Slic Mountains

File:Mrulbri bowl.jpg

Mrulbri Bowl, a steep montane bowl, with Kalmersberg to the right

The Slic Mountains, also referred to as Slic (/zliːts/) is a mountain range in north-central Vyvland, lying mostly in Seerm proivince, but with parts located in the neighbouring Wesel, Stanmer and Kros provinces. The range contains the twelve highest mountains in Vyvland, including the country's highest, Kalmersberg, which rises to 2645 metres above sea level, and its second-highest, Asgerhorn. Other notable geographical features include the Slic Falls, Vyvland's largest waterfall, and the Mrulbri Bowl, a large mountain-encircled plateau. Slic National Park, covering the majority of the province, is the largest of four in Vyvland.

The mountains contain a diverse range of flora and fauna, with western sides of the range experiencing colder weather and being the location of coniferous forest in contrast to. As well as forming a geographical divide, the mountains form a cultural divide between east and west, or Stanmer and Vlud in Vyvland; this divide was more significant in the days of Vyvlander partition when the mountains had to be crossed to get between the two halves of North Vyvland.

The Slic Falls

Geology

The Slic area was caused by a geological uplift roughly 400 million years ago, although the mountains are still being formed to this day. The majority of the rocks which make up the mountains are sedimentary or metamorphic, a significant proportion of which are limestone or marble at various stages of metamorphosis. Due to the abundance of marble in the region, many Vyvlander buildings were built out of Slic marble, including the Vyvlander Parliament building in Lorence.

Geography

File:Slic.png

A map of the Slic area

Geographically, the highest mountains form a belt running from the north-east to the south-west, with the River Slic making a gap in this around the location of the Slic Falls. Above the falls lies the secluded Slicel Valley, in which lies the eponymous city of Slicel, which has approximately 140,000 inhabitants. The valley rises up to the town of Hoikrov at the northern end of the Slic mountains. The arm of the mountains to the west of Slicel looks over the city of Lyksdal and its surrounds, while to the east of the valley lie the highest mountains in Vyvland, in the area known as the Kalmerskede. On the other side of these lies the Mrulbri Bowl, the coldest area of Vyvland, which attracts millions of visitors per year. The area is also famous for the branch of the A26 which runs through the area; it rises to over 1200 metres in height, and makes many turns on its course in the narrow valley behind the top of the Mrulbri Bowl, near the university and town of Vreusdi.

To the north of this area is the skiing and former Winter Olympic host town Kreuveld, the vicinity of which contains many other high mountains. A smaller range of mountains around one thousand metres in height lead to the Krov, a relatively flat high plateau area, which is outside the boundaries of the National Park.

History

The mountains have been culturally important for years, holding some of the earliest-produced historical artefacts in Vyvland, including the Jrojesdon mace, a large war axe dating from the 500s AD, around the time of the first settlers in Vyvland. However due to the difficult terrain, little habitation has developed in the area. One notable exception is the city of Slicel, which is the second largest in its province of Seerm and sits at the heart of the range; the city grew as a strategic point between the Jrojesdon pass to the city's west, the Slic valley, running nouth-south, and the Aljerpas to the southwest, which leads to Lyksdal.

Historically, the Slic mountains were a place of religious hermitage; numerous abandoned monasteries line the sides of the Slicel Valley, and in the inaccessible southern mountains. However, many of these monks and other religious hermits were driven away from the area by the harsh winters of 1887-95, when crops in the area failed to the extent that only ten percent of 1885 levels were harvested ten years later. This also caused a large population decline in the area due to widespread famine exacerbated by the difficulty of transport of food supplies from elsewhere and the cold conditions. After the famine, many inhabitants of the mountains moved to the rapidly industrialising city of Lyksdal, which lies below the western flanks of the mountains.