adjudication_pass: promote character-state-ch-03-final.md original=a26c2471-7134-4f82-847f-a7950730267d

projects/crimson-vows/polished/character-state-ch-03-final.md

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+# Character State: ch-03
+
+## Queen Seraphine
+Location: The Crimson Cathedral, Sanctuary Threshold
+Physical: Severely depleted; pallor like bone-ash. Her hands carry a fine, rhythmic tremor from the hemomantic drain of the Cathedral’s containment rituals.
+Emotional: Calcified. She has transitioned from panic to a state of predatory pragmatism.
+Active obligations: Must formalize the Union of the Spilled Wine with Aldric Thorne or face a Clergy-led coup.
+Open loops: [Seraphine & Malcorra] The "Bilateral Seal" remains unratified; the High Priestess is holding the ritual hostage until a "blood-tithe" is named.
+Known secrets: The Blight has not just breached the glass-line; it has begun to mimic the hum of the Cathedral’s own ward-stones.
+Arc: 25% — She has publicly prioritized the Thorne alliance over the Council’s isolationist doctrine.
+
+## King Aldric
+Location: The Crimson Cathedral, Sanctuary Threshold
+Physical: Unnaturally still. His presence causes the Cathedral’s incense to curl toward him, a physical reaction to his outland blood.
+Emotional: Guarded. He views the Cathedral not as a holy site, but as a strategic fortification with failing structural integrity.
+Active obligations: Needs the physical Seal to tether his borders before the Lowen-Court collapses entirely.
+Open loops: [Aldric & Seraphine] A moment of shared tactical silence has established a fragile, wordless truce.
+Known secrets: He recognizes the "vibration" in the stones as the same frequency that preceded the fall of the Lowen-Court’s outer ring.
+Arc: 15% — No longer an invader, but a fundamental—and resented—component of the Aethelgard defense.
+
+## High Priestess Malcorra
+Location: The Altar of the Weeping Vein
+Physical: Radiating a cold, ozone-drenched stillness. Her fingers never stop moving, "weaving" the ambient blood-links in the room.
+Emotional: Absolute. She perceives the Thorne-Valerius proximity as a theological infection.
+Active obligations: To execute the "Purification of the Sovereignty" via the Sanguine Vow.
+Open loops: [Malcorra & The Ancestors] Is the whispered "Sacrilege" she hears a divine warning or a symptom of the Blight’s psychic interference?
+Known secrets: She has already prepared the "Red Ledger" to strike the Valerius name from the records should Seraphine falter.
+Arc: 20% — Shifted from advisory oversight to active theological obstruction.
+
+# World State: ch-03
+
+## NPC Memory
+- The Clergy: HOSTILE — They have witnessed Aldric Thorne stand on the hallowed Sanctuary stones without burning; they view this as a failure of the Goddess’s judgment.
+
+## Faction Attitudes
+- The Crimson Cathedral: Militant/Defensive — The Spire is in lockdown. Every novice is armed with ritual daggers.
+- The Lowen-Court: Endangered — Reports arriving via blood-ink suggest the border shadows are no longer retreating during daylight.
+
+## Active World Events
+- The Sanguine Parley: 28 hours remain on the Thorne proposal.
+- The Resonant Hum: The Cathedral stones are vibrating at a frequency that causes minor nosebleeds among the uninitiated—a sign of the Blight’s proximity.
+- The Bilateral Seal: The physical artifact is prepared, but requires a "harmonized" drop of blood from both sovereigns to activate the Cathedral’s ancient wards.