Sao Roma

Sao Roma (e Bakren Chinen) is an independent Vuori story written and completed within Spring 2021 by writer James Kingston. It was written entirely in the Katharevousa dialect of the Greek Language, and offers a peek into what became of several known protagonists from The Vuori Chronicles, including Eli, the Human and the Partridge. The story was written as a vague sequel to the earlier 2020 story Αμάρο Μπάρο Γκιβέ, while combining hints and elements from Ψυχές Αλήτισσες , too.

It is a rather lengthy tale which details the events that took place 20 years after the original Gypsy story of Αμάρο Μπάρο Γκιβέ, when the remaining members of the Gypsy families sought to discover the buried relics of animals and humans in hope of completing a rather obscure Romani ritual to cure Laura, one of the two protagonists of the previous tales. While exploring various macabre themes, the story offers a rather deep insight into the habits and folklore of the Roma population, and is the one to conclude the narrative thread of the Szgany people in the Mountain's lore.

The title of the story, like Αμάρο Μπάρο Γκιβέ, alludes to Romani folksongs about their big feast day, Ederlezi, and could be interpreted as an obscure allusion to the gruesome finale. In Romani, it loosely translates to "All our Roma, all our Roma, Lambs to the Slaughter". An alternative title for the story had been proposed and later abandoned, "Robbers of the Moon" ( Οι Κλέφτες της Σελήνης).

## Release

The story was released April 21, 2021. It was corrected and typewritten within the conclusion of June, 2021.

## Plot

The tale begins with the adventures of an unnamed protagonist, much later revealed to be called Petros, as he roams around the Narrow Road and Liopyri. He seeks to visit the areas of the Army Field, where he's heard there are majestic groves and woods of intriguing nature. As he wonders around the dirt paths, he is suddenly confronted by the screams and hoarse voices of strange folk, who are revelaed to be of Roma origins. Unknowingly nearing them, he is attacked by Gounari, a Gypsy with a promiment role in Amaro Baro Give, who was the cousin of Marko and Laura. Gounari is accompanied by friends Romeo and Chris, who appear to be muchmore gentle and polite. Petros demands that he is let go of, however a distressed Gounari keeps him in place. After a failed ambush in which Petros manages to slightly hurt Gounari, the trio of the Gypsies explain that they cannot allow him to leave until he assists them in their ulterior goals.

Petros reluctantly inquires about their purposes, to which Romeo explains that they are in need of certain Old bones, buried in specific locations around the Mountain. Distraught, Petros tries to figure out why they would need such relics, and the Gypsies gradually reveal they need them for a very specific ritual. They explain they have seen Petros stroll around the Mountain quite often, and therefore know that he might be able to offer them the information they need. After much careful thought, Petros understands he is not about to be let go that easily, and therefore decides to help to the extent he can. The gypsies explain they have been reading The Vuori Chronicles, where it is shown that the bones of two animals, a fox and a partridge, along with the skeleton of a human, have been scattered around the depths of Poikilo Oros, from the times of a mythical battle between humans and animals of the Mountain and an obscure company of dreadful satanic spirits. Petros appears disbelieving of it all, however he realizes the Gypsies never mess around with their folklore, and that they very much believe in the forces of the supernatural. Petros deduces, from the very little he remembers of the Chronicles, that if they are to have a chance at finding the bones, they will need very specific geographical maps that could outline the various locations they are after. Concluding on the old army maps of General Kaupert, which are partly kept at the warehouse of The Monastery, he is unsure of whether he should grant them the information. However, motivation to get out of his predicament leads him to give out the information.

Later, and after the Gypsies have looted the warehouse to acquire the maps, the unlikely company drive towards the areas of Piso Melies at the Bottoms, where the Gypsies remember Petros to have been strolling. They therefore take him with them at their Nissan pick-up truck and they all visit the scary woods at late nightfall. While crossing the humid groves, they use the information from the Chronicles and the Kaupert maps to track down the area where the Partridge must have been killed during the legendary battle and successfully uncover its withered bones. Petros is repelled by the entire process of the unburial, and watches in shock as Chris and Gounari dump the bones inside a cardboard box in the truck.

