FOSS gamedev and creative worlds

I noticed that there is a sword in the unmodified Minetest game. Since there are no mobs in the game, I started wondering why it was there. Is it a framework for mods that add them, or does the sword have a use without them? :)

You can install mods to add mobs like these, these and/or maybe these.
Give your sword something to kill. It will get rusty when it doesn't have an use ;)

I think that answers my question.

Follow up question: what exactly is an Oerkki supposed to be, it looks kind of like a ghost or an (coming from Minecraft) Enderman

Yes. Swords are also useful as digging tools and are fast in digging so-called snappy blocks, namely:

• Mushrooms
• Leaves, pine needles, etc.
• Grass, jungle grass, etc.
• Dry Shrub
• Flowers
• Wheat plant
• Cotton plant
• (Technical definition: Any block which is member of the group “snappy”. Usually small plants are snappy)

However, digging with swords wears them out more than by combat.

Here's the wiki page: http://wiki.minetest.net/Sword

So basically a sword harvests any kind of plant (excepting logs of course) faster. That's nice ^^