Aether

The Aether is one of, if not, the largest Minecraft mods in history and was released on July 22nd, 2011. The mod includes the Aether realm, the opposite of The Nether that includes several new blocks, mobs, and items, as well as a whole new accessory system..

The sequel to The Aether, The Aether II: Genesis of the Void, was released on June 11, 2012, and contains various new mobs, features, and overall adds to the experience.

Introduction
The Aether is an inverse to The Nether, with the Aether being large solid areas in empty space while The Nether is empty space in large solid areas. Its main features are large floating islands and formations of Aerclouds, which are solid cloud-like blocks. There are many new mobs such as Aerwhales and Cockatrices, items and blocks in the Aether, some being entirely different from those in the Overworld, but few are similar to overworld mobs.

To get to the Aether, one must first make a Aether Portal formation out of Glowstone, and place water with a water bucket in one of the top corners. When the player step through the portal for the first time, a portal will spawn in a randomly generated Aether.

Gameplay
Normal Overworld tools have extremely low efficiency in harvesting and mining blocks of the Aether, so even using hands to harvest skyroot logs would be faster than using diamond tools. Normal torches and fire cannot be used in the Aether due to the oxygen level being too low, so the player is limited to only using Aether originated items and tools. When a player falls from an island, they'll leave the Aether and be spawned high above their original portal in the Overworld and fall straight down, so one is advised to put water around their portal or they will die of fall damage. Death from falling off the Aether can also be prevented by using Aether items and mobs that give the player the ability to not take fall damage. The Aether can be used for fast travel through the Overworld much like The Nether.

Throughout a player's ventures, one may find dungeons of varying difficulties. These dungeons are divided into three types: Bronze Dungeons, Silver Dungeons, and Gold Dungeons, and all will carry treasures and accessories that the player may have never seen. Getting these items will not be easy though because strong boss mobs will stand guard over their treasure, some of which can't be defeated by a sword alone! Many, many more armours, weapons, and accessories are now accessible.

Dungeons
Dungeons in the Aether are much more complex than in normal world. Each of them will have a boss which has to be defeated to get the Key required to open the Treasure Chest located inside the dungeon boss room. Blocks which make up the main structure of the dungeon cannot be destroyed or obtained until the boss of the dungeon is defeated.

Bronze Dungeon
Bronze Dungeons have entrances that are located on the sides of normal islands. Bronze dungeons can have a varying number of rooms. Non-boss rooms contain sentries which attack the player, and sometimes have chests on 4x4 tables. Some of these chests are Mimics, however. The boss of this dungeon can't be attacked with a sword. He can, however, take damage from any tool (pickaxe, shovel, etc.). 9 blocks on the floor of each antechamber aren't minable at all. The boss room's walls are only minable once the boss is dead.

Silver Dungeon
Silver Dungeons are located within structures resembling a parthenon in the sky. These have multiple floors, typically three, each with multiple rooms. Most rooms have chests inside them, and while the majority of the chests are fake (Mimics), others contain some items. Silver Dungeons are inhabited by Valkyries, which only attack when the player attacks them. When playing on Peaceful, Valkyries still appear, but will teleport away when the player tries to attack them. Killing a Valkyrie yields a single Victory Medal. The boss of this dungeon can only be attacked by presenting it with 10 Victory Medal, which can be done by right-clicking on it with the Victory Medals in hand. The Silver Dungeon boss can be attacked with any weapon.

Gold Dungeon
Gold Dungeons are located within spherical islands with lots of Golden Oak trees growing on top of them. This dungeon normally will only have the boss room in it, with no treasure/mob rooms beforehand. The Sun Spirit cannot be killed by attacking it directly and must be killed by hitting the white object he throws back at it multiple times. Every time it is hit with the white object, it sends out a smaller version of itself to attack the player. Once the player kills the Sun Spirit, the sun will finally set in the Aether. Before the player kills the Sun Spirit, the sun will never go down. If the player fails to kill the Sun Spirit, their spawnpoint will be reset over lava, forcing the player to delete the map.

Allied
Allied mobs serve the player, for various reasons.

Passive
Passive mobs will never attack the player.

Neutral
Neutral mobs will not attack the player unless provoked. The act of provoking neutral mobs varies between mobs.

Hostile
Hostile mobs will attack the player when in range, each with their own abilities.

Bosses
Boss mobs have more complicated attack patterns and movements. They also have a large amount of health and may require special means to kill.

Achievements
For advancements, check here.

To learn more about the mod, click here.