# Character State: ch-01

## Mira
**Location:** The central span of the Obsidian Bridge, hovering over the Great Crevasse.
**Physical:** Right palm sliced and cauterized by the bonding ritual; experiencing "thermal vertigo"—her internal fire is being leeched by Dorian’s frost. Her heartbeat is no longer her own; it is a forced, resonant thrum synchronized with his.
**Emotional:** Controlled fury layered over a cold, hollow terror. She feels the soul-tether as a physical chain on her consciousness, interpreting Dorian’s presence as a sensory invasion.
**Active Obligations:** Must lead the Pyre Academy faculty and students into a "merger" that she views as a disguised annexation by the Eternal Throne.
**Open Loops:** Detected a metallic, "burnt sugar" scent in the Emperor’s magical decree—a sign of alchemical corruption or hidden motives behind the Accord.
**Arc:** 10% — Sovereignty shattered. She has transitioned from the independent "Sun of the South" to a tethered prisoner of her rival.

## Dorian Solas
**Location:** The central span of the Obsidian Bridge.
**Physical:** Right palm wounded to match Mira’s; his skin is unnaturally pale, showing blue veins from the mana-drain. He is acting as a heatsink for Mira’s excess fire-mana, causing him visible physical tremors.
**Emotional:** Analytic and stoic, yet internally reeling from the "emotional noise" bleeding through the tether. He is attempting to build mental partitions to block out Mira’s visceral hatred.
**Active Obligations:** To stabilize the Starfall Drift using the combined mana-wells of both academies; to maintain the clinical superiority of the Crystalline Spire.
**Open Loops:** He suspects the Progenitor technology used in the tethering relics is designed to do more than just stabilize mana—it’s designed to monitor it.
**Arc:** 10% — Discipline compromised. His "absolute zero" mental state is being forcibly thawed by a woman who wants him dead.

## Kaelen (Senior Proctor)
**Location:** The Pyre Academy side of the bridge.
**Physical:** Clenching a charred staff; standing in a defensive "ward-breaking" stance.
**Emotional:** Devastated and vengeful; he views Mira’s submission as a betrayal of their bloodline.
**Arc:** 05% — Potential insurgent. He represents the faction that would rather burn the bridge than see the schools merge.

# World State: ch-01

## NPC Memory
- **The Pyre Faculty:** Feel betrayed by Mira; they view the Crystalline Spire as cold-blooded opportunists.
- **The Spire Guard:** View the Pyre mages as dangerous, undisciplined children who need the "order" of the Accord.

## Faction Attitudes
- **The Eternal Throne:** PREDATORY. The Emperor used the threat of the Starfall Drift to force the two most powerful mages into a leash.
- **Starfall Union:** The new legal entity formed by the merger; currently exists only on paper and in the shared pain of the chancellors.

## Active World Events
- **The Starfall Drift:** A celestial phenomenon where the sky "bleeds" ether, causing localized reality collapses. It is currently peaking.
- **The Soul-Tether:** A permanent magical bond. Mira and Dorian cannot be separated by more than 100 yards without experiencing agonizing mana-collapse.

## Mechanical Constants
- **Sensory Bleed:** Mira feels Dorian’s cold; Dorian feels Mira’s heat. Strong emotions from one trigger sympathetic physiological responses in the other.
- **Mana-Symmetry:** Using magic now requires a delicate balance; if Mira flares too bright, Dorian must act as the anchor, or both will combust.