Intends to take one through the Steppes (6)
I believe the answer is:
plains
'the steppes' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both natural objects as well as being plural nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'intends to take one' is the wordplay.
'intends' becomes 'plans' (planning is a kind of intending).
'to take' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'one' becomes 'I' (roman numeral).
'plans' going around 'i' is 'PLAINS'.
'through' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for plains that I've seen before include "Grasslands" , "Large areas of level country" , "Prairies" , "Flat tracts of land" , "Large tracts of level open land" .)