Philza's Hardcore Series 4 Lore!

This is a collection of (most of) the lore that Phil has established for his Hardcore S4 world! It will be continuously maintained so that it's as up-to-date as possible.

Beings and People

The Six Deities

There are six godlike deities who exist in the world, two of whom are unnamed. Each rules over a different realm or facet of a realm. This group is also referred to as the "Five Deities" when excluding the Ender King, but he is included here due to his power being on-par with the other deities, and because Phil described him as one. These deities include:> The Ender King
> The Blaze Empress
> The Ocean Overlord
> Rose
> Two others who have not been named or talked aboutWar and Conflict
The other five deities were each in a continuous and bitter war with the Ender King due to his greed, theft, and hunger for power, but none alone could match his abilities. It wasn't until the Ender King attempted to combine all of the realms at once that the other five deities were forced to pool all their powers together to stop the Ender King.Negative Space
These deities have a unique power tied to a core mechanic of the world. When something is taken from one realm and put into another, such as when the Ender King steals a part of a realm, it leaves behind negative space. The world itself then tries to fill this space using the materials around it. However, these deities can use their powers to shape and sculpt this material as it's moving into whatever they'd like (but are unable to do so after the material has "settled"). The Blaze Empress and Rose are capable of sculpting the world as such, but it's unclear whether the other deities can too.

The Ender King

The Ender King was the ruler of the End Realm, and the primary antagonist in S4 lore. He had the ability to steal different parts of realms (like endermen can) and miniaturize
them (which creates negative space, as described above). He was also responsible for the extinction of the Ender Dragons, having killed (almost) all of them in his early days as king; the Elder Dragon skeleton buried inside the main end island was the last dragon he killed.He was a greedy and power-hungry king, and he wanted all of the realms to be under his control. To satisfy his greed, in his spare time he liked to steal parts of the other two realms, which he would then shrink and store in his keep (or treasure room). His keep specifically has miniature versions of the following biomes: nether wastes (the stealing of which created the Nether Void), a flower forest (confirmed to be the location of the next large-scale project), a desert, mushroom islands, ice spikes, and a mega taiga. It also contains miniature versions of a sunken ship, a coral reef, an ocean ruin, and an ocean monument (Project Flowerfall).However, the Ender King wanted more. His ultimate goal was to combine all three realms into one, which he would rule; and when he caught wind that the other deities were beginning to work together to stop him, he decided to put that plan into action. Mustering up all his power, he tried to use his teleportation magic to combine the three realms; but the other five deities banded together to redirect and focus this energy to an Overworld ocean, forcing the Ender King to transport it to the End Realm instead (and thus creating Endlantis). The five deities were unable to do this on their own, and needed to use the Ender King's own power against him.In his shame, failure, and fear at losing the war, the Ender King retreated to his keep, where he died among his treasures.

The Blaze Empress

The Blaze Empress is a powerful leader who rules over the Nether, and who Phil referred to as "a badass." Not much is known about her; however, she is very old, and as a result became very powerful due to her experience with magic and combat. She is one of the five deities who defeated the Ender King, and is among the most powerful of them. She also has the ability to change her size, and typically fights using giant blaze rods as dual-wielded swords.The Ender King was her enemy, and the war between their realms was one of the more extensive and lengthy conflicts. When the Ender King attempted to take the Blaze Empress' fortress, she shielded the fortress and her citizens by surrounding them with a protective void. This saved her citizens, but didn't stop the Ender King from taking her fortress and the landscape around it. As the world tried to fill in the negative space, she used her power to fill that space with quartz from the surrounding environment, creating the Quartress.Soon after a battle with the Ender King, the Blaze Empress was attacked by a group of piglins who believed that she would be weak and tired after her battle. They opened a large portal in the side of the Nether Void and flew crudely-made ships through (one of which crashed while still half-way in the portal), and tried to attack her. However, even though she had recently battled the Ender King, she was able to defeat them easily.

