Highland Mountains: Difference between revisions

{{Status|Canon}}

The '''Highland Mountains''', or informally the 'Highlands' are a large range of alpine mountains located within the [[Viery Territory]] of the [[human colony]], and [[United Nations Space Command|UNSC]] fortress world [[Reach]].{{Ref/Site|Id=defiantend|D=01|M=6|Y=2020|URL=http://halo.xbox.com/en-us/intel/featured/video/defiant-to-the-end/f2595044-7e26-4928-a24b-8e1a2db3ce45|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Defiant to the End|Detail=(Defunct, copy on [https://web.archive.org/web/20110321202843/http://halo.xbox.com/en-us/intel/featured/video/defiant-to-the-end/f2595044-7e26-4928-a24b-8e1a2db3ce45 Wayback Machine])}} Located at the center{{Ref/Book|Id=enc22pg43|Enc22|Page=43}} of the northernmost continent<ref>''Halo: The Fall of Reach'', p. 216</ref> [[Eposz]],{{Ref/Novel|Halo: Shadows of Reach|Chapter=19}} the mountain range stretches many hundreds of kilometers, comprising thousands or tens of thousands of individual peaks. The Highland Mountains are mostly granite.<ref>''Halo: The Fall of Reach'', p. 229</ref> They were home to a large number of UNSC training complexes and top-secret research facilities.{{Ref/Reuse|enc22pg43}}

Wild [[list of food and drinks|blueberry]] bushes and [[cedar]] trees grew in the mountains.<ref>''Halo: The Fall of Reach'', p. 64-65</ref> East of the Highland Mountains is the [[Arany Basin]].{{Ref/Novel|SoR|Chapter=1}}

*[[Longhorn Valley]]

*[[ODG Facility A-331]]

**[[Reach Naval Academy|Naval Officers' Academy]]

[[File:HR Highlands Valley.png|250px|thumb|A part of [[Longhorn Valley]] at the mountains during the [[Fall of Reach]].]]

After the [[Fall of Reach]] on [[2552#August|August 30, 2552]], The Highlands were one of the few areas on Reach to escape the [[Covenant]] [[glassing|plasma bombardment]]{{Ref/Reuse|sorchapt18}}, though glassing did occur in the area on a small scale.{{Ref/Map|Halo: Reach|[[Highlands]]}} The Covenant concentrated their forces in the region and set up an extensive excavation operation around Menachite Mountain in order to uncover a massive [[Menachite portal complex|subterranean Forerunner structure]].<ref>''Halo: First Strike'', p. 184 (2003 edition)</ref>

 

A [[flag]] was recovered from the mountains and put on display at [[Outpost Discovery]].{{Ref/Generic|[[Halo: Outpost Discovery]]|[[Hall of History]] - Capture the Flag exhibit}}

 

 

The Highland Mountains experienced widespread ecological disaster in the wake of much of the planet's glassing. Firestorms from the surrounding plains spread up into the Highlands, burning entire forests and melting through rock. Months of black rain followed, washing the mountainsides bare, and causing landslides the size of cities to wash down into the lower valleys.{{Ref/Reuse|sorchapt18}}

 

By 2559, areas that had once been snow-covered slopes had been replaced by banks of seared dirt and charred stone. Entire meadows still lay blanketed in cinders and ash. Forested areas had been  replaced by bare stony wastelands, and valleys were filled in by kilometers-deep bogs of mud and ash. Small areas on the lower slopes however, showed signs of recovery, with foliage beginning to regenerate between the massive scars left by landslides.{{Ref/Novel|Id=sorchapt18|SoR|Chapter=18}}

 

<gallery>

File:TFoR AS - ReachMilCplx.png|Concept art of the [[Reach FLEETCOM Military Complex]] in the Highland Mountains.

</gallery>

 

*''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]'' {{1st}}

**''[[Halo: Fall of Reach - Invasion|Invasion]]''

*''[[Halo: Shadows of Reach]]''