End City

End cities are structures that are naturally generated in the outer islands of the End. They are tall castle or tree-like structures constructed primarily of end stone bricks, as well as purpur blocks and their variants. End rods are the only source of light. End cities are currently the only place where shulkers naturally spawn.

Generation
End cities naturally generate in the outer islands of the End, which are accessible via the end gateway portal obtained by killing the ender dragon. They are fairly rare; one can travel for hundreds of blocks without encountering a city.

Structure
End cities may spawn as a single tower by itself, or as a sprawling complex of inter-connected towers and pathways branching from a main tower. Within certain rooms (often at the top of the towering structure) are treasure chests and sometimes ender chests. Decorative purpur stairs protrude from the sides of the towers. Banners wave along the outside of some towers. Bridges with stairs connect multiple towers to each other.

There are several types of rooms you will find in an End city. These include:


 * Base rooms that are three stories tall, with each room becoming wider than the one below it.
 * Small rooms with banners hanging on the outside, and a shulker hanging from the ceiling.
 * Loot rooms that consist of two chests with valuable loot.
 * Rare loot rooms that have an ender chest as well as a normal chest.
 * Rooms that have nothing in them at all.

There are two types of towers:


 * Small towers that are hollow, consisting only of a purpur slabs staircase.
 * Larger towers (three times the diameter of the smaller towers) that consist of a purpur slab and end rod staircase.

End ship
There is also a small chance for an "end ship" to be generated outside of end cities. These floating ships are structured similarly to classical pirate ships, but are comprised of the same materials as end cities. End ships often generate in front of a pier, which is really a bridge with a small open arch at the end. From there one can throw an enderpearl to reach the ship.

On the outside, the upper deck is rather empty, with the only objects of note being a ladder that leads to the top of the empty crow's nest, and a single staircase that leads up to the poop deck, where a single purpur pillar acts as a sort of steering wheel. Several shulkers are attached to the outside of the ship.

The inside of the ships are rather small. The first room inside the ship contains only a brewing stand, with two potions of healing. A staircase leads below deck to the treasure room. In this room there are two treasure chests that often contain highly valuable loot, and an Elytra hung on the wall in an item frame between them – all guarded by a shulker. The floor of the treasure room is lined with obsidian.

A dragon head can also be seen at the bow of the ship, making this currently the only natural way to obtain the beast's head.

Trivia

 * Some end city rooms are structured similarly to traditional Asian pagodas.
 * This may refer to the Summer Palace since Jeb has visited there before the release of 15w31a.
 * The banners atop the towers have a magenta and black pattern that resembles the Lockedchest13w18b.png missing texture block.