Hives & Colonies: Characters

Meet Polen, the first story character of the Hives & Colonies universe.

Polen is not a villager, a pet, or a simple follower. She is a persistent narrative companion with memory loss, cautious behavior, relationship progression, quiet routines, and a growing connection to the world around her.

This mod is built around the idea that a character should feel readable and alive: Polen remembers important places, reacts to danger, keeps distance from strangers, grows more comfortable with trusted players, seeks shelter, expresses mood through behavior, and slowly reveals fragments of a larger story.

Current Features

Polen as a persistent character entity
Story-based name reveal and early narrative progression
Per-player affinity and relationship tracking
World-level chapter and story flag progression
Contextual dialogue, ambient lines, story events, and memory fragments
Autonomous behavior driven by needs, intent, mood, and tasks
Early quiet activities such as singing, drawing, reflecting, and source attunement
Safety behavior, refuge seeking, danger memory, and blink escape
Night lighting through Polen’s own managed lantern behavior
Residence and shelter-aware behavior through colony/home-related items
Early story, material, focus, colony, and accessory item families
Curios-based support for affinity charms and future character accessories

About Polen

Polen begins as a quiet survivor with missing memories. She does not immediately trust the player, and her story is not revealed all at once. Through exploration, safety, trust, and small moments, the player starts uncovering her connection to bees, nature, Source magic, healing, grief, and a much larger past.

The current playable experience is focused on the beginning of that journey: meeting Polen, earning trust, giving her safety, watching her early autonomous behavior, and finding the first hints of who she used to be.

Development Status

This mod is in active early development. Polen is the first implemented character, and the project is being structured so future story characters can join the same character-driven system over time.

Expect ongoing updates to AI behavior, dialogue, memory recovery, items, relationship progression, and integration with the broader Hives & Colonies modpack ecosystem.

Requirements

Minecraft 1.21.1
NeoForge
Curios API