Following Petros' vague instructions, the company drives through the Long Road towards the heights of Kaskantami, all the way up to the Lone Antenna, where in days of yore it was rumored that the fox den was situated. While at first not lucky enough to discover anything, the company follow an old Broken Trek (1) through the lush canopy of pines and wild olive trees, and finally discover with their flashlights the site where Eli, the brave fox from the Vuori Tales has died. Petros is once more disgusted to look at Romeo and Gounari unearthing the rancid, worm-infested skeleton of the poor fox and its half-eaten skull, filled with maggots and leeches. The company dump the bones of Eli in the box along with the Partridge and set off on their way for the tomb of the Human.

At this point, Petros is starting to have serious thoughts of escaping again, drawing a line at the tomb-robbers of a human as well. He vaguely remembers, from the stories, that the Human who helped the animals had died years later and requested to be buried at the Mountain, near the Partridge Top at Petroupoli, but is very scared to give away that piece of information. At any case, via the maps the company reaches the location, but are soon confronted by the forces of the Municipal Police, who have already been revealed to be following their trucks. Petros rushes to explain he wasn't the one to call them, since he has been with them the entire night, and the Gypsies deduce the stolen Nissan must have been on the police's radar long now. Gounari with Chris and Manolis, another friend of theirs who turned up earlier for the hunt of Eli's bones, remain behind to confront the police with their hand pistols, and Romeo drags Petros towards the small slope and underneath the woods to the tomb.

Petros exploits the chance and demands from Romeo that he tell him all about the reasons why they need the bones. He threatens that he can easily yell for the police to come to their location and ruin everything. Romeo is forced to yield to his commands and explains that he is the son of Marko and Laura, and also that his mother has been suffering from a strange illness, whose fever-likes symptoms resemble those of a *hex*. In Romani folklore, such curses can originate from natural sources like the woods or the mountain, and are placed there on innocent folk who may accidentally roam around haunted woods at nights when the veil between the two worlds is thinner. Romeo speculates his mother Laura must have roamed the forests of Poikilo on a Full Moon night during the period after Greek Ψυχοσαββατον, the day when the souls of the dead roam freely, and hence been struck by the hex. He explains that their *babos*, the Gypsy grandmas, have requested the bones of the specific individuals because they know, from the Chronicles, that they are imbibed with a substance that can cure Laura.

Petros is very skeptical of all those supernatural suggestions, but an instinct inside him leads him to help Romeo uncover the small shrine and take the melting skeleton of the Human with him. Putting the shrine back to its original position as the least effort at retaining its dignity, he follows Romeo via the dirt paths of the Apolikseis back to the Second Antenna, where Manolis told them he would find them if he could escape the police. When Petros and Romeo arrivea at the meeting place, they only find Chris in the Nissan, who explains Manolis and Gounari have been arrested by the police. They do not panick however, since they are aware Gounari has a lot of friends in the department and will manage to wiggle his way out of it. The trio drive slow and carefully back to Korydallos heights, where the gypsy families have long now moved, in order not to attract further attention of the police, as the Sun and the new day have already risen.

Following the dirt paths of Poikilo they make their way through Peristeri back to Leforos Athinon and into the expanses of Aegaleo Oros at Korydallos, where they by-pass the old mine formations and enter Athanasiou Diakou road towards the huts and hovels of the Gypsies at Pirovoleia Korydallou. Upon their arrival, Petros meets up with a distressed and saddened Marko who is crying by his sick wife's side. Laura is suffering from her fever, and the Gypsy grandmas all make bows to God, *devel*, for the health and safety of Laura. Marko later meets Petros and apologizes for the behavior of his friends, thanking him for his contributions.

Petros chooses to stay behind and watch the ritual that is about to take place, in which the Gypsies remain silent and let the *babos* do their work. As the grandmas gather aroound Laura, they fall to their knees to chant certain incantations, drawing their hands up into the air. Their mystical whispers cause severe winds to rise, strong enough to influence the currents of the skies above the Elefsinian bay down at Aspropyrgos, spooking Petros, Romeo and everyone else involved. When the rest of the Gypsy tribe give them the bones, Marko explains to Petros that during the rumored battle with the spirits, the fox, the partridge and the Human used the sacred honeysuckle from The Monastery to bless both their weapons and themselves, so they could eliminate the demonic spirits. Hence, their bones, after death, retained much of the holy substance, which was needed for the ritual to purify Laura of the hex. They all watch in awe as the Gypsy witches seek to call the spirit of *Vadni Ratsa*, a mythical deity in Romani folklore that controled the spirits of all birds and could help in the extraction of the honeysuckle herb from the bones of the dead partridge, to speed up the process. When the shadowy ritual is finally over and the spells are spoken out, Laura emerges, cured and healthy again.

