Mystcraft Symbols and Pages

Symbols are the building blocks of Age writing. Each symbol arrives on a sheet of paper called a Page. Symbol Pages can be copied onto fresh paper or pages using a Writing Desk that has been supplied with ink.

Finding symbols. There are three main ways to discover new symbols:

• Villages with an Archivist — the Archivist's house contains a few pages.
• Exploring Ages — Ages spawn randomly generated cobblestone temples that hold several pages and sometimes Sealed Notebooks. This is the most common source.
• Dungeons — dungeon chests have a chance to contain symbol pages and sealed notebooks.

Symbols fall into broad categories:

• Biome Distributions — control how biomes are laid out; every Age needs exactly one. Options include Tiny, Small, Medium, Large and Huge distributions (each takes at least three biomes), Tiled and Grid-form (alternating biomes per chunk, at least two biomes), Single Biome (exactly one biome, infinite), and Native (zero biomes, Overworld-style layout).
• Biome Modifiers — one page per vanilla biome, plus compatible biomes added by other mods; they must be written before a biome controller or the Floating Islands feature.
• Celestials — Normal and Dark Suns, Moons and Stars, plus Ender Starfield and Twinkling Stars. A "Dark Sun" provides no daylight (undead will not burn). Normal suns/moons accept Direction, Length, Phase and Sunset Color.
• Lighting — Bright, Normal or Dark; exactly one required. Bright lighting acts like night vision (and adds instability); Dark lighting makes daylight too weak to burn undead.
• Weather — Normal, None, Slow, Fast, Eternal Weather, Eternal Rain, Eternal Snow, or Eternal Storm; exactly one required.
• Visuals — Boundless Sky, Sky/Night Sky/Fog/Cloud/Sunset colors, Foliage/Grass/Water colors, and Rainbows; these affect appearance only, not gameplay.
• World Landscape — Standard, Cave, Island, Flat, Void, and Amplified world generators (see Dimensions and World Types).
• Effects — world-wide phenomena such as Accelerated, Lightning, Meteors, Scorched Surface, and Spontaneous Explosions.
• Modifiers — Angle/Direction (North, East, South, West), Length (Zero, Half, Full, Double), Phase (Rising, Zenith, Setting, Nadir), Color, and Gradient pages that customize the symbols above.

Blending modifiers. Directions blend to a point halfway between them (North then West yields northwest). Lengths likewise average; for suns and moons, Half Length is roughly half a Minecraft day (~10 minutes), Full Length a full day (~20 minutes), and Double Length about 40 minutes. Phases blend forward through the cycle. Gradients let colors shift over time and can be synced to celestial motion by sharing Length pages.