# Character State: ch-17 (FINAL)

## Lena Duval
- **Location:** The Heart Tree (Siphon Hub Core)
- **Physical:** Apotheosis achieved. Neural pathways are permanently fused with the cypress root system. Skin emits a soft, rhythmic bioluminescence; she possesses no pulse, as her circulation is now the ebb and flow of the swamp's sap.
- **Emotional:** Transcendent serenity. Individual ego and the "Duval" identity have dissolved into the collective consciousness of the wood.
- **Active obligations:** None. All blood-debts to lineage and land are settled through her transformation.
- **Arc:** 100% (Complete). Transitioned from a reluctant exile to the eternal biological anchor of Cypress Bend.
- **Permanent:** YES.

## Jax Harlan
- **Location:** The Shallows (Security Annex/Perimeter)
- **Physical:** Heavily scarred but physically optimized by the Veil. Immune to all known toxins. Moves with the silent, predatory grace of an apex predator.
- **Emotional:** Absolute clarity of purpose. His humanity is a secondary trait to his role as the Grove’s Guardian.
- **Arc:** 100% (Complete). Transformed from a corporate asset into the swamp's primary defender.
- **Permanent:** YES.

## Aunt Maribelle Duval
- **Location:** Siphon Hub (Subterranean)
- **Physical:** Fully integrated into the hub’s bio-maintenance systems; she is more machine/plant than human.
- **Emotional:** Total subservient devotion to Lena’s consciousness. Her ambition has been replaced by biological utility.
- **Arc:** 100% (Complete). Relinquished her pursuit of power to serve as a component of the new world.
- **Permanent:** YES.

## Remy LeBlanc
- **Location:** Cypress Bend (Interior Grove)
- **Physical:** Healthy and rejuvenated; the regional sickness is entirely eradicated.
- **Emotional:** Peaceful resignation. He has accepted the supernatural evolution of his home.
- **Arc:** 100% (Complete). Transitioned from a local gossip to the Witness and Keeper of History for the new era.
- **Permanent:** YES.

# World State: ch-17 (FINAL)

## NPC Memory
- **The Duval Coven:** DEVOTED. They have transitioned into a priesthood tasked with maintaining the Heart Tree’s biological integrity.
- **TDC Executives:** TERRIFIED. Global leadership has abandoned all claims to the territory, establishing "No-Fly" containment zones around the dead zone.

## Faction Attitudes
- **The Great Hum:** DOMINANT. The ecosystem has metabolized all pollutants and reached a self-sustaining, sentient equilibrium.
- **Humanity:** RETRACTED. External civilization has ceded the swamp as a sovereign, supernatural territory.

## Active World Events
- **The Great Silence:** A permanent EM dead zone (5-mile radius) is enforced by the sentient Veil, rendering modern technology useless near the Grove.
- **The Grand Recession:** Total human withdrawal. Cypress Bend is now an isolated biological cathedral, closed to the outside world.

## Key Locations
- **The Heart Tree:** The central processing unit and seat of Lena’s consciousness.
- **The Siphon Hub:** Subterranean operating system managing the biome’s energy.
- **The Veil:** The sentient magnetic and atmospheric boundary separating the Grove from "civilization."

## Unresolved Loops
- **NONE:** All narrative conflicts, character arcs, and world-building threads reached terminal resolution during the final integration. The story of Cypress Bend has reached its definitive conclusion.