Stranded Soldiers: Guardians of the Nether Portals

"Not all who wander through portals find their way home."

Minecraft 26.3 is now available: Stranded Soldiers 1.1.0+mc26.3.

A Fabric mod for Minecraft 1.21.x and 26.x that spawns Nether defenders at naturally-generated ruined portals. Zombified Piglins and Zoglins guard broken gateways; completing the portal stops new spawns. The first wave may be a surge enhanced by the Nether itself.

The Story

Long before you set foot in this world, the portals were already broken.

Ancient gateways once connected the realms, built by hands unknown and abandoned to time. But portals are doorways that open both ways, and when they shattered, some were caught on the wrong side.

The piglins you encounter at ruined portals are the descendants of warriors stranded generations ago, cursed by the Overworld's hostile atmosphere. They have already succumbed to zombification, their minds lost but their instincts intact.

They don't know the portals are broken. They don't know their fate is bound to the Overworld They only know their duty: guard the gateway.

When you approach a ruined portal, you're not just stumbling upon ancient ruins. You're entering a tomb where soldiers still stand watch, waiting for relief that will never come. They see you as another invader. Another threat to what little remains of their purpose.

Will you fight the stranded soldiers, or will you leave them to their endless vigil?

Mob Civil War (optional)

Mob Civil War is an optional companion; neither mod requires the other.

When both are installed on the same Minecraft version (matching +mc<version> JARs), portal defenders call CivilWarIntegration.applyFactionGoals after spawn AI is installed. Defenders remain player-focused with no defender-on-defender fighting, and gain Civil War faction retaliation targets (Illagers, Undead, Spiders) at priority 2.

Version support

Shipped (1.1.0): Minecraft 1.21.4, 1.21.5, 1.21.6, 1.21.7, 1.21.8, 1.21.9, 1.21.10, 1.21.11, 26.1, 26.1.2, 26.2, and 26.3: one Fabric JAR per patch line (stranded-soldiers-1.1.0-mc*.jar).

For Minecraft 26.3, use Fabric Loader 0.19.5+, Fabric API 0.161.0+26.3 (or a newer API build for 26.3), and Java 25. Pair with the Minecraft 26.3 release of Mob Civil War if using the optional integration.

Dropped from scope: 1.21.2 and 1.21.3 (not targeted for this release ladder).

A LOREal Mod