The Ocean Overlord

The Ocean Overlord (also known as Broseidon, the Ocean Himbo, or the Ocean Lord) is the guardian and keeper of the ocean monuments. He is "chill," likes to drink, and is fairly oblivious, since he didn't realize that there was a conflict going on until the Ender King stole his home monument. He also nearly slept through his monument being stolen. Despite this, the Ocean Overlord is very powerful (though not as powerful as the Blaze Empress). It was his idea to force the Ender King into transporting an ocean to the End."Well, they don't like water, right?" — the Ocean OverlordThe Ocean Overlord could become as powerful as any of the other deities, but he lacks experience (implying that he is younger than other deities) and doesn't really care to learn how to use his powers. Phil has described him as similar in character to Thor in Avengers: Endgame. His home was the monument that is now Project Flowerfall, though it is not clear whether he still lives here.

Rose

Rose is deity of flowers and life, whose magic is responsible for the creation of Project Flowerfall. Not much is known about her, other than that they are one of the five deities, that her powers and abilities center around bringing life/nature to the world, and that she likely has a positive relationship with the Ocean Overlord (since they helped to rebuild his monument).When they saw that the Ocean Overlord's monument was being taken by the Ender King and the world was beginning to fill that negative space, this deity helped in the only way she could: by rebuilding the monument with "alive" things (corals, flowers, grass, plantlife, etc). Her power is on a level similar to the Blaze Empress, but she is primarily a noncombatant and pacifist. She spends the majority of her time in the Greater Spawn Islands, which she once called home.She's like the medic of the world, and goes everywhere just fixing shit, making things grow and full of life. If something terrible happens in a part of the world, she'll go there and fix it... she doesn't like pristine, clean structures, she likes it to look like it's been reclaimed by nature.
- Philza about RoseBecause Phil has referred to them using multiple pronouns, this writeup uses she/they pronouns for Rose.

He and She

He and She were the Blaze Empress' lead commanding soldiers. They were both very strong fighters, and so were charged with leading the Blaze Empress' army.He and She were almost-lovers, who were separated when the Ender King attempted to steal the Blaze Empress' fortress. Though they shared their first kiss on the bench in the Quartress garden and the power of it turned a nearby tree to soul sand, they never got to truly confess their love for each other before they were separated. It is not clear what happened to them after this, or whether they were able to find each other again; however, it has been implied that the pair are forever separated, unable to see or find each other.In-world, both characters were created by chance. He was created when Phil (at the request of chat and Kristin) drew a face in a strangely-shaped lava formation while clearing out space for the Nether Void. She was created when chat noticed an optical illusion that looked like a face inside the Nether Void (while building the walls).

Sandy

Sandy was the Blaze Empress' head strategist and advisor. She wasn't the strongest fighter, but was very smart. During the Ender King's taking of the Quartress, she sacrificed herself to save He and She.In-world, Sandy was also created by chance, when chat noticed a face in the sand while Phil was clearing out lava at the bottom of the Nether Void. A poll was conducted in which chat voted for Phil to destroy the face, creating the lore around her death.

