HAVEN The Post Apocalyptic Event Experience September 25th-27th 2020. Newark Showgrounds, Nottinghamshire. What is Haven? Haven is a brand new event that creates a post apocalyptic immersive world for you to be part of. Haven is part Mad Max, part Fallout and fully enjoyable. What is Post Apocalypse? From nuclear war to zombie outbreaks, apocalyptic disasters have been a popular theme in books, games and films. Haven gives you a chance to escape to a post apocalyptic world for just two days before returning to everyday life. Is this an LARP game, a festival or a convention? Simple answer is none of those. Haven is about creating a believable imaginative world for you to enjoy. It’s about world building and creativity. Oh and about having a good time, naturally. Where and when is Haven? Haven will be held over the weekend of 25th-27th September 2020 at the Newark Show-ground, Nottinghamshire. Just one mile from the A1. Can anyone come to Haven? Yes it is open to everyone. Minors must be accompanied and there are some evening areas which are adult only. You must however join in with our immersive theme. Haven is for participants only, no spectators. Do I have to wear costume to come along? Yes you do. Where should I stay? Haven is geared up for camping including toilets and showers. You can of course stay offsite at a hotel etc if you prefer. Your camping is included in your ticket. What about vehicles? Of course we will be having PA vehicles at Haven. We also offer discount tickets for approved vehicles. Where can I get more information? Your first port of call is our page on Facebook. Just put a search in for “Haven Outpost”. There is also a general discussion group on Facebook at “PA- U.K.” What can I expect at Haven? We are creating an immersive post apocalyptic world with amazing vehicles and features. Lots of workshops, activities and features during the day from costuming tips to “The Gauntlet”. Live music and entertainment with some of the World’s leading PA acts too. Above all though, this is a community where you can make friends and have a great time. Who is running Haven? Haven is a grand new project from Chronoclasm; the company which operates The Asylum, the world’s largest and longest running steampunk festival. With that sort of pedigree you know you are in safe hands. What will it cost and how do I buy tickets? Tickets have not yet been released. We are projecting they will be around £55. This will include your camping. Further information will go out via our social media feeds in due course. BACKGROUND: The Great Ending Some say it all started over a loaf of bread. Whether the scandal over the toxic pesticide or simply climate change itself, grain values quadruple overnight. Bread suddenly was priced out of reach of most people. Of course the rich weren’t bothered. It didn’t really affect them that food had become scarce overnight. Money devalued and people were afraid. People suffered. As the chemicals scandal grew and climate worsened more and more foods were suddenly unavailable. Medicines too. People started to get hungry and sick. Famine and Pestilence were the first two riders to show their faces. Desperation led to demonstration. Demonstration to riot. Riot to “police actions”. Governments felt compelled to pressure neighbours. War rattled his ever sharp sabre. No one knows who fired the first shots. All we know is The Ending had arrived and Death stalked the Earth. (We are keeping things deliberately sketchy so as not to restrict people’s own creativity. The nature of the apocalypse itself is amorphous. We are suggesting it happened around 20 years prior to the event and that technology was at today’s level when it all happened.) THEME AND COSTUME GUIDELINES Haven is a place of safety for survivors in the post apocalyptic world. This is where people come together to trade, socialise and mark another year of surviving The Ending. Haven is unusual. It is an immersive event. Our objective is to make it feel as if you are entering a world where life is something we need to hang onto with both hands and celebrate. This experience relies upon everyone being costumed. We are not looking for spectators. This is about participation. Our objective is to create a post apocalyptic fantasy world where everyone fits and is part of that world. This does not mean expense. Raiding your wardrobe for clothes you no longer wear then distressing them to give a “20 years after the end of civilisation” look costs nothing but time and a little effort. Upcycled accessories and ingenious solutions to life’s demands make a total look. How have you modified, decorated, embellished and repaired your clothing and belongings as you have spent time in the often hostile world after The Ending? Haven has four areas: “Haven” itself - all undercover and the main focus of the experience. “Hinterland” - our themed camp and outdoor area where the majority of theme vehicles are displayed etc. “The Mustering” - our camping areas and parking where the rules are relaxed for your comfort and where your camps, clothing and vehicles do not need to be themed and, of course the necessary “Outsides” where essential infrastructure e.g. toilets and showers are available. So your camp and vehicle does not need to be themed (unless you want to of course*) if you are camping in The Mustering. If you have negotiated for your tribe to be part of The Hinterland however you are a part of everyone’s experience and we really appreciate the extra effort you are making. (*Theming your camp in The Mustering is a great way to add to the event and your experience. You will be allocated space closer to Haven and may be offered space in Hinterland at future events.) We don’t have a fixed theme tying the experience to a single film or game franchise as we don’t want to limit your creativity however we do expect things to look as though civilisation collapsed two decades previously. Everything should show signs of distress and wear and tear. Sorry the argument that you found it in a vault and it had survived unscathed doesn’t wash. Something may be really precious to you but when you made that grand trek to rescue your missing Aunt you ended up sleeping in ditches to avoid the Reavers. Of course the shopping mall has piles of old clothes but you daren’t go in there with the radiation level quite so high. As a rule of thumb if you have to explain why something you are wearing is post apocalyptic and fits the theme, quite simply IT DOESN’T. So even if you are a vault dweller venturing out let’s see your vault suit less than pristine. You may have been a soldier before the ending and value keeping your rifle immaculately clear of rust but you haven’t been able to re-blue it so the metal and furniture will be showing signs of wear and tear. We also ask that for year one at least please do not include any heavily sci-fi influenced costumes. We know that an alien or robot costume isn’t real even if it is fantastically well done. This will break the suspension of disbelief. Similarly we will not be including zombies in Haven. Whilst zombie outbreaks are a common trope within the genre zombies and survivors would not be mixing within the safety of Haven. The walking dead would be outside the wire. Want some ideas on how to create the look? Think distressed, dishevelled, improvised, embellished and decorated. The later Mad Max films, the Book of Eli and the Fallout game franchise are great starting points. Would your outfit look out of place as a background character in any of these? Take a look online at the costumes people wear to other post apocalyptic events especially the awesome Wasteland Weekend. The Wasteland Weekend photographs are also a fantastic resource of ideas for how to theme your camp. Folks there make great use of fabric and textiles (which is suitably aged and distressed of course) for easy and cheap theming for example. Your aim is to make it clear to anyone you meet that you are a hardened survivor of a series of world ending events. You have been to hell and back in the struggle to stay alive. Even if you did have a quiet peaceful cottage in the hills to hide in and spent your time there in a cardigan and slippers you don’t want to look an easy mark for some of the predators around Haven. Who knew the end of the world has a dress code? Now you don’t have to go to enormous effort to fit the theme. Torn and aged trousers with a distressed and weathered hoodie for example is all you need to fit in. To be frank it can take more effort to break the theming by trying too hard to be clever, to stand out or push the boundaries. We are not restricting your creativity. We are simply asking you to channel it into creating a believable post apocalyptic world for everyone. We will not be embarrassed to say “sorry but that does not fit theme, please remove it before coming in”. Attendance at the event is explicitly open ONLY to people who will be joining in with the overall theme.