About Aldwen

Aldwen was started as a parody of the Back-To-Nature ideal of Walden. The humor is mostly about the project itself. It covers my story of building a cabin in Minecraft. Returning to the Virtual Natural World. Poetry unless given an author name is all original for the project.

The project took over 10 hours of my time to create, so I hope It's worth something.

Day 11: End

The next day, I went outside. I stood on top of the hill to observe my quaint house. Yet my face must have shriveled with horror. My eyes were fixed upon something that was not there. Something was so fundamentally wrong with the valley. The large space, now clear in front of my house was void of trees. All of which I had used to build my house. I was a murderer.

In rage, I ran from the house, and crossed the valley. I spent that evening under a rock hanging. I continued my journey away from the horror I had made. Eventually I made it to an empty field. Winter caught up to me, and I was stuck alone in a tundra. I didn't have any sense of direction, and I didn't have any shelter. I had no wood available to heat myself. I was stranded.

Game Over

Day 10: Victory

I set about my work early, and managed to finish the roof early.


I finally have a sense of security around my new home. Everything was built by me. Now I can begin thinking about things other than my own safety. I spend the rest of the day finishing other things. I make candles to light the house, and a new stove, as well as a chest. Needless to say it was a very productive day. So much that I didn't even notice when the sun had fallen and I was still working.

That evening I heated my house with the coal I had mined. It kept everything nice and toasty.

Day 9: A long day

I have become the slave of my needs. I am forced to spend my waking hours working towards my warmth. It is a shame that I do not look forward to my work as I once did. However those times were perhaps an innocence lost.
Early in the morning I'm back in the mines.

It's getting colder, but I manage to get quite a lot of shingles made, and during the day, I also uncover some coal, which I can burn in my stove to help heat up the house.

So, assuming I can get this roof made, I will be able to live comfortably for some time.
I'm fortunate not to have accidentally fallen off of the roof while making it. Things are going well, and I think I will be able to finish it by tomorrow.

Day 8: Zero Point

I've woken up with a new attitude. I nearly froze last night. I need to finish this shelter as soon as possible. It is a shame, seeing as I will not have time to make the library, but I will manage. After all my survival is imperative if I am to get these flowery words out to society.

I dart forth from my house at the first sign of daybreak, and stop when I hear the sounds of animals nearby. I crept over to their source to find a heard of cows which have found their way to my spring. I guess I eat beef tonight.
I managed to get up to my mine, and gather some stone. I have a rough idea on how to make shingles out of stone. However the process isn't all that efficient so I might need a lot of stone.

On my way back to the house with my load of stone, I noticed how foggy it has been. I can't see the hilltops around me. Luckily I don't need to travel far from my home for anything I might need. I do however travel outside of visible distance from my home in order to gather more wood.
After I gather the wood, I begin working on what will be my roof. The interior is complete, although I still need a back door. I don't have time for that right now.
I hope to finish my house very soon. Although for tonight, I will be sleeping next to my oven. I hope it will keep me warm throughout the night.

Day 7: Work

Keeping busy gives work which keeps the mind off of trivial matters of bureaucracy and existentialism. Every waking hour I work towards my lofty goals. In society I would be working towards some sort of retirement form working. But labor allows purpose. Sisyphus is better off than the most decadent of kings. I will not stop working, but for every day I work there is less to be done. When I someday make a field to grow my crops, I will not longer be forced to scavenge. I will have a sense of security for the day that I really break my leg, or receive some other work impairing injury.

Arbeiten Macht Frei

Day 6: Sand

There is a natural rhythm that I have adopted. I wake in the morning, and work til late in the afternoon before retiring to write my log, and sleep. It is very relaxing keeping time like this, although I don't have to. I lack any sort of clock. The rhythm feels familiar. Perhaps I will look into finding a way to tell time soon.



I finally solved my food problem when a stray pig arrived at my house early in the morning. He looked rather curious as to my construction. Now he looks like bacon. It's all in the natural order of things after all.

I decided to take a break from my usual work, and head out into the forest to find some sand. I found a decent pile which I dug up and carried back to my cabin. It took a couple trips to get all of it over, but in the end it got there.

The rest of the day I spend making glass in my oven. I had a small pile of coal which heated up enough to allow me to make a nice 6 pane window at the front of the cabin.
I also started on my workshop to the side of the house. No reason to have sawdust scattered in the living quarters after all.