Shahanshah Pelgos I Pelegon

4th Shahanshah

V 50 - V 77

Pelgos I Pelegon was the 4th Shahanshah. A man who presided over a long period of peace and prosperity, Pelgos delighted in feasts, tourneys, balls, and art. He had many children. whom he married to several great houses as a means of strengthening the realm at large.

Pelgos was the second son of Shahanshah Pelegon I. He was born in the fourth year of his father’s reign. A healthy and happy baby, Pelgos grew to possess great charisma and a friendly and jovial disposition. 

Prince Pelgos was betrothed at a young age to Shazia Arcanos, the second of Lord Jeshper Arcanos’ two daughters. While it was an arranged marriage, the two fell deeply in love over the course of their courtship and their marriage was happy and fruitful, with the couple having ten children together. 

Pelgos was not a martial man, and instead enjoyed cultural pursuits. He was an accomplished flautist and enjoyed reading and writing poetry, as well as painting. He was a great enjoyer of martial games, but as a spectator, not as a combatant. In his youth he had been a jouster, though more out of duty to uphold chivalric standards and project a sense of strength to the Imperial houses than out of any actual interest in martial games. As Pelgos grew older and fatter, he ceased to participate in martial games. 

A great enjoyer of wine and cuisine, Pelgos grew fairly fat over the years leading up to and through his reign. His reputation as a jolly and grandfatherly figure did much to endear him to his subjects, especially after the more distant and aloof reigns of Oderion I and Bellia I. 

While Pelgos reveled in festivals and games, he also proved to be a competent and effective monarch. Pelgos had a gift for selecting incredibly skilled and loyal advisors, and the members of his Imperial Conclave are regarded as some of the best to be named to the offices that they held. He was able to negotiate several incredibly beneficial trade agreements between the Imperium and many of its neighbors, which fulfilled the dual purposes of providing economic growth and normalizing the relationships between the Imperium and its neighbors, which had remained strained since the Pelegonic Conquest. Pelgos initiated the process of Falcon's Ascent, a legal doctrine in which the successions of lords had to be approved by their lieges, and for the successions of the Houses Major to be approved by the Shahanshah. In practice, this changed very little, but it was a clear demonstration of supreme Imperial authority.