Alterna: Ancient Echoes Below

What's included in this update:

• A new biome inside the chasm: Lichen Savanna;
• Three new mobs: Cragback, Tetra, and the boss Armor Overlord (found in the Rootshroom forest);
• New armor, food, weapons, and tools;
• The Bio-Scanner with AI voice narration.

1. New Biome: Lichen Savanna

A purplish-red grassland plateau situated on large rock ledges deep within the chasm. Here you will find:

• Giant Weavecap mushroom trunks,
• Violet bushes,
• Small water ponds,
• Herds of grazing Cragbacks,
• Flocks of Tetras flying and nesting on rock walls.

Blocks & Vegetation

Name	Usage
Lichen Turf	Purple ground cover layer. It is a lichen rather than grass, so it spreads in total darkness. Only turns to dirt when covered by a solid block. Cragbacks graze it back into dirt, after which it regrows on its own.
Lichen Grass / Tall Lichen Grass	Lichen grass, the primary food source for Cragbacks.
Lichen Stone	Stone covered in lichen. Crafting: Stone + Lichen Grass (shapeless).
Weavecap	Giant mushroom with a trunk woven from multiple root fibers. Includes a full wood set: stem, stripped stem, hyphae, planks, stairs, slabs, fences, gates, doors, trapdoors, buttons, and pressure plates. Also includes Weavecap Cap and Weavecap Gills.
Weavecap Sprout	Grows into a small Weavecap tree. Being a mushroom, it can grow in total darkness, but requires vertical clearance above it. Bone meal can be used.
Ember Cap	Small glowing mushroom. Eating it grants Night Vision for 20 seconds. Can be crafted into orange dye.
Violet Bush / Violet Leaves	Purple bushes and leaves. Can be crafted into purple dye.
Tetra Nest	See the Tetra section below. Crafting: 2 feathers + 3 sticks.

2. New Mobs

🦏 Cragback

A giant, armored herbivore that travels in herds across the Lichen Savanna.

• Passive. It never attacks first, but lowers its horns and charges anyone who hits it. Calms down very quickly once the threat disappears.
• Extremely thick skin: 80 health, 10 armor, nearly immune to knockback. Arrows deal only about 40% damage; weak attacks (≤ 4 damage) deal roughly 60%.
• Its back is a solid block, allowing players to stand on it.
• Grazing and drinking: frequently grazes on Lichen Grass and walks to the nearest pond to drink.
• Naturally sheds Crag Plates over time, much like an armadillo shedding scutes. You can gather armor materials without killing it.
• Breedable using Lichen Grass or wheat. Babies feature a custom model and grow faster when grazing.
• Procedural movement: each foot steps precisely onto the ground, footstep timing matches movement speed, body tilts according to terrain, turns slowly. The head has its own hitbox.
• Drops: Leather (1–3), Raw Crag Shank (2–4), Crag Plate (0–2).

🐦 Tetra

A four-winged flying creature that lives in flocks on cliff walls around the savanna.

• Flock flying behavior, maintaining V-formations. Occasionally clings to vertical rock walls to observe before taking off. Takes off and lands decisively, avoiding any animation stuttering between walking and flying.
• Fishing: dives down to catch fish in ponds and picks up dropped fish on land.
• Berry foraging: holds White Currants or Sweet Berries in its beak (displaying the item correctly just like a vanilla fox), eats them later or drops them while flying.
• Nesting:
  • Feed two adults raw fish to breed. One will fly off to lay an egg in a nest (building one automatically if none exists).
  • Each nest holds up to 3 eggs, which hatch into baby Tetras on their own.
• Nest defense: Tetras do not attack unprovoked, but if you take an egg or break a nest containing eggs, nearby flocks will swarm you.
• Taming:
  • Feed baby Tetras raw fish, with a 1/3 taming chance per feeding.
  • Eggs placed into a nest by the player count as cared-for; chicks hatched from those nests recognize you as their owner immediately upon hatching.
• Tamed Tetras:
  • Follow you and fight alongside you.
  • Right-click (with an empty hand) to make them sit or follow.
  • Feed them fish to heal.
• Drops: Feathers (1–3).

🕷️ Armor Overlord (Rootshroom Forest Boss)

The apex predator of the Rootshroom forest:

• A spider-like form standing about 5 blocks tall;
• Wears an armored mushroom cap atop 4 giant legs;
• Features a glowing brain cluster beneath its cap rim and 2 long hook arms.

Spawns naturally when the world is created, roughly 1–2 per forest region. Behavior

• Hunts anything that moves: players, animals, zombies.
• Vision is restricted to its front (about a 110° field of view, up to 24 blocks away):
  • if you sneak (crouch), it can only spot you within 7 blocks;
  • if you stand right by its feet, it always senses you.
• Losing track of targets: when it loses sight of you for a few seconds (moving behind its back, hiding behind a tree, etc.), it walks to your last known position, patrols for a moment, and then gives up.
• Slow 4-legged turning: its body only twists slightly relative to where its feet grip. To turn further, it must lift and reposition each pair of legs. This creates an opening for you to slip behind its back.
• Roars upon detecting a target. The boss health bar only appears for players currently being hunted.
• Breaks foliage when walking through (respects the mobGriefing game rule).
• Heals itself after consuming a target.

Attacks

Attack	Condition	Effect
Grapple Hook	Target is 5–9 blocks away directly in front of it	Raises its hook (telegraphed warning), fires the hook out to pull you close.
Dual Slash	Target is close (under 5 blocks)	Two consecutive slashing strikes using both hook blades.
Stomp	Target is standing directly beneath its body	Rises up and slams down hard, dealing area-of-effect damage and knocking targets back.

