Paxterra — Our Minecraft Journey

In 2019, after watching me play Minecraft for some time, my then-girlfriend (now wife) decided to buy the game on her laptop. Not being a gamer in any sense, unaware of the difference between Bedrock and Java editions, and without telling me what she was about to do, she went straight to the Microsoft Store and bought Minecraft: Bedrock Edition.

For context, I have been playing Minecraft since 2010, shortly after stumbling upon SeaNanners' YouTube videos. Yes, I’ve been playing since Alpha 1.0.17_04. Now, my girlfriend (soon-to-be wife) was going to join me.

We watched YouTube videos together so she could learn the basics while we established our first base. We both enjoyed watching Hermitcraft—especially Mumbo Jumbo—for inspiration. Initially, we played a lot—maybe even daily—just to AFK at farms or collect resources. We don’t play every day now and sometimes go months without playing at all, but back then, we had no idea it would become a years-long project filled with creativity and adventure!

Like all good worlds, ours has a rich (but shallow) lore. One of our first builds was a church. Like all good people, our first duty—before even building our own shelter—was to construct a church to honor our god.

Who is our god? That’s right—Sven the Dog! Inspired by PewDiePie’s Minecraft series, Sven is our god-king, and we do all our mining and building in his name. Sven now sits upon the Diamond Throne, ruling as a loving yet formidable force.

One of our first major builds, after establishing a base and a church, was a grand castle for Sven. Near our spawn, we found a large mountain and claimed it as the starting point. Over time, we built towers, walls, a royal garden, and hollowed out the mountain for storage and enchanting areas. This remains the focal point of our world.

We built four massive buildings (64x64 block bases) to house large-scale farms. These produce wheat, carrots, potatoes, nether wart, pumpkins, melons, bamboo, sugarcane, cactus, honey, gold, and much more.

In our ongoing quest to honor Sven and expand Paxterra, we realized early on that a steady supply of resources was crucial. From the depths of the overworld’s swamps to the fiery expanses of the Nether, we've built specialized farms to harness the powers (and byproducts) of formidable creatures for our kingdom’s benefit.

Each farm serves a distinct purpose:

• Drowned Farm – Harvest tridents, copper, and other sea-swept treasures.
• Skeleton Farm – Bones and arrows for bone meal and archery.
• Spider Farm – Endless string for bows, wool, and scaffolding.
• Double-Chunk Slime Farm – Slime balls for advanced Redstone contraptions.
• Creeper Farm – Gunpowder for fireworks and more “explosive” endeavors.
• Blaze Farm – Blaze rods to power our brewing operations.
• Wither Skeleton Farm – Skulls to fuel beacon-powered expansion.
• Iron Golem Farm – The iron backbone of Paxterra’s tools and infrastructure.

As more friends joined our world, we created a central hub with paths leading to different parts of the world.

A section filled with fun, unique, and quirky trailer builds.

The heart of our town, featuring shops, meeting spaces, and communal builds.

Inspired by our honeymoon in Japan, we built a series of peaceful and tranquil Japanese-style towers.

Inspired by my wife’s love for martial arts, she built a dojo where we train and honor the way of the fist.

As Sven's power grew, we designed sub-divisions featuring different architectural styles, creating a structured layout for our town.

We’ve explored the Nether, building safe tunnels and fortresses. While Ghasts and Piglins are no match for our well-prepared team, they still manage to scare us now and then.

One of our favorite builds is a Swedish-style home, inspired by real-world architecture. A cozy retreat in our vast world.