Discovery

Event 5 was the first intentional non-experimental event, allowing many far-reaching changes.

The most impactful was the ability to travel between worlds through a shared nether, so that all players were connected for the first time since Trial 1. Other changes included: custom world generation and ores restricted by biome; an overhaul to smithing; and introducing beacons which buff allies while debuffing outsiders.

Event 5 ran for 34 sessions, double the amount of the previous events, although the sessions were shortened by half an hour each.

Players spawned into three worlds, each with an icy river spawn. The worlds soon became known by the portal-block used to travel between them: Brown Mushroom, Red Mushroom, and Shroomlight. 

Settlements formed independently in each world, before inter-dimensional routes were established with destructive consequences.

In Brown Mushroom World, the Jade Empire disbanded after the mountaintop base was raided by inter-dimensional travellers, known as the Hounds. Alterture, a skybase, held back a similar siege, but fell when their defences were bypassed through the Nether. 

The starting settlements had fallen: so players migrated far from spawn, or into other worlds, to create new hidden sanctuaries. 

In Shroomlight World, Helios became the hosts of the Hounds, hoping to benefit from the association. However, they soon realised the cooperation was one sided, and acted to distance themselves. 

The Hounds, able to gather ideal members from each world and with a longer event to progress within, grew to be the most efficient version of a raiding party. This ultimately resulted in a soft intervention from staff to ask them to disband. The Hounds split as some retired while others continued to raid. 

Sunkin Coast grew to resent the raiders, sending out guardsmen to hunt down those that remained.

In Red Mushroom World, the Ottoman Empire consolidated power from the clouds, while Westside and Beauclaire built bases around central beacons. 

The (multi)world order re-established itself with politics between nations. The peace ended when the Ottoman Empire was hit by an inter-world assault for allying with the remnants of the Hounds. In retaliation, their army marched through Helios, across Brown Mushroom World, and into Sunkin Coast’s tower.

Some nations employed dark forest strategies: avoiding detection to avoid destruction. Taraxa remained underground, while CAMP Civ and New Rhomania limited outside interaction. 

The longer duration gave time for multiple iterations of settlements, often moving further from spawn; Sunspire and Red Forest took this to extreme, settling on the world border. 

Event 5 was the longest and most connected event so far, with varied outcomes both good and bad. Event 6 will return to an experimental focus, with aims to curtail common strategies employed in Event 5 and before.