Immortalis and the Satirical Edge of Rituals That Exist Only to Continue
In the eternal dusk of Morrigan Deep, where the overlapping suns cling to the horizon like reluctant lovers, rituals persist with the tenacity of weeds in cracked stone. They bloom in the barren soil of The Deep, promising balance, redress, or divine favour, yet deliver only the same weary cycle of failure. The Immortalis world thrives on these ceremonies, not despite their futility, but because of it. They are the grand jests of a creation engineered for imbalance, where every solemn rite serves to prop up the very powers it pretends to challenge.
Consider the Pauci Electi, those seven self-appointed guardians of thesapien interests, huddled in their rotting shipwreck headquarters at Sapari Port. Every century, they dispatch two Immolesses, daughters of demoness and priest, armed with magick gifts and a delusion of destiny. Bred for the task, trained in isolation, these priestesses are meant to topple the Immortalis, to shatter the yoke of eternal tribute. The Electi frame it as heroic resistance, a sacred counterweight to the bloodlust of Theaten, Nicolas, and Behmor. Yet the ledger, that cold arbiter in Irkalla’s Anubium, records the truth: not one has succeeded. Stacia torn asunder in a tug-of-war between brothers. Lucia, the medium, reduced to a salted, skinned wretch before her skull joined Theaten’s collection. And Allyra, the bastard anomaly, who boiled vampires and danced with demons, only to vanish into the sea’s embrace. The Immolesses die, always, and the Electi persist, collecting their tithes, breeding the next pair. The ritual endures, a satire on rebellion, ensuring the Immortalis remain unchallenged while the thesapiens believe otherwise.
Parallel to this farce runs the tribute system, that feudal farce etched into The Rationum itself. Thesapiens, post-War Before the Dusk, breed themselves into servitude, delivering sons and daughters to the Immortalis maw. The villages west of Varjoleto and Sapari maintain the quota, a hundred years of flesh and blood offered up like clockwork. Primus decreed it after the Pauci Electi’s failed uprising, a balance to the Immoless folly. Yet what balance is this? Theaten dines with Anne and Tepes on basted redheads, prolonging their agony with silver knives and wrist bleeds. Nicolas straps his favourites to beds or gurneys, savouring the hunt before the feast. The tribute endures, generation after generation, not as redress but as reinforcement, a perpetual reminder that the thesapiens exist to feed their gods.
Even the Darkbadb Brotherhood, Primus’s six watchers, mock their own mandate. Disguised as thesapiens, they shadow the Immortalis, yet their vigilance yields nothing but whispers and Demize’s severed head, perched on Nicolas’s gramophone, cackling commentary. The Ad Sex Speculum gleams in Irkalla’s Anubium, six mirrors tracking Vero and Evro alike, but Behmor prefers his own reflection in silk suits. The Brotherhood circles back to irrelevance, their purpose as empty as the rituals they observe.
These ceremonies, from Immoless dispatch to tribute harvest, from Darkbadb vigils to Electi posturing, exist not to alter the order but to sustain it. They are the Deep’s grand satire, where participants play their roles with pious gravity, blind to the cosmic jest. Primus split Theaten into Vero and Evro to curb his appetites, yet the fracture only doubled the hunger. Lilith’s cult chained Primus in the void, only to birth eternal dusk and endless vendettas. The Ledger inscribes it all, unblinking, as The Deep churns in mock equilibrium. Rituals continue because they must, propping up the Immortalis throne on pillars of failure, ensuring the gods feast while the faithful bleed.
In this world of contrived checks and performative rebellions, the true satire lies in the persistence. The Immolesses fall, tributes renew, mirrors reflect unbroken gazes, and the dusk endures. Balance is the illusion, domination the reality, and the rites? They spin eternally, grinding hope to dust.
Immortalis Book One August 2026