Mountains Of Heterocera

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The mountain range of Heterocera are the highest mountains of the whole grid, the longest and by far they cover the largest surface from all mountain ranges. They have complex and interesting Geographic features. On the ap, they have the form of a horseshoe and they are the backbone of the Heterocera continent.

To get an idea about the size of Heterocera Mountains, they cover probably 60 sims (more then some small continents). The central mountain range crosses 26 sims and its length is 15 sims (3.84 km). Maximum Altitude can be found in here (364 to 389 meters, see below). They can be visited by multiple ways.

Geography

These mountains can be divided into 3 main regions:

Low Inner Mountains are not an official structure, but in practice they are an important feature. They form an almost vertical versance at their border with the inner plains. The VRC main railway travels exactly through this versance. This place has direct railway access, but there are also roads that follow the railway at some distance. To the exterior of the continent, they are continued with a plateau, also very good for constructions, but used mostly for parks, gardens and forests, sometimes with an incredible design.

Mountain Ridge is the bigest natural obstacle in all continents. These are the longest and the highest mountains in Second Life. No road passes from inner plains to outer plains, except along the coast. Only in East, the Mountain Railway climbs the high Pavonia Pass and allows access to Bembecia Hights. However, road 6 gives access to many mountain sims (walks at the bottom of the mountain ridge, without passing over it).

Low Outer Mountains are on the exterior side of the mountains. Unlike the inner mountains, they don't form a large plateau, but a lot of hills. In West, there are some sims without direct road or railway access, they are the most unpopulated sims in Heterocera. To East, they are full of railways and form a paradise for railroaders. The altitude slowly decrease to the coast plains.

By far, the most impressive of all are the structures found in the mittle, the central mountain range.

Central Mountain Range

This structure is highly visible between Nolidae sim in East and Athetis sim in West, as a high natural obstacle. It is continued in South even after these two sims, but it is not so impressive.

Its structure is one very complex. It can be divided in two large parts.

In East Range, altitude is unusually high. At Nolidae, it has 126 meters, but soon after that, after only two sims, it reaches 300 meters. It is not very sharp, it is easy to walk on its top, but it becomes really difficult to climb from South or North. Then, in Campion sim, there is the highest mountain. It is clearly visible as a very high place. On its top there is Castle Bella, a fortress. The mountain is also knowned as Castle Bella (even if the official name is Campion). To West, other peaks can be visible, where altitude rises above 300 meters: 357 in Campanula, 341 in Phasma and finally 302 in Plebeja. The mountains in Campanula and Phasma sims are visible on the map in North. Between them, there is a passage of 290 meters high.

Most notable is that all mountains found in East Range have a high declivity, so that it is really difficult to climb them by foot. Sometimes, it is impossible to climb in a straight line.

West Range is much lower. They are separated visible by the high mountain of Plebeja. Their altitude is usually below 200 meters. Near Plebeja, there is a maximum altitude in Astylus sim (191 meters), followed by a gap (163 meters). Other notable altitudes are 185 meters in Fucosa, 222 meters in Lota (maximum altitude in West Range) and 140 meters in Deltote. Then, altitude slowly decreases until it raches 120 meters.

In West Range, declivity is much smaller. It is more easy to climb the mountains by foot then in East. Mountain range is not as wide and it is not such an obstacle for air circulation. Even more, it ends in a forest.

Accesibility

There are multiple ways to visit the mountains. Access is possible by road, by railway or by foot. Protected Land parcels are present and allow an easy access way. Abandoned Land is also present and can be used as an alternative way to travel. Inhabited Land is usually passable, only in special cases Land With Restricted Access can be found.

Tourism

Mountains are so large that there are a few available touristic paths. A trip to these mountains can be done by train, by car, by motorbike, by horse or (more likely) by foot. It is recommended that you also have wings in some places, to get accross some parcels with restricted access. Keeping in mind that these mountains are very long, a trip might take up to an hour.

The following touristic routes are described in a similar way to that of a touristc guide.

• Touristic route 1 - mountain railway, mountain road and mountain tunnel
• Touristic route 2 - along the high peaks
• Touristic route 3 - from Burnott to Taeniatum accross the mountains
• Touristic route 4 - through Plebeja Mountain Retreat
• Touristic route 5 (border contact) - along the railway
• Touristic route 6 (border contact) - along road 3
• Touristic route 7 - ways to get to Casa Bella
• Touristic route 8 - a contact with West Range

Tourist Route 1

This is basically the road 6 (mountain road), but with small extensions.

We will start the journey at Crenulate railway station. This is because from Crenulate starts The Mountain Railway, Crenulate - Pavonia. If you don't have a train, don't worry. Every 3 minutes there is an automated train moving on this rail. The train will start climing from Crenulate to Pavonia. There are two smaller station, Bauerhoff (German-themed) and Parantherne. From Parantherne, small rails climb up to Bembecia and Hooktip, to a gigantic railway maze. But, if you want to get your train to whistle the cold air of the mountains, just before entering Pavonia station, go right at the last junction, to Pavonia Pass. A rusted railway passes over a wood mill and a lake, on a wooden bridge. It worth a visit, even without a train. Then, it continues East until it reaches Bembecia town.

