The horrifically vague ambition of Verdance and its Callers. “Immersion” is the ideal of rejecting Pre-Burnout culture and materials in favor of new societies, rituals, and ways of life. 

Immersion originated in Verdance as part of its internal religion. First-Generation Callers described their intent as “pursuing Immersion for all survivors”. In practice, this was the creation of new religions and cultures to supplement the ones lost in the Burnout. Survivors who “Immersed” were better able to process their grief, overcome their despair, and eventually lead meaningful lives as productive members of the new civilizations. Immersion is the acceptance of a fundamentally absurd reality and continuing to exist in it— what survivors had to do in the Post-Burnout world. Un-Immersed communities, like those in the Strets and Federation actively view themselves as survivors and attach little significance to the societies that they participate in. Some argue that Immersion is a kind of self-protective mass-delusion that surviving communities used to process the Burnout. For many Immersed communities, their culture is not a warped continuation of Pre-Burnout civilization: it is a fundamentally new and unrelated civilization. It is a deliberate “severance” from the Burnout and all human history preceding it. Immersion has also been called a “process of re-mystification” and an “Anti-scientific, anti-intellectual movement”. Indeed, the lore and beliefs of America’s largest factions spit in the face of basic logic and historical fact. True Immersion is practically a state of blissful ignorance from human cynicism and rational thought. Fantasy becomes reality. Death becomes impermanent. Savagery and authoritarianism become natural, acceptable, phenomena. Gods and monsters are fixtures of everyday life. Immersed life is not objectively more pleasant than the Un-Immersed experience; it simply has more wonder and creativity.