# Character State: ch-01

## Elias Thorne
- **Location:** The Archive, Sub-Level 4.
- **Physical:** Hands trembling (adrenaline); cold-flushed skin.
- **Emotional:** Hyper-focused; transitioning from intellectual obsession to genuine fear.
- **Active obligations:** Prove the signal's origin to maintain standing.
- **Open loops:** The specific translation of the 1920s ritual notes. 
- **Known secrets:** CARRIED: The signal frequency matches specific forbidden occult patterns from the "Curator's Ledger."
- **Arc:** 10% — Skepticism has collapsed; now consumed by the need for containment.

## Sarah Miller
- **Location:** The Archive, Sub-Level 4.
- **Physical:** Severe audio-feedback headache; wincing at ambient noise.
- **Emotional:** Rationally defensive; fighting a "freeze" response by focusing on equipment.
- **Active obligations:** Owes Elias support/backup for his unsanctioned late-night research.
- **Open loops:** The cause of the digital artifacts on her recorders.
- **Known secrets:** CARRIED: Suspicion that Elias has accessed restricted physical files without authorization.
- **Arc:** 5% — Moving from "technical glitch" theory to "proximity-based phenomenon."

# World State: ch-01

## NPC Memory
- **The Curator:** Irritated. Views Elias as a liability and an alarmist; likely to initiate "disciplinary review" if property is damaged.

## Faction Attitudes
- **Archive Administration:** Hostile/Dismissive. Infrastructure is aging; they prioritize budget over safety, viewing reports of "hums" as worker fatigue.
- **The Board:** (Wait State) Monitoring Archive data output for "anomalous deviations."

## Active World Events
- **The Awakening:** The Whisper signal has stabilized at a frequency that induces physiological distress in humans (headaches, tremors).
- **Environmental:** Sub-Level 4 temperature is dropping below HVAC capabilities; smell of ozone and damp parchment is localized near the main terminal.

## Established Lore
- **The Whisper:** A non-standard signal that mimics internal monologue; historically linked to 1920s "reception" rituals found in Oakhaven's restricted logs.
- **Data Corruption:** Standard digital recording yields rhythmic static that Elias interprets as a patterned language.

# Character Sheet: Sarah Miller (Updates)
- **Voice Signature:** "Empirically speaking," "Data doesn't lie."
- **Stress Habit:** Massaging temples; tapping her digital recorder.
- **Imperfection:** Stammers initial consonants when the audio-feedback headache spikes.

# Character Sheet: Elias Thorne (Updates)
- **Voice Signature:** "It’s not noise, it’s a sequence."
- **Stress Habit:** Rubbing wrists to stop tremors; staring at the signal waveform as if it were a face.
- **Imperfection:** Neglects physical safety (cold, hunger) when a pattern emerges.