# Character State: ch-18

## Lena Duval
Location: The Heart Tree (Siphon Hub Core)
Physical: Apotheosis complete; body is a vessel of bioluminescent sap and silver-veined wood.
Emotional: Transcendent and serene; individual ego dissolved into the collective Hum.
Active obligations: None.
Open loops: None.
Known secrets: CARRIED (Ch-02--unresolved): knows her mother’s death was a calculated choice by the swamp, not an accident -- The Bend.
Arc: 100% -- Lena has fully transitioned from an isolated fugitive to the eternal, sentient foundation of the ecosystem.
Permanent: YES

## Jax Harlan
Location: The Sovereign Veil (Perimeter)
Physical: Enhanced; eyes reflect silver-green; total immunity to swamp toxins.
Emotional: Absolute devotion; identity restructured as the Bend’s primary guardian.
Active obligations: None.
Open loops: None.
Known secrets: None.
Arc: 100% -- The cynical outsider has been purged of external human desire to become the ecosystem’s apex protector.
Permanent: YES

## Aunt Maribelle Duval
Location: Subterranean Siphon Hub
Physical: Immobile; transformed into a biological filtration organ within the root system.
Emotional: Absolute peace; redemption achieved through functional utility to the land.
Active obligations: None.
Open loops: None.
Known secrets: None.
Arc: 100% -- The manipulative seeker of power has found peace as a necessary, selfless component of the swamp's biology.
Permanent: YES

## Remy LeBlanc
Location: Interior Grove / Root Network
Physical: Biologically suspended; integrated into the memory-strands of the cypress.
Emotional: Contented; focused on his role as the living archive of the Bend.
Active obligations: None.
Open loops: None.
Known secrets: CARRIED (Ch-05--unresolved): knows the location of the lost 1920s coven ledgers -- Lena.
Arc: 100% -- The town gossip has become the eternal keeper of the land's history.
Permanent: YES

# World State: ch-18

## NPC Memory
- The Coven (Cypress Bend): Fully synchronized -- The individual witches have merged their wills with the Great Hum -- Hierarchies are dissolved.
- Outsiders (Louisiana): Terrified -- Attempted incursions resulted in total disappearance or repulsion by the veil -- The Bend is now a "Lethal Zone."

## Faction Attitudes
- The Great Hum: Total Hegemony -- The ecosystem operates as a singular, sentient intelligence that has achieved equilibrium.
- Humanity: Avoidant/Reverent -- View the Bend as a sovereign deity-state to be feared rather than exploited.

## Active World Events
- The Sovereign Veil: Permanent sentient fog wall established around the Bend’s perimeter.
- The Permanent Stillness: The conflict between Duval bloodlines and the land has concluded in total biological integration.
- The Great Siphon: Sustained and regulated; the hunger of the land is satiated by the Duval spirits.