vevõk

Vevõk is a term used in a fictional cultural context to describe a traditional performing art. In the imagined world of Aranor, vevõk combines sung storytelling with call-and-response chanting and instrumental accompaniment. Etymologically, the word is said to come from the Aranari language, where ve translates to voice and võk to story.

Vevõk performances are typically held during communal gatherings on harvest nights. A lead storyteller called the vevõk-hir guides a chorus. Accompaniment usually includes a skin drum and a wooden flute, with occasional percussion from rattle bells. Performances blend memorized epic verses with improvised responses and can last several hours.

Historians place vevõk origins in the aftermath of the Great Listening, a mythical event that supposedly merged ancestral voices with living memory. Over centuries, vevõk became a rite of passage for youths and a means to transmit laws, genealogies, and moral codes. The practice reinforces social bonds and provides a venue for dispute resolution and communal decision-making.

In contemporary depictions within fiction, vevõk is sometimes revived by cultural associations that aim to preserve language and ritual. Scholarly interest within the world regards vevõk as an example of oral tradition resilient to external change.