# Character State: ch-13

## Lena Duval
- **Location**: The Siphon Hub Core, Cypress Bend.
- **Physical**: Fully synchronized with the Siphon; silver bioluminescence is now a permanent sub-dermal glow; physical tremors replaced by a terrifying, rhythmic stillness.
- **Emotional**: Ascendant and detached; views the swamp as an extension of her own nervous system; paternal/protective toward the land but increasingly alienated from human vulnerability.
- **Active obligations**: Owes Jax Harlan a life-debt (Ch-12) — UNPAID (vibrating with mystical resonance).
- **Open loops**: Frequency tracking conflict with Aunt Maribelle — RESOLVED (Lena has seized total frequency dominance).
- **Known secrets**: Knows the Siphon’s true purpose was "Harmonic Bleed" to feed the Upper Districts (Jax remains unaware).
- **Arc**: 100% (The Warden) — She has achieved her final form, repelling TDC and stabilizing the Hum.

## Jax Harlan
- **Location**: Siphon Hub perimeter.
- **Physical**: Battered, soot-stained, and physically drained; maintaining a defensive perimeter with heavy tools.
- **Emotional**: Loyal but deeply unsettled; fears the entity Lena is becoming even as he loves the woman she was.
- **Active obligations**: Identify the TDC/Terrebonne Security mole — UNRESOLVED.
- **Open loops**: Tactical standoff with TDC Security — RESOLVED (TDC forced into retreat).
- **Arc**: 95% — Guardian. He has fully committed to the supernatural defense of the Bend.

## Aunt Maribelle
- **Location**: Duval Estate Library (secluded).
- **Physical**: Frail; suffering "harmonic backlash" as her connection to the Siphon is severed.
- **Emotional**: Vengeful; feels her legacy is being stolen by a "machine-witch."
- **Open loops**: Reclaiming Lena — FAILED; Conflict with Coven elders — ESCALATING.
- **Known secrets**: Knows the location of the secondary bypass valve in the bog (Lena/Jax unaware).
- **Arc**: 80% — Desperate Antagonist.

# World State: ch-13

## NPC Memory
- **Terrebonne Security**: DEFEATED/RETREATING — Their technology proved useless against the harmonic pulse. 
- **The Duval Coven**: DIVIDED — Many are abandoning Maribelle to seek favor with the new "Warden" (Lena).

## Faction Attitudes
- **TDC**: SCORCHED EARTH — Shifting from asset recovery to total destruction/sabotage of the region.
- **The Bayou**: PREDATORY — The swamp flora is actively hunting TDC stragglers; the ecosystem has become a unified immune system.

## Active World Events
- **The Great Hum**: PERMANENT — A localized "blackout" zone protecting Cypress Bend from external surveillance.
- **Harmonic Backflow**: ONGOING — Persistent power failures and "ghost signals" plague the Upper Districts as Lena draws power back into the mud.
- **The Life-Debt tether**: ACTIVE — A physical/spiritual vibration connecting Jax and Lena, growing stronger as the bypass valve remains hidden.

## Key Objects/Locations
- **The Siphon Hub**: Now a "Temple" of bio-mechanical growth; vines have fused with the steel.
- **The Secondary Bypass**: Hidden in the bog; Maribelle’s last leverage to drain the swamp manually.