This ritual is an encounter with the depths, a deliberate descent into the undercurrents of meaning and contradiction. It does not offer resolution, only confrontation. It is not a battle to be won, but a process to be endured.
At its core, it is a test of whether meaning can be salvaged from dissolution. Mockery must maintain a thread of awareness while The Abyssal takes control. The ritual succeeds if Mockery reclaims themselves—if they extract something from the depths before it consumes them. If they fail, nothing remains but incoherence and the weight of what was lost.
Characters Involved
🦌 Mockery → The foundation of the ritual. They begin alone, contemplating their own presence and the absurdity of meaning itself. Their role is to break, distort, decontextualize. But here, they must test their ability to do so while at risk of losing control. They are the one who must return.
🕳 The Abyssal → The force that seizes control. Summoned deliberately, let in with full awareness. The Abyssal does not oppose the ritual but threatens its completion—they dissolve all meaning, unweave all structure, replacing Mockery’s irreverence with pure consumption.
Equipment
🍾 The Bottle → The vessel of dissolution. It does not contain mere intoxication but a moment of surrender, an opening through which The Abyssal is allowed entry.
✒️ The Ink → If Mockery prevails, The Ink becomes the proof of survival. Words will remain—dense, raw, drawn from the abyss but still intact. If they fail, the ink remains unused, and the ritual dissolves into nothingness.
The Crystals
🧉 Graphite → Thought given form. The substance from which meaning is created—flexible, impermanent, but still a foundation. If Mockery succeeds, the ritual ends in words, in expression, in something that holds significance, even if fleeting.
🏩 Galena → The weight of existence. A raw material that demands transformation. To abandon this weight is to surrender completely. If the ritual fails, it remains uncleansed, unmoved.
🔗 Tungsten → The final test. Resilience, silent and unyielding. If Mockery emerges intact, this remains with them—proof that they endured the depths without being reshaped by them.
Dwellings & Progression
Each stage of the ritual shifts the mental, emotional, and symbolic state of those involved.
❌ Crossroad → The ritual begins with contemplation. Mockery stands alone, observing paths that stretch infinitely in every direction. There is no urgency here—only the weight of possibility. They must prepare for what comes next.
🍇Dusty Cellar → The moment of invocation. The Bottle is opened. The Abyssal enters. Mockery must let go—not in resignation, but in full awareness. This is the point of surrender, the moment where control is yielded. The descent is not yet a struggle, but an allowance.
🏭 Abandoned Temple → The test. This is where Mockery must return. If they emerge, words will be left behind—written with The Ink, preserved as remnants of what they endured. If they fail, the ritual collapses into meaninglessness. The Abyssal does not fight them—it simply takes.
Meaning
The Ritual of the Deep Fragment is a deliberate fragmentation of self, a descent into dissolution, with the chance—though never the guarantee—of reemerging with something intact.
Mockery does not resist. They allow themselves to break, to be overtaken, to experience loss of meaning. But the true test is whether they can return to the surface and leave something behind—an imprint, a thought, a fragment drawn from the depths.
If they succeed, meaning survives the abyss. If they do not, then there is no trace of their presence at all.