Ritual of Transference

Content Warning: Mild description of an invasive medical procedure

  The Voyagers, mages who sacrifice everything to permanently project into the Tapestrum Arcanum, undergo the Ritual of Transference.
 

The Ritual and its Parts

It all begins with the Voyager-to-be taking a seat in the middle of a ritual circle. This supplicant then begins the ritual via the following utterance;

To be lost is the heaviest burden, and mine is heavier still.

  This acts as a summons for the rest of the participants, who step in to encircle the supplicant. Some light sweet incense and play instruments, acts meant to provide the supplicant with some context as to what they are about to leave permanently behind. With the raising of the supplicants hand, the music stops and the next utterance is delivered;

No more shall I wander, my path lies before me.

  Assisting mages that have been close to the supplicant will then bring into the circle the supplicant's mask, stopping just before their seated brother or sister. It is at this point these mages ask the supplicant if he or she is absolutely sure of his or her decision. If the supplicant is sure, they will answer with the following, final utterance;

With certainty in my heart, I journey forth.

  The supplicant then projects into the Tapestrum and the assisting mages will place the mask onto the supplicant's face, making sure the long nail within its inner lining enters through the nasal cavity and penetrates into the pre-frontal cortex of the supplicant, lobotomizing them. This severance within the brain makes it impossible for the presence of the newly-initiated Voyager to return into their physical form, rendering them a permanent resident of the tapestry.
 

After the Ritual

Once the ritual is complete, the body left behind is clad in funereal robes and interred into the Traveler's Sepulchre, a series of crypt-like halls underneath the House of Learning. There, the caretakers feed, bathe and otherwise take care of the bodies of the Voyagers, as the physical form must stay alive or their projection ends. This is to maximize the lifespan of the Voyager's projection, to give them as much time as possible to explore the mysteries of the Tapestrum.
 

Reception

Like the Voyagers as a whole, the ritual is rather controversial. There are those, especially among people unable to project and thus perhaps without critical perspective, who claim it is little more than assisted suicide and should be outlawed. Even within the Enlightened Few there are some who claim that, while the ritual's aim is noble, the methods are far too extreme to ignore.