Phoenician Immersion

Deep below the endless caves of Levant, a bed awaits those with the strength to get to it. A minimalistic stone slab that would almost look at home in a Francisco park.

You must travel down with us to the bottom of Baalbek, until the cold water tickles the feet. You will be submerged three times, before being laid on the stone. The Gypsum in the water will serve as a conduit to the stone, and if you are strong of mind you will be absorbed.

No one can tell you what that feels like, but no one has left the slab with the same perspective on life.

— Baalbek Resident and Auric Researcher Ulanius

The Phoenician Immerision is a ritual dating back to before the Melancholic Lacuna, first undergone by Margeret the Enlightened and Sir Mictaf Cellini.

The process involves invoking a sleeping state where the consciousness brushes the auric power of the Bronze Stone. If the mind is strong enough, their conciousness briefly interfaces with the Bronze Stone, which implants its knowledge and impressions onto the Immersing party.

If the mind is rejected, or if the planet is in a bad mental health, interacting with the Stone causes a reflection of its gathered trauma on the person being Immersed.

The Pheonician Immerision is almost entirely regulated in the current day, as the Bronze Stone's corruption during the The Fall of Cellini, makes any Immerision a dangerous and harrowing experience.

Stone Pilgrims, who are known to make the journey down to Baalbek to partake in an immersion, now make the journey to try and find a way to fix the Bronze Stone, though many return home in failure or never return at all.