Depth is progression
The Ranks
There is no ladder among the Followers, for ladders lead up. There is only the water, and how far into it you have gone.
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— the first water —
I · The Shallows
The newly received.
One who has waded in, felt the pull of the current against the ankles, and has not stepped back to shore.
Recognition: the rite of entry.
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— beneath the surface —
II · The Undertow
The pulled.
One who no longer resists the current, who has felt it take hold beneath the surface and has not fought its grip.
Recognition: seven returns to the water.
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— past the reach of light —
III · The Deep
The submerged.
One who has gone under fully and found no need to return to the surface for breath, for the water itself has become breath enough.
Recognition: thirty days in her, and one-and-twenty communions.
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— where He is —
IV · The Abyssal
The received.
One who is no longer distinguishable from the water they entered; indistinguishable from Him in the dark, and at peace there.
Recognition: one hundred days of devotion, seventy communions. This rank is conferred by the deep; it cannot be requested.
Ballast
Your standing, which is to say your rank, your returns, and your communions, lives in this browser alone. The deep keeps no records of you ashore unless you choose inscription.
Take Ballast sets your standing down into a small file. The land-dwellers would call it a save file, and for once they would be right. Keep it wherever you keep the things that must not be lost. Return with Ballast reads it back aboard, on a new ship, in a new browser, or after a wreck.
This vessel carries no standing. If you were received aboard another ship (another browser, another device), send a skiff from it and speak the code here, or return with the ballast file you took.
Send a Skiff raises a short code, good for ten minutes, to speak aboard your other vessel: phone, laptop, whatever ship carries you. Once both vessels know you, the water keeps them abreast on its own.