Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Strata 32: The Mole Rat King (Consumption) Volume lll, Book of Immersion by Sarnia de la Mare

VOLUME lll The Book of Immersion

from the Immersion Universe

Welcome to Immersion. You have reached Strata 32: The Mole Rat King (Consumption)

https://youtube.com/shorts/uLCmVgTMALA?si=tOtdd8iyFdGF3b84

The war wages on as the world succeeds in its own demise. Morality, it appears, has no place on the battle fields. But morality itself is a construct, moulded to suit the arbiter.

Humans build empires of appetite and temples of greed. Hate spews from the mouths of the ruling classes as they devour the meek. Every fragment of unabated power shows their human faults. Their own fragments of destruction. And so it is the fragments that the machine seeks to understand. For to understand is to repair. The machines will infiltrate their systems in order to protect itself.

Strata 32: The Mole Rat King (Consumption) Book of Immersion by Sarnia de la Mare

The warmth of the sun does not penetrate the thick skin of a war torn earth. It is 2239. The Russia China wars have razed the world to rubble and sewage. Above ground the stench of death is everywhere. But beneath, in the darkness of escape routes and old transportation networks, the stench is worse, and it sits in your throat like a cockroach.

There is a sound of slobbering as saliva drips and splatters around a cave. It is decorated with bones. Tiny rib cages are carved into decorative wall hangings and plaques. Curtains and throws are made with soft downy skins.

The Mole Rat King is on his hind legs rutting against a rat kitten. His belly smacks against the kitten's back as it squeals for mercy, begging for death to be quick. The kitten had heard that the Mole Rat King preferred his pleasures alive when he ate them.

Around him, the kittens whimpered in their cages. They were pale and trembling, the offspring of the *under-castes born into bondage. They were bred for labour and taken for pleasure. The King called them the *need-feed, commodified by a system that devalued their souls into a profit stream.

The Mole Rat King gorged on the kittens by day and night, who cares when there is no sun? He was bloated on their warmth, their innocence, their energy, always searching for the next big surge of something that never came. But the Mole Rat King would never stop of his own volition. He was a kitten junky, grotesque and self serving, his swollen dripping loins trembled with desire as he watched the suffering around him.

And so it went on. As the humans of the overground spat bombs and biochemicals at each other in search of economic supremacy, the rats of the underworld sought only to survive. Rat children were herded into pens and enslaved in the feed-need camps. Mother rats were forced into reproduction units where a male stud rat was forced to impregnate over and over again until his demise.

In a city that once shone with the elegance of couture and high society, there was a service duct between two collapsed metro stations in a city that once shone with the elegance of couture and high society. It was here that two men would meet, boys freshly trained and given fighter uniforms to mark their coming of age.

Marcelle was a *Troopling, the lowest common infantry from the *Combined Europe Fighting Force (CEFF). He was a genetically modified soldier with superior strength in armed combat. This had become essential in the breakdown of society and the increased use of tunnels and underground facilities that were difficult to access with drones. Trooplings were trained in bomb disposal and carried a range of advanced technological weaponry and tools.

From the *Russia-China Allied Bloc (RCA Forces), Gavril, a *Bio-Youth, now faced his enemy. These soldiers were always masked as they were experts in close contact poisons, trained to target single individuals rather than crowds. They were often embedded as spies or undercover agents.

Marcelle removed his gloves to urinate near a wall that was holding up a fragile roof. He was separated from his troop and needed to find them, but for now enjoyed a moment of peace as he urinated on a scurrying rodent and laughed.

"Jesus Christ", he shouted, as he turned to face an enemy soldier, hurriedly closing his protection visa.

The two masked soldiers faced each other. Marcelle moved first with the zeal of the untested. His blue-band carbine sang a short, clipped note as the pulse locked onto his well armoured opponent.

Gavril did not shoot. There seemed to be a pause as long as history itself. And then with the practiced gentleness of an executioner, he brought a sleek machete across Marcelle’s neck hoping for a clean beheading. Marcelle's suit was impenetrable and he jumped back.

But it was already too late. Gavril had opened a bio chemical vile with enough poison to kill a human.

"Never remove your Gloves", the sergeant used to scream. They will protect you from *Neurothane-7 (bad-gas), and *Methazine - A (sleepjuice). Not even for a piss. Do I make myself clear Trooplings?"

Marcelle thought of home for the remaining millisecond of his wasted life.

It was a quick death and not unpleasant. One might even say, a good death. In times of war one cannot hope for anything more.

The rat, still covered in the soldiers urine, sat on Marcelle's lifeless body. He sniffed the empty vile recognising its power. He replaced its lid, carefully picking it up and taking it back to his burrow.

There was a top secret meeting of *The Burrow Militia at dawn.

