# Character State: ch-28

## Marcus Thorne
Location: The Central Workshops (The "U"), Cypress Bend, Florida.
Physical: Grease-blackened cuticles; a fresh, stinging alkaline burn on his inner forearm from a leaking battery casing.
Emotional: Calculatingly defiant. The "God-tier" architect has been replaced by a man who measures his worth in kilowatts and physical redundancy.
Active obligations: Owes Sarah a life free from indexing (Ch-01) — IN PROGRESS; Owes Leo a future (Ch-12) — IN PROGRESS; Owes the Newcomers (The "Forty") stable power and silicon-masking — ACTIVE.
Open loops: The Ocala "Ghost" Signal (Ch-22) — UNRESOLVED; The Avery-Quinn "Deep Scan" Retaliation (Ch-25) — UNRESOLVED.
Known secrets: CARRIED (Ch-01): Knows the Alpha-7 logs contain the "Deletion Logic" timestamps—the smoking gun of Julian’s intentionality.
Arc: 198% -- Marcus has fully inverted his role; he no longer builds systems to manage people, he builds systems to hide them.

## Sarah Jenkins
Location: The Kitchen Hub / Logistical Center, Cypress Bend, Florida.
Physical: Moving with a heavy, rhythmic limp from a twisted ankle; smelling of pine-sol and fermented mash.
Emotional: Hardened. The "Human Connectivity" Specialist has become a Quartermaster of Necessity.
Active obligations: None.
Open loops: None.
Known secrets: CARRIED (Ch-01): Possesses the mental map of the Alpha-7 "Friction Points"—she knows exactly where the corporate AI is blindest.
Arc: 185% -- Sarah has shifted from the victim of the machine to the architect of the human resistance.

## David
Location: The Sawmill / Perimeter Patrol, Cypress Bend, Florida.
Physical: Massive; skin toughened to the texture of a work glove; hauling a salvaged truck axle like a walking stick.
Emotional: Total clarity. The "War-Chief" no longer questions the morality of the Bend—only its durability.
Active obligations: None.
Open loops: None.
Arc: 190% -- David has transitioned from a survivor to a Founder.

## Elena
Location: The Machine Shop, Cypress Bend, Florida.
Physical: Eyes permanently squinted from lathe-glare; hair shorn short for safety near the belts.
Emotional: Vindicated. Her "Friction" philosophy is the only reason they aren't a data-point yet.
Active obligations: Owes Marcus a physical failsafe (Ch-10) — UNPAID.
Open loops: None.
Known secrets: CARRIED (Ch-10): The manual axe-throw failsafe is primed.
Arc: 180% -- Elena is the high priestess of the Analog.

# World State: ch-28

## NPC Memory
- The "Forty": DEVOTED/TERRIFIED -- They have begun naming the sectors of the "U" after their lost homes in the North, turning a camp into a ghost-town mirror.

## Faction Attitudes
- Avery-Quinn Corp: AGGRAVATED -- The "statistical null" in Florida is now being flagged by the automated recovery units as a "Hardware Anomaly" rather than a population void.
- The Bend Tribe: FORTIFIED -- The transition from a cell to a sovereign village is complete.

## Active World Events
- The Sovereign Mesh: REDUNDANT -- Marcus has integrated the battery arrays into the heat-sinks, making the thermal bloom indistinguishable from a natural swamp-gas vent.
- The Ocala Ghost: RECURRING -- A low-frequency ping from the north is hitting the Mesh every six hours. It isn't a scan; it's a "handshake" request.
- The Great Filter: ACTIVE -- Every newcomer is vetted through a manual "empathy-check" led by Sarah, mimicking the very protocols that fired them, but for survival instead of termination.