I haven't messed with OpenBSD for quite some time, but how I described it is actually how it functioned, as I recall.

That's ... over a decade out of date.

Re-pitching my comment at that specific configuration: it wasn't elegant, but it could be coerced to do what I wanted.

OpenBSD doesn't work like that, either. The OpenBSD people reinvented Mewburn rc just over six years ago. None of FreeBSD, TrueOS/PC-BSD, FreeNAS, OpenBSD, NetBSD, DragonFly BSD have a single rc file containing everything.

With the sole exception of MirOS BSD as far as I am aware, the world has actually let go of that idea.

Noted. But again, this was the process when I did look at it.

Cheers.