Major Locations and Builds

Endlantis

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Endlantis was Phil's first major build in this world. He has said that it's one of the builds he's most proud of, alongside Chaos Caverns (from Season 2).Current Construction
Endlantis consists of a giant bowl of water set on top of the main end island. First, Phil leveled the obsidian towers and "shaved" the end island to make it thinner and to give himself more space to build on. He did this using a TNT-duping flying machine (designed by RaysWorks). He then expanded the island a little to make it a rough circle, created the 64-block tall walls of the "bowl" using black glass, and then filled the bowl with water.Having created the "canvas," Phil began creating the build itself. He covered the bottom in sand, created sand mounds going up the sides of the walls, put beacons in each of the obsidian towers, created volcanic vents, and decorated the entire thing with coral, sea grass, and other builds (including a sunken End Ship, an End City ruin, an Elder Dragon skeleton, various trees, and floating islands). He also created the "Ender King's Keep" inside a cave underneath the Elder Dragon skull, and built various miniature biome islands (ice spikes, mushroom islands, a mega taiga, a flower forest, nether wastes, and a desert) and structures (a sunken ship, an ocean monument, a coral reef, and an ocean ruin) inside it to represent the Ender King's stolen treasures.Endlantis is populated with fish, skeleton horses, and other mobs that don't drown. A couple of drowned zombies are encased in glass near the sunken End City ruins. Most recently, multiple glowsquids have been moved to Endlantis, one of which is tethered to the inside of the Elder Dragon's ribcage so that it looks like the dragon's heart.Phil also created a new enderman farm out of black glass in the center of the island, as well as an enchanting area and a spot to kill the Wither. His old enderman farm was made to look abandoned and decrepit, with holes in the spawning platform and tower, a broken bridge, and vines.No dolphins were harmed in the making of Endlantis.Planned Construction
Phil has said that, once he progresses to the "late endgame" and has enough resources to do it, he plans to add planets that float above and around the walls of Endlantis. He referred to this as "Endlantis Part 2" to denote that Endlantis itself is finished; the planets will be another project in and of themselves. This project has not been mentioned in a long time, so it is unclear whether Phil still plans to do this.Axolotls may also be brought to Endlantis in the future, if they can be effectively contained so that they won't kill anything (they are aggressive towards most other aquatic mobs).Lore
The End was ruled by the powerful and greedy Ender King (see "People and Beings" page). When he attempted to combine all the realms together, the other five entities were forced to stop him by any means necessary. They did so by using their combined powers to "redirect" the Ender King's teleportation energy to an ocean, resulting in him transporting that ocean to the End, thus creating Endlantis. In this incident, the main End island was significantly eroded, which revealed purpur ruins, volcanic vents, an ancient Elder Dragon skeleton, and other features. Vibrant coral has also grown close to the volcanic vents, as it feeds off of the heat and nutrients they provide.Parts of Endlantis, including two pieces of the wall, parts of the Ender King's Keep, parts of the Elder Dragon skeleton, and other parts of the area were destroyed in the Battle for Endlantis (see "Miscellaneous Lore" page). These sections were rebuilt using different materials, so Endlantis itself has "battle scars" from this event.Important Inhabitants
The Ender King: See "People and Beings" pageNew Milo: See "Miscellaneous Lore" pageGary the End Snail: An "end snail" that Phil built as a way to get chat to stop asking him about building a Spongebob reference somewhere in the bowl (which he eventually did). Prior to the Battle for Endlantis, he moved around the bowl; since, he has stayed on the side of the enderman farm.

