Hekuvihírsa

The Hekuvihírsa (Ænglish: "Caphirian story"), sometimes known in Ænglish as Kiro-Hekuvian Gothic is a literary and theatrical fiction genre that flourished in Kirav during the XYZth and XYĞth centuries. Though written in Kiravia by Kiravians, the stories were set in Caphiria or (less commonly) Aciria during various phases of its history, and followed casts of Caphirian characters. Common themes in Hekuvihírsa included sensuality, political and familial intrigue, luxury and opulence, ambition, and revenge.

Caphiria and Kiravia have a long history of commercial, cultural, and diplomatic exchange. One effect of this long history of interaction has been a lasting impression in the Kiravian collective psyche of Caphiria as a warm, exotic country filled with fine cuisine, art, and architecture, and a more sensual and Epicurian culture that contrasts with the colder, greyer climate of Great Kirav and its more stoic and melancholic cultural ethos.

Themes

According to Antiquarius Paravakonen, Distinguished Lecturer in Early Modern Coscivian Literature at X University in Primóra, the only essential characteristics of a Hekuvihírsa are that the work must be fictitious, composed in the Coscosphere between 2XXXX and 2XXXX, and set primarily in Caphiria with a focus on Caphirian characters. However, he notes that there are several genre conventions that came to define the Hekuvihírsa, and that adherence to these conventions became more uniform with the passage of time.

Although most Hekuvihírsa take place roughly around the times that they were written, a large number take place during earlier phases of Caphirian history, particularly in Ancient Caphiria. Some downmarket volumes from the genre's later phases are so thoroughly anachronistic that it is impossible to determine when they are supposed to take place.

• Large casts of characters with many conflicting interests and interlocking subplots.
• Characters almost always élites.
• Moral ambiguity

Themes:

• Intrigue (political and familial), cf. The Game
• Family ties, feuds, and honour
• Carnal pleasure
• "Latin grandeur"
• Detailed and thicc descriptions of food, wine, architecture, settings, clothing, and booty.
• Nobility, station, and ordo
• Ambition and virtù.

Dialogue peppered with untranslated Caphiric Latin words and phrases.

Accuracy and Distinguishing Features

According to Paravakonen in his monograph The "I've Never Been To Caphiria But This Is What It's Like" Starterpack very few authors of Hekuvihírsa had ever visited Caphiria themselves. As such, their impressions of Caphiria and its culture were drawn mainly from second- and third-hand accounts, encounters with Caphirian cultural imports, popular history, and other literature. As such, portrayals of Caphiria in these stories typically contain a large number of inaccuracies, many of which would have been readily apparent to Caphirians or to Kiravians personally familiar with the country. Paravakonen has advanced the claim that around the peak of the genre's popularity, most new authors entering the genre were basing their understanding of the country primarily on other Hekuvihírsa, which had the effect of magnifying certain inaccuracies. Higher-quality and better-researched hekuvihírsa have fewer and less glaring factual inaccuracies than their downmarket cousins, but also intentionally emphasise elements of Caphirian culture that Kiravian audiences would find exotic and captivating, to the effect of departing from realism. At the same time, many stories also contain unconscious impositions of Coscivian culture where audiences are unaware of differing customs in Caphiria.

Influence on Kiravian Culture

One enduring and visible influence of Hekuvihírsa on Kiravian culture has been the proliferation of pseudo-Latin given names among Kiravians. Latin and Latinised Greek or Semitic names, particularly of Biblical, hagiographic, or otherwise religious provenance, had already gradually been adopted over time as Christianity spread among Coscivians, and a trend toward more overtly Latinate versions of extant Gaelicised or Coscivised Latin names (e.g. Páulus over Pálur or Páv) accelerated with the growth of Catholicism. However, it appears that Hekuvihírsa contributed to the widespread adoption of Latin-sounding names that did not actually exist in Caphiria or any other Latin-speaking culture, such as Barcivius and Demarius. As discussed above, many Hekuvihírsa authors did not have a deep knowledge of Caphirian culture, nor did most of their target audience. As such, many, especially toward the later half of the genre's heyday, incorrectly extrapolated Caphirian names from names in modern Levantine languages (e.g. Gerry → Jerrus, or more ridiculously Dilbert → Dilbertarianus), composed novel and often nonsensical names from Latin roots (e.g. Calecanus, Superfixarius), or simply made them up (e.g. Barkivius, Hughtavius, Arrhenius). A great many pseudo-Latin names used in these works were assumed to be legitimate Latin names and were given to children by Kiravian readers, and a large number remain in use today. This has no doubt influenced the continuing practice among many Kiravians (particularly the less-educated classes), to form new names by slapping -us or -ia to the end of any old thing.

Neo-Hekuvihírsa

Although the classic Hekuvihírsa genre declined in the 2XXXXs and new publications following the genre's conventions had ceased by 2XXXX, its influence has lived on. Television critic Netflixicus Thérafolon, himself named after a minor character from an obscure Hekuvihírsa novel, has identified a contemporary reincarnation of the genre in several Kiravian-produced corporate dramas, as well as the novel Crazy Rich Latins, which may be set in present-day Caphiria, Aciria, the Tryhstian Littoral, or the Melian Isles, and often centre around business enterprises from or doing business with Caphiria. Although these recent works differ from their predecessors in having a less exoticist and more factually accurate depiction of Caphiria and Caphirians, Thérafolon argues that their plot structure and thematic elements recall the Hekuvihírsa of yore.

Similarly, the Kiravian web original series Ancient Heku: Blood and Lust, while aiming for a high degree of historical accuracy, has been said to have strong stylistic similarities with Hekuvihírsa.