diff --git a/projects/cypress-bend/staging/character-state-ch-18.md b/projects/cypress-bend/staging/character-state-ch-18.md
index db06d2bf..64e4fc09 100644
--- a/projects/cypress-bend/staging/character-state-ch-18.md
+++ b/projects/cypress-bend/staging/character-state-ch-18.md
@@ -1,56 +1,59 @@
-# Character State: ch-18
+# Character State: ch-18 [CANONICAL]
 
 ## Lena Duval
 Location: The Heart Tree (Siphon Hub Core)
-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.
+Physical: Body transfigured into bioluminescent sap and silver-veined wood; human substrate dissolved.
+Emotional: Transcendent, serene; individual ego merged with the Hum.
+Active obligations: None — all blood-oaths fulfilled by integration.
+Open loops: None — return to "normal life" (Ch-01) permanently abandoned. 
+Known secrets: CARRIED (Ch-02--unresolved): Knows her mother's death was a deliberate sacrifice orchestrated by the swamp, not an accident.
+Arc: 100% — Transformed from a fugitive seeking escape into the eternal, sentient foundation of the Bend.
 Permanent: YES
 
 ## Jax Harlan
 Location: The Sovereign Veil (Perimeter)
-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.
+Physical: Enhanced ocular reflex (silver-green); total immunity to swamp toxins.
+Emotional: Absolute devotion; human identity restructured as the Bayou Sentinel.
+Active obligations: None — no longer bound by human contracts or debts.
+Open loops: Jax/Lena romance (Ch-08) — RESOLVED via spiritual/biological union.
 Known secrets: None.
-Arc: 100% -- The cynical outsider has been purged of external human desire to become the ecosystem’s apex protector.
+Arc: 100% — From cynical outsider to the apex protector of the sovereign swamp.
 Permanent: YES
 
 ## Aunt Maribelle Duval
 Location: Subterranean Siphon Hub
-Physical: Immobile; transformed into a biological filtration organ within the root system.
-Emotional: Absolute peace; redemption achieved through functional utility to the land.
+Physical: Immobile; integrated as a filtration organ within the root lattice.
+Emotional: Absolute peace; fulfillment through functional selflessness.
 Active obligations: None.
-Open loops: None.
+Open loops: Duval Power Struggle (Ch-01) — RESOLVED via total integration.
 Known secrets: None.
-Arc: 100% -- The manipulative seeker of power has found peace as a necessary, selfless component of the swamp's biology.
+Arc: 100% — Power-hungry antagonist redeemed by becoming a vital, identity-less component of the ecosystem.
 Permanent: YES
 
 ## Remy LeBlanc
-Location: Interior Grove / Root Network
-Physical: Biologically suspended; integrated into the memory-strands of the cypress.
-Emotional: Contented; focused on his role as the living archive of the Bend.
+Location: Interior Grove / Root Memory Network
+Physical: Biologically suspended; integrated into cypress memory-strands.
+Emotional: Contented; focused on archival preservation.
 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.
+Known secrets: CARRIED (Ch-05--unresolved): Knows the specific location of the 1920s coven ledgers.
+Arc: 100% — Small-town gossip transformed into the eternal historian of the Bend.
 Permanent: YES
 
 # World State: ch-18
 
 ## NPC Memory
-- 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."
+- The Great Hum (Cypress Bend): AWAKENED — The collective consciousness of all integrated Duval witches; views the world as a unified sensory grid.
+- Outsiders (Louisiana): TERRIFIED — View the Bend as a "Lethal Zone" or divine entity; avoid the Sovereign Veil.
 
 ## Faction Attitudes
-- 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.
+- The Coven: DISSOLVED — Individual wills have been subsumed into the Great Hum.
+- Humanity: REPELLED — No longer permitted entry; external relations ceased.
 
 ## Active World Events
-- 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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+- The Apotheosis: CONCLUDED — The Great Siphon is stabilized; the Bend has achieved biological and spiritual equilibrium.
+- The Sovereign Veil: PERMANENT — A sentient fog barrier now surrounds the territory, lethal to any unauthorized incursion.
+
+## Unresolved Threads
+- Secret (Ch-02): Lena’s knowledge of her mother’s orchestrating drowning remains sealed within the Hum.
+- Secret (Ch-05): Remy’s knowledge of the 1920s coven ledgers remains buried in the root network.
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