| Romani Travelling Shoes | |
|---|---|
| |
|
Origin |
Romanichal Travelers |
|
Type |
Hide shoes |
|
Effects |
Instant large-scale transportation |
|
Downsides |
Must alternate "steps" |
|
Activation |
Unlacing |
|
Collected by |
Warehouse 13 |
|
Section |
|
|
Aisle |
1846-2915 |
|
Shelf |
618714-2815-392 |
|
Date of Collection |
11/20/2014 |
| [Source] | |
Origins[]
The Romanichal Travelers are a group of nomadic Romani subgroup that emerged in Britain around the end of the 1500s. Due to a series of laws first passed in Spain and carried over throughout Europe, the Romanichal's and other Romani people faced heavy discrimination and were outright criminalized due to their "naughty, idle and ungodly life and company", a generalized fear that their ways of life was disruptive to orderly society. As such, English and Scottish Romani were forced to stay mobile, taking odd jobs and resorting to more and more unscrupulous means to survive, a fact which did little to help their reputation.
These hide shoes were used by one caravan to quickly escape an area in case authorities decided to descend on them, with the very real possibility of execution should they be caught. It is believed that once a camp had been established, one of the members would be sent on ahead with the shoe to a new location. Whenever the camp needed to be moved in a hurry, a coin would be sent through the shoe to the "scout". If the coin was returned it was taken to mean they had found a suitable and secure spot and the troupe would be transported save one member, who would remain behind with the shoe and become the next "scout".
Some years later the local legends of the shoes inspired the nursery rhyme "There was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe". Much later it was acquired by Gloria von Dichi, who used it to evacuate the entire contents of her manor in Brazil.
Effects[]
When a shoe is untied it becomes a portal, anything that enters one will emerge from the other. This can be as small as a coin or as massive as an entire travelling caravan, carts and all. The magnitude of the effect seems to be restricted only by what the user wishes to take. Objects and people emerge from the other shoe in exactly the same position and configuration they were in when they were moved.
The only real limitation seem to be the need to alternate "steps". That is to mean that once activated, the same shoe cannot be used to "send" until it has in turn "received". This limitation may have come about to prevent the Romanichal from being followed through the shoe once their camp had been sent.