Minecraft Nether

[gotxbrain]

The Nether is a scary place with low lighting, lava everywhere, and sudden huge cliffs that plunge into not-so-dark lakes of lava. It's a dangerous place, not only because of the landscape. there are Ghasts (a new mob type that only spawn in the Nether). These are giant squid-like creatures that fly and shot fireballs at you. The fireballs destroy some weak blocks such as glass. While rare, it is possible for them to spawn just outside of a nether portal if there is enough room.

There are also Zombie Pigmen. They are the only neutral mob and will only spawn in the Nether. If they see you, they will not attack. However, attack one and the whole group will swarm on you, most likely killing you.

The nether is a good source for Slow Sand which is good in drowning traps, and Nettherack wich when lit will never burn out. It's also a common method of fast travel- 1 block in the Nether is equal to 8 outside. Locations in the Nether are relative to locations top-side. Meaning, build a portal in the ground outside, and you'll probably arrive in some underground cave in the nether. Build one on a mountain, you'll wind up on a mountain in the nether. Entering a portal will transport you to the nearest available spot, regardless of mobs. That means you have a chance to be attacked the moment you enter.

You can't just arrive there, however. You need a portal. A portal is made with Obsidian, a very rare thing to find. You need 10 blocks of obsidian and flint and steel to light it on fire. The way you arrange it is demonstrated below:

[b]=Anything NOT obsidian
[o]=obsidian
[e]=empty

[b][o][o][b]
[o][e][e][o]
[o][e][e][o]
[o][e][e][o]
[b][o][o][b]

This is standing up, like a door.

Once you have that arranged, light either side of the obsidian on the floor on fire, and it will turn into a nether portal. In order to fast travel, you will need to build another nether portal somewhere else in the nether, meaning you need 20 obsidian.

I will write an Obsidian Farming tutorial later so you have enough obsidian to do this

[chowchig]

Just a warning, if you build a portal up high in a mountain, it'll be slightly difficult to get to the ground level in the Nether.