| ShahanshahCordos I Pelegon |  |
ܢܥܓܘܠܘܦ ܣܥܝܕܥ ܣܥܕܪܥܫ
25th Shahanshah
V 400 - V 405
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Cordos I Odios Pelegon, also called Cordos the Unlikely, Cordos the Accursed, and the Leper Shah, was the 25th Shahanshah. As a young man, Cordos traveled the world under a false name as an adventurer. He sailed with merchants in the Spotted Sea, helped with archeological digs at Shadowfell, and fought as a monster hunter. In his travels he met and fell in love with a tavern bard named Zafaris, whom he married. When he returned home with a common and Tiefling wife, the Imperial Family flew into a rage, though he refused to annul the marriage, causing chaos within the family. Cordos was the "black sheep" of the Imperial Family due to his free-spirited and carefree nature, unique marriage and Tiefling daughter, and lack of the typically Pelegonic orange hair (his hair instead being a dark brown). .
Biography
Cordos was the second son of House Odios Pelegon, born to Adrastus II and his wife Myrissa Qati.
Cordos in his youth
Cordos loved playing jokes and making others laugh. He always had an adventurous spirit and temperament, and frequently buried himself in tomes of lore and accounts of adventures in distant lands. He was an excellent swordsman and bested three members of the Falcon Guard in a practice duel at the age of seventeen. Cordos was taken to squire by Lord Morzican Mannos at the age of thirteen and was knighted in his sixteenth year.
He spent some years studying at the House of Wisdom, achieving the rank of scholar. His three fields of study were anthropology, history, and Magic.
Cordos I as Shahanshah
When he ascended the Golden Falcon Throne, Cordos was tall and proud. He wore his long hair in a ponytail and kept a short beard. He was gravely wounded in battle against Malagazh during Malagazh's War was required the use of a cane for the remainder of his days.
Cordos' Illness
In addition to his advanced age, the Shahanshah suffered from a degenerative rotting illness which no magician or physician who was summoned could cure. During the Battle of Hanum, Cordos dueled the dark lord Malagazh and was gravely wounded when the Dark Lord grabbed and burned his face. The curse spread through his body, rotting him alive for his remaining life. At the time of his death, the curse had claimed his left eye, much of the skin on his face, his right leg, his left foot, and multiple fingers. By the end of his life, his left hand had lost all of its fingers and been rendered completely unusable. He also lost much weight, weighing less than 100 pounds at the time of his death, and his remaining eye was sunken so deep into his socket it could be hidden in shadow under the right lighting. He became bedridden and was only lucid on occasion due to his immense pain and the several potions and ointments which addled his mind but also served to dull his agony, leaving much of the management of the Empire to his wife, Grand Vizier, and heir. When he appeared in public, he wore gloves, flowing robes, and a silver mask carved in the likeness of his youth to hide his hideous scarring. He also exclusively travelled publicly by palanquin, as his immense pain left him hardly able to walk. The curse also aged him considerably. Though he only lived to see his sixties, by the time of his death he appeared to be more than 100 years old, wrinkled, haggard, gaunt, and frail. One physician noted in his diary that by his death, Cordos looked to be "more corpse than man, a walking skeleton with some skin and muscle still attached." By his death, it was said that those who had known him in his youth found him to be totally unrecognizable.
Even in his advanced sickness, when lucid Cordos retained his strong nature and fierceness.
After the death of his wife and three children at the Feast of Wolves, Cordos’ health, already poor, began to rapidly decline. He died just over a year later.
At the end of his life, he kept his decaying and flaking skin hidden behind robes and a mask when going out in public
Cordos is lambasted by his granduncle Pelgos Pelegon upon his return from his adventures and the presentation of his wife to the Imperial court
