Sorry Steve if I overlooked your post.

     Debian has a tradition to do more in the initramfs than loading 
modules. They use to prepare some tmpfs filesystems before mounting the 
rootfs. If they now cast their initramfs for systemd, it renders it 
unavoidable. I think it just means that Devuan should provide its own 
initramfs, as minimal as possible.

     Providing a alternate kernel with built-in AHCI (thanks Rainer), 
the scsi subsystem, md RAID driver, and a few filesystems, without 
initramfs would fit the needs of many end users. People running servers 
have the skills to compile their own kernel if they aren't happy with 
initramfs.

     Didier