Obsidian Arena
The Obsidian Arena, sometimes referred to as the Obby Arena, is a large Colosseum-style arena accessible from the Hub. It is commonly used for friendly sparring, but also occasionally hosts royal challenges due to its even-ground design. Players are able to set their spawn just outside the arena for accessibility.
Description
The Obsidian Arena, as the name implies, is constructed primarily of obsidian with deepslate, blackstone, and netherite blocks for detail. Pillars lit with soul fire decorate the edges of the center of the arena, which itself features a dragon's skull laid over lava in the shape of a flame. Ten lines emit from the bottom of the flame, each representing one of the Pretarsian tribes in color order. The arena also features a vast array of seating, allowing for dozens upon dozens of players to spectate.
History
The first iteration of the Obsidian Arena was built and released by admin tetchytick on January 17th, 2022. It was a reskinned version of the Pantheon of Pyrrhia arena made primarily of blackstone, obsidian, and bedrock. It's primary advantage over similar combat arenas was its permissive area. Players could place and break blocks within the arena freely without disrupting the structure itself. The obsidian and bedrock floor made it especially notorious for use with end crystals.
On the 30th of January, 2022, admin Bog added a function to destroy all blocks within the arena to more quickly allow the area to be cleared of debris. Two levers would have to be simultaneously activated while no players were inside to start the process, which would take multiple minutes to complete, clearing the entire arena row-by-row.
The Obsidian Arena was rebuilt for Generation 4 to fix various issues that plagued the first iteration. The arena was made smaller to accommodate smaller render distances and reduce poor interactions caused by overabundance of space. The arena-clearing was designed with a new method that takes less than a minute to complete. Only one player is required to activate the procedure. The Obsidian Arena was also isolated to its own location rather than being placed in the Nether.