Red Rising Saga · Character

Romulus au Raa

Supporting
First seen · Book 3 · Ch. 42

Romulus au Raa is a supporting character in Red Rising Saga (Book 3).

Gender: male
Age: middle-aged
First appears: Book 3 · Ch. 42
Books: 2

Romulus au Raa first appears in Morning Star as the poised Moon Lord of the Rim Dominion, a scarred and one-eyed sovereign whose icy elegance masks a lifetime of war. By Iron Gold he has become the story’s most tragic patriarch: a man who once brokered an uneasy peace with Darrow, only to be undone when the truth of the Ganymede dockyards surfaces. Stripped of power by his own wife and tried for treason, Romulus walks the sulfur wastes in a final act of Rim honor, leaving behind a fractured family and a political legacy that will shape the Dominion’s future.

Description

A thin man of the narrator's height with porcelain skin, long dark-gold hair in a ponytail, and a narrow, wrathful face. He has a twice-broken nose, a right eye larger than the narrator's, a smooth blue-and-black marble globe in place of his left eye, a scar across the left eyelid, and three scars on his upper lip. At home he wears casual attire and boots; his hand is cut for the oath. High cheekbones and long jawline lead to sensual lips riven with two scars on a haggard face. Dark gold hair streaked gray tied in a simple bun with black wood stick, left eye a smooth blue marble globe. Moon-pale bare chest reveals right arm stump in white bandages, clad in gray scorosuit or rough-spun wool kimono. A human man with high cheekbones, a long jaw, and sensual lips marked by two scars. His dark-gold hair is streaked with gray and tied in a simple bun with a black wooden stick; his left eye is missing and replaced by a smooth blue-marble globe, and his right arm is absent. He wears a gray scorosuit.

Connections

Family & partnersFriends & mentorsRivals

Diomedes au Raafather
Romulus instills honor and duty in his eldest son; Diomedes is torn between loyalty to his father and the Rim’s new regime after Romulus’s conviction.
Seraphina au Raafather
Romulus protects Seraphina by hiding her involvement in the Ganymede incident; her father’s execution leaves her devastated and estranged from the family legacy.
Dido au Raaconflicting source relationships
Once celebrated as star-crossed lovers, their marriage collapses into a bitter political feud when Dido stages a coup and forces Romulus’s trial.
Lysander au Luneconflicting source relationships
Romulus counsels the young Lune heir on unity and leadership, inspiring Lysander to side with the Rim before Romulus’s death.
Darrow of Lykosconflicting source relationships
Begins as a cautious treaty partner and uneasy ally against the Core; becomes an irreconcilable enemy once Romulus’s concealment of the Ganymede atrocity is revealed.

Story so far

BOOK 3Morning Star
- Negotiates a wary alliance with Darrow against the Core Sovereign
- Appears in ritual dragon-scale armor during the parley on Luna
- Reveals his marble prosthetic eye and battle-scarred visage
BOOK 4Iron Gold
- Secretly conceals Darrow’s destruction of the Ganymede dockyards to preserve peace
- Is arrested and tried for treason after Dido exposes the cover-up
- Confesses before the Olympic Knights and is sentenced to the sulfur wastes
- Mentors Lysander au Lune on honor and leadership before his execution
- Bids farewell to his children Diomedes, Seraphina, and Paleron