# CANONICAL STATE: Chapter 17 (Polished Final)

## Character State: ch-17

### Elara Vance
**Location:** The Heart of the Weeping Grove, Elderwood
**Physical:** Spiritual exhaustion; bruised ribs; palm Sigil glowing with harmonized resonance
**Emotional:** Transcendent and resolute; heavy peace with sacrifice; edges of identity dissolution
**Active Obligations:**
- Owes Kaelen protection — UNPAID
- Owes Oakhaven survival through Ritual completion — ACTIVE (CRITICAL)

**Open Loops:**
- [Elara & Thorne] Final confrontation over Vessel artifacts — UNRESOLVED
- [Elara & Self] Does harmonization preserve identity or erode it? — UNRESOLVED (INTENSIFYING)

**Known Secrets:**
- Great Blight fed by Elderwood's ancient roots (CARRIED from ch-05)

**Arc Progress:** 85% — Transitioned from reluctant survivor to self-accepting Vessel; now grappling with loss of individual self
**Status:** PERMANENT (Vessel bond is irreversible)

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### Kaelen
**Location:** The Heart of the Weeping Grove, Elderwood
**Physical:** Minor lacerations; heavy fatigue; steady hands
**Emotional:** Fiercely loyal; quiet awe; protective resolve
**Active Obligations:**
- Owes Elara his life — UNPAID (driving force)

**Open Loops:**
- [Kaelen & Thorne] Exploitation of deserter past — UNRESOLVED
- [Kaelen & Self] Can he shed deserter instincts permanently? — UNRESOLVED (CRITICAL)

**Known Secrets:**
- Location of hidden cache in Southern Wilds (CARRIED from ch-17)

**Arc Progress:** 80% — Abandoned deserter instincts to become Vessel's primary guardian
**Status:** PERMANENT (Life-debt binds him to Elara)

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### Thorne Blackroot
**Location:** The Heart of the Weeping Grove, Elderwood
**Physical:** Searing magical burns on arms; blackened veins pulsing with Blight corruption
**Emotional:** Fanatical; desperate; unraveling control over his own fate
**Active Obligations:**
- Owes Circle of Thorns a cleansed Grove — UNPAID (FAILING)

**Open Loops:**
- [Thorne & Blight] Master or instrument? — UNRESOLVED (CRITICAL CLIMAX POINT)
- [Thorne & Redemption] Can he sever the Blight's heart? — UNRESOLVED (FINAL CHOICE PENDING)

**Known Secrets:**
- Ritual to invert Vessel power (CARRIED from ch-17)
- Hidden humanity beneath vengeance (CARRIED from ch-17)

**Arc Progress:** 75% — Tethered physical form to Blight to prevent failure; now losing autonomy
**Status:** PERMANENT (Blight integration is irreversible; confrontation imminent)

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## World State: ch-17

**Primary Setting:** The Heart of the Weeping Grove, Elderwood

**NPC Memory:**
- Grove Spirits: AGITATED → transitioning to RESPONSIVE; beginning to answer Elara's harmonization calls

**Faction Attitudes:**
- Circle of Thorns: AGGRESSIVE (pushing final Blightweaver assault)
- Oakhaven Survivors: DESPERATE (faith entirely in ritual; outskirts breached)

**Active World Events:**
- The Vessel Ritual: FINAL STAGE — Localization points stabilized; Heart is final threshold
- The Great Blight: PEAK — Ecosystem collapse at Grove edges; feeding accelerating

**Thematic Tensions:**
- Sacrifice vs. Identity: Elara feels less human, more elemental
- Debt: Kaelen's life-debt is only chain holding him to purpose
- Corruption vs. Redemption: Thorne is both master and slave to the Blight

**Chapter 17 Climax Resolution:** [Pending writer specification]