Boris Zarovitch

Boris Zarovitch

Rom Baro of the Vitsa of the Fiery dawn, and Nikolai's Bodyguard & Champion

Full Name: Boris Vadim Grigory Zarovitch

Trade(s): Rom Baro of the Vitsa of the Fiery dawn, Royal Protector to the Rom Baro of Kumpania Wispersteppe, Builder of vardos, Singer

Date & Place of Birth: 1507, just south of Moscow

Favourite Pastime(s): "Dancing to Romani tunes by Gypsy fires, or juggling and making merry like I once did in Italy with the circus"

Favourite Meal: Roast mutton with vodka to drink and baklava for desert

Favourite Colour: Black

Favourite Member of the Kumpania: "I would have to say Nikolai. It was he who gave me a new home among my people...and he is a wonderful challenge of wits"

Favourite Weapon: "My armored deflection gloves in combination with my fighting style of the Dancing Bear!"

Quote: "It is not fun and games until someone loses an eye"

Background
Born into the Vitsa of the Turning Wheel (a clan not of our Kumpania), Boris grew up much as we did, on the roads of Great Mother Russia. For sixteen relatively carefree (as much as can be so for a Rom) years he wandered with his first vitsa, enjoying his life as son to the Rom Baro, along with his brothers Kyrill and Sasha.

But such happiness could not last for all time, and Boris' twentieth year (1527) brought great change. He and his brothers ran afoul of the Czar's own Royal Guard. In the ensuing struggle the brothers did slay all five of the guards, but alas! Each "prince" did see his brothers fall, for though they fought bravely, none were so fortunate as to completely escape injury.

Boris awakened from a hard blow to the head to see his beloved siblings lying dead....or so it appeared. He rode like fire back to the camp, only to find his entire vitsa murdered in retribution by the Royal Guards who had escaped and gathered reinforcements in the meantime.

Grief-stricken, Boris roamed the land, turning his hand to this or that which would keep food in his pack. Sometimes singing, sometimes peacekeeping, sometimes prizefighting - for Boris had trained since his youth in the fighting style of the Dancing Bear. All these things served to keep his heart beating and his stomach full, but he no longer felt any joy. For a Gypsy without his family, without his vitsa, is only half-alive.

After leaving Russia for fear of death, he traveled throughout the continent, until coming to Italy. It was in this place that he found a new group to travel with, a carnival. Here he earned his living juggling or singing or dancing for the Gaje. But even though he was back with a group of travelers, he was still saddened at the loss of his family.

After three years in Italy, he had come to believe that he would never see another Rom again. Boris was proved wrong one night in 1528 when he was strolling the streets of Ferrara and came across a man being beaten and robbed by very many thieves he had noticed a few nights before.

Without knowing why, he joined the fight against the thieves (helping a young woman who was viciously stabbing them), defeating them. After the group fled, Boris found out that he had saved the life of Nikolai, who was leading a large group of Rom westward to England and who would later become Rom Baro of both the Vitsa of the Fiery Dawn and the entire Kumpania. Nikolai immediately recognized his saviour as being Roma, and asked Boris to join the Kumpania as his personal bodyguard, becoming a warrior for the Vitsa.

Boris happily accepted, and was soon again traveling with a family of Gypsies, even if it wasn't with his own. After traveling with us across Europe and England for several years, and taking Nikolai as his dear friend, he came to Scarborough with us in the spring of 1531, thinking himself the last of the Zarovitches.

It was here in Scarborough that spring that he found out that his brothers were still very much alive. Kyrill had returned from a year of traveling alone, bitter and angry, seeking Nikolai's title for himself (see Nikolai's and Kyrill's pages for more information on this). Once it was realized that Kyrill was Nikolai's half-brother (son of Baba Ravena and Boris' father) and the fierce rivalry ended and he was reconciled with Nikolai, Kyrill became the Rom Baro of the Vitsa of the Midnight Sands. Their brother Sasha had become a master coppersmith of the Midnight Sands. Reunited with his true family, Boris became whole again.

He traveled with the Midnight Sands for a year, until meeting again with Nikolai and his Fiery Dawn in Canterbury last September. Boris bid his brothers farewell when the Midnight Sands departed for Ireland, for he had decided to travel with the Fiery Dawn and assume his title as Royal Protector yet again. And in this time of danger, the "Royal Vitsa" finds themselves in Scarborough village in the presence of King Henry VIII himself and his fearsome Royal Guard.

Boris, though a fearsome warrior, is also a sensitive and creative Rom who enjoys dancing, singing and jest-telling. And though he would face an army to protect his Rom Baro and vitsa, his attention can be captured by a bright smile and the swish of a skirt! He is quite jovial, very flirtatious, terribly paranoid and exceedingly loyal.

Boris' loyalty was put to quite a test when the Pirates came to the Gypsies. Every instinct told him that their arrival boded ill for Nikolai and the Gypsies. His loyalty required him to stay his hand, however, while the vitsa paid back their debt of honour.

The danger of the Vitsa could not keep Boris' eye from wandering, however. There are many pretty Gaje in the Village of Scarborough, and Boris made certain that he met each one of them personally! This made for much eye-rolling and teasing by the other members of the Vitsa. A superb dancer, Boris was quickly claimed at the Villagers' dances, even though the Gypsies were in disgrace from their dealings with the Pirates.

Boris was quite content to stay in the Village and work towards regaining the Vitsa's honour with the Baron Rooke. His arguments grew to be quite heated with Magdalena, who fervently wanted to flee the Village before the Villagers took out their displeasure on the Gypsies. Frequently, Nikolai himself had to intervene between the two of them!

It was a shock to everyone in the Vitsa to learn that Boris and Magdalena had each held a secret love for other. Boris' most courageous act was to kneel before Magdalena and the rest of the Gypsies and to declare his love for her. Joy erupted in the vitsa at the pending nuptials, but it was a joy that was tempered with sorrow.

Nikolai announced to everyone that after consulting with the Phuri, Boris was to become Rom Baro while Nikolai was going to travel amongst the other Vitsas in Britain. Boris' first act as Rom Baro was to charge Nikolai to never forget his family in the Fiery Dawn and to return as soon as his duties would permit.

As Nikolai left the Vitsa to begin his travels, Boris settled down to a new life as a married man and Rom Baro.