diff --git a/.cargo/config.toml b/.cargo/config.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f3e9974
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.cargo/config.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+[build]
+# Without this flag, when linking static libruby, the linker removes symbols
+# (such as `_rb_ext_ractor_safe`) which it thinks are dead code... but they are
+# not, and they need to be included for the `embed` feature to work with static
+# Ruby.
+rustflags = ["-C", "link-dead-code=on", "-C", "link-arg=-lz"]
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index f4666e6..8c7712c 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -33,7 +33,6 @@ mlua = { version = "0.9.8", features = [
 ], optional = true }
 magnus = { version = "0.7.1", optional = true }
 rb-sys = { version = "*", default-features = false, features = ["link-ruby", "ruby-static"], optional = true }
-openssl-sys = { version = "0.9", features = ["vendored"] }
 crossbeam-channel = "0.5.15"
 
 [[example]]
diff --git a/src/runtimes/ruby.rs b/src/runtimes/ruby.rs
index fa535a6..399d58e 100644
--- a/src/runtimes/ruby.rs
+++ b/src/runtimes/ruby.rs
@@ -21,16 +21,14 @@ use magnus::{
     DataType, DataTypeFunctions, IntoValue, Object, RClass, RModule, Ruby, TryConvert, TypedData,
 };
 use magnus::{method, prelude::*};
-use rb_sys::{
-    ruby_exec_node, ruby_finalize, ruby_init_stack, ruby_options, ruby_process_options, VALUE,
-};
+use rb_sys::{ruby_finalize, ruby_init_stack, VALUE};
 use serde::Deserialize;
 
 use crate::{
     assets::GetExtensions,
     callback::{FromRuntimeValueWithEngine, IntoRuntimeValueWithEngine},
     promise::Promise,
-    FuncArgs, Runtime, ScriptingError, ENTITY_VAR_NAME,
+    FuncArgs, Runtime, ScriptingError,
 };
 
 #[derive(Resource)]
@@ -74,10 +72,18 @@ impl RubyThread {
         let (sender, receiver) = crossbeam_channel::unbounded::<Box<dyn FnOnce(Ruby) + Send>>();
 
         let handle = thread::spawn(move || {
+            let argc: i32 = 0;
+            let argv = vec![CString::new("ruby").unwrap(), CString::new("-e").unwrap()];
+            let mut argv = argv
+                .iter()
+                .map(|cs| cs.as_ptr() as *mut _)
+                .collect::<Vec<_>>();
+
             unsafe {
                 let mut variable_in_this_stack_frame: VALUE = 0;
                 ruby_init_stack(&mut variable_in_this_stack_frame as *mut VALUE as *mut _);
                 rb_sys::ruby_init();
+                rb_sys::ruby_options(argc, argv.as_mut_ptr());
             };
             while let Ok(f) = receiver.recv() {
                 let ruby = Ruby::get().expect("Failed to get a handle to Ruby API");