adjudication_pass: promote character-state-ch-22-final.md original=6d2508a9-2598-4cfe-9200-0d1e9d89b356

cypres-bend/deliverables/character-state-ch-22-final.md

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+# Character State: ch-22
+
+## Marcus Thorne
+Location: The North Bank (Utility Shed), Cypress Bend, Florida.
+Physical: Soot-stained face; hands raw from grinding charcoal; smelling of woodsmoke and stagnant river water.
+Emotional: Dialed-in. The "flicker" of the Ocala signal has replaced his systemic guilt with a cold, directional focus.
+Active obligations: Protect the Bend’s electronic silence (Ongoing); Interpret the Ocala "Ghost" Signal (New).
+Open loops: The Alpha-7 Back-end Logs (Unresolved—stored in the Pelican case); Julian’s proximity (Threat escalated).
+Arc: 115% -- Marcus has moved from "hiding" to "operating." He is no longer just a tenant of Arthur’s legacy; he is the technician of its defense.
+Permanent: YES
+
+## David
+Location: The North Bank (Perimeter), Cypress Bend, Florida.
+Physical: Moving with a slight favor to his left side (old injury acting up in the humidity); gripping a vintage radio scanner.
+Emotional: Skeptical but disciplined. He trusts Marcus’s technical "vision" but loathes the risk of reaching out into the airwaves.
+Active obligations: Secure the North Bank perimeter against "non-digital" intruders.
+Arc: 108% -- David is beginning to see Marcus not as a corporate refugee, but as a necessary "signal-fire" watcher for the new world.
+Permanent: YES
+
+## Julian Avery
+Location: Avery-Quinn Chicago HQ (and moving).
+Physical: Impeccable; sitting in a chilled, oxygen-rich environment that contrasts the Florida heat.
+Emotional: Predatory. He has identified a "data-void" in the Florida sector that matches Marcus's behavioral signature.
+Known secrets: Has authorized a "high-resolution sweep" of the Ocklawaha basin, bypassing standard privacy protocols.
+Arc: 105% -- Julian is transitioning from "monitoring" to "hunting."
+Permanent: YES
+
+## Sarah Jenkins (Flashback/Mental)
+Location: Marcus’s memory / Digital fragments.
+Emotional: Indicting. Her voice is the "static" Marcus hears when the radio goes silent.
+Current status: Her "Terminal Efficiency" packet has been flagged by Julian's team as a lure for Marcus.
+
+# World State: ch-22
+
+## NPC Memory
+- The Regional Barter-Network: WARY -- Rumors of "drones with no markings" sighted near the Ocala National Forest have suppressed local trade.
+
+## Faction Attitudes
+- Avery-Quinn Corp: AGGRESSIVE -- The "Sovereign Mesh" is holding, but Julian has initiated a "Brute Force Indexing" of the regional power-grid anomalies.
+
+## Active World Events
+- The Ocala "Ghost" Signal: ACTIVE -- A low-bandwidth, repeating pulse on the 144MHz band. It’s too structured to be weather, too "dirty" to be corporate.
+- The Sovereign Mesh: DEGRADED -- Marcus has had to pull power from the mesh to boost the signal-receiver, creating a "grey-hole" in the Bend's invisibility.
+- Atmospheric Interference: HIGH -- Heat-lightning is masking the physical approach of AQ search teams but complicating Marcus’s signal-triangulation.
+
+## Logic/Technology
+- The "Dark-Grid" Protocol: In effect. All high-emission devices at the Bend are throttled. Marcus is using Arthur’s old copper-wire antennas as a passive array to avoid active pings.