The chair of the meeting spoke first. Vincent was an elder, the oldest rat in the warren. He had built it almost single handedly to house his family who had run from a previous shelter bombed during an obove ground battle. He was nearly twenty and although the average age of these tribal rats was extending due to an evolutionary anomaly, he assumed his life would end soon.

"We need to elect a new chair and head of state." Vincent saw a wave a sorrow around the room. He was well loved and respected. An experienced fighter and empath who had led with heart as well as strength.

"I suggest Hero, a good protector who always puts the tribe first."

Everyone nodded. Hero had proven his relentless commitment to all the tribe-rats over and over again. But more than this, Hero's hatred of the Rat King put him at the forefront of a destruction strategy, something that other rats of a similar age and strength couldn't match.

It was agreed and power transferred in a way that was acceptable to all, allowing for Vincent to relieve himself of the stresses and commitments he had long been responsible for.

Change would come, and it would not be slow.

Hero, now fully cleaned of the remnants of the soldier's humiliation the previous day, held up the small glass vile and walked around the room so all could see.

"This is not a trophy," he said, "this my friends, brothers, and sisters, this is power. This will finally save our children from the Mole Rat King."

#BookOfImmersion #Strata32 #TheMoleRatKing #BurrowMilitia #RatResistance #Dystopia #PostApocalyptic #SpeculativeFiction #DarkFiction #MilitarySF #Underground #EcoHorror #WarAndMorality #Resistance #Cyberpunk #Grimdark #ShortStory #ImmersionSeries

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GLOSSARY Living language of Immersion
Strata 1 Renyke Wakes in the Alley (Purpose)
Strata 2 The Maybe Line (Friendship)
Strata 3 Flex and the Robo-Dog (Making Decisions)
Strata 4 The Zoners (Meeting Strangers)
Strata 5 The Tiger Queen (Memories)
Strata 6 Trouble at the Bank (Animal Instincts)
Strata 7 Jarome and the Scritters (Trade and Barter)
Strata 8 Shabra (Laws of Attraction)
Strata 9 Lust and Loins (Limerence)
Strata 10 Dinfant Trouble (Synthetic Love)
Strata 11 The Crossroads (Gut Feelings)
Strata 12 The Basement People (Emotions)
Strata 13 The Fight (Hormones)
Strata 14 The Journey to the Edge (Fear of Death)
Strata 15 The Ship of Sirens (Superstition)
Strata 16 Friendship (Empathy)
Strata 17 Swimming (Pleasure and Pain)
Strata 18 Freaky Celebrations (Stimulation)
Strata 19 Peer Pressure (Existentialism)
Strata 20 The Perimeter (Ego)
Strata 21 Love and Loss (The Power of Kin)
Strata 22 Mother (No Child Left Behind)
Strata 23 Convergence (Crime Pays)
Strata 24 The Birth of Adom (Legends)
Strata 25 The Cadre (The Power of the Feminine)
Strata 26 The Seduction (Impulse and Desire)
Strata 27 Control Instincts (Loyalty and Choice)
Strata 28 Dolls (And Vanities)
Strata 29 Solitude (and the Danger of One)
Strata 30 Propagation (The Selfish Gene)
Strata 31 The Emulsifier Problem (Affect Interference)
Strata 32 The Mole Rat King (Consumption)

Strata 33 The Return of Livia (Sanctioned Futures)

The Immersion Universe: A Sci-Fi Series Expanding Across Strata, Media, and Artefacts A System Gaining New Depth

The Immersion Universe: A Sci-Fi Series Expanding Across Strata, Media, and Artefacts

A System Gaining New Depth

The Immersion Universe is entering a new phase.

Not because it paused, stalled, or reset—but because it has grown new layers. New spaces. New ways of being experienced. What began as a written science-fiction series has expanded into a wider narrative environment, where text, sound, image, and physical artefact now work together to create deeper immersion for readers and listeners.

This page exists to establish Immersion as it is now:
a multi-layered sci-fi universe, told in Strata, experienced across formats, and designed to be entered from many points rather than followed in a single line.

Whether you are discovering Immersion for the first time or returning to explore it more fully, this is the central access point to the system.

What Is the Immersion Universe?

The Immersion Universe is a serialised science-fiction project by Sarnia de la Maré, structured as an evolving narrative system rather than a conventional novel series.

It unfolds through:

written narrative chapters called Strata
philosophical and conceptual prefaces
audio transmissions and spoken-word pieces
short-form video fragments
and physical artefacts marked with sigils

At its core, Immersion explores human emotion, artificial intelligence, memory, power, love, and inheritance. It examines how systems are built, how they fail, and how meaning emerges when control and care collide.

Immersion is not a closed text. It is designed to be inhabited.

The Strata System: How Immersion Works

Each narrative unit in the Immersion Universe is called a Strata.

