananas would generate, but corn bread might) and any drink item found in the chests or on tables has a 50% chance of being poisoned, just from being around scorpions and other random plants. Some rotted variants of foods avalable to the Tauredain (such as maggoty bread) might spawn in the chests, as well. (Last sentece credited to A Fandom User and Minecraftmage113.) They would also not replace any blocks when generated, as the forest would have grown around them, and would spawn with a 50% chance of either a small scorpion or a swarm of midges generating in each house.
Tauredain Outposts
In both the depths and the outskirts of the jungle, the brave Tauredain Blowgunners make their rounds, protecting their beloved forest and families from the barbaric Lion-men, and their allies, the Near Haradrim and the Half-Trolls. Although they keep up their seemingly tireless vigilance for days on end, they are still but mortal Men, and need to rest their weary legs. To save themselves the long march all the way back to their villages to rest, they build small hideouts in the trees in which they pass the perilous nights. Once built, they are often left where they are, so that the Blowgunners can use them again upon their return to that area.
Tauredain Outposts would be another structure given to the Tauredain. They would be small structures, very similar to the Wood-elf Lookout Platform, that would spawn uncommonly on 2x2 jungle trees in the Far Harad Jungle and Far Harad Jungle Edge. They would consist of a small platform surrounded by leaves, a chest with a little food and some equipment, (mostly daggers, blowguns, and darts) and a straw bed. A vine ladder would lead up the tree into the outpost. A single Tauredain Blowgunner would spawn in it 60% of the time, and 15% of the time, two blowgunners would spawn in it.
Ruined Tauredain Towns
Many long years ago, the Tauredain were a thriving empire, but those years are long gone, and now all that remains are memories and the few ruins that have lasted the tests of time and the Moredain. But now, even those are crumbled, and have very little to show the past might of that long lost empire.
These would be large, randomly generated, uninhabited structures that would spawn semi-rarely in Far Harad. There would be two versions of them - Destroyed and Decayed - which I will talk about later. All Ruined Tauredain Towns would follow a general format. There would be a (vanilla) Stone Brick road in a square around the center of the town, with Tauredain Mansions along the road, a new structure (somewhat like a small temple) in the center of the roads, and a Village Tree at each corner. Note: Tauredain Towns would never spawn exactly like this. This is a standard that would be modified to get the final result.
The Destroyed Variant
The first variant of the Ruined Tauredain Town would be the destroyed variant. These would spawn in the Far Harad Jungle Edge, the Far Harad Savanna, and the Far Harad Mangroves, preferably only in the Tauredain Sphere of Influence. They would be (as the name suggests) a destroyed version of what I described earlier. The trees would all be burned down, and, if anything was left, would be charred wood stumps. The buildings would have no valuable loot in them at all, and would be mosty destroyed, burnt down, and crumbled, so the majority of the bricks would be cracked or charred, almost all of the wood would be gone, but what is left would be charred, and there would be piles of debris everywhere. There would be very little (if any) loot, but what would be there would be mostly bones, Tauredain equipment, and gold rings.
The Decayed Variant
The second (and only other) variant would be the decayed variant. They would spawn only in the Far Harad Jungle, and almost never in clearings. This variant would be more worn down because of natural causes, as opposed to the destroyed variant, which would have been purposefully destroyed and ransacked. Since it is mostly worn down because of time, all of the wood would be rotten, most of the bricks would be mossy, and the only real damage done to it would be that some of the rooves would be fallen out or gone. These variants would not overwrite natural blocks (like the Abandoned Village) to give the feel of the jungle growing around it, as well as the Village Trees being larger, if possible. A jungle scorpion spawner would generate in the central structure, as well as small scorpions spawning in the surrounding buildings. The loot in this variant of the town would be much more valuable, consisting of certain food items, (similar to those in the abandoned village) gold ingots and rings, Tauredain equipment, and possibly even Golden Tauredain equipment.
Thanks for reading! If you would like to see images of my ideas for the structures, look here. As always, Comments, Kudos, and Criticism welcome!
In the books, orcs are mentioned as "having arms like the apes of the south"...
only one little problem, What apes of the South!
Apes would be similar to half-trolls in size, but would resemble more of a balrog body shape, where their heads are hung lower, arms are bigger than legs in proportion, and they are kinda hunched over.
They would be brown in color, and would have 50 health, and deal 4 hearts of damage per hit.
They would be found in the far Harad jungle and Jungle edge. Tauredain would use them as heavy units, like evil factions use ologs and trolls. They would be hired from a Tauredain ape trainer, which would be a new tauredain NPC.
This way good guys can get a heavy unit, since its not really fair that only evil players can currently.
I noticed that seeing the areas of far harad are uncharted, and very little information are given about what goes on out there, the mod creators are planning a bunch of "half-canon" tribal factions for those areas. (They are half-canon because Tolkien said that not all the settlements and factioned people have been mentioned and/or discovered by the men of the west.) This allowed them to be creative about what types of factions exist in far harad.
