Set d.fixed on the desired nodes to true, and initialize d.x and d.y to the desired position. These nodes will then still be part of the simulation, and you can use the normal display code (e.g., setting a transform attribute); however, because they are marked as fixed, they can only be moved by dragging and not by the simulation.
See the force layout documentation for more details (v3 docs, current docs), and also see how the root node is positioned in this example.