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The Sunlit Hearth: Interesting Fantasy Terrain and the Story
Sunfire
CONTENTS
The Premise
Scenes in a fantasy world don’t just feature one or more people doing something; they’re part of the world and what they do affects it and vice-versa. When your audience watches or reads a scene, they want to see visually interesting fantasy terrain which helps immerse themselves into your world and story. They don’t want to see a humdrum backdrop which would deter from it.
As a creator, it’s imperative that you feature a variety of terrain. Much like Earth, a fictional world has a plethora of different terrain, each of which brings something to the table that the others don’t. Many of these areas largely reflect those of the real world but can look and feel markedly different from their real counterpart, all of which help make your world and story quite compelling.
Fantasy terrain doesn’t just act as the backdrop of a scene, it’s part of a world, one your viewers want to learn more about. It impacts it in several ways, including how the people who live in these places perceive outsiders and the food they eat. The terrain ought to feel dynamic and be part of the world.
The story is driven by terrain in various ways. The most common is to have it essentially act as an obstacle that must be overcome. For example, the protagonist must figure out a way to cross a deep river with the nearest bridge far from where he needs to go. It can also serve as key plot points one of which revolves around the hero learning how to survive out in the untamed wilderness with only his trusty sword and courage.
This is article number thirty-two in The Sunlit Hearth series. If you like this article and want to see what else we have, mosey on over to our blog page where we have many more for you to check out!
Fantasy Terrain: The More, The Merrier
An imaginary world doesn’t just have one type of terrain; it has many more and let’s face it, if it just had one, it would be a visually boring world since it looks the same no matter which part of the world you’re in. Creators utilize different types to break up the monotony and make each area more interesting.
Take a look at your favorite fantasy maps. You’ll notice there’s a good number of fantasy terrain, from mountains to rivers to coastlines. They’re arranged in a way that feels organic and makes you curious about them. Your curiosity impels you to want to explore them to their fullest and unravel whatever secrets they might have.
It is precisely for this reason why a decent number of stories feature the different types of terrain. Not only do they add a fresh breath to the backdrop, they show the viewers that they’re in a different part of the world and they use it to generate interest in these parts. A scene that takes place in a snowy mountain feels quite different from one set on a tropical island.
When developing your world, make each fantasy terrain you bring in feel right at home in it. That is, they ought to be natural, not merely shoehorned in just to have a variety of terrain. Look to your favorite maps for ideas and see how the different terrain in them work in harmony to make the worlds you love possible.
One thing to remember when working on the terrain in your world is to include transitional areas. Just like on Earth, each one transitions to the other which adds a bit of realism, as if signaling to people that they’re about to enter a different area. This can heighten excitement in your audience, making them curious to see where the story is going next.
How Fantasy Terrain Enhances Worldbuilding
Having different types of terrain enriches worldbuilding and makes it far more compelling than sticking with just one. Besides featuring diverse landscapes that can be breathtaking, it makes the world feel more real, something that people can see and compare to that of the real world.
Fantasy terrain doesn’t just serve as the backdrop for scenes, it is an integral part of the world itself. Its different kinds all contribute to life and the civilization that your audience experiences. They see how people venture deep within the rainforest in a quixotic search for treasure that may or may not exist, see all kinds of flora and fauna in different biomes, not to mention the great number of wondrous creatures that call these lands home.
As a creator, it’s your job to flesh out the ones you deign to put in your own. While your audience won’t know the full scope of the work you’ve put in, they at least sense that the terrain is an important component, one that’s shaped the world they see in the story. You want to make them feel like they’ve always been a part of the world.
There’s no better way to illustrate the role the various fantasy terrain plays in the world by fleshing each one out. You don’t need to get deep into the weeds here, — there’s no harm if you want to, it’s your story and world to tell! — but focus on how they shape the world. For example, mountains typically serve as the source of water that eventually becomes a river that flows either into another one or out into the ocean. You could show how towns formed alongside the river and their inhabitants used that water to irrigate their fields, helping to grow more food, and so on.
Another stellar way to use fantasy terrain is to showcase how each one impacts the people who live in and around them. For instance, coastal communities make most of their living on the water, either fishing or sailing, whereas in the tundra, food is scarce and people must have on heavy clothes to stay warm and seek shelter from the blistering winds in caves. They drive how they react to outsiders, their outlook on life, and the types of food they consume.
How Fantasy Terrain Shapes the Story
While the role terrain plays in the world is integral when it comes to worldbuilding, it too can drive the plot in exciting and intriguing ways. The audience only gets a glimpse of the former but the latter is where it truly shines, for creators use it in several ways, both good and bad that affect not just what’s going on in any particular moment but those that come afterward.
One significant way fantasy terrain is used in the plot is to act as an obstacle. It could be a treacherous mountain, a ravine, a thin strip of land flanked by violent waters, etcetera. Here, the protagonist must figure out a way to cross it, not just for himself but for his companions who are on the road with him. Viewers see how the world itself can conspire against the hero and he must dig deep within himself to find a way to move forward which makes for scintillating drama.
Besides serving as an obstacle, terrain can also be the site of a seminal event, one that shapes the remainder of the plot. Suppose the hero and his party decide to cross a snowy mountain in the middle of winter, only for a blizzard to hit them before they know it. What if tragedy befalls the company on that mountain when one of them accidentally freezes to death or takes a wrong walk and falls into a deep icy chasm? The survivors must cope with the tragedy which affects each one of them differently as well as the decisions they make down the road.
In some cases, fantasy terrain becomes a training ground, a trial of fire, if you will, for the protagonist. He learns how to live off the land, what to do when faced with various threats like poisonous pests, quicksand, or violent animals. The lessons he learns here will pay dividends later on and give him the strength he’ll need to rid the world of the scourge plaguing it in the grand finale of the plot.
The final way terrain features in the story is to show snippets of the past that are relevant to the unfolding plot. Maybe a forest is reclaiming a battleground strewn with corpses that have long decayed or there’s a burn scar from a devastating fire that wrought great havoc upon a part of the world. They tell the viewers of a world that no longer exists in the present and how the one they’re seeing wound up in the state it’s in the story.
In the final analysis, fantasy terrain is a prominent component of both worldbuilding and the plot itself. By having different types, you can craft a tale that enriches the former and adds some gravitas to the latter. Showing how it impacts both makes the world feel real and dynamic which only fuels more interest in it!
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Thanks for reading this and until the next time,
Sunfire
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