From aa3af4f53fd959359bde093133bea84253734b6f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: PAE Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2026 12:02:19 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] staging: polished/character-state-ch-07-final.md task=6f858b39-a7d6-4b5e-8212-8353114f8200 --- .../polished/character-state-ch-07-final.md | 43 +++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 43 insertions(+) create mode 100644 projects/cypress-bend/staging/polished/character-state-ch-07-final.md diff --git a/projects/cypress-bend/staging/polished/character-state-ch-07-final.md b/projects/cypress-bend/staging/polished/character-state-ch-07-final.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..5074890d --- /dev/null +++ b/projects/cypress-bend/staging/polished/character-state-ch-07-final.md @@ -0,0 +1,43 @@ +# Character State: ch-07 + +## Lena Duval +- **Location:** Flooded basement, abandoned trolley barn. +- **Physical:** Severely weakened; high fever. Palm wound is raw and weeping. Senses are haywire due to the "Grid Hum" interfering with her Bayou Binding. +- **Emotional:** Resolved but bitter. She has accepted that she cannot "outrun" her bloodline and must use the very magic she loathes to survive the city. +- **Active Obligations:** Owes Jax a debt of trust for his protection; owes the Drowned Man a "tithe of salt." +- **Open Loops:** The mechanical synchronization of her mother’s silver locket—it reacted to the barn’s industrial frequency. +- **Arc (55%):** Shifted from flight to active engagement. She is now bartering with urban spirits, grounding herself through the tactile grime of the city's underbelly. +- **Permanent:** YES + +## Jax Harlan +- **Location:** Flooded basement, abandoned trolley barn. +- **Physical:** Forearm laceration bandaged; hyper-vigilant; eyes bloodshot from adrenaline. +- **Emotional:** Protective and increasingly cynical toward the city's "progress." He is fully committed to Lena’s survival over his own safety. +- **Active Obligations:** Must secure a path through the drainage tunnels; needs to identify the safehouse leak. +- **Open Loops:** The origin of the brass-and-silicon scrambler device he recovered. +- **Arc (30%):** Tactical Pivot. He has burned his professional neutrality to act as Lena’s shield against both the Duval Coven and Terrebonne contractors. +- **Permanent:** YES + +# World State: ch-07 + +## NPC Memory +- **Aunt Maribelle:** SUCCESSFUL—Her tracer signal, pulsed through the trolley lines, narrowed Lena’s location to the Ninth Ward/Garden District border. +- **The Drowned Man (Spirit):** AGREED—He will grant passage through the "veins of the city" (pipes) once the salt tithe is paid. He is wary of the industrial "static" killing the water spirits. + +## Faction Attitudes +- **Terrebonne Development Corp:** ESCALATED—Using "utility repair" crews as cover for paramilitary sweeps. They are hunting for the "source" of the magical resonance—Lena. +- **The Duval Coven:** HARMONIZED—They are piggybacking on Terrebonne’s electrical grid to amplify their tracking spells. + +## Active World Events +- **The Grid Hum:** A low-frequency vibration (Project Phlegethon) is now constant. It masks natural magic and causes physical nausea in practitioners like Lena. +- **The Drainage Tunnels:** The only viable exit path. They are "choked with salt and iron," making them a gauntlet for any Bayou-based magic. + +## Metadata +- **Key Item:** Silver Locket (pulsing in rhythm with the industrial grid); Scrambler Box (emitting a faint counter-hum). +- **Key Term:** **"Tithe of Salt"**—The price for safe passage in a corrupted environment. +- **Mood:** Claustrophobic, damp, mechanical, urgent. + +## Voice Check (Lena) +- **Status:** Maintained. Twisted her locket chain when discussing her mother's death. +- **Dialogue:** "The city’s got a different kind of hunger, Jax. Gator’s truth—it don't care about balance, only consumption." +- **Sensory:** Earthy smell of magnolia clashing with the metallic tang of rainy asphalt and ozone. \ No newline at end of file