The Heavenfield Locations

There are several key locations in the history of the Standing-Point Project, not least being the Heavenfield itself, and all that it contains.

The following pages are descriptions of some of those places, from the industrial halls of the Maunsworth Accelerator Array, to the brooding, ever-changing landscapes of the Great Ruins.

All of them played their role in the history of the Heavenfield, and are a reminder of those dark and turbulent days, that brought to world to the very brink of destruction.

The Standing-Point Field, or ‘Heavenfield’ as it has been dubbed, has cost countless lives in conflicts that have led the world to the very brink of war, and yet understanding of its reality, not to mention its very existence is still hotly contested by scientific communities across the globe.

The Discovery of The Heavenfield

The discovery of the Heavenfield can be accredited to late 20th century Soviet scientists, researching into Extreme Upper-Order Particle Transmissions. The world they discovered has proven both beautiful and unpredictable, governed by shifting rules, and populated by haunted memories.

As documented by Dr. Henschel, Head of Soviet research, during their first journeys into the Field they encountered an entity they dubbed an ‘Angel’. This creature warned them of the dangers humans faced, and that ultimately their presence would lead to a ‘Final War’.

Henschel and his followers determined they would dedicate themselves to the protection of the Field, and set about this task with messianic zeal. They faked their deaths and the destruction of their Array, and moved to an unknown location, but not before using the Field to appropriate the huge fortune necessary to fund their work.

An innocuous circle of stones marked the Maunsworth Entry-Point, the space where the Array Chamber opens out to the Heavenfield. During the struggles against the Exiles and the Americans, this area became the focal point of hostilities.

When the Exile Fortress was destroyed, the survivors marched on Maunsworth in a last-ditch effort to end the British Project. However, the entity Sheol and her army had followed them, intent on forcing a way through to the everyday world. The British, Americans and Exiles were forced into an uneasy alliance, defending the Entry-Point in what would later be known as the Battle of Maunsworth Field.

When Grace Palmer finally returned to the Heavenfield, her team discovered three ‘sentinels’ around the perimeter of the Entry-Point.

Forced together into an uneasy alliance, the British, American and Exiles fought together against the Demon army. The Entity Sheol and her forces marched down the broad valley towards the Entry-Point (E.P), trapping the allies against the high cliffs. Speers, in his new form, headed the Demon horde.

Gargantuan creatures of every nightmarish form were herded into battle by Sheol’s lieutenants, malevolent, horrifying devils. Vastly outnumbered, the allied soldiers fought in desperate defence, and would have been overwhelmed had it not been for a force of Angels coming to their aid.
Even then, this may not have been sufficient to turn the tide, but Thomas Sullivan, in defeating Sheol, broke the will of the Demon army which fled, purposeless back into the wastes.

A strange collection of buildings not far from the Maunsworth Entry-Point, different architectures melded disconcertingly into one another.

The British research team discovered the area on their second phase of expeditions into the Field, but were attacked by an Exile group before they could explore it fully. It was in this curious collection of buildings that Thomas Sullivan and Grace Palmer first encountered the Angel. The entity is believed to inhabit a tunnel system beneath the ruins, but subsequent searches by U.S. Troops failed to find its location.

After the Battle of Maunsworth Field, the ruins were overrun by demons. Most were dispersed upon the Americans return, when they set up a base of operations nearby [see Fieldbase Alpha- 9]. But one creature, LV-8 (referred to as ‘Old Nick’) could not be dislodged, and continued to feed upon the seemingly endless supply of ghosts in the area.

It has been postulated that the ruins themselves are a collection of psychological events imprinted onto the Field, each dwelling harbouring some traumatic memory, but there is no evidence to support this theory.

During Operation Underworld the U.S task force set up a series of defensive and observation posts, the largest of which was Field-Base Alpha-9. It is located on the edge of the ruined village and served as a forward-operating base for patrols into the Valley and the wreck of the Divinity.

Overrun during the operations to reclaim the Divinity, Field-Base Alpha-9 is now a ruin, and a place best avoided; home to many memories of the dead from the battle.

The garrison at FB-A9 comprised of around twenty soldiers with three Fieldships, a Field-Walker and two lightly-armed CrABs. A pressurised Habitation and Control Centre allowed troops to remove their protective gear, and a watchtower gave them a view over the ruins and the valley. The entire base is built from sections airlifted in and quickly assembled to provide an effective Base of Operations.

The area around the Exile Fortress is a vast, sprawling ruins, home to ghosts, Cold-Ones, and other unknown terrors.

