Introducing the Cedar Grove

The cedar grove is a biome that generates in hot, semi-arid climates. This means it is often found in combination with savannah and desert biomes. Like cherry groves, the cedar grove only generates at high altitude and is often a relatively small biome.

The biome is dominated by cedar trees (note: there are multiple unrelated trees named cedar. These are based on Atlas or Libanon cedars), a unique type of conifer that can only be found in this biome. Cedar trees have a grey, scaly bark and light blue needles and their planks are a muted light brown.

https://preview.redd.it/3p6t8k9syzsb1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=ddb0352cfc007b64242f40ebd28c27ad72ceca14
Close-up of a cedar tree, showing the rough grey bark and light blue needles

Besides cedar trees, the biome is characterised by dry grass and patches of coarse dirt. The same mobs that live in savannahs can also be found here.

https://preview.redd.it/yh2u0ncl00tb1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=532df63e21c4664e506fe5a774bccf0a9313b8f2
Sparse cedar trees and patches of coarse dirt are characteristic of this biome

Cedar trees and cedar tree oil

Besides providing some much need colour to the brownish green of the savannah landscapes, cedar treees also have a unique feature - they produce cedar oil! When stripping the bark of cedar trees, some of the logs have a unique texture indicating that they are full of oil. Using an empty bottle on these oily logs, produces one Bottle of Cedar Oil and converts the block to a normal stripped log. 1-2 logs in a cedar tree contain oil.

https://preview.redd.it/9jel8y9760tb1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=ca0f900218522efa92a0b36d11c8586a68e3e69a
Stripping the bark of cedar trees reveal that some logs contain cedar oil. These logs have a unique texture and drip particles like beehives

Cedar oil candles

Using a Bottle of Cedar Oil on a candle (right clicking the candle block), turns the candle into Cedar Oil Candle. These candles emit a strong scent (shown as particles) that deter hostile mobs in an area equal to that lighted up by the candle - this also means that more candles together work over a larger area.

The deterrent effect is similar to the effect of warped mushrooms on hoglins but works on all that normally spawn at night, including phantoms. The effect of the cedar oil lasts 9 minutes, roughly equal to one night.

Note: This effect is based on the real-world used of cedar oil scented candles to deter insect pests but I decided that it would be pretty useless if it only worked on arthropods ingame.

TL;DR: New biome similar to cherry grove but in dry areas. Made up of new cedar trees which produces an oil that can be used to make candles that scare away hostile mobs for a limited time.

Also, this is my first post on this site - let me know if I messed anything up in the formatting or in general