Meseta (pronounced meh-SEH-tah) is a type of parasitic ice crystal that feeds off the liquid within living creatures. Originally found in the southern Stormlands - they are somewhat common in Uulam and Akatzar - they have additionally spread to the Wounds, where they have thrived despite, or perhaps because of, the tropical climate.
Typically found in glacial crevasses and low-lying areas within the steppes of the Stormlands, and in volcano-shaped caves in the Wounds, meseta wait for animals or people to approach before joining together to form a crystaline structure reaching out towards them. Should they grab the creature they then stab it to keep hold, all while spreading over the surface of their skin, pulling blood out and incorporating it into the amalgamated form of the meseta. Victims are left as drained husks while the meseta retreats back to the darkness of its lair.
Meseta are considered to grow in colonies, which can simultaneously be thought of as singular entities - a meseta large enough to fit in a palm and one as tall as a tree are equivalent in all ways but physical size, a divide that can be closed quickly.