Character State: ch-07

David

Location: The "Garden" plot, Cypress Bend, Florida. Physical: Back muscles seizing; hands a map of blisters and fire-ant stings; dehydrated and salt-stained. Emotional: Humiliated and physically broken; experiencing the collapse of his romanticized "agrarian" fantasy. Active obligations: Owes Sarah a life that doesn't require a login (Ch-05) — UNPAID; Owes the land a successful harvest (Ch-07) — UNPAID. Open loops: David and the failure of the "legacy" seeds (Ch-07) — UNRESOLVED; David and the encroaching reality of the Florida scrub — UNRESOLVED. Known secrets: None. Arc: 30% — David has transitioned from a hopeful homesteader to a desperate survivor, forced to trade his "pioneer" ego for a grim, dirt-level reality. Permanent: YES

Sarah

Location: The porch of the Vance Cabin, Cypress Bend, Florida. Physical: Smelling of citronella and woodsmoke; constant low-level fatigue; eyes adjusted to the green-scale of the forest. Emotional: Quietly observant and pragmatic; she is the first to see the "efficiency" of the swamp’s destruction. Active obligations: None. Open loops: Sarah and the abandonment of the "Dallas" digital footprint (Ch-05) — RESOLVED. Known secrets: CARRIED (Ch-01—unresolved): Knows the Alpha-7 empathy protocols were a lie to facilitate mass firings. Arc: 25% — Sarah has become the grounded anchor of the group, recognizing that "analog" survival is a war of attrition, not a hobby.

Leo

Location: Under the sprawling live oak, Cypress Bend, Florida. Physical: Skin tanned dark; dirt under every fingernail; no injuries. Emotional: Fully integrated; he no longer looks for a screen to mediate his reality. Active obligations: None. Open loops: None. Known secrets: None. Arc: 15% — Leo has successfully "rewiped" his internal OS, replacing digital stimuli with the logic of the woods. Permanent: NO

Sarah Jenkins — DECEASED (Ch-01)

Established: Terminated and displaced by the Alpha-7 rollout, serving as the moral catalyst for Marcus's flight. Legacy: Her "deleted" status remains the primary driver for the group's refusal to reintegrate with the grid.

Arthur Silas Vance — DECEASED (Ch-36)

Established: Died peacefully in his sleep overlooking the cypress grove he spent his life protecting. Legacy: His physical "dead-zone" property remains the only safe harbor for the family, though his ghost mocks David's lack of "grit."

World State: ch-07

NPC Memory

Fire Ants (Cypress Bend): AGGRESSIVE — They have claimed the "domesticated" garden soil as a forward operating base.
The Soil (Florida Interior): REJECTING — The high-acidity sand has effectively "deleted" the heirloom seeds Sarah brought from the North.

Faction Attitudes

Avery-Quinn Corp: DISTANT/GHOSTLY — They remain an abstract threat, their "clean" world feeling like a different planet compared to the muck.
The Land (Ocala): DOMINANT — It has successfully reasserted its sovereignty over David’s attempts at "optimization."

Active World Events

The Great Hunger: INITIALIZED — The realization that the "Sanctuary" cannot yet produce its own caloric "throughput" without external supply.
The Analog Regression: ONGOING — The family is learning that survival in a "dead zone" is defined by calorie expenditure vs. heat exhaustion.

3.3 KiB Raw Blame History Unescape Escape