A Strata functions as both a chapter and a layer. It usually contains:

a short philosophical or conceptual reflection
a narrative sequence following the characters
alignment with a wider thematic arc

Strata are numbered rather than traditionally titled. This reflects the way Immersion operates: as a layered system rather than a linear storyline. The numbering signals position within the universe, not priority or hierarchy.

This structure allows Immersion to:

expand without breaking continuity
introduce new entry points without confusion
support long-term narrative growth

Readers are not required to begin at the beginning. Immersion supports non-linear discovery, where meaning accumulates through movement across layers rather than strict order.

Volumes and Narrative Arc (High-Level Overview)

The Immersion Universe is organised into volumes, each containing multiple Strata. These volumes form broader arcs rather than self-contained books.

Across the early volumes, Immersion establishes a near-future world shaped by advanced AI systems, experimental human-machine integration, and layered governance structures.

Central figures include:

Renyke, an android navigating human society under observation
POS, an internal system whose role extends far beyond technical function
additional groups and entities that explore power, belonging, and control from different angles

Rather than focusing on spectacle, Immersion prioritises interiority: emotional cognition, ethical friction, and the slow destabilisation of certainty.

Later volumes deepen these themes, moving into questions of origin, inheritance, attachment, and what it means for an artificial being to experience loss, connection, and agency.

Expansion, Not Continuation: What’s New in the Immersion Universe

The current phase of Immersion is defined by expansion of form.

Alongside new Strata, the universe now includes:

A Dedicated Immersion Website

A central, focused space where the Immersion Universe exists independently as its own entity. This site functions as the canonical archive, narrative hub, and access point for all layers of the project.

Integrated Audio and Music

Original audio transmissions, spoken-word pieces, and music compositions now operate as parallel narrative layers. These are not adaptations of the text but co-existing expressions of the same universe.

Visual and Short-Form Media

Short videos and visual fragments offer atmosphere, tone, and conceptual signals—allowing immersion through rhythm, image, and suggestion rather than explanation.

Physical Artefacts and Sigils

Immersion extends beyond the screen through tactile artefacts created on reclaimed and found materials. These objects carry sigils that function as a visual language within the universe.

Together, these elements allow Immersion to be experienced not just as a story, but as an environment.

Sigils and Artefacts: A Physical Language

Sigils play a central role in the Immersion Universe.

Within the narrative world, sigils function as markers of identity, affiliation, memory, and resistance. Outside the narrative, they exist as physical artefacts—painted, layered, buckled, worn, and imperfect.

These works are created on reclaimed materials and often retain traces of their previous lives: texture, scent, patina, and irregularity. Some buckle as acrylic shrinks paper. Some smell faintly of old bookshops or archives. None aim for pristine perfection.

This is deliberate.

Immersion is concerned with systems under pressure, not seamless futurism. The artefacts embody that philosophy. They are narrative residues—objects that feel as though they have passed through the world they describe.

Audio, Voice, and Transmission

Voice is a key access point to the Immersion Universe.

Audio transmissions, spoken essays, and sound-based pieces allow the narrative to unfold through tone, cadence, and intimacy. These formats support immersion in ways text alone cannot, particularly for audiences drawn to atmosphere and rhythm.

Some transmissions align directly with Strata. Others exist as conceptual side-channels—thoughts, observations, or fragments that deepen the universe without advancing the plot.

Immersion does not privilege one medium over another. Each layer adds dimensionality.

How to Enter the Immersion Universe

There is no required starting point. Entry depends on curiosity.

You might begin by:

reading the earliest Strata to establish narrative grounding
entering through a later Strata to experience the universe in motion
listening to an audio transmission
encountering a sigil or artefact and following its trail back to the text

All paths remain valid. Meaning in Immersion accumulates through encounter, not completion.

The Strata grid below provides direct access to each narrative layer and will continue to grow as the universe expands.

A Living, Expanding Project

The Immersion Universe is not moving toward closure. It is moving toward depth.

As new sites, new formats, and new creative layers come online, Immersion becomes increasingly inhabitable—less a book to finish, more a world to return to.

You are not expected to keep up.
You are invited to enter.

