The New Life Festival
As I have mentioned before, I started playing Elder Scrolls Online in December, and from December 15th to January 3rd there was the New Life Festival, an in-game holiday event around the new year.
In a wilderness area of Eastmarch, not far from Windhelm, there was a festival pavilion where players could talk to Breda, the New Life Festival Herald, who explained about the various traditions in different regions of Skyrim and sent players on quests to participate in them.
Antimatter already posted a screenshot about the Breton tradition in another thread but it's so fitting to describe the festival that I have to share it a second time:
So the beautiful thing about those festival quests, especially for a new player like me, is that it gives you a reason to travel to several different regions (sometimes not easy to reach, because in some areas you have to unlock a wayshrine first and travel by foot or boat through neighbouring regions, unless you happen to have higher level friends who have unlocked the wayshrines already and go ahead so that you can teleport to them), see what those areas and their inhabitants look like, how the landscape is, and get a first glimpse of their history and culture. It's a great way to see new places, and the content of this game is huge, so it's a perfect opportunity to form a first impression if it's a region you would like to explore further in the future.
So here I am performing in Alcaire Castle's throne room.
The Dunmer tradition for the New Life Festival is called the Lava Foot Stomp, it's dancing in different inns and in House Hlaalu (one of the five Grest Houses of the Dunmer, as people who have played Morrowind would know).
I would have expected the Dunmer to be too grim for dancing, but I was wrong. Actually Breda even explains where the tradition and the name come from: When the city of Ebonheart declared dancing to be illegal for a time, the Dark Elves invented the Lava Foot Stomp, a safety measure to practice in case their boots should ever catch fire (they do live in a volcanic region after all). They wore a pin to recognize they're safe among friends, but nowadays it's just a symbol of good company.
The very stuffy and dignified Altmer, on the other hand, who I would have expected to be very formal about any festivities, have accepted a rather mischievous tradition introduced by the wood elves.
And while it's part of the quest to throw mud balls at other festival participants in Skywatch, and at one of the three marked targets (important diplomats), you can also target the guards. Don't do that. I was warned, but couldn't stop myself, and found myself being chased with a bounty for throwing a mud ball at a Dominion Guard during Mud Ball Merriment, because yes, it is very regulated. Was still worth it, and besides I have gotten much better at escaping guards alive. My class ability to go completely invisible for a few seconds helps a lot.
But I think my favourite festival tradition is the one practiced by the Nords. It's the Snow Bear Plunge, where you have to travel to 3 locations in Skyrim and jump into the icy water. Of course, because they're Nords, warming up with a drink around the campfire is part of the tradition too!
Of course there were more quests, like my fellow Khajit with the Trial of Five-Clawed Guile, a lockpicking challenge to honour Rajhin, or the Redguards with a timed quest to light signal fires in memory of an important battle, the Argonians with a tradition to go fishing and share the food with the ones in need, etc.
What I liked about all those quests was that they celebrated a togetherness of different kinds, something that brings people closer, and while everyone did them on their own, it was nice and fun to see other players doing the same, especially in the dancing and performing.
And of course there's no holiday season without gifts, so whenever you return to Breda with a finished quest, you get a festival box with rewards after every quest, and 3 festival ticket vouchers for the first of those quests completed per day. Those tickets are an in-game currency that can be used to purchase limited items at a special event merchant called an Impresario. Unused tickets remain and can be used during the next festival.
So at the end of this long event I had enough tickets to purchase different parts that merged together gave me this cool mount, an Aurelite Gryphon (or something like that):
It was a very nice and rewarding experience and especially a beautiful way to introduce a new player to the various regions and cultures in Tamriel, and available to all players who own the game (I don't have an ESO Plus subscription, it's entirely optional and not at all required to play the game).
.
