# Character State: ch-01

## Elias Thorne
- **Location:** The Archive, Sub-Level 4, Oakhaven.
- **Physical:** Persistent hand tremors; physically drained by the 48°F ambient cold; hyper-sensitive to low-frequency vibrations.
- **Emotional:** Hyper-focused and paranoid; feels vindicated by the Archive's hostility; views the signal as a sentient, ritualistic entity rather than a mechanical byproduct.
- **Active obligations:** None.
- **Open loops:** Identifying the specific 1927 "Great Silence" ritual signatures within the signal — UNRESOLVED.
- **Known secrets:** Convinced the signal is actively mimicking his and Sarah's physiological rhythms — Sarah Miller.
- **Arc:** 10% — Fully committed to the supernatural hypothesis; abandoning scientific methodology for occult intuition.

## Sarah Miller
- **Location:** Sub-Level 4, Oakhaven.
- **Physical:** Severe temple-throbbing headache; visible exhaustion; wincing at audio feedback.
- **Emotional:** In a state of cognitive dissonance; logic-first defenses are failing against the signal’s persistence.
- **Active obligations:** Owes Elias investigative support following his initial discovery — UNPAID.
- **Open loops:** The cause of the "ghost-looping" static on her personal digital recorder — UNRESOLVED.
- **Known secrets:** Secretly recording her own internal dialogue to check for mimicry patterns — Elias Thorne.
- **Arc:** 5% — Shifting from total dismissal to reluctant observation; physical symptoms are bypassing her skepticism.

# World State: ch-01

## NPC Memory
- **The Curator:** DISMISSIVE/HOSTILE — Views the Sub-Level 4 anomalies as expensive equipment failures and Elias as a professional liability.

## Faction Attitudes
- **Archive Administration:** Hostile — Prepared to terminate power to Sub-Level 4 to cut costs and silence "eccentric" research.
- **Local Authorities:** Oblivious — Internal Archive events remain contained.

## Active World Events
- **The Awakening Signal:** Now stabilized into a rhythmic, "breathing" pattern. Amplitude is increasing, beginning to affect equilibrium of those within the Oakhaven Archive.

## Environmental Constants
- **Sub-Level 4:** Temperature locked at 48°F; heavy smell of ozone and wet copper; light sources flicker in sync with the signal’s "breath."
- **The Whisper:** Induces auditory hallucinations and equilibrium loss after two hours of exposure.

## Established Lore
- **Signal Morphology:** Digital patterns are isomorphic to 1927 occult bridging rituals.
- **Data Integrity:** "Ghost-looping" is active; deleted files or static pulses reappear on digital media regardless of power state.

## Voice Signature Tracking
- **Sarah Miller:** Confirmed usage of "empirically speaking" and "data doesn't lie" during high-stress dialogue. Observed wincing/temple massaging as a physical tell. Precise, clipped speech maintained despite logic-armor cracking.