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Sailing the ocean only took the traveler a month. The further the ship went north, the colder it got. The man grimaced as the ship passed by a large ice block breaking off a glacier. Not long after that, the ship landed in a harbor. Stepping off the ship, the man felt the frigid wind blowing in his face. He made his way to the inn where he stayed for the night. The next morning, after leaving the inn, he headed out of town and in front of him loomed a field that seemed devoid of life. The field was part of the frozen tundra biome.
As a fantasy environment, the tundra biome is among the coldest, found only in the extreme locations of the world. The grass is perpetually frozen all year round, alongside the trees that have long since died. It snows throughout the year, only making things worse.
You would think that with how bitter cold it is, nothing would live there. However, you gotta remember that when it comes to fantasy, you can transform a barren world to a place with many creatures and fantastical wonders. All you need is your imagination!
The frozen tundra plays an interesting role in the story. A lot of plots feature it as merely a stepping stone on the hero’s journey against evil. The hero stops in an inn and overhears the locals talking about the problems they’ve been having, which compels the hero to investigate. He winds up getting to the bottom of the matter and he sets things right before continuing on with his journey. Afterwards, the tundra biome never makes a return in the story unless the hero comes back.
Other stories devote a large amount of time to the frozen tundra, since it’s a region not many fantasy creators explore in great detail. This helps bring a forgotten part of the world to the forefront as it’s usually a great location for the servants of evil to hide out due to how desolate it is. Its desolateness helps make it quite a mysterious place, for strange things happen every now and then there. Works such as A Song of Fire and Ice spend quite some time in this region.
This is the seventh article in a series analyzing the different kinds of fantasy environments. If you haven’t read any of the six before, check them out on our blog page!
Don on your warmest clothes, for we’re about to step into the world of the frozen tundra to see what it offers!
Geologically speaking, the tundra biome is found in the extreme north and south, near the magnetic poles. It is meant to represent the opposite of the tropics, which are located near the equator. In contrast to the tropics, which are humid and full of life, the tundra is bitterly cold and not much life can be found there.
When it comes to fantasy worldbuilding, it can be found just about anywhere. When deciding where to put it, be sure to place in areas that make sense. You want your audience to feel like they’re in a real, living world and having a frozen tundra right next to a scorching-hot desert makes it tougher for the audience to fully immerse themselves in your world.
Not to say it can’t be done. This is fantasy, after all. If you give a good reason why — as long as it makes sense! —- you can get away with it without the audience losing that sense of immersion.
Regardless of where you put it, the tundra biome has several unique characteristics:
Without proper precautions, it’s easy for someone to lose their life. Besides freezing to death, a person can die of hypothermia due to the extreme temperatures. Or a snowstorm or blizzard can kill someone.
The tundra biome is a dangerous place to be, even on relatively warm days since it’s always at the mercy of the elements.
Surely such an inhospitable environment would be completely barren, right? There’s no way anything could survive such arduous conditions. Believe it or not, life’s managed to flourish even in such places!
Animals such as reindeer and elk call the tundra biome home, though they never stay in one place. They go where they can find food and their numbers are few. Ditto to plants. Not many plants can survive the constant low temperatures and vicious wind chills.
Ah but when it comes to fantasy, only your imagination is holding you back when it comes to creating animals and plants specifically for this climate. Look at worlds like Skyrim where you can battle vicious beasts like the troll or a dragon in the harsh cold. You can make the frozen tundra a place nobody will ever forget!
Besides the beasts and flora and fauna, there are people who chose to live there. They do so because they want to live by themselves and want nothing to do with other people. Or maybe they’re just doing it to challenge themselves. The people who live in these places are hardy folk.
In addition to the few settlements that can be found there, the tundra biome features special buildings that hold importance to the region. In some worlds, it hosts a major dungeon that the hero must explore as part of his quest. The boss of the dungeon is generally the culprit behind the cold that’s plagued the area. Other worlds have temples where people pray to their deities.
One advantage this region has above all other environments is that it offers a magnificent view of the sky, especially at nighttime. There’s nothing like seeing a starry sky with nary a cloud in sight in such a cold place. It’s also where you can see the aurora borealis at its clearest.
There’s several ways to incorporate the frozen tundra in the story. How it fits in the plot depends on what type of story it takes place in.
The most common role it plays is when it only appears in a specific part of the overall plot. It’s a region the hero and his allies must explore as part of the main story. Something’s happened to make things worse and the hero must converse with the people who live there to learn what happened.
After gathering information, the hero pieces what he heard together and he realizes the culprit is a place that’s become infested with evil. He takes it upon himself to find it and vanquish the evil lurking within. Cleansing the place restores the frozen tundra to its glory and the hero then moves onto the next part of his journey. The tundra doesn’t make another appearance down the road, unless the hero returns.
It’s also used as a travel device where the hero must endure the harsh conditions in order to make it to his destination. The tundra biome is where the hero’s will and vitality is tested for he must decide whether to press on or turn back. In the end, he chooses to go forward and by the time he’s made it to the other side, he’s stronger both physically and mentally. You could consider the tundra a testing ground of sorts.
Despite the frozen tundra being a desolate place, it offers a lot of potential that a lot of people don’t see. It’s perfectly capable of being a prominent stage to tell the story; in fact you can create a story that exclusively takes place in the tundra.
Stories where the tundra biome takes center stage tend to focus on the supernatural. Many odd things happen here that defy logical explanation. Think of A Song of Fire and Ice. One of the key stages in the grand drama, the frozen tundra is where the White Walkers live and they wield powerful magic and are determined to broach the Wall to take over Westeros.
In the final analysis, the frozen tundra is an interesting place. Due to its low temperatures and windchill, at first glance it seems like an inhospitable environment but it’s actually much more than that!
It’s fully capable of sustaining life though only in low numbers. The people, animals, and plants that live there are hardy. They’ve grown accustomed to living in a difficult environment.
Even such places have beauty, if you know where to look. The starlit sky and aurora borealis are prime examples of finding beauty in desolate places. All it takes is a discerning eye and courage to weather the cold to discover the beauty of the tundra.
Bringing the tundra biome to your world is a piece of cake. Just decide where on the world you want to put it — and put it in a place that makes sense in the context of how your world is structured. If you go the route of placing it in an unusual location, explain why in a way your audience not only understands but accepts it.
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Sunfire
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