staging: staging/drafts/character-state-ch-07.md task=05094c51-3d4b-4ed0-96ed-b7a78c7cfd76

cypress-bend/staging/staging/drafts/character-state-ch-07.md

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+# Character State: ch-07
+
+## Marcus Thorne
+Location: Warehouse-Level 4, "The Kiln," Ocala Delta
+Physical: Dehydrated; repetitive strain in right thumb from phantom HUD scrolling.
+Emotional: Calculated coldness masking a spike of "Beta Ghost" PTSD.
+Active obligations: Owes the Exodus Group a successful signal-ghosting before the Sentinel ping (Ch01) — UNPAID.
+Open loops: Marcus vs. UBI Sentinel [imminent physical MAC-trace] (Ch01) — UNRESOLVED; Marcus vs. Elena [strategic authority over the bridge] (Ch07) — UNRESOLVED.
+Known secrets: Knows the exact timestamp the city's power-cycling will lock the perimeter gates — [The group does NOT know].
+Arc: 12% — Transitioned from digital saboteur to active field-commander of the "Hard Cut."
+Permanent: NO.
+
+## Elena Vance
+Location: Observation Deck/Comms Hub, Ocala Delta
+Physical: Fingers stained with silver conductive ink; neck tension from monitor-hunch.
+Emotional: Vindicated but wary; viewing the team as a series of high-latency nodes.
+Active obligations: Owes the Makers an invisible footprint (Ch01) — UNPAID; Owes Arthur a "physical-first" fallback plan (Ch07) — UNPAID.
+Open loops: Elena vs. The Swamp [humidity-induced hardware lag] (Ch01) — UNRESOLVED.
+Known secrets: Knows exactly which Tier-1 official signed the purge order for the non-compliant sectors — [Marcus does NOT know].
+Arc: 09% — Subordinated her "Ghosting" protocol to Marcus’s "Hard Cut" timing, establishing a hierarchy of necessity.
+Permanent: NO.
+
+## Arthur "Art" Penhaligon
+Location: Lower Machine Shop, "The Kiln," Ocala Delta
+Physical: Severe arthritic inflammation in right wrist; smells of burnt ozone and WD-40.
+Emotional: Protective and grim; treats the warehouse's structural integrity as his own skin.
+Active obligations: Owes Marcus a manual override for the magnetic locks (Ch07) — UNPAID.
+Open loops: Arthur vs. The Sentinel [contempt for the "over-engineered toaster"] (Ch03) — UNRESOLVED.
+Known secrets: Knows the backup diesel supply is 15% lower than the digital manifest claims — [Marcus does NOT know].
+Arc: 06% — Accepted the move to the "Mire" as the only way to save his tools from the "Automated Purge."
+Permanent: NO.
+
+## David Shore
+Location: Server Hot-Aisle, "The Kiln," Ocala Delta
+Physical: Tremors in hands; intense ocular fatigue.
+Emotional: Clinical and detached; retreating into "Order of Operations" to mask fear of the Blue-Out.
+Active obligations: Owes Arthur a diagnostic on the shop's power draw (Ch03) — UNPAID.
+Open loops: David vs. The "Black Box" tech [fear of the Sentinel's proprietary encryption] (Ch01) — UNRESOLVED.
+Known secrets: Knows his father’s old de-sync ID is being used as the base’s ghost-signature — [The group does NOT know].
+Arc: 07% — Optimized the server's heat-exchange with the swamp-water cooling, merging his tech with the environment.
+Permanent: NO.
+
+# World State: ch-07
+
+## NPC Memory
+- UBI Sentinel Unit 7 (Urban Grid): AGGRESSIVE — Initiated "Sub-Sector Persistence Audit" — Physical MAC address triangulation at 88% completion.
+
+## Faction Attitudes
+- The City-State: PREDATORY — Authorized "Total Data-Purge" if discrepancies persist longer than 4 hours.
+- The Makers: SYNCHRONIZED — High technical cohesion; Marcus and Elena have aligned their "Architect" protocols.
+
+## Active World Events
+- The Blue-Out: Phase 2 initiated; 59 hours to total lockout.
+- The Great Exit: Staging complete; all data-packets are now "in-flight" toward the Cypress Bend nodes.