New Horizons

New Horizons is a Subcontinent and a City located in North Zindra. SLGI team gave it the transitory name **B132**.

## History

New Horizons was built in 2016, after the great success of New Horizons Spaceship which explored Pluto. There even is a sim in the area, named *New Horizons Pluto*. It was the first major land building project initiated by the Linden officials after they ended their building projects in Gaeta 1 in 2010. At that time, for over 6 years, Second Life had been slowly but constantly depopulating. The construction of New Horizons was a signal for the world that Second Life is not going to die, but will be around for many years to come.

New Horizons showed a radical different approach and a return to the old approach that existed at the beginning of Second Life. While in the beginning the Lindens were building with much care on small land details and were providing a detailed infrastructure, during the boom expansion (2007 to 2009) they were building large surfaces of land, without many details. New Horizons was built with an extensive network of roads and waterways, with many parks and with small parcels for residents.

## Structure

The subcontinent is symmetrical, having a rhomboidal shape. It measures 10 sims from North to South and also 10 sims from East to West. Such a symmetry has not been seen since 2006 and the construction of Heterocera.

* Residential sims: 36
* Water sims: 12
* Parks, infohubs: 12
* Total size: 60 sims.

## Geography

As one can see on the altitude map, the land is usually low. There are a few hills, that might even be considered mountains, but they are limited to small areas and of less importance.

The subcontinent can be divided into several distinct areas.

### Residential Areas

There are 36 sims that host land parcels set for residential use. These sims look similar. These sims have navigable waterways, which are connected to the waterway network of North-West Zindra. Canals are usually 4 m deep. Navigation is limited to boats, as bridges are usually low. Some canals have reinforced concrete walls, while others are left more natural and look like rivers.

There is an extensive network of roads, spanning through the entire area. The roads are linked into North, South, East and West sectors.

Most of the land is flat, but there are a few hills, usually along the canals. There, altitude measurements revealed peaks of over 30 m high. In most of cases, these small mountains are on protected land.

Residential parcels are all of the same size: 1024 m. Their surface is smooth and flat. Terraforming is not allowed.

Each sim hosts a central area, which is named as *Central*. There, one can find a statue, a monument or another large building. There are no two identical constructions.

### Water Sims

There are 12 water sims, separating the center from the residential areas. There, the water has a different texture then other mainland water sims. The sea floor has dunes and no vegetation. The water sims are connected with waterways from the residential canals and with waterways of North-West Zindra.

### Sci-Fi Parks & Infohubs

The subcontinent has an interesting design, with 6 central parks, 4 infohubs located in the corners and two big islands.

**Infohubs.** They are four, symmetrical and identical. All four share a modern, shiny design, with a central meeting area (where you will land if you teleport here). They also have social gardens. The overall look of an infohub is somehow similar to images from Star Trek or Star Wars. There are large rounded roofs that look similar to an UFO.

**Community Regions** are two, similar. They are similar in design with the infohubs.

**Sci-Fi Parks** are located in the center and cover 6 sims. They are named from *Horizons A1* to *Horizons A6*. They all look like places built by a highly advanced space civilization. Each of these places has a different environment, different sun settings and landscapes. They are designed for roleplays and games.

* *Horizons A1 - Homebase*
* *Horizons A2 - The Canyon*
* *Horizons A3 - Mines*
* *Horizons A4 - Forest*
* *Horizons A5 - The Swamp*
* *Horizons A6 - Command Center*

There are endless surprises that one can find in these six sims. From a highly advanced city from the future, to wildernesses filled with aliens and robots, secret alien bases and forbidden technologies, anything can be found here.

## Land Status

From the 60 sims that form the subcontinent, 36 are residential and 24 are Protected Land. Among the residential sims, a significant part of land is protected land too. So, Inhabited Land covers less then half of the total surface of the subcontinent. Initially, land prices were low, but as for 2020 they are growing. Inhabited land is in the form of parcels of equal size, 1024 m. Terraforming is forbidden.

Land does not allow objects entry, both on inhabited and on protected land.

No Abandoned Land was detected during the 2020 survey.

Land texture is different from other textures used on any mainland part. Also, the central sims have each a different land texture, sky design and day-night timeline. The whole subcontinent appears to benefit from longer periods of sunlight then mainland.

## Access

The best way to reach the subcontinent is by teleporting to an infohub. There, one can rezz a vehicle at the outer platforms. Of course, access is possible through teleporting on all parcels of protected land. Also, it is possible to reach Kama City by sailing or flying.

There is an extensive network of roads in residential areas, doubled with a network of navigable canals.

To visit the central 6 sims, the best way is to teleport inside them or fly to them.

## See Also

* Second Life Geography
* List Of Subcontinents
* Zindra