The Nether Void

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The Nether Void is Phil's second major build. It took over eight months to complete.Construction
The Nether Void consists of a 257x257x127 block cube of black concrete. Phil used TNT dupers and manual mining to clear out a large section of the Nether, then covered the walls, roof, and floor with black concrete. The floor is covered with an additional layer of black glass to prevent mobs from spawning, and to give a fog-like effect. The final piece of black concrete that Phil placed in the floor was named Kristin Placed This.Inside the Nether Void are various structures. It houses floating islands, blackstone spires, multiple piglin "Nether ships," and the portal they use to enter/exit. It also has Phil's wither skeleton, blaze, basalt, and bee farms, which supply him with bones, wither skulls, coal, blaze rods, basalt, and honey. The floor has multiple spikes rising from it, which are made of glass-covered black concrete, and which represent part of the lore (below).The central build in the Nether Void is the Quartress, home of the Blaze Empress. It is a quartz castle that sits on a floating cloud, and houses the bee and basalt farms in one of its rooms. To one side is a small garden. The floor of the main room is a "Netherarium" structure, which houses miniature versions of three Nether biomes: the crimson forest, the warped forest, and the basalt deltas.Planned Construction
Currently, there are no major additions planned for the Nether Void, though there are a number of small changes that Phil has planned for the Quartress, like finishing the walls and continuing to decorate the interior.Lore
The Nether Void was created when the Ender King tried to steal the Blaze Empress' fortress, her people, and the environment around it. However, the Blaze Empress shielded her citizens with a protective void, which prevented the Ender King from taking them and which stopped the teleportation process half-way through — but it couldn't protect the environment around them, or her fortress. As the world filled in the negative space, she used her powers to shape quartz from the surrounding environment into the shape of a fortress, creating the Quartress.However, this protective void shield requires energy, since it is stopping the Ender King's residual teleportation energy that is still trying to take the rest of the structures inside the Nether Void. So the Blaze Empress molded a large power crystal, which she used to contain some of the power the world itself was using to fill the negative space. This crystal continues to power her void shield, and hangs in front of the Quartress (in-game, it disguises the wither skeleton farm). It is also fed by three other spire-like crystals, which serve to funnel energy into the main crystal to ensure that it stays powered. However, this is not foolproof, and the Ender King's residual teleportation energy is "fighting back," still trying to take the rest of the Blaze Empress' structures, exemplified by spikes rising from the ground that are trying to reach the floating islands.The Nether Void is represented by the Nether Wastes island in the Ender King's Keep. The ships and portal that hang on one side of the Nether Void belong to a group of piglin soldiers, who attempted to attack the Blaze Empress when they believed she would be weak (after a battle with the Ender King). However, they underestimated her, and she defeated them very easily.In the garden of the Quartress is where He and She used to sit together, and was where they shared their first kiss. The power of their love transformed the nearby tree into a soul tree, and turned the roses nearby to wither roses.Important Inhabitants
The Blaze Empress: See "People and Beings" pageHe, She, and Sandy: See "People and Beings" pageGory and Larry the Nether Snails: These are two snails who live on top of the blaze farm, made from crimson and warped materials (respectively). Gory has a taste for blood.Enemy: The Blaze Empress' red pet sheep. Enemy's name and color contrast him to Friend, the blue sheep who Phil has near his Overworld base. Friend themselves is a reference to the blue sheep of the same name who exists on the Dream SMP.They: A group of redstone machines that cleared out large sections of the Nether Void, who are "in retirement" now that the build is completed (Phil didn't remove Them, so They remain inside the Nether Void). One is a TNT duper which destroyed the landscape, and another is a lava clearer. They may also include the TNT duper in Endlantis (which is also still there).

Project Flowerfall

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Project Flowerfall, previously called the "Ocean Overlord Project" and sometimes called just "Flowerfall," is Phil's third major build in this world.Current Construction
Project Flowerfall consists of a drained ocean monument with hilly terrain around it. Phil has replaced nearly every block of the monument with other, very colorful blocks (like colored concrete, colored glass, glazed terracotta, warped and crimson wood, soul fire, and — primarily — corals). Using these different colors, Phil has created a gradient rising from light blue, through pink and purple, and eventually to dark red at the top of the monument. The hardcore heart symbol is displayed on two different parts of the monument, and the interior of the monument is still filled with water to keep the coral alive.Underneath the monument, Phil has built a portal-like ground using layered purple, magenta, and pink glass. He is using a visual trick which creates a fog effect if one-block air layers are put in between layers of glass. He has lined the edges of the portal with purple concrete, and used crying obsidian to mark the circumference of the circle. The bottom of the portal is covered with sea lanterns under black carpet, so that it appears to be glowing.The terrain around the monument is mostly covered in moss, and has many flowers, including a series of spore blossoms that give off pollen-like particles. There are also a number of large concrete flowers and acacia trees around both the monument itself and the rim of the glass enclosure. There is also a ring of water hovering above the monument, much like some of the builds in the Hardcore S2 world.Planned Construction
Around the monument, Phil plans to build multiple slime farms, which will be hidden in giant flowers. He has expressed plans to build one enormous upside-down flower that looks as though it is "pouring" pollen onto the monument to symbolize the lore (below). He has also stated that when the new Lush Caves plants are added to the game in 1.18, he will be using them extensively, especially the spore blossom block (which emits pollen-like particles). Additionally, he will continue to terraform and customize the land surrounding the monument, decorating it with many, many flowers.Lore
The monument used in Flowerfall used to be the Ocean Overlord's home. The Ender King stole the monument, which is depicted in-action by a portal beneath it, and placed the miniaturized version of it in his Keep.As the world began to fill the negative space left by the monument, Rose stepped in and shaped the nearby material — primarily ocean blocks like coral, as well as plantlife and other "alive" things — into the shape of an ocean monument, and also added their own "touches" to the environment, exemplified by the planned upturned flower appearing to "pour" energy/pollen onto the monument.Important Inhabitants
The Ocean Overlord: See "People and Beings" page. It is unclear whether he still lives here.Pig: A naturally-spawned pink sheep that Phil found while flying around the islands near Flowerfall, who was camouflaged among a group of pigs. Pig lived near one of Phil's Nether portals before being struck by lightning.

