Shadow Grove

Shadow Grove
Place
Name: Shadow Grove
In-game name:
Alts:
Status: Active
Date:
First joined:
Last seen:
Formed: July 10th, 2022
Abandoned:
Disbanded:
Location:
Coords:
Members: ostrich1414, Laztec, MoWobbler, Nebuelaz, ElectricChugg, willowienal, cheesy_chips22, LidGuy, WatermelonFun11
Clans: The Order of Wilbur
Bases:
Schematic: {{{schematic}}}

Shadow Grove is a small base founded by ostrich1414 and Laztec as a spawn project for The Order of Wilbur on July 10th, 2022. The base is located entirely underneath bedrock, y=0, thanks to SimPvP's transition to 1.18.2 that altered build depth and terrain generation. Thus, other than what is man-made, the base is surrounded entirely by void, save for a nearby wall of bedrock (also produced via the 1.18 transition). Shadow Grove was primarily founded in order to host the OOW's upcoming eight year anniversary on July 29th, where every member was invited to come and celebrate. While the base has stagnated ever since the anniversary celebration, it nonetheless stands as one of the OOW's most interesting and unique projects.

History

On July 4th, 2022, SimPvP officially switched over to 1.18.2. This was a massive update that complete changed terrain generation, including larger caves, deeper bedrock, and both higher and lower build height. As SimPvP is an old map (dating back to September 2011), instantly updating to 1.18.2 would have corrupted old terrain. Thus, the admins compromised by leaving old, pre-loaded chunks near spawn at the original 1.17 bedrock depth, while all new chunks loaded the 1.18 bedrock depth. Since build height was now lower than y=0, going well into the negatives, players could now build in the void in old chunks--something that was impossible to do before. Realizing this, the idea to make a void base had been floating around The Order of Wilbur for their next project, and eventually ostrich1414 and Laztec decided to make that a reality. On July 9th, the two chose a spot not far from spawn and worked on breaking a hole through bedrock at y=0; on July 10th, they finished, officially founding the base that would become Shadow Grove.

After pouring water down into the void from the open bedrock hole, the two created a temporary stone platform at the new build depth, y=-64. They then made the announcement to the rest of the OOW, inviting everyone to come and build. Nebuelaz and MoWobbler soon arrived, and the first priority was to create a large two-layer stone and grass platform over the void that would eventually hold buildings atop it. As this platform was filled in, Nebuelaz took charge in terraforming the platform, making it appear as though it were naturally-generated terrain. He would also come up with the name for the base, "Shadow Grove", which was unanimously accepted by the group.

Over the course of mid July, Shadow Grove would draw more Wilburians to help build and beautify it, including ElectricChugg, willowienal, cheesy_chips22, LidGuy, and WatermelonFun11. While most worked on extending the platform and terraforming it, the rest built various structures and buildings. MoWobbler created a storage building, and ostrich1414 created a Wilburian temple. Nebuelaz crafted a reservoir complete with a dam, and willowienal built a smaller island off of the main platform, constructing a strange gold-and-wool house atop it. Since Shadow Grove was actually built underneath the crossroads of both old and new chunks, there was a massive bedrock wall to the side of it--separating 1.18.2 chunks from the previous versions--with a deep cave on the other end. Laztec also destroyed the bedrock in this wall, allowing the members to access the cave.

The main purpose for the construction of Shadow Grove was to serve as the host location for the Order of Wilbur's upcoming eight year anniversary on July 29th. This was an especially important ceremony, as the group had not celebrated their anniversary in years. Realizing this, Shadow Grove was chosen as one of two ceremonial host towns (the other being Stonetown). It was thus planned that, on the 29th, all Wilburians would join in Shadow Grove after meeting in Stonetown, where the celebrations would continue and gifts would be given.

As July 29th came, and after the first phase of the celebrations occurred at Stonetown, the remaining Wilburians filed into Shadow Grove to celebrate eight years. Ostrich1414 gave every member an individualized, handwritten book, among other gifts. Meanwhile, those who had not helped build at the base admired the work put into this strange project. Afterwards, all who were present left Shadow Grove and went to help Nebuelaz test out his in-progress event, Neb Clancy's Rainbow Sim Siege.

While Shadow Grove would ultimately fall into stagnation after the eight year anniversary, it stands today as one of the OOW's most unique projects, and one of the first major void bases on SimPvP, taking advantage of a bizarre feature thanks to 1.18.2.