218 - Undine Blessing

Ritual: Undine Blessing

Cost: 6 significant charges (2 per month).

Ritual Action: For the three-month (a season, from start to end) period of the ritual consume only food and water that comes from the sea (you can distill the salt out of the water for drinking). Dress only in blues and light greens. Make a pilgrimage at the end of each month to the nearest ocean, spending at least six hours immersed up to your neck bookended with a brief incantation in Dutch.

Before each immersion break the bones in your feet and legs, starting with your feet on the first visit, your lower legs on the second, then both of your thighs before the last. You can treat the breaks yourself but you cannot seek medical treatment from others until after the ritual is complete.

At the end of the last immersion, submerge yourself completely and hold your breath for as long as possible. You’ll pass out, but if it works you’ll survive.

Effect: You can now breathe water as though it were air. You can still breathe air too but it takes constant active attention to do so, it's not hard but if you fall asleep you’ll suffocate. This can be avoided by submerging your head in water or having a machine breathe for you while you’re unconscious. You have no other adaptations to surviving underwater. Skin damage, decompression sickness and psychological issues are all still present dangers from long and poorly planned underwater living.