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Russav Savona became the Duke of Savona as a small child and grew up in Remalna with the rest of the Court children. His parents were killed by King Galdran Merindar when he was very young; therefore everyone at Court grew up addressing him as Savona. The exceptions appear to be the people closest to him: Tamara Chamadis, his longtime love interest, Vidanric Renselaeus, his cousin and best friend, and probably the Prince and Princess of Renselaeus, who brought him up after his parents were murdered.
Russav Savona is exceptionally handsome. He is tall - taller than Vidanric and Branaric both - with flowing dark hair that he wears fashionably long (and braided and gemmed according to occasion), dark eyes, and broad shoulders.[1] Russav has a rakish smile, an easy charm that has made him very popular - especially with the ladies - and is regarded as one of the best-looking men at the Remalnan Court.
Russav seems to be the stereotypical romantic hero, handsome and intelligent and wealthy and charming. And he is indeed all of that. Charismatic and friendly and not at all ambitious, the Duke is naturally outgoing and fun-loving. Not to mention and charming flirt. Russav grew up stronger and faster and more athletic than everyone else, but he is not proud. His whispered words of love and lavish compliments make him quite a ladies' favorite, and his quick wit and easy laughter quickly made the young Duke a major leader of fashion.
But Russav isn't just your average carefree young gambler; he is very intelligent and observant. He saw Vidanric's feelings for Meliara almost before anyone else realized what was going on between the two and often helped Vidanric with state matters. Russav was also involved in the secret conspiracy against Galdran and he led the young courtiers in a quiet rebellion when Debregi once cultivated the thought of training them for the army. Despite his outrageous compliments, hilarious jokes, and friendly manner, he has found reason to fight four duels, although one was definitely not of his own choosing.
Russav has enjoyed a number of minor flirtations with many beautiful young women. But it should be noted that none of them lasted very long and almost all were initiated after he has quarrelled with Tamara Chamadis. It seems that despite their frequent arguments and spats, the only one for Russav is Tamara, and none of the flirtations he had with others were serious.
While Vidanric was studying and training at Marloven Hess, Russav was exploring the mysteries of flirtation and dalliance. After a quarrel with Tamara, he ended up initiating a flirtation with Lady Renna Khialem. Both of them knew that neither was romantically attached to the other, and simply wanted some fun after arguments with previous flirts, but things quickly turned disastrous. Tamara was absolutely incensed - and so was the young protege of Baron Debregi, who had been flirting with Renna. He ended up fighting with Russav, and when the King arrived, he forced the two of them to duel. Russav won the duel, after making them both look foolish; however, disaster struck when the other angrily challenged Galdran's decree that he had been beaten, and later suffered a fatal "accident". Tamara realized how badly both Renna and Russav felt about the whole situation and made up with them both. Renna later found love with the younger son to a barony and married him, and Russav and Tamara resumed their on/off relationship.
After the Renselaeuses defeated Galdran, Russav began very publicly favoring Meliara Astiar, at the request of Vidanric. He flirted with her from the first time they met and showered her with attention. He danced with her numerous times at every ball or dance they both attended - which she thoroughly enjoyed, as he was an excellent dancer - and complimented her in every way possible. This was done because Vidanric wanted Meliara to enjoy her time at Court, and a leader of fashion's favor would count greatly on her side. Russav knew of his cousin's feelings for Meliara and was careful to keep the flirtation barely that, only expressing his admiration for everything she did, talking about the latest fashions, and complimenting her outrageously. He never had any romantic interest in Mel and never spoke with her about any serious issue. However, there was no real danger in her succumbing to his charms, for Russav had quickly deducted that she had already lost her heart. Meliara caught onto this and realized that she didn't have any romantic affection for Savona either - although she enjoyed his funny jokes and attention, he was not the man for her.
Despite flirting with her only at Vidanric's request, Russav became genuinely fond and appreciative of Meliara's wit and honesty. He enjoyed her often self-deprecating sense of humor and her honest appreciation of his befriending her, and sided with Meliara instead of Tamara over the Tamara Affair. Later, when Meliara realized her love for Vidanric, he and Meliara became genuinely close, like brother and sister. It was Meliara who helped Tamara realize her feelings for Russav.
Russav and Tamara have had an on-off-on-again-off-again romance ever since they were young. Even observers like Mel have realized the chemistry between these two and the two don't seem to mind their frequent quarrels - they enjoy making up immensely. They have been romantically involved for a long time; when they were teens, after a fight,Russav would pay attention to another beautiful lady and Tamara would flirt with another young man, until they decided to reconcile. But even as a teen Tamara was ambitious, and determined to impress Vidanric after he returned from Marloven Hess. This may be because she felt she had to marry for wealth and may be because she felt scared by Russav's feelings for her. It is assumed that she later got back with Russav.
Things changed drastically after the war with Galdran. Suddenly, the handsome and wealthy Vidanric Renselaeus was also the soon-to-be-king, and very eligible. Tamara broke off with Russav to flirt with a disinterested and embarrassed Vidanric, which strained the relationship between Tamara and Russav and made her name a forbidden topic with the two cousins. Russav got back at Tamara by flirting with the rustic Meliara, to which Tamara retaliated by getting Mel horribly drunk. It is probable that Tamara thought by showing Russav how idept and rustic Mel truly was, he would come back to her. While this was ludicrous considering the attentions Tamara lavished on Vidanric, she didn't actually care that she was being ignored by Vidanric - except for her wounded pride, which drove her to keep going - and was most likely scared by her feelings for Russav. She was wrong. Russav was enraged at her and basically reacted in a way that nearly cost Tamara her reputation and status.
Rustic and unobservant Meliara realized that Tamara loved only Russav, and told her straight out that she had no romantic interest in Savona. Tamara appeared to take it to heart and relaxed her enmity towards Mel, and apparently got back on speaking terms with Russav. It is unsure when exactly she confessed that she had been wrong and asked him to forgive her (whether it was after the Drunk fiasco or after the events of Lord Flauvic), but she finally admitted that she had been wrong to chase after Danric and the Crown. Russav forgave her; they both realized that the only person each could love was the other. They later got married and have a beautiful daughter named Tara