# Character State: ch-25

## Marcus Thorne
Location: The North Bank Citrus Grove, Cypress Bend, Florida.
Physical: Singed hair on forearms; smelling of kerosene and woodsmoke; frost-nipped fingers.
Emotional: Primal and grounded; experiencing the "analog high" of a successful physical defense.
Active obligations: Owes Sarah a life free from indexing (Ch-01) — IN PROGRESS; Owes Leo a future beyond the Mesh (Ch-12) — IN PROGRESS.
Open loops: The Ocala "Ghost" Signal (Ch-22) — UNRESOLVED; The Avery-Quinn "Deep Scan" Retaliation (Ch-25) — UNRESOLVED.
Known secrets: CARRIED (Ch-01—unresolved): Knows the Alpha-7 empathy protocols were a lie to facilitate mass firings — Julian does NOT know he kept the back-end logs.
Arc: 135% -- Marcus has fully transitioned from a digital architect to a physical steward, prioritizing the "biological clock" over system uptime.
Permanent: YES

## Sarah Jenkins
Location: The Kitchen Hub / Porch, Cypress Bend, Florida.
Physical: Exhausted; soot-stained face; steady hands.
Emotional: Protective and vigilant; the "Sovereign" of the domestic interior.
Active obligations: None.
Open loops: The Seed of Barter (Ch-21) — RESOLVED.
Known secrets: CARRIED (Ch-01—unresolved): Knows the Alpha-7 empathy protocols were a lie to facilitate mass firings — Julian does NOT know she has weaponized that detachment.
Arc: 120% -- Sarah has successfully integrated the "Status: Active" life into a permanent agrarian reality, acting as the community's emotional and logistical triage lead.
Permanent: YES

## Elena
Location: The Thermal Perimeter / Server Shed, Cypress Bend, Florida.
Physical: Shivering; eyes bloodshot from monitoring high-alpha sensor feeds in the cold.
Emotional: Tactically satisfied; wary of the heat-bloom's visibility.
Active obligations: Owes Marcus a physical failsafe (Ch-10) — UNPAID.
Open loops: The Sanctuary Integrity (Ch-25) — UNRESOLVED.
Known secrets: CARRIED (Ch-10—unresolved): Knows the manual axe-throw is the only physical failsafe for the power line — Marcus does NOT know.
Arc: 125% -- Elena has realized that physical warmth is a tactical vulnerability that requires "analog" courage to maintain.
Permanent: YES

## David
Location: The North Bank Citrus Grove, Cypress Bend, Florida.
Physical: Back strained from hauling fuel; frost on beard; fully healed from ribs (Ch-17).
Emotional: Tectonic and steady; trusting Marcus as a peer in the muck.
Active obligations: Owes Helen a legacy (Ch-01) — IN PROGRESS.
Open loops: None.
Arc: 130% -- David has transitioned from a skeptical sentry to a collaborative patriarch, accepting the technical mesh as part of the land's "nervous system."
Permanent: YES

## Arthur Silas Vance — DECEASED (Ch-01)
Established: Died peacefully in his sleep after ensuring the "dead-zone" logic was intact.
Legacy: His hoarded smudge pots and legacy land-knowledge provided the physical means to survive the hard freeze.

# World State: ch-25

## NPC Memory
- Julian Avery (Avery-Quinn Corp): WATCHFUL -- View Cypress Bend as a "Thermal Anomaly" -- Intends to investigate the unauthorized heat bloom detected during the freeze.

## Faction Attitudes
- Avery-Quinn Corp: PREDATORY -- Analyzing the sector for "Human Baseline" signatures.

## Active World Events
- The Hard Freeze: ACTIVE -- Five-year anomaly testing the Sanctuary’s physical limits.
- The Sovereign Mesh: ACTIVE -- Successfully masked the technical noise, but failed to fully mask the thermal signature of the smudge pots.