# Character State: ch-05

## David
Location: The Ocala National Forest boundary, near the Silver River, Florida.
Physical: Soaked with aggressive humid heat; boots caked in prehistoric river marl; minor lacerations from saw palmetto.
Emotional: Primal and protective; experiencing a "weight" of ownership that feels like armor against the digital world.
Active obligations: Owes Sarah a life that doesn't require a login (Ch-05) — UNPAID.
Open loops: David and the "Gator" land agent's handshake (Ch-05) — RESOLVED.
Known secrets: None.
Arc: 20% — David has transitioned from a fugitive in transit to a titled landholder, anchoring his family in physical soil.
Permanent: YES

## Sarah
Location: The crumbling county bridge over the Ocala boundary waters, Florida.
Physical: Shivering despite the heat; fingers stained with ink from old maps; exhaustion visible in her slack posture.
Emotional: Hauntingly hopeful; she is treating the dirt as a "hard reset" for her identity.
Active obligations: None.
Open loops: Sarah and the abandonment of the "Dallas" digital footprint (Ch-05) — RESOLVED.
Known secrets: CARRIED (Ch-01—unresolved): Knows the Alpha-7 empathy protocols were a lie to facilitate mass firings.
Arc: 18% — Sarah has stopped looking at the rearview mirror and has begun to map the perimeter of her new reality.

## Leo
Location: The muddy bank of the Silver River, Florida.
Physical: Covered in swamp water and muck; no injuries.
Emotional: Pure, unoptimized joy; he is the first to successfully integrate with the "analog" environment.
Active obligations: None.
Open loops: None.
Known secrets: None.
Arc: 05% — Leo has moved from a "passenger" to an inhabitant of the wilderness.
Permanent: NO

## Arthur Silas Vance
Location: The Vance Cabin porch, Cypress Bend, Florida.
Physical: Moving with a "tectonic" slowness; right thumb rubbing an invisible grain of sand.
Emotional: Vindicated and watchful; he views David as the "heavy shadow" the land required.
Active obligations: Owes the "Broken" a sanctuary they can't be deleted from (Ch-05) — UNPAID.
Open loops: Arthur and the "Long Wait" for a successor (Ch-05) — RESOLVED.
Known secrets: Knows the "cloud" is a personal insult to the sky — Julian does NOT know Arthur's true physical location.
Arc: 25% — Arthur has successfully passed the "logic of the space" to a new generation, securing his legacy.
Permanent: YES

## Julian Avery
Location: Avery-Quinn Corporate HQ (Atmospheric/Remote).
Physical: Unseen.
Emotional: Predatory; analytical.
Arc: 08% — Julian remains a distant threat, his algorithms unable to index the "muck" of Ocala.

# World State: ch-05

## NPC Memory
- "Gator" Bill (Land Agent/Ocala): SATISFIED — Accepted a cash-heavy transfer for "unbuildable" muck — Viewed David as a "man with a ghost behind him."

## Faction Attitudes
- The Land (Ocala/Silver River): DOMINANT — It demands physical labor and sensory presence, rejecting digital abstraction.
- Avery-Quinn Corp: BLIND — The "analog" nature of the land purchase has created a statistical "dead zone" in their tracking.

## Active World Events
- The Buying of the Dirt: COMPLETED — The formal acquisition of the Ocala parcels has created a physical buffer against the Alpha-7 rollout.
- The Crossing: COMPLETED — The movement over the crumbling county bridge marks the final transition from the "Grid" to the "Sanctuary."