Moot

This article is about the norn celebration. For the legendary weapon, see The Moot.

"Hoelbrak Celebration" concept art.

Moots, sometimes called alemoots, are a celebration and party amongst the norn. They commonly involve drinking, eating, brawling with other norn or animals, storytelling by skaalds, and other competitions; though just drinking is enough for a proper celebration.

Many occasions deserve a moot, such as a harvest, a great victory in battle, or just to celebrate life with friends, and some homesteads hold annual moots. Rarely, a moot is held to celebrate a birth, Knut Whitebear had one such moot.

In these celebrations, some norn take the opportunity to boast of their recent kills hoping to impress a potential partner and start a family, though this very prospect of attracting a marriage scares other norn. Moots that focus on finding a mate feature a competition called Mirthfest, where several Moot Fathers compete to impress the Moot Mother and earn the right to escort her for the rest of the moot, one such moot occurs at Durgar's Homestead annually. The female norn Neiska is known for having been the Moot Mother two years in a row, and at the most recent Mirthfest that title is held by Vastra, while Erli Ravenfeather competes against other males in hopes of winning the title of Moot Father.

Moots are not exclusive to adult norn and even their children celebrate, though few outsiders dare partake, perhaps daunted by the abundance of ale. Skalds often regale attendees with stories of norn glory and their deeds, or cautionary tales to frighten children and humans.

History

Keg Brawl loading screen.

According to Skaald Stjarna, the very first moot occurred when two norn travelers met each other at a faraway crossroads and shared stories and boasted about their deeds. However, unable to back those deeds up with proof, they invented new games on the spot and tested each other, with the winner being rewarded with ale. In time, every norn brought ale with them, knowing they could gamble for it if they found themselves at any of these gatherings. These celebrations grew in popularity, and in size, but never lost their spirit of meeting strangers with a pint of ale and a place by the fire.

Special moots

Norn celebrate two very special annual moots:

The Great Hunt of Hoelbrak, where aspiring norn seek to hunt game and present the biggest trophy for the honour of killing a mighty beast in order to grow their legend; and Dragon Bash, where all races celebrate their resistance and victory over the Elder Dragons.

Historically, norn also held the Great Norn Alemoot, where they would compete to complete an obstacle course while drunk.

Trivia

• Both  Hero's Moot Waypoint — and the legendary weapon The Moot are named after these celebrations.
• The charr Meatoberfest celebration is very much akin to a moot.
• Norn player characters must choose for their biography during character creation which misfortune happened to them at a recent moot: blacked out, got in a fight, or lost a family heirloom.
• Norn player characters start the game at a moot, the tutorial mission The Great Hunt, and all players can join a moot during Partake in the moot (52).