The Ashfield was not the topographical render from the auditorium.
Vane understood this the moment they crossed the deployment threshold. The render had been accurate in structure. Northern forest, open southern ground, ruins on the eastern edge, all exactly where they were supposed to be.
What no render could carry was texture.
Texture was what the ground actually felt like underfoot. What the air tasted like at the sixth hour, cool and sharp. How the sightlines actually ran when you were standing inside them rather than looking down from above.
His tactical awareness sharpened immediately.
The open southern ground was wider than it had looked on the map. Standing at the threshold, Vane could see across the full southern third without obstruction. The render had communicated this as a fact.
Living inside the fact was different.
The exposure was total. From anywhere in the south, you could see everything. Which meant from anywhere in the south, you could be seen by everything.