The Greater Spawn Islands

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Phil's primary motivation for doing this project is to make the spawn chunks look better than they currently do.Current Construction
Previously, the spawn chunks had been very lightly terraformed, and they had a number of farms (including iron, cow, squid, kelp, bee, and concrete farms) as well as Phil's main base. A large ring of several floating, spire-like islands surrounds the base, and a dilapidated quartz wall marks the spawn chunk borders.Additionally, Phil has terraformed almost all of the spawn chunk area. He has created three artificial biomes (taiga, birch forest, and swamp) with plans to build a fourth.Not far from his base, Phil has built a large memorial to Technoblade. It features Techno's cape hanging from the pommel of a diamond sword, which is driven into the quartz ground; around the blade of the sword is Techno's crown. Two pigs live on the island, and there is a trident in an item frame on the front of the crown that's named Tecnhoblade Never Dies.Planned Construction
Phil plans to completely remove and rebuild the terrain within his spawn chunks. In addition to terraforming the existing land, he plans to build various islands around the existing ones, both in the ocean and in the sky; each of these islands will house a different farm, including mob, tree, crop, and resource farms. He will also create a "viewing platform" that looks down into the lush cave biome that generated underneath the primary spawn chunks when the world was updated.Currently, Phil is constructing the fourth and final artificial biome, a "hilled cherry grove," which will feature a scaled-down recreation of the Dueling Peaks from Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. He is also finishing the crumbled wall perimeter.Lore
Rose, a deity of flowers and life, lives in the Greater Spawn Islands and spends much of her time here. She built the wall that surrounds it and imbued it with her magic in order to keep the spawn chunks safe (likely from the Ender King); but since his defeat, she has allowed the wall to crumble slightly, because she likes that it looks ancient and overtaken by nature.Important Inhabitants
Rose: See "People and Beings" page.

