The living world

The world changes slowly around you. None of this happens fast, but over weeks the land shows where people live and travel.

Paths and roads

Wherever people walk, the ground wears. Grass (or podzol, mycelium or rooted dirt) turns to dirt after about a dozen footsteps, then to coarse dirt, which is permanent. Occasional footsteps fade over hours, but a well-used route becomes a real track.

• Sprinting wears paths faster.
• Riding a horse wears them twice as fast.
• Rain doubles the wear on open ground.
• NPCs and animals wear paths too.

Over time, the busy routes between settlements draw themselves on the map.

Plants

• Undergrowth (grass, ferns and tall grass) slowly returns to open ground. In the Caeldun worlds it grows back as the region's own ground cover, so bare hillsides stay bare.
• Flowers and wildflowers appear now and then and creep outward in patches.
• Leaf litter gathers under trees.
• Woods reseed near existing trees, with saplings of the same species.
• Mushrooms grow in dark, damp places, on stone and wood as well as soil.
• Seagrass and kelp fill in underwater.

Stone and buildings

• Moss creeps over cobblestone and stone bricks near water.
• Weathering: stone bricks very slowly crack.
• Cobwebs gather in dark corners of buildings. They form in built structures only, not in natural caves.
• Cave moss and dripstone slowly form underground near water.
• Grass next to fire or lava is scorched to coarse dirt.