The Fortress' location was chosen for its proximity to the Ghostfields, a place told to the first founders of the Exile cause by an Angel Entity. But upon the edge of this site were also the Great Ruins, which proved to be an endless cause for difficulties.

It is unknown as to whether the Ruins were born out of a concentration of ghosts in the area, or visa-versa, but the area was filled with entities, and became a place of fear for many Exiles.

Night-time patrols were particularly dangerous, and many new recruits were told chilling stories of terrors that lurked in the shadows.

Creation

There has been much speculation as to the nature of the Dead City, which seemed to appear from nowhere, but related somehow to Thomas Sullivan's desire to return from the Heavenfield.

What is known is that the vast city appeared to be a projection of both the Hayden Hill and Maunsworth Arrays, forming a link between the everyday world and the Field. Somehow the catalyst for the creation of the city appeared to have been the gathering together of thousands upon thousands of dead souls, somehow drawn by Sullivan under the influence of the mysterious Mouth of God entity.

The nature of these entities is as yet unknown, and some argue that the use of such superstitious terminologies can be somewhat misleading.

Beginnings

Maunsworth House can trace its history back hundreds of years, where it had been the family home to minor aristocracy. In the mid-18th century, inspired by his Grand Tour to Italy, a new owner, Lord Oxton, rebuilt Maunsworth House to reflect his love of the Baroque palaces and churches of Rome. Many of the existing buildings were demolished to make way for the house as it stands today.

By the early 20th century Maunsworth House and grounds had fallen into a state of disrepair, and at the time of its requisition in 1940 its sole occupant was the ageing Lady Oxton and her staff.

Having no surviving heirs after the war, and with the death of Lady Oxton during the House’s sole air-raid attack, the property and grounds (including extensive moorland) were kept as property of the Ministry of Defence right up until the present day.

At the onset of World War II, a brilliant young physicist named Hugo Escher was tasked with creating a group of scientists to assess the threats of new weapon technologies, and to conduct research of their own.

'Escher's Eccentrics' as this group quickly became known were actively encouraged to give complete free-reign to their imaginations - to dream of any idea, no-matter how seemingly-infeasible, which may go some way towards helping the war-effort.

In 1941, after a near-miss during a German air-raid, Escher became increasingly concerned over the group's current premises in an old disused flour mill in East London. Work was progressing on the energy-weapons project, and after a clandestine operation to sabotage the Wernberg Plasma Physics Laboratory (an operation led by Escher himself, for which he was decorated for bravery), information gathered there convinced the War Office to continue with the project, and the go-ahead was given to Escher’s Eccentrics to construct a Plasma Physics Research Centre of their own, and a working particle accelerator.

To this end, the War Office (upon Escher’s advice) requisitioned a property - a run-down Stately Home and grounds in the north of England, named Maunsworth House. The Eccentrics took possession of the House in the spring of ‘42, and Lady Oxton, the former owner, moved into the lodge house, where she remained on good terms with her ‘dear boys’ until she tragically lost her life in the House’s only air raid of the war.

Production Plant

Although not officially a part of the Research Centre, when political tensions were rising over sovereignty of the Heavenfield, the old underground levels beneath Maunsworth House were reopened and refitted as a production plant for suits and weapons.

It was connected to the Research Facility by an electric train tunnel, and in all but name was a part of the Maunsworth site.

Most of the environment suits and energy weapons that were used in the Heavenfield were produced here. By the time events were escalating towards the Battle of Maunsworth Field, demand for suits far outweighed production, and over-simplification of the designs led to many suit failures.

After the signing of the Field Treaty, the Production Plants were mothballed, and quickly fell back into a state of disrepair.

The Maunsworth Research Facility comprises of a surface level of administrative and public buildings (including research labs, a conference centre, Infirmary, Chapel, Laundry and cafe), as well as the surrounding military structures.

Beneath the surface are four sub-levels:

During the turbulent times of the Final War the Accelerator Arrays became the focal points of attack and defence, these being the only points of entry into the Field.

With the Array at Hayden Hill temporarily out of action, the Maunsworth Facility became one of the most important locations on the globe, under repeated attack from all sides.

Whoever controlled the Arrays controlled the Heavenfield...

Hayden Hill is the sister-facility to Maunsworth, housing an identical Accelerator Array. It was the location for the first British discovery of the Standing-Point Effect, but a later experiment was sabotaged by the Exiles, and the Facility was put out of action for some time.

During this period, work moved over to the Maunsworth Facility, and research continued, culminating in the first British expedition into the Field.

Hayden Hill, a large site of military and civilian buildings, was built atop an underground complex which stretched for miles in a series of labyrinthine tunnels.