staging: polished/character-state-ch-12-final.md task=dd8f6412-30bc-4277-a3d3-784824dae406

projects/cypress-bend/staging/polished/character-state-ch-12-final.md

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+# Character State: ch-12
+
+## Lena Duval
+- **Location:** Heart of the Siphon Hub, Cypress Bend.
+- **Physical:** Stabilized; internal fever replaced by a "steady hum" synchronized with the Siphon. Her palm scar is a dormant silver brand.
+- **Emotional:** Resigned and weary, yet profoundly anchored. She accepts her role as the "Warden," feeling the swamp as an extension of her own nervous system.
+- **Active Obligations:** Owes Jax Harlan a life-debt (unpaid) for his defense during her transcendence.
+- **Open Loops:** Must confront Aunt Maribelle regarding the Duval Coven’s claim and the "Machine-Witch" resonance (unresolved).
+- **Known Secrets:** Knows the Siphon was designed for "Harmonic Bleed" to siphon swamp vitality to the Upper Districts (Jax is unaware).
+- **Arc:** 100% — Transition to Warden is complete; she has traded her freedom for the "cage and crown" of the Bend.
+
+## Jax Harlan
+- **Location:** Beside Lena at the Siphon’s edge.
+- **Physical:** Exhausted, raw knuckles, adrenaline crash; physical toll of the siege is evident.
+- **Emotional:** Fiercely loyal; mourning the "normal" life Lena can no longer have; protective guardian.
+- **Active Obligations:** Identify the mole within Terrebonne Security (unresolved).
+- **Known Secrets:** None. 
+- **Arc:** 90% — Committed outsider-turned-guardian; he has accepted a life tethered to a woman who cannot leave the water.
+
+## Aunt Maribelle
+- **Location:** The Duval Estate.
+- **Emotional:** Calculating; sensing the ley line shifts.
+- **Open Loops:** Tracking Lena’s specific frequency to reclaim her as a Coven "asset."
+
+# World State: ch-12
+
+## NPC Memory
+- **Terrebonne Security:** Retreating after a "Level 5 Anomalous Event." Reporting failure to HQ.
+- **The Coven:** Observing the Great Hum's stabilization; preparing to move on Lena.
+
+## Faction Attitudes
+- **Terrebonne Development Corp (TDC):** Panicked. Considering "Scorched Earth" protocols to bury the Siphon and hide evidence of their ecological theft.
+- **The Bayou:** Fully allied with Lena; the land is actively masking her and Jax from electronic detection via mist and growth.
+
+## Active World Events
+- **The Great Hum:** PERMANENT. A subsonic frequency marking Lena’s presence and regulating the swamp's health.
+- **The Veil Thinning:** Reality is "soft" near the Siphon; ghost-lights and overlapping dimensions are manifesting.
+- **Harmonic Bleed:** Halted/Redirected by Lena. This is currently causing power surges and instability in the Upper Districts.
+- **The Life-Debt:** The mystical weight of Jax saving Lena during her transition remains a heavy, unresolved magical tether between them.