It can be done if you mess with the initramfs.

The kernel starts everything else by unpacking an archive containing a minimal environment to set stuff up for later. Such as loading needed kernel modules, decrypting your drive, etc. It then launches, by default, the /init program (mines a shell script).

That program is PID 1. If it dies, your kernel will panic.

After it finishes setup, it execs your actual /sbin/init. These means it dies, and that program (systemd, openrc, dinit, runit, etc) becomes PID 1. If an issue happens, both could fail to execute and the kernel will loop forever.

Very simple actually: don’t use 100% transparency.

Just use something like 80-90% opaque (10-20% transparent) and use the background color as black so it just dims whatever us behind it.

You can have both function and form.