Model Bible

Status: Planned

This page defines how the planned creature roster should look in model space before textures and animation polish arrive.

Source of Truth

• Canonical roster data lives in tools/generate_creature_bible.py.
• Generated model sources live in mod/model_source/blockbench/.
• Boss encounter intent lives in Boss Registry.
• Normal and elite creature intent lives in Mob Registry.

Model Rules

• Stay recognizably Minecraft-readable even when a creature is fantasy-heavy.
• Use one or two silhouette ideas per creature, not six.
• Preserve broad vanilla proportions where the creature comes from a mutated familiar mob.
• Let late-breach entities get stranger by appendage count, halo language, and arena size before drifting into abstract noise.
• Keep enough empty space inside silhouettes that the player can read the attack body quickly on controller and in multiplayer.

Archetype Guide

Archetype	Purpose
beetle	Compact shell-forward insect silhouette for casters, miners, and spitters.
bird	Wing-span silhouette for vultures, bats, kites, and breach fliers.
construct	Armor, kiln, shrine, or guardian bodies that should feel forged or assembled instead of bred.
crab	Broad shell, clear side-walk stance, and one memorable claw or tool arm.
floating_eye	Clear central eye read with rear appendages or halo shards kept subordinate.
floating_idol	Shrine-icon body with enough appendage motion to become a living hazard.
mimic	Storage, architecture, or vessel body plan that opens into a monster instead of beginning like one.
moth	Winged insect line with more elegance and layered planes than the spider families.
mutant_biped	Vanilla-humanoid body plan kept readable, then distorted through regional overgrowth, armor, or decay.
quadruped_boar	Low heavy beast silhouette built around shoulder mass and tusk impact.
quadruped_canid	Fast animal frame for wolves, hounds, jackals, and rat-like runners.
quadruped_ungulate	Clear hoofed animal silhouette for deer, goats, rams, and shrine beasts.
raider	Grounded human combat frame with gear bulk and asymmetry from weapons, coats, ropes, or banners.
ray	Flat glider silhouette for cave drifters and sky fantasy animals.
robed_mage	Tall robe-driven silhouette with long sleeves, clear casting hands, and strong head or collar framing.
serpent	Long-body pressure line for swamp eels, desert stalkers, and mid-boss coil predators.
slime	Soft mass with interior cores or spikes so each slime line reads different before it moves.
spider	Wide leg language, strong abdomen read, and room for lace, cocoon, or crypt ornamentation.
tentacle_aberration	A readable central body plus big tentacle language, never just random noodles.
vampire	Slim predatory biped with elegant linework, cloak language, and fast duelist posture.
wyrm	Large dragon or sky serpent framework with a clear head read and strong tail silhouette.

File Layout

• Bosses: mod/model_source/blockbench/bosses/*.bbmodel
• Mobs: mod/model_source/blockbench/mobs/*.bbmodel
• Catalog: mod/model_source/blockbench/catalog.json

Key Identity Calls

• Ashroot Sentinel and Horned Regent are both hoofed apex beasts, but one is rooted shrine brutality while the other is open-ground nobility.
• The White Brood and Silk Cathedral Regent are both spiders, but the former is frosted nest terror and the latter is lace-architect royalty.
• The Null Scribe, Tendril Idol, Rift Tentacle, and The Horizon Splitter satisfy the project’s tentacle-monster requirement at escalating scales.
• Crimson Chorus, Bloodbound Vampire, Moonveil Huntsman, Eclipse Courtier, and Velvet Eclipse establish a full vampire ladder instead of one token blood mob.
• Mother Slurry caps a real slime family instead of leaving slimes as one-note joke enemies.