In gratitude for his services, Marko asks Petros for whatever favors he wants and the entire tribe send out deep gratitudes to him. Petros finally reveals the reason he decided to assist them was because his brother Christophoros, the old guard of the Second Antenna, had spoken to him about his friends from the Gypsy tribe and all his adventures with them. Marko is very much moved when he remembers his old friend, and despite his deteriorating health after an accident at his leg, offers to accompany Petros along with Romeo, Laura and Chris back to his home at Petroupoli. Petros however asks for a small shrine to be created at the Korydallos tops, in memory of the bones they desecrated, to which, of course, the Gypsies agree. They re-bury the bones of the Human, Eli and the Partridge and they create a small memorial site to honor the dead which once more, even from beyond the grave, helped save a poor soul. This shrine is much later revealed to be the same one Andriana finds atop Aegaleo Oros, in Ψυχές Αλήτισσες.

When the company enter the NIssan truck, they speed up through the old dirt roads of Korydallos and Aegaleo Oros to take Petros back home and see his old pal, Christophoros. In a rather scary and unexplained twist at the end of the story, which was entirey unexpected based on previous finales of writer James Kingston, the police are revealed to have managed to destroy the inner brake mechanisms of the Nissan before they lost the Gypsies in their earlier conflict. The story ends abruptly, implying that the driver lost control of the vehicle and crashed, killing off most of the known protagonists, including Marko, Laura, Petros and Romeo, and thus giving a very bitter end to the lore and two-part story of the Gypsy tribe throughout The Vuori Chronicles.

## Descriptions

Sao Roma exploits a plethora of narrative techniques, including the typical natural descriptions of the older chronicles. While exploring a lot of geographical and aesthetic themes, it also includes a wide gamut of Romani folkloric elements, including their deities, parts of their language as well as their various social roles within the tribe. Following from the previous tale, Amaro Baro Give, the complexity and deeply supernatural nature of the Gypsy tribe is heavily emphasized, covering a rather huge part of the Romani culture.

## Eli Mythos

The drafting of Sao Roma was long anticipated in the Vuori mythos, ever since Ψυχές Αλήτισσες revealed that, for an uknown reason, the bones of the Human and the animals were buried so far away from their homes at Poikilo. The mission of the Gypsies to retrieve the bones for Laura finally shed light on the mystery, and revealed the Shrine at Korydallos to have been the honorary memorial site the Gypsies built as per Christophoros' brother request. The story combines elements and mentions to the legendary battle with the spirits and therefore completes the mythos in a logical sequence of narrative events.

## Finale

The grim conclusion to the tale has remained a mystery, and writer James Kingston has not revealed why he chose to end the tale of the Gypsies with such a tragic car accident. Despite the long efforts of the protagonists to escape the vicious claws of Marlek, the demonic spells, the Body Thiefs as well as the dreary search for the bones and Laura's hex, irony was never absent from their story. A caused flaw in the car's brakes was enough to crash the dreams of every charater, in a rather macabre and bitter finale to the Gypsy lore, and ironically revealing Gounari and Manolis to have been blessed by Fate with their arrest.

While it has been speculated that the gruesome end to the tale was added as an element of the tragic irony that befalls even the most kind-hearted of characters, such theories have never been confirmed, thus leaving the conclusion of the tale open to several questions and interpretations that fail to be answered. It is also uknown whether the ungodly acts of the police to remove the brakes was added as an acrimonious comment for the racist segregation of the department towards the Gypsies, or as an overall exaggerated trope of the author. Writer James Kington chose, regardless of those theories, to follow a poetic tragedy as the motif for the end, and thus in such a mysterious finale we find all our beloved characters.

Whether Christophoros or whoever remained alive from the Gypsy company will return for any future/past tales or that was the end of all such characters, remains completely uknown.