staging: character-state-chapter-ref.md task=6a2c6ced-21ae-44f4-8023-87ffc0a7d808

projects/cypress-bend/staging/character-state-chapter-ref.md

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 # Character State: Ch1
 
 ## Lena Duval
-Location: The Duval home / Cypress Bend outskirts
-Physical: Fatigued; palm is pricked and bleeding from a blood-oath binding.
-Emotional: Resentful and trapped.
+Location: The Duval ancestral cabin, Cypress Bend bayou
+Physical: Feverish and exhausted; palm is raw and sliced from a blood-oath casting.
+Emotional: Defiant but deeply unsettled.
 Active obligations: 
-- owes Aunt Maribelle Duval her presence and obedience (Ch1) -- UNPAID
+- Owes the land a "balancing of scales" for the fog she summoned (Ch1) -- UNPAID
+- Owes Aunt Maribelle an audience regarding the "inheritance" (Ch1) -- UNPAID
 Open loops: 
-- Lena and Maribelle [Future of the Duval lineage] (Ch1) -- UNRESOLVED
+- Lena and Aunt Maribelle: The struggle over Lena’s refusal to join the coven (Ch1) -- UNRESOLVED
+- Lena and the encroaching developers: The physical presence of survey markers in the grove (Ch1) -- UNRESOLVED
 Known secrets: 
-- knows she intends to leave Cypress Bend for the city -- Maribelle Duval (does not know the depth of Lena's desperation)
-Arc: 05% -- Lena has officially failed to transition away from the swamp, finding herself physically and magically re-bound to her aunt’s house.
+- Knows she intends to flee to New Orleans within the week -- Aunt Maribelle does not know.
+- Knows the "whisper" in the cypress roots sounded like her mother's voice -- No one else knows.
+Arc: 5% -- Lena successfully uses her magic to protect her home but realizes the "land-debt" is tightening its grip on her, making escape harder.
 Permanent: YES
 
-## Maribelle Duval
-Location: The Duval home porch
-Physical: Aging but steady; smells of pipe tobacco and stagnant water.
-Emotional: Triumphant and controlling.
-Active obligations: 
-- owes Lena a "place" in the coven hierarchy (Ch1) -- UNPAID
+## Aunt Maribelle Duval
+Location: The porch of the Duval ancestral cabin, departing toward the deeper swamp.
+Physical: No injuries; moves with an unnatural, fluid grace despite her age.
+Emotional: Calculating and patient.
+Active obligations: None.
 Open loops: 
-- Maribelle and Lena [The Grooming of the Heir] (Ch1) -- UNRESOLVED
+- Aunt Maribelle and Lena: Grooming Lena to take the mantle of "Grove Keeper" (Ch1) -- UNRESOLVED
 Known secrets: 
-- knows the specifics of the ritual that claimed Lena's mother -- Lena (knows only the trauma, not the mechanical "why")
-Arc: 05% -- Successfully forced Lena to draw blood for a warding ritual, reasserting her dominance over her niece.
+- Knows the exact date the developers plan to clear-cut the Eastern bend -- Lena does not know.
+Arc: 2% -- Reasserted her dominance over the family narrative by forcing Lena to use blood magic.
 Permanent: YES
 
 ## Jax Harlan
-Location: The docks / Swamp outskirts
-Physical: No injuries; hands grease-stained from boat engine work.
-Emotional: Guarded but curious.
-Active obligations: None.
+Location: The Blackwater skiff, docked at the Duval pier.
+Physical: Soaked from the unnatural fog; no injuries.
+Emotional: Skeptical but protective.
+Active obligations: 
+- Owes Lena a "quick exit" if she decides to leave (Ch1) -- UNPAID
 Open loops: 
-- Jax and Lena [Connection through the swamp run] (Ch1) -- UNRESOLVED
-Known secrets: 
-- knows the hidden channels through the Blackwood Thicket -- The Town Council
-Arc: 02% -- Established as the only person Lena treats with "raw honesty" outside of her family.
-Permanent: NO
+- Jax and Lena: The tension between his "outsider" logic and her "insider" magic (Ch1) -- UNRESOLVED
+Known secrets: None.
+Arc: 1% -- Witnessed the bayou react to Lena’s blood for the first time, cracking his shell of skepticism.
+Permanent: YES
 
 # World State: Ch1
 
 ## NPC Memory
-- Remy LeBlanc (Cypress Bend): Friendly -- Provided Lena with the necessary supplies (and gossip) for her failed departure -- Remains Lena’s primary source of non-magical information.
+- Remy LeBlanc (The Bait Shop): AFRAID -- Witnessed the "black-water" rising earlier that morning -- Warned Lena to stay inside.
 
 ## Faction Attitudes
-- Swamp Witches (Duval Coven): Insular and manipulative -- Seeking to retain their power by binding the younger generation to the land.
-- Outsiders/Developers: Encroaching -- Mentioned as a distant threat that justifies Maribelle's aggressive recruitment.
+- Swamp Witches (Duval Coven): Insistent -- They view Lena as a vital, missing battery for their waning power.
+- Developers (Terrebonne Development Corp): Aggressive -- They have begun placing physical markers on protected land, ignoring historical pacts.
 
 ## Active World Events
-- The Binding: Maribelle has initiated a series of blood-rituals to strengthen the town's perimeter against external "progress."
+- The Awakening: The cypress trees are "weeping" sap at an accelerated rate, a sign of magical instability in the Bend.
+- The Encroachment: Surveyors are moving closer to the Duval property line.