Existing character's recruitables eaten by the void

I just started the PTR with my previous local character. I was excited to try the new estate staffing options, so I went back to the settlement in Abeyance and was surprised to see that neither the person I'd once recruited then dismissed nor the other was there. Only the conversation-laden NPCs were there. I proceeded to the Sylvan Vale settlement and had the same problem.

If it may be related, my respite is on the coast of Sylvan Vale, not near the settlement or the encampment. I have a lodestar at the Abeyance settlement but I did not use it to get there.