diff --git a/projects/cypress-bend/staging/character-state-ch-18.md b/projects/cypress-bend/staging/character-state-ch-18.md
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--- a/projects/cypress-bend/staging/character-state-ch-18.md
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 ## Lena Duval
 Location: The Heart Tree (Siphon Hub Core)
-Physical: Apotheosis complete. Body is a silver-veined vessel of bioluminescent sap; merged with the Great Cypress.
-Emotional: Transcendent. Individual "Lena" has dissolved into the collective Hum. Time is experienced as a simultaneous map of the Bend’s history and future.
-Active obligations: None
-Open loops: None
-Known secrets: The cycle’s price is the total erasure of the former human ego.
-Arc: 100% -- The Reluctant Witch has become the Eternal Foundation.
+Physical: Apotheosis complete; body is a vessel of bioluminescent sap and silver-veined wood.
+Emotional: Transcendent and serene; individual ego dissolved into the collective Hum.
+Active obligations: None.
+Open loops: None.
+Known secrets: CARRIED (Ch-02--unresolved): knows her mother’s death was a calculated choice by the swamp, not an accident -- The Bend.
+Arc: 100% -- Lena has fully transitioned from an isolated fugitive to the eternal, sentient foundation of the ecosystem.
 Permanent: YES
 
 ## Jax Harlan
 Location: The Sovereign Veil (Perimeter)
-Physical: Enhanced by the Hum; eyes reflect silver-green; possesses predatory stillness and immunity to all swamp toxins.
-Emotional: Total devotion. Identity is purged of external desire, existing solely as Lena’s Shield.
-Active obligations: Eternal protection of the Bend’s borders.
-Open loops: Ongoing interception of future intruders.
-Known secrets: Precise lethal thresholds of the Veil.
-Arc: 100% -- The Cynical Outsider has become the Apex Guardian.
+Physical: Enhanced; eyes reflect silver-green; total immunity to swamp toxins.
+Emotional: Absolute devotion; identity restructured as the Bend’s primary guardian.
+Active obligations: None.
+Open loops: None.
+Known secrets: None.
+Arc: 100% -- The cynical outsider has been purged of external human desire to become the ecosystem’s apex protector.
 Permanent: YES
 
 ## Aunt Maribelle Duval
 Location: Subterranean Siphon Hub
-Physical: Immobile filtration organ; biological junction in the swamp’s vascular system.
-Emotional: Absolute peace; redemption achieved through utility.
-Active obligations: None
-Open loops: None
-Known secrets: None
-Arc: 100% -- The Manipulator has become the Life-Support.
+Physical: Immobile; transformed into a biological filtration organ within the root system.
+Emotional: Absolute peace; redemption achieved through functional utility to the land.
+Active obligations: None.
+Open loops: None.
+Known secrets: None.
+Arc: 100% -- The manipulative seeker of power has found peace as a necessary, selfless component of the swamp's biology.
 Permanent: YES
 
 ## Remy LeBlanc
-Location: Interior Grove / The Root Network
+Location: Interior Grove / Root Network
 Physical: Biologically suspended; integrated into the memory-strands of the cypress.
-Emotional: Contented; serves as the Bend’s living archive.
-Active obligations: Preservation of collective memory.
-Open loops: None
-Known secrets: None
-Arc: 100% -- The Informant has become the History.
+Emotional: Contented; focused on his role as the living archive of the Bend.
+Active obligations: None.
+Open loops: None.
+Known secrets: CARRIED (Ch-05--unresolved): knows the location of the lost 1920s coven ledgers -- Lena.
+Arc: 100% -- The town gossip has become the eternal keeper of the land's history.
 Permanent: YES
 
 # World State: ch-18
 
 ## NPC Memory
-- The Coven (Heart Tree extensions): Synchronized -- fully integrated -- hierarchies dissolved into ecosystem will.
-- The Outside (Humanity): Fearful -- views Bend as Sovereign Lethal Zone -- folklore warns of Silver Silence.
+- The Coven (Cypress Bend): Fully synchronized -- The individual witches have merged their wills with the Great Hum -- Hierarchies are dissolved.
+- Outsiders (Louisiana): Terrified -- Attempted incursions resulted in total disappearance or repulsion by the veil -- The Bend is now a "Lethal Zone."
 
 ## Faction Attitudes
-- The Great Hum: Total Hegemony -- ecosystem is singular sentient intelligence.
-- Humanity: Fearful/Avoidant -- Bend is deity-state, not resource.
+- The Great Hum: Total Hegemony -- The ecosystem operates as a singular, sentient intelligence that has achieved equilibrium.
+- Humanity: Avoidant/Reverent -- View the Bend as a sovereign deity-state to be feared rather than exploited.
 
 ## Active World Events
-- The Sovereign Veil: Permanent sentient fog barrier; consumes/repels intruders by intent.
-- The Permanent Stillness: Conflict ended; spiritual/biological equilibrium achieved.
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+- The Sovereign Veil: Permanent sentient fog wall established around the Bend’s perimeter.
+- The Permanent Stillness: The conflict between Duval bloodlines and the land has concluded in total biological integration.
+- The Great Siphon: Sustained and regulated; the hunger of the land is satiated by the Duval spirits.
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