SwordRealm

Sword Realm

"The sword heart resonates, and all blades are one." Sword Realm is a wuxia-style sword-cultivation combat mod for NeoForge 1.21.1: walk the path of the sword — attune a Sword Heart, project its forms, ride the blade, and slay by the drawn sword. Every vanilla sword gets its own model, and the Sword Heart system ties together two sword forms, forced recall, and a line of nine awakenings. It runs on both client and server with no dependencies.

Overview

It all begins with the Realm awakening: counter-slay the monster that attacked you with any sword within 3 seconds, and the sword heart will resonate with you. Press X to open the Sword Realm and attune a sword of your choice; an attuned sword can switch freely between two forms:

• Flight: a giant flying sword manifests beneath your feet. Flight speed = attack damage x attack speed, so your sword decides how fast you fly.
• Draw: the sword heart circles you and strikes enemies automatically. Its damage and attack speed are each half of the sword heart's stats, with no knockback.

The sword heart and all unlocks survive death. When the attuned sword lies in a chest, drops on the ground, or is even picked up by another player, press C or click Recall — the heart tears through the air and forcibly returns to your hands, costing 1 durability per recall.

Nine Awakenings

Awakenings are the core progression of the mod. Six of them carry their own sigils, and all nine have a dedicated cinematic:

• Lightning (requires Draw): while Draw is active, be struck by lightning above Y=200. Draw hits have a 20% chance to call a bolt with full vanilla settlement: creatures within 3 blocks take 5 damage and burn for 8 seconds, creepers become charged, villagers turn into witches, pigs turn into zombified piglins; the player is immune and the ground never catches fire.
• Fire Devour (requires Draw): while Draw is active, be killed by lava in the Nether to awaken, saved totem-style with full health and 20 seconds of Fire Resistance. Draw hits have a 50% chance to apply Fire Aspect for 4 seconds.
• End Convergence (requires Draw): while Draw is active, break an End Crystal with an Ender Pearl in the End. The drawn sword splits into three: the blades strike in rotation (global interval = single-sword interval / 3), each keeping the exact damage, speed, and Lightning / Fire Devour triggers of the single sword.
• Sculk Flight (requires Flight): while flying, a fatal blow from the Warden's sonic boom cheats death with a full heal and awakens it. While flying, you gain Resistance (20% damage reduction).
• Tide Surge (requires Flight): while flying, nearly drowning in water while holding a Heart of the Sea cheats death with a full heal and awakens it. While flying underwater, you gain Water Breathing.
• Void Crossing (requires Flight): while flying, be consumed by the void to cheat death with a full heal and rise back to the sky. Flight speed is boosted to 1.5x; double-tap CTRL to teleport along your view up to 64 blocks, passing through the walls ahead as long as the landing spot is clear; hold CTRL for about 2 seconds to trigger super acceleration, multiplying your speed by 36 with a halo bursting outward around you.
• Realm, Draw, Flight: the three base awakenings and the gateway to the six above; see the Overview for how to unlock them.

Note: for 5 seconds after a Lightning or End Convergence awakening, the next fatal blow (fall damage from the strike, the crystal blast) is undone with a full heal.

Awakening Cinematics

All nine awakenings come with a dedicated cinematic built on one layered grammar: theme fog as the base, enchant runes as the main visual, stardust and vortex ground rings, cyan sparks, white cloud breathing, sealed by a climax of an explosion core, 16 white clouds, three 120-degree slash arcs, and 45 runes. Sepulcher of Swords, Rising Void, Crimson Draw, Thunder Prison, World Fire, Warp Gate, Deep Veins, Tidal Bore, Void Rift — each one is worth watching twice.

On each awakening, the matching sigil rises from your hand with the vanilla totem animation, covering Lightning, Fire Devour, End Convergence, Sculk Flight, Tide Surge, and Void Crossing.

Controls

• C: fly, land, recall the scattered sword heart
• X: open the Sword Realm (attune, switch forms, recall)
• Right-click: release the Draw while holding the attuned sword
• Double-tap CTRL: teleport forward (requires Void Crossing)
• Hold CTRL: super acceleration (requires Void Crossing)

Commands

• /swordrealm unlock — awaken directly, skipping conditions: unlock realm; unlock flight [sculk|tide|void]; unlock draw [lightning|fire|ender]
• /swordrealm reset — cancel awakenings: reset all; reset flight [sculk|tide|void]; reset draw [lightning|fire|ender]
• /swordrealm fx — replay awakening cinematics: fx realm; fx flight [sculk|tide|void]; fx draw [lightning|fire|ender]

Compatibility & Notes

• Requires Minecraft 1.21.1 with NeoForge 21.1.x, installed on both client and server; no prerequisite mods.
• All six vanilla swords (wooden, stone, iron, golden, diamond, netherite) have their own flight models and speeds.
• Lightning bolts are fireless: they never ignite blocks or harm their caster, so you can test blades right outside your base.

FAQ

• Double-tapping CTRL does nothing? You need the Void Crossing awakening and an active Flight. The teleport passes through walls ahead, but the landing spot must be clear.
• Do I lose awakenings on death? No. The realm unlock and every awakening persist through death, and a lost sword heart can always be recalled.
• Will Lightning burn down my base? No. Bolts are fireless — the ground never catches fire, and you are immune.
• Can I undo an awakening? Yes. Use /swordrealm reset to cancel per system, or reset all to wipe everything.