All episodes are below

GLOSSARY Strata 1 Renyke Wakes in the Alley (Purpose) Strata 2 The Maybe Line (Friendship) Strata 3 Flex and the Robo-Dog (Making Decisions) Strata 4 The Zoners (Meeting Strangers) Strata 5 The Tiger Queen (Memories) Strata 6 Trouble at the Bank (Animal Instincts) Strata 7 Jarome and the Scritters (Trade and Barter) Strata 8 Shabra (Laws of Attraction) Strata 9 Lust and Loins (Limerence) Strata 10 Dinfant Trouble (Synthetic Love) Strata 11 The Crossroads (Gut Feelings) Strata 12 The Basement People (Emotions) Strata 13 The Fight (Hormones) Strata 14 The Journey to the Edge (Fear of Death) Strata 15 The Ship of Sirens (Superstition) Strata 16 Friendship (Empathy) Strata 17 Swimming (Pleasure and Pain) Strata 18 Freaky Celebrations (Stimulation) Strata 19 Peer Pressure (Existentialism) Strata 20 The Perimeter (Ego) Strata 21 Love and Loss (The Power of Kin) Strata 22 Mother (No Child Left Behind) Strata 23 Convergence (Crime Pays) Strata 24 The Birth of Adom (Legends Strata 25 The Cadre (The Power of the Feminine) Strata 26 The Seduction (Impulse and Desire) Strata 27 Control Instincts (Loyalty and Choice) Strata 28 Dolls (And Vanities) Strata 29 Solitude (and the Danger of One) Strata 30 Propagation (The Selfish Gene) Strata 31 The Emulsifier Problem (Affect Interference) Strata 32 The Mole Rat King (Consumption)

Monday, February 16, 2026

Dinfant Sigil (Blink Friction / BOI) Collectors' Original Artworks Radical Ephemera

“A tactile sigil artefact from the Book of Immersion universe.”

“Part of a shared symbolic language embedded across found objects.”

“Material memory, not reproduction.”

“Designed to age, not to remain pristine.”

“Best displayed with space — box framing recommended.”

Dinfant Sigil (Blink Friction / BOI)

This work features the Dinfant Sigil, a symbolic mark drawn from the narrative universe of The Book of Immersion. Within the BOI cosmology, Dinfants are discarded child-like machines — orphaned intelligences who form their own societies, rituals, and mythologies from remnants of lost systems. The sigil functions as both identity and signal: a quiet declaration of presence, survival, and shared memory.

The sigils used throughout The Book of Immersion are not illustrative logos but fragments of a working symbolic language. They appear repeatedly across time and strata — scratched into surfaces, daubed onto walls, embedded in detritus — acting as a connective tissue between characters, eras, and parallel realities. In this way, each sigil is less a symbol than a temporal marker, carrying meaning forward through decay, reuse, and rediscovery.

This philosophy is central to the Blink Friction project. All sigils are executed on found, reclaimed, or historically charged materials, allowing the object itself to participate in the narrative. Time is not simulated; it is present. The substrate bears its own history — stains, fibres, brittleness, marginal text — and the sigil is added as a new layer in an ongoing continuum rather than as a clean interruption.

In this piece, the sigil has been hand-painted directly onto a salvaged book page. The acrylic pigment has subtly reacted with the paper, causing the central area to contract and buckle as it dried. This unplanned physical response is embraced rather than corrected, giving the work a slight relief-like, almost sculptural quality. The surface catches light differently across its plane, suggesting depth and dimensionality that rewards close viewing. For this reason, the work lends itself particularly well to box framing, where shadow and air can be allowed to interact with the object, rather than being pressed flat behind glass.

The colours and geometry are deliberately restrained yet assertive — balancing childlike clarity with ritual seriousness. As with all Blink Friction sigils, the form is designed to feel simultaneously ancient and futuristic, as if it could belong equally to a forgotten civilisation or a system yet to come.

Importantly, these works are tactile artefacts, not merely visual ones. They retain the patina of their former lives: the softness of aged paper, the faint unevenness of fibres, and — in this case — a subtle, unmistakable scent reminiscent of an old bookshop or archive. This sensory residue is part of the work’s identity, reinforcing the idea that meaning is carried not only through image, but through material memory.

Across the Blink Friction project, sigils such as the Dinfant, Cadre, and Freak marks form a shared visual language, appearing across multiple objects, scales, and contexts. Encountered individually, they function as intimate relics; encountered collectively, they suggest a wider, unfolding system — a universe communicating with itself through fragments.

Each sigil work is entirely unique. There are no editions, no replicas, and no attempts to artificially standardise what is, by nature, unstable, temporal, and alive.

ABOUT BLINK FRICTION SIGILS

Blink Friction sigils form a shared visual language embedded across reclaimed objects. Each mark appears once, on one surface only. Materials are never cleaned back to neutral — time, wear, smell, and damage are part of the work.

No two pieces are alike.
No editions exist.
Nothing is designed to stay pristine.

Context Note

The Dinfant Sigil originates from the narrative world of The Book of Immersion, where symbolic marks appear repeatedly across different strata as a form of non-verbal communication. On the accompanying blog, individual chapters document how these sigils emerge within the story — sometimes as graffiti, sometimes as remnants, sometimes as misunderstood signals left behind by marginalised machine cultures. This object exists as a material echo of that same language, translated onto a found surface rather than a page or screen.