Minecraft Origins Server: Pick Your Race and Play with Friends

First: Origins is a Fabric mod for Minecraft 1.21.1

Origins isn't a plugin: it doesn't run on Paper or Spigot, it needs a Fabric server with Fabric API. And it lags behind Minecraft: in October 2026 its latest versions (the 1.13 ones, still in beta) are for Minecraft 1.21.1. The server and every player have to be on that same version, or nobody can join.

For NeoForge there's a separate port, “Origins (NeoForge)”, also for 1.21.1, which its author calls a work in progress: some things may break and origin datapacks made for Fabric don't always work. The Forge one stopped at 1.20.1 and is no longer updated. Unless you have a reason, go with Fabric.

The origins it comes with

Origins comes with ten, and each has advantages and disadvantages. In short: the human (plain old Minecraft, no powers and no drawbacks); the merling (breathes and swims fast underwater, but drowns on land); the arachnid (climbs walls and shoots cobwebs, only eats meat); the avian (falls slowly and runs faster, but only eats plants and has to sleep up high); the elytrian (has elytra built in, but can't stand low ceilings or heavy armour); the shulk (an extra inventory and more toughness, no shield); the feline (no fall damage and sees in the dark, with less health); the enderian (teleports with pearls that never run out and is hurt by water); the blazeborn (immune to fire and spawns in the Nether, hurt by water) and the phantom (walks through blocks and turns invisible, but burns in sunlight).

Each player picks theirs on a screen the first time they join. If they choose wrong, there's no going back without help: either an op changes it with a command, or they use an Orb of Origin, which opens the screen again. Both are below.

How much RAM it needs

Origins on its own, with Fabric, is light: it runs like normal Minecraft. For a few friends, the free Minecraft server (3 GB, no card) is enough to try it. For a group of 5 to 10 playing regularly, 4 GB (Stone plan) is plenty; if you add more content mods (Origins addons, biomes, structures), 6 GB (Iron).

What uses the most memory isn't Origins but the terrain: every player who explores generates new world around them. If you're going to spread out a lot, it's better to pre-generate the map (we cover it in the Chunky guide).

Running it on your PC, for free

You can: download the Fabric server installer for 1.21.1, put Origins and Fabric API in its mods folder (the same versions the players have) and start it. The usual catch: your PC has to be on for the others to play, and for people to join from outside you have to open ports on the router or use a VPN-style program (the guide to playing with friends without port forwarding explains it).

Running it on NapNodes

NapNodes servers start out on Paper with the latest version of Minecraft, which is newer than 1.21.1. Downgrading a world breaks it (the game can't read a newer one), so the panel won't let you do it with the world folder in place. On a freshly created server you lose nothing: you set the test world aside and that's it.

1. Create the server

   The free one to try it, or a plan from “Buy”. Wait until it finishes installing.

2. Set the new world aside

   With the server stopped, in “Files”, rename the world folder (for example, to world-paper) with “Rename”. If you already had a world you care about, download it first: it can't be opened in 1.21.1.

3. Switch it to Fabric 1.21.1

   In “Mods & plugins”, “Server type” tab: click Fabric, choose 1.21.1 from the list and “Change”. The panel stops it, reinstalls it and has it ready in a few minutes.

4. Install Origins

   In “Mods & plugins”, “Mods” tab, search for “Origins” and click “Install”. Only mods that work with Fabric 1.21.1 show up, and Fabric API is installed along with it automatically, because it's a dependency.

5. Start it and make yourself op

   Click “Start”, wait for it to generate the world and type op YourName in the “Console”. With that you can use the Origins commands below.

Getting your friends in

1. The same mods in their Minecraft

   Origins also has to be installed for every player: it brings its own screen to pick an origin. The easiest way is the Modrinth launcher or Prism Launcher: a Fabric profile for 1.21.1 with Origins and Fabric API. With a modded server, the panel also gives you a napnodes.com/jugar/… page with the mods each player needs, ready to download.

2. Add the server

   Multiplayer → Add Server, with the address shown in the panel. The first time you join, the origin selection screen appears.

3. No Bedrock

   Console or phone players can't join: Geyser, which lets Bedrock players in, doesn't work on modded servers. Origins is Minecraft Java only.

Origins commands

You need to be op. In chat they go with a slash; in the panel's “Console”, without it. Origins groups origins into layers: the default one is called origins:origin, and each origin is written with its prefix (origins:merling, origins:avian, origins:blazeborn…). Chat autocompletes them with the Tab key.

1. /origin set <player> origins:origin <origin>

   Gives a player that origin, skipping the screen. Example: /origin set Alex origins:origin origins:merling.

2. /origin get <player> origins:origin

   Tells you which origin someone has. Handy before an event or to settle an “I didn't pick this”.

3. /origin gui <player>

   Opens the origin selection screen for them again. It's the way to let someone change without deciding for them.

4. /give <player> origins:orb_of_origin

   Gives them an Orb of Origin: when they use it, they can pick another one. Works as an event prize or as a rare item in the server shop.

More origins: addons and datapacks

The great thing about Origins is that it can be expanded. There are addons on Modrinth that add origins, classes or other layers (search for them in “Mods & plugins” just like Origins: only the ones that work with your version show up), and there are origins made as datapacks, which go in the world's datapacks folder (world/datapacks) like any other, with the server stopped (the datapacks guide explains it step by step).

Every addon that adds items or screens has to be installed by the players too; a datapack doesn't. And one at a time: if you add ten at once and something breaks, you won't know which one it was.

If something goes wrong

If you get kicked when joining for mismatched mods or “Incompatible mod set”, that player doesn't have the same versions of Origins and Fabric API as the server, or isn't on 1.21.1. Have them match the server.

If the server won't start after adding an addon, remove it in “Mods & plugins” → “Installed” and check the “Console”: it almost always says which mod wants a different version of Origins. The guide to a server that won't start explains how to read it.

Before changing mods in a world you're already playing in, make a copy in “Backups” (the free server has no backups: download the world folder first).

Frequently asked questions