Now, after we seen the bridge, it's time to return to Pavonia station. Railway ends here, at a big building. But, if we continue forward, there is a rusted tractor just behind the building. A small path can be visible at right, it will take you to a village, mountain rural villages of Pavonia and Saturnia. There are many things to visit there. But we go forward and a bit to left. Soon, a country road starts to take shape. First, there are no car tracks, all is covered with grass. Then, a very damaged country road becomes visible. This is road 6, Mountain Road, that will take us closer to the mountains.

Road 6 is not a place for fast cars. It is in fact a good place to go by foot, by motorbike, by mountain bycicle, by foot or with a land rover. There are vehicle rezz zones. The road is almost entirely a country road, unpaved and unasphalted.

After we started our jurney in Nolidae, the mountains are highly visible. Declivity is so high that land becomes almost vertical. Road is fixed with wood logs and only on rare occasions with concrete. Then, at the border to Perizoma sim, road passes over a long wood bridge. Altitude here reaches 150 meters. Another long wood bridge is visible soon. We enter Campion sim. Here, a sign announces us that we are passing mount Champion, the highest mainland mountain. It is also the highest mountain of the whole grid, not only mainland. If your feet are strong enough, you can try climbing to the top. But, more easy is to visit this mountain by touristic route 2.

Now, we continue our jurney along route 6. Between Champion and Campanula, it circles around a depression, offering a large visibility to the nearby mountains.

We pass over other bridges, where the road could not be built another way. Sometimes there are places where any traveler can stop and relax. More even, the landscapes deserve a look. From the road, anybody can see the lower inner mountains, to the railway. If we have a car, it is recommended to go slow, because the road is full with holes. Plenty of time to watch the landscape. And not only. There is a tunnel, the only road tunnel on Heterocera.

Then, in Plebeja, something changes. There is visible a path to left. It is built of concret, but without stairs. If time allows, we can walk along this path. It will take us from 140 meters to 302 meters high, but not just once. There are are multiple stops along the path. Up, on mountain top, there is Simple's Mountain Retreat. The path continues to North (see path 4).

But we continue our jurney along road 6. After leaving Plebeja sim, we enter in the Western part of the mountain range. This is visible because declivity is no longer so high. Road is here much easy built. Anykind of pavement ends here. The road is covered with grass. This is a pleasant surprise if you ride a horse, a much softer ground. Trees are all around near the road. From place to place, we can find a log to sit on and relax our feet. We will walk a long distance on this smooth pavement, until things will change. On left, columns of marble are visible, while on right the mountains are much smaller. Here, you can climb them to the top of the mountain range at any moment to take a picture. Then, for a small sector, road is paved, but not as large as required for a trunk to drive.

Nature lovers will have another surprise: Sometimes, the road is passed by some sort of bugs and even by rats that soon vanish inside the lush vegetation that has a tendince to block the road.

All changes in Athetis sim. Here starts a long wall. It has 11 sims length (2.8 km) and passes through 13 sims. It has no official name, but can be named Great Heterocera Wall after the much longer Great Chinese Wall. This long wall has a very long inner tunnel. The road enters directly in the tunnel and for a long distance we are surrounded by massive blocks of stone. If you have wings, you can fly to the top of the wall, where is a road. On the top, it looks like on the Great Chinese Wall, only that this one is larger and more shorter. From the bottom, there are holes from place to place. These holes allow a traveler to enter in a hidden chamber and then to exit the wall at its base. We must walk with caution because at sim crossing it is possible to fall between the stones.

The wall ends in Horisme sim. There is an Egyptean temple, with statues and paints. If we walk through the tunnel, it ends into a block of stone. To right, there is a hole that allows access to the temple, 5 meters above ground. If we come by walking above the wall, there is a swiming pool above the temple. We stay a bit to admire the temple, then we walk forward, on the stairs. There are a few pigeons on the stairs that explode when touched.

If you wish to walk along touristic path 1 from West to East, here you have two ways: 1. Enter the temple, then fly through the hole in the right wall. 2. Fly on top of the temple to the swiming pool and take the road from there. If you search the temple, there is a way to enter to an underground chamber, but not to a road.

From the temple, we can continue our jurney on a road. Take the road to left. It will take us through a plateau and some hills to Neumogen railway station. This is a classic, paved, Heterocera road, called Robin Loop. Our jurney ends at Neumogen station. If we walked slowly, it took us more then a SL day.

Tourist Route 2

This is the central mountain range of Heterocera. Almost no roads exist here.

This route is recommended only for those who have strength enough to walk large distances. flying is also required for small distances, so better take some wings inside your package. Parts of this route are common with the first one. This is the best way to get a full contact with the high mountains this continent has.

So, we start our jurney again in Crenulate railway station and we follow the rail to Pavonia and then to Nolidae. This is common with route 1. Now, once we entered Nolidae sim, the mountain range starts to be visible. First, it is very small, but then it grows up to a large mountain. We start to climb by foot or by horse. No vehicle can take us forward here. The mountain range is very sharper in here, but it will get larger. First, it is very easy to get accross parcels of abandoned land. Then, an entity orb forces us to fly fast and in 15 seconds to get to an empty place. Altitude grows higher then 200 meters. A path allows some access and there are a few sheeps around here. In sim Brocade, a path allows access to right, to road 3. In that point altitude is 270 meters and there is an alien where the road ends on the mountain range. Altitudes start to raise above 300 meters.

See Also

Second Life Geography

List Of Continents

Heterocera