Miscellaneous Lore

Layers of Reality
In the overarching lore of Phil's hardcore worlds, each new world is like a new layer of reality, each layer being tied together by the universal constant — the void. This is best exemplified by the trident, which fell through the layers of reality (through the void) from Season 2 to Season 4.The Trident
In Hardcore Season 2, Phil accidentally yeeted his newly-enchanted trident into the end void, because he thought it would come back (it didn't). To reference this, he built an enlarged version of the trident in Endlantis. The lore behind this is that the S2 trident fell through space, time, and layers of reality, becoming warped and enlarged before landing in Endlantis, cracking the land beneath it. This trident is also still moving, and is very slowly making its way through the end island.The Elder Dragon Skeleton
One of the prominent builds in Endlantis is a large "Elder Dragon" skeleton that lays in the middle of the island, curled close to an obsidian dragon egg. Phil said that the in-world reason that this dragon didn't disappear like Ender Dragons do is because it was not killed by a "player" - rather, it was killed by the Ender King during his efforts to eradicate dragons from the End, and was the last dragon to be killed.New Milo
New Milo is a codfish who lives in Endlantis. In Wilbur Soot's "Skyblock Randomizer" series, New Milo was his pet codfish, whom he set free into an infinite ocean world in an emotional series finale. In the lore, New Milo accidentally swam through a portal in that world and ended up in Endlantis. He is the only named fish in Endlantis, and Phil is protective of him; he even found New Milo during the Battle for Endlantis and put him in a bucket to keep him safe.The Battle for Endlantis
In the Battle for Endlantis, two Ender Dragons returned from the outer end islands to exact their revenge on the Ender King, who was responsible for the near-extinction of the dragons. By the time they got there, though, he was already long-dead. One dragon was killed before she reached Endlantis, while the other tore holes in the wall, central structures, sand layer, the bones of her ancestor, and (most notably) the Ender King's skeleton. After this event (which occurred naturally), Phil patched the holes in Endlantis and its structures using different blocks to show its "battle scars."For an explanation as to why this happened in-game, check out Phil's Battle for Endlantis YouTube video!Phil's Character
Phil has mentioned that his character is akin to an archeologist or adventurer, who is discovering these locations, beings, and stories as he explores the world. He has also said that his character is reincarnated after death into the next world (season), presumably with all of his memories from previous worlds, hence why some of the Season 4 lore references these previous "incarnations."Chat Crows
Phil's chat is canonically a large group of crows who follow him around, scream things at him, and give him shiny trinkets. "Brian," Phil's text-to-speech voice, is often thought of as a robotic crow. Phil has said that this is relatively universal to his presence in Minecraft, and that the crows follow wherever he goes (including across servers), which is why chat is also a murder of crows in the Dream SMP and Origins SMP canons.The Goddess of Death
It is widely accepted by chat that Phil's wife, Kristin, is canonically the Goddess of Death in his character's lore. Similarly to the chat crows, this is a piece of lore tied not to any particular world or server, but instead to Phil's presence in Minecraft in general. This idea came about because Phil's character is often called and depicted as the "Angel of Death," a title which was inspired by Phil's skill with an elytra (most often thought of as a pair of bird or angel wings), and which originated from his time on SMP Earth.The QSMP
Philza's character lore on the QSMP is tied to the lore of his hardcore world. On the SMP, his character has received messages and dreams from both the Ender King and Rose, with the latter apparently warning of an incursion against the world of the QSMP by the former. The Ender King displays the ability to possess Phil's character in the QSMP, inciting him to greed and selfishness.

FAQ

Where does this information come from?
All of the information found here is collected from Phil's hardcore streams. He tends to give his audience tiny bits of lore at a time, often spread out over hundreds of hours of archived streams, which is why this summary will never really be complete unless someone goes and watches all of those. Additionally, Phil is effectively writing this story as he goes along, and so sometimes he'll "edit" the story to make a new piece fit, retconning some previously-told lore in the process, which is why the information here might not line up with older streams or videos. Most of the information here is taken from the most recent "world tour" that Phil did (archived as "March 8th, 2021 pt. 2," at about 25 minutes in) and has been updated with information from his more recent streams. This Carrd will be semi-continuously kept up to date as Phil develops the lore and story.You missed something!
If I've missed something, got something wrong, something isn't detailed enough, or even if you just have a question, you can contact me using one of the methods below! Please also include either a clip, or a link and timestamp to a video or archived stream to support your change or addition.There's S4 lore on the QSMP!
I know! It's very cool. However, because I don't and have no intention to watch the QSMP, I won't be chronicling that lore here except as a general summary in the "misc lore" section.Tumblr (asks or DMs): @philzahardcorelore