Heterocera Inner Waters
NOTE: THIS ARTICLE IS BEING CREATED. ESTIMATED FINISH DATE: MARCH 20TH 2014 The old continent of Heterocera hosts some unique Geographic places. It is a world of contrasts, from the high Mountains Of Heterocera to the complex maze of channels in the delta.
Overall
The wetlands in center are inhabited places, with enough Protected Land to allow access to almost all percels. They also host a huge biodiversity, not found in other places. Altitude is usually low, only 1 meter above sea level, while in the flooded area, Water is not deep. There are places with shallow water where a conventional avatar does not need to swim. By contrast, in the voids, altitude drops close to zero.
Unlike almost any other places, ground texture is that of a coral structure. Corals can be found anywhere. Vegetation is also present, with many algae below water level and trees and swamp plants above sea. Fauna is also present, with stocks of fish, dolphins and even sharks. This is important for any Geograph. Even if we name some parts of the wetlands Inner Delta or Outer Delta, they are not actually deltas. A rl delta is created by sediments carried by a river into a lake or an ocean. Ground is soft, muddy or sandy. Big stones are only carried by human activites, to stabilise waterways. Usually, water is not clean, it is also muddy and it's almost impossible to walk on water bottom, since you will find yourself trapped in mud. Heterocera deltas are of coral origin, with clean water and solid ground, not sedimentary origin.
Still, it is not clear if the water is salty or not. Is it sea water or not? There are no informations about the subject.
Abandoned Land is not often found, but land for sale can be found occasionally. Land With Restricted Access is rare. Majority of residents are friendly.
Transportation
There is a lot of protected land, covering a complex network of navigable channels. The main way of transportation is by water. Heterocera is, however, not a recommended place giant ships. A transatlantic will not find its way through the sharp shwllow channels. There are also private-owned parcels where residents allow boats to enter their land. A high number of docks exist along the coast, the vast majority of them are private-owned. Still, there are not many connections over the coast line.
Road transportation is also developed. In South, there is a long wooden bridge over the inner delta, with passages for boats. The fact that this bridge crosses over many water channels and it also has a few rezz zonex boosted the local economy, so there are almost no parcels of abandoned land along it. Another bridge connects the inner atoll with the inner plain of the outer atoll. There are two important border roads, one close to the coast (accross the inner plain) and the other one creates the road system of the inner atoll.
Railway access is at border locations, in Tuliptree and Bhaga - Busiris. In past, the West Atoll Railroad gave access to Hera and Rustic sims, with their own docks, but currently this rail system no longer exists.
Automated transportation exists and is developed as follows:
- In the outer delta, the VRC ferry connects Tuliptree and Bhaga docks.
- Along the bridges and the border roads, there are automated vehicles (scheduled or roaming vehicles) like on all roads of Heterocera.
- There are a few Yava script pods in service, both along border roads, bridges or the inner channels. These high-tech convertable vehicles become boats while moving on water, pods on road and trains on rail. The most easy way to find them is in Tuliptree rail station.
- Two SLGI Trains fly above the delta every 6 hours.
Until now, no free-moving boats exist in the delta.
Structure
The inner waters can be divided into a few distinct places: the inner lake, the outer lake, the inner delta, the outer delta and the multitude voids. Also, water surface has an important effect on coast communities. This is why the inner delta and the inner atoll must be described here too.
The Inner Lake (Zygaena) is small, the size of two sims. It is not connected to the ocean. The bigest part of the lake is inside Zygaena sim. The lake floor is smooth, gray and populated with a small number of sea plants. In the center of the lake, there is an abandoned notecard giver. Even if the lake is small, it has its own port and even submarines. Also, the inner lake is 40 meters above sea level. It looks like a lake with sweet water.
Inner Atoll has a circular shape and is formed of a ring of low mountains (or hills) around the inner lake. To the exterior, the mountains are smaller and are replaced with smaller hills. The inner atoll has two roads that form two rings, one close to the inner shore and one near the outer shore.
The Larger Lake has a circular shape, around the inner atoll. Water is not deep, but navigation is not a problem. The lake is usually one sim wide (in East), but expands up to more then two sims in some parts in West. The lake is full of polders (artificial islands). Also, there are many coral islands that usually don't rise more then 1 meter above sea level. To create an island is sometimes very easy, since in many places water is less then 4 meters deep, so an island could be easy created by terraform. The lake floor is covered with corals. The local fish and algae population is not high. The outer lake has many big and small ports.
The Inner Delta is the water structure that connects the outer lake with the ocean. Usually, the water is not deep (sometimes less then 4 meters). Many wooden bridges connect the shores with the parcels inside the delta. These bridges are usually about 50 cm above water, but sometimes they are higher, to allow ships to pass. The navigation ways are protected land. On the map, they are visible as channels inside the delta. There are some places called Void. These are protected waters and usually are deeper. The temple of Isis is the center of the delta.
The Voids are places with deep water, always protected land. They cover entire sims and separate inner and outer delta. They are good places for navigation.
