Meteor Impact of the Mesa Flatlands

      During the second age the Mesa Flatlands were an expansive area of unsettled land, brimming with wildlife. It was an untouched ecosystem that housed plants and animals like flowers, cacti, bison, snakes, and lizards. One evening that later became known as "Starfall", a meteor shower pelted the flatlands with over one hundred meteorites. The land was rocked and scarred in ways previously unfathomable. What was once a landscape teeming with life, soon became a wasteland.
      The impact of the meteorites caused shock waves that split the land. It triggered rock slides from the mesas, and the reverberation from the impact also triggered a nearby fault line that resulted in further earthquakes. In the craters, a different problem arose. The meteorites carried with them a symbiotic life form that was looking for hosts. This life form wanted sentient creatures, but did not steer away from plants either. It would overtake plants and cacti, sucking the moisture and nutrients from the soil before moving on. When it found an animal it could inhabit it would latch on to the animal and fight for mental dominance. When it took control of the animal, it would then look for bigger prey to inhabit. Doing this, it worked its way up the food chain, eventually taking over apex predators of the area.
      Over the next three years, the symbiote had consumed the nutrients from the plant life and soil of the flatlands, and taken over and attached to most of the animals in the area. The once thriving flatlands were now a desolate wasteland. A desert that was so devoid of energy, that the very air reeked of death. The symbiote continued its trek outward, seeking further life to inhabit. But the devastation it caused to the Mesa Flatlands could not be undone.

Type

Natural