The Original¶
Reflections of home
Home. Almost exactly.
| Kind of world | Reflections of home |
|---|---|
| Serum in the arrival Box | 2 ampoules |
| Native Serum stand-in | None: bring spare Serum |
| Quests | None |
the-original-homeWhat happens when you arrive¶
You step out and you are home. The hills are right, your house is right, the path to the river is worn exactly where you wore it, and a weathered Box stands where you built yours. It is the rarest door in the Corridor, and the one most likely to fool you into staying. Then you notice a board of birch in your oak floor, a torch burning blue over the door, and you can't stop noticing.
The rule: home, almost exactly¶
The Original is a copy of your own world: the same seed, the same terrain, and every build you made brought over block for block the first time you come near it. Only small things are wrong.
| What's wrong | How often |
|---|---|
| Torches and lanterns burn blue (soul torches and soul lanterns). | About 1 in 7 of your torches and lanterns. |
| Planks and logs of the wrong wood: oak planks become birch, spruce planks become dark oak, oak logs become birch. | About 1 in 25 boards. |
| White wool comes out light grey. | 1 in 10. |
| Red beds are all blue. | Every one. |
| Wild flowers are swapped: dandelions and poppies trade places, cornflowers become alliums. | Half of them, everywhere, not just near your builds. |
| The sky leans a shade too green. The moon is a little too large, the sun a little small. | Always. |
| The night's dead are the wrong kind: Husks instead of zombies, Strays instead of skeletons. | Every one. |
"Something here is not quite the way you left it."
the-original-wrongYour chests are empty
Only blocks are copied. Chests, barrels, signs and the like arrive empty, so there is nothing to loot from your own stash. Whatever you build or change here stays here.
What lives here¶
Exactly what lives at home, except that zombies are Husks and skeletons are Strays. Husks inflict Hunger, and Strays' arrows slow you, so the nights are slightly worse than you are used to. Nothing here wants to hurt you more than home does, and that is the danger: it would be so easy to stay.
What to bring home¶
Nothing of its own. The Original adds no blocks or items. Its terrain is your terrain, with your world's normal ores and resources in all the places you haven't dug yet.
Serum and getting home¶
- The arrival Box's cache holds 2 Serum Ampoules.
- There is no native Serum stand-in.
- The Box you came out of is not the one you built, however much it looks like it. Go back to it while you still have the Serum to leave.
Tips¶
- Make a game of it: walk your own base and count the wrong boards and blue flames.
- Don't plan on raiding your own chests. They're empty.
- Treat the Box as the only thing that matters. If you start to feel at home, that's the world working.
Birds¶
Birds you can photograph for your bird log here. Open one to turn it round, watch it move and hear its call.
- Almost Cardinal: common
- The Robin That Watches: rare
The traveler's tape¶
Every arrival Box has a chest by its door holding a cassette: the last traveler reading their journal of this world aloud. This is what they say. It gives a lot away.
Read the journal (spoilers)
I thought I was home. The hills were right, my house was right, the path to the river was worn exactly where I wore it. Then I noticed the board of birch in my oak floor, and the torch over the door burning blue, and I have not been able to stop noticing since. The poppies by the well were dandelions when I planted them, the moon is a little too big, and the dead that walk at night are dried husks and frozen archers, not the ones I know. Nothing here wants to hurt me more than home does, which is the danger: it would be so easy to stay. The Box I came out of is not the one I built, however much it looks like it; I am going back to it while I still have the Serum to leave.