#Witchery-like magic powered by Zen Garden

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

brazen kindle
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Tl;dr: balance stone/metal/glass and water/lava/sand in area to power magic

This is idea I had a long time ago when reading an article on Japanese rock gardens, which I found out came from Buddhism. Originally, the rocks were representing mountains, the streams or lakes - the sea, and the whole Buddhist garden is a miniature of a world in balance. In some places where it would be hard to use actual water, sand, raked to resemble waves, began to be used instead. There is also connection to Yin and Yang in Chinese cosmology, and from there, a lot of Asian culture in general.

I liked how Witchery makes you build overgrown alcoves to power your altar, how symmetry requirement of Thaumcraft infusion altar nudges you to a more interesting build, and I feel like this balanced garden idea can push players to build something interesting that very few would do otherwise.

I imagine the mod in general function very similar to Witchery otherwise. The content would change from being Europe-centric to Buddhist and Chinese/Japanese/Korean, to better fit the philosophy and aesthetics of the gardens players would build. So, it would a successor in spirit, but not in content/assets/exact mechanics.

Disclaimer: I'm not an Asian 🤷‍♂️

Here are some of the ideas I have for this mod so far:

  • Ginger and Lotus could be new crops. Lotus would grow on water, like water artichoke in Witchery.
  • Crystals of Light/Darkness would generate as an ore, like Thaumcraft 3 elemental ores of order and entropy - glowing light yellow and purple. They will spawn more often in specific biomes - mountains, nether for Light and oceans, swamps, deserts for Darkness.
  • Incense burning has to be there, I'm not sure on mechanics. Possibly temporarily augmenting altar, if it's a multiblock like Witchery
  • the symbols from End crystal could be used in place of hieroglyphs
  • a tool to rake sand blocks to have wavy pattern on top, an homage to inspiration from Zen Gardens and a unique building resource
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(I've reached the maximum post length there, lol)

I want to make symmetry also play a role, so it's like Witchery AND Thaumcraft at the same time, I'm not sure how I want the altar to look to fit this. It would have to be 3x3 to be symmetrical as much as possible, but that's also very large

brazen kindle
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Needs a bit more cooking in my head, but I like the multi-block nature of this

Untitled-2024-07-13-1308.png
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unfortunately this has little relation to the theme of Time, technology, throwbacks

brazen kindle
brazen kindle
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Even though I may not do this as a submission to the Modfest, I've been thinking about it and talking with ChatGPT,

The reason I want Dark/Light Essence Crystals is because of magic "zero to one" problem, combining mundane ingredients and getting something magical just doesn't feel right to me. So, to make something special I want to have something special to begin with. Although there could be other solution to this, like using experience, vanilla magic items like Ender Pearls or Blaze Rods, or something like thunder strikes, I find these more complicated than necessary. (Also Ender Pearls are overused in any modpack...) Also, crystals are cool, they are a staple of all occultism

These crystals could be used to create some kind of Spirit Iron, a metal used for arcane tools and functional blocks in the mod.

The main tool could be a made from spirit iron ingots Ceremonial Sword. Although I have a few other options. ChatGPT suggested Ceremonial Gong Mallet as a tool that activates multiblock structures by striking. I also like idea of entropy-attuned feather fan kind of tool, which would be opposite of the sword for some interactions, stopping rituals and dispelling magic, for example

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There's a type of demon in Japanese mythology that is a spirit of a living person, a witch or someone very evil, that leaves the body at night to do bad things. Reminds me of Witchery dream dimension and rite of manifestation to enter the normal world. There are also variants where the head detaches and flies around and similar entities in Southeast Asian folklore, according to ChatGPT

brazen kindle
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I kind of want to work on this mod, but part of me thinks it's not good modfest entry

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anyway, I drew Ginger Root

ginger_root.png
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Red Spider Lily would be another good crop for this mod, also I'm realizing it's very hard to do Lotus flower in Minecraft

brazen kindle
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spider lily is equally hard to draw
(I know these are impossible to see, I'm saving it for myself)

spider_lily_flower.png
twilit sandal
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Ooo pretty

brazen kindle
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the lotus flower is quite hard too... or I don't know how to draw flowers

lotus_flower_128.png
brazen kindle
idle hornet
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#1-21-screenshots message Okay, I got nerd-sniped by this latin. A rough translation:

The wall deceitfully appears strong and tall. Touch (you?) without effect, it appears solid but is a shadow. Be permanent, truth-hiding shadow!

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That's what I think is the intended translation of that piece of text. I'm not entirely sure if it's grammatically correct, (unfortunately I forgor a bunch of latin grammar) but I'm pretty sure that chatgpt did make some errors here

brazen kindle
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this is not the submission for that mod

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as I've already said somewhere in #1-21-participants , I don't really care what these spells are, they could all be just gibberish for all that matters

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Make a chant for a spell that creates illusory wall, which looks completely solid but in fact is not.

ChatGPT said:
ChatGPT
For a spell that creates an illusory, solid-appearing wall, here’s a fitting chant:

"Paries fallax, videaris solidus! Veritas abscondita, umbra permane!"
(Translation: "Deceptive wall, appear solid! Hidden truth, remain a shadow!")

This chant commands the illusion to appear convincingly solid while concealing the truth, making it perfect for a wall that looks real but has no substance.

You said:
Make a bit longer chant for this, about twice as long
ChatGPT said:
ChatGPT
Here's an expanded version of the chant for the illusory wall spell:

"Paries fallax, videaris firmus et altus! Tangant te frustra, solidum videre sed umbra sis. Veritas lateat, potentia permaneat!"
(Translation: "Deceptive wall, appear strong and tall! Let them touch you in vain, see you as solid, yet be shadow. Let truth be hidden, let the illusion endure!")

This longer chant emphasizes the wall’s deceptive nature, describing how it feels and looks solid but remains insubstantial, with the hidden truth locked behind the illusion.

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I did edit it a bit to better fit onto that narrow page

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Aparte de esto, muchas palabras aquí son entendibles con mi conocimiento intermedio de español, aunque no conozco los tiempos o los casos gramáticos de Latín:

  • parries - pared (wall)
  • fallax - fallo (fail), falso
  • videaris - ver (to see)
  • solidus - solido
  • veritas - verdad (truth)
  • umbra - sombra (shadow)
  • permane - permanecer (to remain)
  • altus - alto (tall)
    I also guess the "tangant" from the geometry term and trigonometric function with similar name
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-# it should have been "no conozco ni los tiempos ni los casos gramaticos..."

idle hornet