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Saddened that his time on the island had come to an end, the man got back to work. This time, he made his way to a place he hoped would have some answers or at least shed some light on his path forward. Traveling to the desert, his eyes immediately spotted his destination. He made a beeline there, for he would explore what was one of many fantasy mesas.
Mesas, another fantasy environment, aren’t as popular as say the ocean or mountains. However, they have their own sort of magic and can bring a splash of excitement to the desert or wherever you put them.
One thing they’re known for is their flat tops. But don’t let that deceive you into thinking that’s all to them. Quite the contrary, they have a lot more to offer and their flat tops are just the icing on the cake.
Like all environments, fantasy mesas come with their own set of animals and plants. These lifeforms help make mesas feel like real places. They become part of their history and the story they tell to all those who come to see them.
How exactly do they contribute to the story? Are there any benefits in having them in the story you’re crafting? Believe it or not, if you use them just right, they can enhance your tale significantly, since you have a lot to work with. Again, it depends on the type of story you want to tell.
This is lucky number seventeen in the series chronicling fantasy environments. As always, if you’d like to read more in the series, the other articles are available on our blog page.
Strap on your boots, for we’re about to take a step in an environment easily taken for granted by a lot of people!
When you think of a mesa, the first image that pops up in your mind is its flat top. You’re not here to learn about how it was made. You just want to know how this is relevant to fantasy.
Regardless if it’s a massive mesa that towers over mountains or if it’s an itty-bitty one just slightly taller than a little mushroom, their flat tops are iconic for a reason. They also enable them to stand out from a crowded field of hills, mountains, and canyons which is one of their greatest advantages.
When you’re looking at a series of mountains, your eyes will immediately spot a horizontal line in a series that goes up and down diagonally.
Look at the picture below.
See how easily they stand out?
The mesa you thought of from the first paragraph of this section, did you have it in the desert? Most likely it was, for that’s where mesas are primarily located. You see this in nearly every medium. Seeing them just in the desert, we’re led to assume that mesas only exist there.
But did you know that the desert isn’t the only place where you can find fantasy mesas? There’s other places you can put them and therein lies another one of its strengths. Placing them in say a snowy region or a forest can take your audience by surprise. Who’ll expect to see a mesa there?
The beauty of fantasy is you can put mesas anywhere you want. Putting them in areas where they’re usually not found can help them stand out in a world jam-packed with cities, castles, mountains, rivers and so on. This makes these areas more memorable, not just to the characters but to the audience as well.
There is of course a caveat to this. Though you’re encouraged to sprinkle them where you’d like to see them, you should only do so as long as it makes sense for them to be there.
I can see how this can be confusing and I’d like to clarify it. When designing an environment, you want to ensure that everything looks like they belong there. If your mesa sticks out like a sore thumb and clashes with the environment’s ambience, don’t put it there.
What kind of wildlife can you come across in fantasy mesas? The answer depends on where you put them. Different climates feature different animals and plants and the same applies to mesas.
We’ll go over the desert first, since that’s where people associate them with. You’d have the usual suspects, from coyotes to vultures. The same goes for plants, which is almost always cacti and some sparse vegetation like bushes or shrubs.
Mountainous places contain animals like deer and bears. Eagles and other birds can nest atop the mesas’ flat tops without fear of predators swiping their eggs. The plants you see include thick trees like elms though they would only be at the bottom of the mesas. You can have some small ones growing on the side as well.
The forests that have fantasy mesas have animals like squirrels and bunnies. Other type of animals are hawks and falcons. The creatures of the forest would simply dwell in the trees located at the foot of the mesas; trees like maple. More plants include bushes and hedges.
Snowy areas like tundra or mountains that have mesas have critters such as foxes and others that aren’t bothered by the cold. Elk, moose, and reindeer appear there as well. There’s not much vegetation; only those that can withstand the low temperatures and they’re found at the lower levels of mesas. The further up you go, the fewer —if any— vegetation you’ll see.
You don’t have to strictly stick to what people expect to see around mesas, you can include fantasy beasts like trolls or orcs who reside at the bottom of mesas or plants that attack people. Feel free to mix them in with the usual wildlife. This will make for interesting situations you can experiment with!
While mesas appear in many worlds, they don’t usually play a major role in the story. Instead many other environments like mountains are oceans are used. This is a missed opportunity for fantasy mesas for they can augment the story in unexpected ways.
What’s their role in the story then? Let’s start with their unique appearance. A lot of worlds gloss over them, using them as visual cues. They’re used to ensure that people are going the right direction.
They don’t take advantage of the opportunities mesas gives them. For instance, they could be used as a base of operations. You can have a crew of thieves using them as their hideout or they could serve as the headquarters of a scouting expedition. This can add some interesting dynamics in the story and you can have them play a major or minor role, depending on how it’s structured.
Fantasy mesas also conceal secrets. They could be the site of a cult that practices necromancy and they perform their rituals at their flat tops, far away from prying eyes. Alternatively, they can house a dungeon or a large underground fortress. Mesas have a lot to offer in this regard and it’s a shame not a lot of people take advantage of this.
How they interact with your story depends a great deal in how you’re telling your tale. Many plots revolve around a journey of some kind and mesas are typically just a scenic stopping point for the hero. He and his party sees it and the next day, they’re gone, heading towards their next destination.
But you can cleverly weave them into your story and make them a key part of it. You can set the stage for a confrontation between the hero and the villain or his servants midway through the plot. Or you can structure it so that buried somewhere nearby is something that will help the hero vanquish the villain and the mesa serves as the place where he leads the efforts to find it.
In conclusion, fantasy mesas are an important part of worldbuilding. They’re an impressive sight to behold because they’re rare, found only in a few spots around the world. It’s sad that this environment doesn’t get as much use as others because it has a lot going for it.
Their iconic flat tops makes them easy to see amid diverse landscapes like mountains and hills. But their flat tops are just a small part of what mesas are all about. You can see them in other locales besides the desert such as forests or mountainous areas.
Mesas are home to some interesting wildlife, though what beasts you encounter depend greatly on where the mesas are located. Those in bitter cold places have vicious beasts like polar bears whereas those in mountains have deer. This makes each one unique.
While many stories feature mesas only in a small capacity, if you design yours just right, you can have them play an integral role in what happens. If you go down this route, be sure it’s a positive contribution to your story. After all, you want to keep your audience interested as the tale unfolds.
Should you add them to the world you’re building? There’s no question about it! If you put them in interesting spots with a great backstory, you can make them memorable places that your audience will want more of!
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Thanks for reading this and until the next time,
Sunfire
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