Weaknesses & Strategy

• The mushroom cap acts as armor: striking the cap, or attacking from above (including shooting arrows), deals only about 15% damage.
• Legs are made of thick chitin: deal about 60% damage.
• The glowing brain cluster beneath the cap rim takes x2 damage.
• Sneak attacks (while undetected) using melee weapons deal an additional x1.5 multiplier.
• Recommended strategy: crouch, slip behind its back, crawl underneath its body, and attack the brain from below. Watch out for the stomp attack (it rears upward before slamming down).
• Accurate hitboxes: each leg has its own hitbox and pushes you away like a pillar; the body, cap, and brain feature hitboxes mapped to the model. You can walk underneath its body.
• Stats: 150 health, 6 armor, immune to knockback, does not despawn naturally.
• Drops:
  • Overlord Hook (1–2)
  • Cap Shell Shards (3–5, enhanced by Looting)
  • Bones, spider eyes, glowstone dust
  • 40 experience points

3. New Items

Food

Item	Hunger Restored	Notes
Raw Crag Shank	4 hunger	Dropped by Cragbacks.
Cooked Crag Shank	9 hunger, high saturation	Cooked using a furnace, smoker, or campfire.
Ember Cap	2 hunger	Grants Night Vision for 20 seconds.

Cragplate Armor

• Crafted from Crag Plates using standard vanilla armor recipes.
• Stats:
  • Durability tier coefficient of 28, total armor rating of 19 (helmet 3, chestplate 7, leggings 6, boots 3);
  • Toughness 2.5 and Knockback Resistance: heavy and sturdy, just like the beast it is forged from.
  • Repairable using Crag Plates.
• Features 2D and 3D textures matching the vanilla style with overlapping armor plates.

  🪝 Overlord Grapple

  • Crafting: Overlord Hook + String + Iron Ingot arranged diagonally:

    . . H
    . S .
    I . .
    

  • Usage — Hold Right-Click:
    • fires a hook out (range of approximately 36 blocks);
    • when the hook embeds into a block, you are pulled toward it;
    • upon arrival, you hang suspended against the wall until you release the button.
  • Releasing the button detaches the hook.
  • No fall damage taken while being pulled.
  • Excellent for navigating the giant chasm.
  • Durability of 256, repairable using Overlord Hooks.

  🛡️ Capshell Shield

  • Crafting: 6 Cap Shell Shards + 1 Iron Ingot, arranged like a vanilla shield:

    C I C
    C C C
    . C .
    

  • Compared to the vanilla shield:
    • blocks arrows and projectiles across a wider 135° angle (standard shield covers 90°);
    • durability wears down slower, with 560 durability (standard shield has 336);
    • raises slightly faster;
    • axes disable the shield for a shorter duration.
  • 3D model shaped like a mushroom cap, featuring bony teeth along the edge and a glowing golden center knob.
  • Repairable using Cap Shell Shards.

  Miscellaneous

  • Crag Plate: armor crafting material, shed naturally by Cragbacks or dropped upon defeat.
  • Tetra Egg: place in a Tetra Nest to incubate.
  • Overlord Hook, Cap Shell Shards: material drops from the Armor Overlord.
  • Spawn eggs for the Cragback, Tetra, and Armor Overlord.

  4. 🔬 Bio-Scanner

  Crafting:

  C G C      C = Copper Ingot, G = Glass Pane
  I R I      I = Iron Ingot,   R = Redstone
  I A I      A = Amethyst Shard
  

  Usage: Hold the scanner and hold right-click while aiming at a mob or plant within the chasm. While Scanning
  • A scanning beam projects from your hand.
  • Mobs are overlaid with a scanning interface grid.
  • Plants are completely enveloped in a luminous glowing shell.
  Upon Scan Completion
  • An info panel slides out on the right side of the screen, classifying the target as fauna or flora.
  • An AI voice narration in an English Subnautica-style PDA voice reads the description aloud while text scrolls in sync with the speech.
  Available Database Entries (20 total):
  • Mobs: Cragback, Tetra, Tetra Nest, Climbing Zombie, Armor Overlord. The Armor Overlord entry includes tips on sneaking behind it and striking its brain.
  • Flora: Weavecap, Lichen Grass, Ember Cap, Violet Bush, White Currant, Star Lily, Canopra, Goblet Tree, Rootshroom, Enoki, Cloudberry, Daze, Wild Moss, Purple Sugar Cane, Vitalroot.
  Includes both English and Vietnamese text localization (voice narration is in English only).

  5. Audio

  Dedicated sound effects implemented for:
  • Tetra: ambient calls, hurt, death, wing flaps.
  • Cragback: growls, hurt, death.
  • Armor Overlord:
    • Chitin clicking sounds, roars, hurt, death;
    • Heavy stomp footsteps (combined with the ambient sound of the specific block stepped on);
    • Hook swoosh, ground impact, shell armor deflection sounds.
  • Bio-Scanner: scanning hum, scan completion chime, error sound, panel slide-out sound, alongside voice lines for every entry.

  6. Technical Notes

  • Cragback, Tetra, and Armor Overlord utilize procedural animations (feet snap to the ground using inverse kinematics (IK), body tilts according to terrain) rather than pre-baked animations.
  • Large mobs utilize multi-part hitboxes (PartEntity):
    • Cragback: body + head;
    • Armor Overlord: 4 legs + body + cap + brain.
  • All text strings feature full English and Vietnamese localization.
  • Requirements: Minecraft 26.1.x, NeoForge 26.1.2.87, Java 25.