Inner Plains are close to the shores of the atoll. They are a very good place to build. It is not a real plain. Altitude raises slowly from lake shore. There is a road that follows this plain at some distance to the shore. Since land has direct road and water access (and indirect railway access), the majority of parcels are busy. There are a lot of ports and other coast constructions, but there are only a few connections of protected land accross the shore.
The Outer Delta is at the continent exterior. Its waters are deeper then the inner delta. It consists of many low islands (coral islands) and submerged parcels, connected with protected waterways. It doesn't look like a classic sedimentary delta. The islands are made of corals and the sea floor is also of coral origin.
Tourist Ways
The following material is edited in the same way a touristic guide is usually made. Second Life Geography Team propose a few tourist routes that might be of interest. It is recommended that you have a boat and that the boat is small, to fit in the chanels and below the bridges.
- Tourist route 1: from Tuliptree to Bhaga along the VRC ferry
- Tourist route 2: from Tuliptree to Bhaga along the wooden bridge
- Tourist route 3: deep inside the outer delta
- Tourist route 4: deep inside the inner ddelta, temple of Isis
- Tourist route 5: along the inner plain (border contace)
- Tourist route 6: along the inner atoll
- Tourist route 7: the inner lake
- Tourist route 8: along the outer lake.
Tourist Route 1
This is not an easy way to visit the outer delta, using the VRC ferry. Adventurers can use their own boats.
Like in a real delta, the entrance points are the nearby places with higher infrastructure. Railway terminals in Tuliptree and Bhaga are exactly what we need. The best place to start our expeditions is Tuliptree dock. When the train arrives to Tuliptree, the station is to left, while the dock is to right. Every 30 minutes, the ferry comes and takes passengers en route to Bhaga. There is an interactive pannel in the station where nearly all trains are visible and where you can see current ferry position. The journey to Bhaga takes 30 minutes. Since the ferry needs 15 minutes to reach its destination, it means that only one ferry is in service. The vehicle itself is yellow and large enough to host a car.
The ferry leavs Tuliptree dock after staying one minute. It finds its way around the shore through a few sharp channels. We enter the delta now. The change is almost instantly. First thing to observe is a multitude of islands. Altitude is much lower then at the railway station. Unlike rl, sea level is at 20 meters high, not at 0. Altitude zero is in fact 20 meters below sea level. Railway station is at 30 meters high, so 10 meters above sea.
We enter a maze of channels and islands that looks very confusing first. And it really is. Many protected waterways meet in this place. The ferry makes quick turns between channels. Now we can clearly see how sharp these passages are. Vegetation is anywhere around us. There are many small buildings on the islands and also unbuilt surfaces. Vegetation is present too, from palm trees to garden flowers.
The channel takes us to a larger open place, a void. Here, water is a bit more then 5 meters deep and water bottom is completely flat, unlike the channels where is anyhow but smooth. This is close to the border with Void Ocean, where nothing exists. Nothing can be seen here as far as the horison. Only on left side, we will see a few constructions, not islands.
The ferry takes us closer to a few islands. This is Hyles Swamp Infohub. This place has limited ground surface and is surrounded by water. It is almost impossible not to get wet here. The ferry stops one minute here, enough time to take a look. Then, we continue our journey along the void. For a few minutes, there will be nothing to see except endless waters. Then, we see again some islands in front of us. Another channel, this time wider, allows us to continue our trip. Buildings are on both sides, protected by a wall of vegetation. And again, we enter a void, this time smaller. For a long time, we will only see the ocean.
Then, in front of us a large ground surface is visible. This time it is the continent surface. It is a plain, but higher then any island and more compact. Ferry turns left along the coast. We are getting closer to the destination. Soon, we see a moving bridge. To left, there is Busiris sim, with its unconventional station, the only railway station beyond Bhaga. To right, we see Bhaga ferry terminal. Here if we leave the ferry and climb the stairs, we will find the railway station with its rezz zone for trains.
Ferry returns to Tuliptree on a different route, so it is a good iea to continue the trip by ferry. From Bhaga, we continue on a straingt line and enter another void (the third void entered). Main difference is that this time we follow border of the void. To left, we can see islands and buildings, some of them with elevated platforms and much vegetation. To right, we see nothing but the sea.
Then, we enter on a channel. The ferry moves much slower because of a double sim crossing. We turn right and enter the next channel, sharper. Again, we see a lot of islands and waterways between them. Main difference is that this time there are not so many turns left and right. We follow a single waterway to the continent shore, even if seen on a map, this channel is not in a straight line.
Then, we see a piece of high land. This is the continent, again. We arrived in Hera sim, on the Western side of Heterocera. Still, there is much way to tuliptree. Unlike all we seen until now, in front of us there is a massive dock, recently built. This place has suffered many changes. In past, there was a dock with railway access for WARR. Ferry stopped here. Now, it just turns left near the shore, to reach Tuliptree. To left, we see massive urban bildings, while on right there is a castle. We have entered one of the only straight-line channels in the delta. After a double sim crossing, we enter Tuliptree sim and reach back the dock. Our trip ends here.