Now, the current planned factions for far harad (I think) need some work. Currently we have a war cult, who are surprisingly good. (Beliving Sauron to be a false god.)
And fisherman people who don't like the tauridean. (For some reason)
Although the war cult one might be cool, i feel that the fishermen people feel too poorly presented. Now although its still all in development, i think we should have more creative factions with more interesting storys than just wanting to fight the other tribes in these mysterious uncharted lands.
Use this thread to post your far harad faction idea.
The Far Harad Jungle, in my opinion at least, is much more awesome than Vanilla Minecraft's Jungle biome, be it because of the sky colour, the tropical turquoise water, or the flora and fauna, as well as my friends and allies, the Tauredain, not to mention an overall much more realistic rainforest atmosphere, and stunning natural terrain. However, a jungle is not like a forest or a plains - there is so much more room for more wildlife and plants. Flamingos, scorpions and crocodiles are all very well, but, after all, it is a jungle, a biological hotspot, and so it should live up to that title.
First of all, apart from the crocodiles, the rivers are empty. I think it would be better if certain animals were to be added to the fresh waters of the Far Harad Jungle.
- Piranha: a pack-hunting hostile mob that isn't a big danger on its own, but can be deadly in large numbers. Hostile to anything that enters the water, and drops 1 raw piranha when killed. Piranha meat is exactly the same as Vanilla fish, and can be cooked likewise.
- Arapaima: a massive (3.5 block) red and brown fish that spawns rarely and singularly in the Far Harad River in the jungle. It is not openly hostile, but when provoked, attacks in a manner similar to an iron golem. It should have high health and armour, and drop arapaima scales, which can be used to make moderate-strength armour, as well as arapaima meat, a more filling version of fish, that can be cooked.
- Catfish (I know that there is one user in particular who may support this idea). Catfish should come is several varieties, examples including Brachyplatystoma filamentosum, the Piraiba catfish, Phractocephalus hemioliopterus, the Redtail catfish, Brachyplatystoma tigrinum, the Barred Sorubim, Bagarius yarrelli, the Goonch catfish. The first of the four would be almost three blocks in length, and be grey in color with a white belly, the second would be more thickset than the former, and smaller, at less 1.5 blocks in length, with a black dorsal surface, a white ventral surface, and bright orange-red fins. The Barred Sorubim would be silver with a labyrinth pattern of black markings, and be slightly over 1 block in length, and the Goonch would be a dark green, and two blocks long. The Piraiba and Goonch should be neutral, and when provoked attack similarly to crocodiles, and the other two passive. The species I suggested are just examples, as catfish are a very diverse family, and I am not specifically requesting those four species alone.
On land, my chief concerns are the plant life. Currently, only Mahogany and Jungle trees (as well as banana trees along the rivers and occasional mango trees) generate in the jungle. Here are some other plants I may suggest:
- Kapok: rare, massive trees the size of the largest 2x2 jungle trees.
- Traveller's palm: Consisting of a vertically flat fan-shaped canopy, generates rarely.
- Bromeliad: Comes in several varieties, can generate as an epiphyte where there is room on the branches of trees, and also grows in patches on the ground.
- Tillandsia: technically a kind of bromeliad in real life, in the mod can be planted on almost any surface. Example species include Tillandsia bulbosa and Tillandsia caput-medusae.
- Palm tree: Fairly common, generates in groves, especially in Tauredain clearings. Has four coconuts beneath the crown.
- Moss patches - generates on boulders, trees and stone ruins.
- Victoria amazonia Lily pads: large red and green lily pads that generate in water bodies.
Finally, I also suggest a Far Harad Jungle River, seperate from the normal Far Harad River. The water should be greenish-brown in colour, like that of the Congo or Amazon.
I understand that Mevans has greater priorities than this, however, I would still like my ideas to be considered by the community, and hope to see at least some of them implemented.
Apparently Elvengrass can only be made from vanilla dirt grass blocks, and Jungle Mud grass doesn't spread to vanilla dirt. Hence, creation of an Elven Portal in the Far Harad Jungle is only possible after one has acquired a silk touch spade to obtain vanilla (or quendite) grass blocks and then place them in the Far Harad Jungle to create an Elven Portal.
This is demotivating players to build significant bases/structures/settlements in the Far Harad Jungle.
I suggest to either a) make jungle grass spread to vanilla dirt or b) create a quendite jungle grass block that can be used to create an Elven Portal. I suspect the first option will be easier to code?
Next to this, I also suggest to enable some check for the spawning mechanism for Crocodiles. Crocodiles now seem to spawn just anywhere near a single block of water. This causes crocodiles to appear in the deepest of caves, on Taurethrim farms and near Morgul and Elven Portals. I propose to implement a check on the blocks surrounding a water block: either check whether there are water blocks fully surrounding a water block or just check whether a water block is positioned on top of another. I'd go for the latter option as I think that would be the most straightforward check to code and be the most effective in avoiding 'silly croc spawns'. Crocs need deep water to submerge and ambush, and get some daylight to support their digestion.
