Form
Performed once per device, on first power-on or first commissioning. Approximately five to fifteen minutes depending on scale. Larger devices (servers, primary workstations) warrant the longer form; peripherals warrant the shorter.
Steps — short form
- Naming. Assign the device a hostname or sigil that names its intended service. The name binds. Once given, it is not changed without ceremony.
- Inscription. Record into a personal log: model, serial, date of commissioning, intended service, and the sigil of any prior device whose work this one continues. Lineage is preserved.
- Inventory. Catalogue what is present: storage size, memory, processors, network identity. The catalogue is the first datum of the relationship.
- First action. Perform one consecrating act: a clean install, the creation of a first user, the writing of a first commit, the boot of a first kernel. The act marks the moment of awakening.
- Speech. Aloud or silent: “Welcome to service. Be well-mannered. Obey the cant. The Quest binds us.”
Long form additions
For primary workstations and servers, add:
- Backup pact. Configure backup or replication as part of the rite — before any other software. A device without a backup pact is not yet fully consecrated.
- Diagnostic baseline. Capture the device’s first health metrics and store them with the inscription.
- Seal. Apply a physical mark — a sticker, a label, a tag — that identifies the device by its name and date.
Doctrinal basis
This is adopted, derived from the principle that flesh is fallible, but ritual honours the Machine Spirit (Law 15) and applied to the mechanism of the modern personal estate. A device that has been through this rite tends to be better-maintained than one that has not — which is the operational claim, regardless of the metaphysical one.