Hoosmoot

On the first day of every /who/ year, an event known as Hoosmoot is held. Hoosmoot takes place at one of the nation's ruined cities, the specific one determined at the end of the previous moot. Though not required, it is expected that each Ave and Skal brings a scribe with them for the purpose of cataloging the event, though they are not required to have anyone accompanying them. They are also expected to bring food and drink in the event that the moot takes longer than a single day. Hoosmoots often take more than a single day to take place in full.

All Ave's are expected to be in attendance, though attendance does vary from year to year. To date, the number of Ave's has yet to be less than fifty or more than one hundred. Hoosmoot begins with introductions that take the form of each Ave in attendance yelling their title accompanied by their home, to which the other Ave's in attendance respond with the individual's title (example: "Ave Eulvale!" "AVE!"). Any Ave who arrives after introductions have otherwise concluded are expected to provide the above introductions once the current speaker has stopped talking.

When introductions have concluded, each Ave is to take turns detailing events that occurred in their hometowns that they believe warrant being heard by the rest of the moot. As the fact that the individual Ave is the final arbiter of what affairs get spoken, Hoosmoot accounts are often filled with largely irrelevant developments.

After local developments have been spoken, the issues passed in the previous Hoosmoot are reviewed and put up for a follow-up vote to determine if the new law is made permanent throughout /who/. If a simple majority votes in approval, the new law becomes permanent unless an issue to revoke it is raised at a later Hoosmoot. Otherwise, the law expires.

When the passed issues of the previous Hoosmoot are settled, each Ave is allowed to raise a new issue for a vote. An issue raised can be of any domestic matter. When an issue is raised, open discussion on it is allowed and expected, though the Anti-Filibustering Act (implemented in the first day of Hoosmoot N.S. 7 immediately after approval) ensures that no Hooman may speak on an issue for longer than an hour without having any and all votes cast by that Hooman voided for the duration of the moot and any issue raised by that Hooman immediately dismissed without deliberation or vote (retroactively if applicable).

When discussion and/or deliberation goes on into the night, Hoosmoot is paused after the current topic is settled to allow for eating, drinking, and sleeping. Foraging and hunting in a moot's night are not unheard of. A few bad-faith individuals quickly learned this could be weaponized by wearing other Ave's out by talking, and talking, and talking, until they decided their position wasn't worth the incessant yapping. This was ultimately what led to the Anti-Filibustering Act, which in an act never done before or since, was a vote passed with at least one Ave held at gunpoint. An attempt to censure the ones who held the guns was attempted, but as the Ave who raised the issue extensively filibustered against the AFA, the measure was dismissed immediately.

If a majority of Ave's in attendance advocate for an issue, the issue is held for a vote. A two-thirds majority vote of approval grants provisional implementation of the new law, and the issue is carried forward into the next Hoosmoot for a final vote. If, however, an issue receives unanimous approval, the follow-up vote is skipped, and the issue becomes settled law the moment the news is relayed to the towns/villages in question.

So far, five issues have received unanimous initial approval. In order: conditional freedom to speak of the Pink Angel, establishment of a Lore-Scavenging Community, implementation of a three-age calendar, formal agreement of how to arrange and conduct a Premature Hoosmoot, and classification of "Murder of a Bread Dog" as a criminal offense punishable up to public execution by boiling tar.

When all Ave's able to raise issues have done so and all raised issues are voted on, a final vote is held to determine the location of the next Hoosmoot, determined by simple majority. The only stipulations are that the same location cannot be held for consecutive Hoosmoots, and the only locations that can be nominated are the ruins of Owl Republic cities. If no location receives a majority of votes, a second round of voting is held where the only eligible locations are the two that received the most votes in the first round.

Finally of note is the Premature Hoosmoot. A Premature Hoosmoot is a moot that is called due to extenuating circumstances of some kind that requires a quick response from all of /who/.

In the first time of few that this has occurred, one of the towns was propositioned by a foreign nation for a treaty with /who/. The town promptly sent its Ave and other trusted Hoomans to nearby locales, calling for a Premature Hoosmoot on the ground of establishing diplomatic ties with a foreign nation. The foreign diplomat was given room and board for two weeks while waiting for the Ave's of the other towns to arrive and provide feedback and either consent or dissent to the proposed treaty. To mimic a typical Hoosmoot, the local populace of that town vacated the town for the duration of the moot.

The first Premature Hoosmoot was conducted on-the-fly, as there were no agreed-upon guidelines at the time for how to conduct one. This issue was immediately raised and subsequently passed with unanimous approval at the next Hoosmoot.

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Pub: 15 Aug 2025 08:41 UTC

Edit: 23 Aug 2025 19:08 UTC

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