# Character State: ch-17 (FINAL)

## Lena Duval
- **Location:** The Heart Tree (Siphon Hub Core)
- **Physical:** Apotheosis complete; neural pathways fused with cypress root system; bioluminescent skin; no pulse.
- **Emotional:** Transcendent serenity; ego dissolved into the collective.
- **Active obligations:** None — all debts to the land and lineage are settled.
- **Open loops:** None — the integration is absolute.
- **Known secrets:** CARRIED (Ch-01--unresolved): Witnessed her mother's sacrificial drowning — REVEALED/INTEGRATED.
- **Arc:** 100% — Became the eternal biological anchor and consciousness of Cypress Bend.
- **Permanent:** YES

## Jax Harlan
- **Location:** The Shallows (Security Annex)
- **Physical:** Heavily scarred; immune to toxins; predatory and silent movement.
- **Emotional:** Absolute clarity; humanity secondary to his role as Guardian.
- **Active obligations:** None.
- **Open loops:** None.
- **Known secrets:** None.
- **Arc:** 100% — Transformed from a corporate asset into the bayou’s primary apex predator.
- **Permanent:** YES

## Aunt Maribelle Duval
- **Location:** Siphon Hub (Subterranean)
- **Physical:** Integrated into bio-maintenance systems; sustained by the Hub’s energy.
- **Emotional:** Total subservient devotion to Lena.
- **Active obligations:** None.
- **Open loops:** None.
- **Known secrets:** None.
- **Arc:** 100% — Relinquished pursuit of individual power to serve as a biological component.
- **Permanent:** YES

## Remy LeBlanc
- **Location:** Cypress Bend (Interior Grove)
- **Physical:** Healthy; cured of regional sickness.
- **Emotional:** Peaceful resignation; acceptance of the new world.
- **Active obligations:** None.
- **Open loops:** None.
- **Known secrets:** None.
- **Arc:** 100% — Transitioned from a gossip and informant to the Witness and Keeper of History.
- **Permanent:** YES

# World State: ch-17 (FINAL)

## NPC Memory
- **The Duval Coven (The Grove):** DEVOTED — They have transitioned into a priesthood maintaining the Heart Tree’s biological integrity.
- **TDC Executives (External):** TERRIFIED — They have abandoned all claims and established global "No-Fly" containment zones.

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

## Active World Events
- **The Great Silence:** Permanent EM dead zone (5-mile radius) enforced by the sentient Veil.
- **The Grand Recession:** Total human withdrawal from the region; Cypress Bend is now an isolated biological cathedral.

## Key Locations
- **The Heart Tree:** Central processor and seat of Lena’s consciousness.
- **The Siphon Hub:** Subterranean fused magic-biological operating system.
- **The Veil:** Sentient magnetic boundary separating the grove from the outside world.

## Unresolved Loops
- **NONE:** All character arcs, world-building threads, and narrative conflicts achieved terminal resolution in the final integration.