Meadow, Prairie, Scrub, and Steppe! Welcome back, Outlander, to the 10th entry in Mythic Ecology, my series on how learning real-world landscape features can enrich our fantasy worldbuilding and storytelling. In this post I return to my minimalist framework for Dungeon Masters, Game Masters, fiction writers, and similar worldbuilders to merge the realms of general myth and geomorphology. Last entry we looked at valleys. As I resume my journey sketching a framework for designing Yridia, my unique D&D 5e fantasy world, let’s learn some plains terms, with a visual guide!



A quick note on terminology: “plains” for this entry refers to grasslands and shrublands and the like, generally on flat terrain. “Scrub” and “shrub” mean essentially the same thing. Some terms like “steppe” and “prairie” have ambiguous definitions across regions, so sorry for any confusion.



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