Moots and Their Organization, Adele's Opinions
A Garou Moot goes, in order, something like this:
- The Master of the Howl, who knows the Moot Rite, opens the Moot.
The Master of the Howl is in charge of the timing of the Moot, making
sure that each section flows into the next without awkward halts.
- The Litany-Reader (I forget the real name) reads the Litany. The
Fool provides a counter to the Litany, giving some argument or example
against each tenet, to be refuted by the Moot as a whole.
- The Inner Sky is opened. This requires someone who knows the Rite
by which the Inner Sky is opened: Opening the Inner Sky; the person is
called the Caller of the Wyld.
- The Cracking of the Bone is moderated, by the Truthcatcher. This
is where the business of the Garou is conducted: challenges, debates,
judgements, etc.
- A Story is told - this can be a literal story, a Rite of Accomplishment
or Praise (if the Master of the Rites for the caern approves it), or
some other presentation of lore or renown. The Talesinger tells the
story or performs the Rite.
- Finally, the Revel is held, where the Garou cleanse the bawn of
anything that's happened to invade it, or sometimes more specifically
strike somewhere in force. The Wyrm Foe leads this Revel.
On GarouMUSH, the various roles are filled by people who fit the appropriate
requirement and, sometimes, who have recently done something worthy of
recognition or who are acknowledged by an elder as worthy of the position.
Here are the requirements for each role:
- Master of the Howl
- This person must know the Moot Rite.
- Litany-Reader
- Galliard
- Fool
- Ragabash
- Caller of the Wyld
- Theurge, usually; whatever the auspice, must know
the Rite Opening The Inner Sky.
- Truthcatcher
- Philodox
- Talesinger
- Galliard
- Wyrm Foe
- Ahroun
Types of Moots
There are two types of Sept Moots, mini-Moots and full Moots. Actually,
the full Moots aren't full, but that follows below.
Mini-Moot
The Minimoot has a single pose from the Master of the Howl, a single
combined pose from the Litany Reader and the Fool, and a single pose
from the Opener of the Inner Sky. The members of the Moot should not
pose responses to these, particularly not the Inner Sky.
From there, the true purpose of the Moot is to have an expanded Cracking
of the Bone, with the time saved from the previous sections used to
allow debates about problems, judgement and punishment to be declared
after trial, and other such time-consuming processes.
The Storytelling may be handwaved or completely ignored, or may occur,
depending on the needs of the night and the Moot. The Revel, similarly,
may be handwaved or may be roleplayed; it should not be ignored.
The Full Moot
The full Moot, as I say above, is not exactly a full Moot. However, the
first three sections of the Moot (Opening Howl, Reading of the Litany, and
Opening of the Inner Sky) are roleplayed in a great deal more detail.
While not every tenet of the Litany may be read and responded to particularly,
several of them will be.
The Cracking of the Bone will be more compressed, not allowing for the
full time allowed in the mini-Moot unless such arrangements have been made
in advance.
Either the storytelling or the Revel will be roleplayed, depending on
the arrangements: if the story is a good thing to play to remind the
Garou of their history and to convey more of the flavor of being Garou,
it will be. Recent stories have included the first opening of the caern,
performed just after the caern was drained, and a Satire Rite.
Organizing the Moot
Organizing a Moot is not as big a deal as it sounds, but there are
certain things that are required in any Moot.
Scheduling the Moot
Several days can be chosen for the Moot date. It should be scheduled
around the full moon, and often a weekend is a bad time to schedule the
Moot for. Otherwise, keep in mind any events known to be planned while
choosing the date.
Picking the People
Each of the functions earlier mentioned needs someone to perform them.
Those who have organized the Moots before may know who's available to
perform them (particularly for those needing Rites). Sometimes people
may volunteer for a particular function; this is most appropriate for
Talesinger, but use common sense if someone wants to perform a function
and ICly volunteers.
Remember to make sure they can all make at least one of those dates you
were working on! This is not so necessary if you are planning a mini-Moot,
except for the Truthcatcher, but is useful to keep in mind. Remember, too,
that things can happen; be ready to switch who does what or to have an
emit ready in case someone can't be there that would be. (Bad net,
visiting parents who dropped by without warning, whatever.)
Deciding on the type of Moot
Should it be a full Moot or a mini-Moot? It should only be a full Moot
if someone has a fresh, new idea for the Litany, the Opening of the Sky,
or the Storytelling (although Storytelling can happen after a mini-Moot,
keep that in mind). Having a full Moot on a regular basis is a good idea,
to give newcomers a glimpse of how Moots truly are run; therefore, it
is also a good idea to have a full Moot if the recent Moots have been
mini-Moots.
Discuss the Moot with the people serving in the different capacities
before making that decision.
Announcing the Moot
The Moot date should be announced in the motd and possibly the bboards.
The type of Moot should also be announced, so players know what to expect
when they go. A bbpost can be made explaining the focus of the Moot if
that's desired.
The History of Moots on GarouMUSH
As an explanation of the way things work and how they used to work in
the past, I thought I'd add some history in here.
How They Originally Were
Originally, GarouMUSH Moots went through every step individually. All
tenets (12, at the time) of the Litany were read and responded to, by
the Fool and the attendees of the Moot. The Inner Sky was Opened, and
everyone and their uncle howled a greeting to the totems (generally a
fifteen-minute proposition). The Cracking of the Bone included Challenge
resolution. I'm not sure if the storytelling happened, but the Revels
were uniformly big, not always well-organized, started late, and ran
longer.
The first real change was in challenge resolution; that got moved out to
its own day, and only challenge announcements happened at the Moots.
That shortened things enough that people didn't mind too much, for a
while. Then, the repetitiveness of the Litany (it's the same every month,
and there's only so many things the Fool can do with it) got to be
tiresome. Not only that, but there were problems with other sections too,
them also being boring. I don't remember which happened first, but
parts were shortened - Inner Sky among them, until it was mostly a single
pose and then the howls of the other attendees. Moots were shifted to
once every two months, the second month having a handwaved Moot.
The Litany started getting compressed to one pose, or to only a few of the
tenets getting read and the others being assumed. Or, people weren't
encouraged to respond, as that took forever also.
More and more, things that attendees could respond to were cut out, as
both repetitive and time-consuming, and complaints mounted that Moots
were, on top of being too long, boring.
Eventually, lengthy Moots were only scheduled when people were able to
come up with good ideas for new things - a Revel only when someone felt
like GMing a big battle or had a story that needed a big battle to begin
or end it, the Story seldom unless it was a good example of the flavor of
Garou life, Inner Sky if someone wanted to do something very different.
Then, Rhindar decided to suggest a formalization of that, and I (Adele)
suggested expanding the Cracking of the Bone, as it hadn't included
debate on anything, was just announcements. Thus was born the mini-Moot.
It's actually a new term but, for the most part, an old concept. However,
it restricts the Litany even more than was done before, as well as the
Inner Sky, to a single pose and no responses from any of the attendeers.
Moots run this way finish very quickly, but really haven't got the
same flavor of the original Moots, which is why I suggest a full Moot
every few months.