2nd Shahanshah

V 34 - V 48

Oderion I Pelegon was the 2nd Shahanshah. In contrast to his father’s more autocratic ruling style, Oderion preferred to rely on the sage counsel of (or, according to some historians, unwisely and weakly defer to) his Imperial Conclave. 

Oderion was a legal scholar, and his reign’s great accomplishment was oderion’scode, an updated Imperial legal code that became the bedrock of Pelegonic law. Oderion also oversaw a program of urban planning in Arcanopolis, allowing the fast-growing city to become a great population center. Many of the city’s inner districts and roads were planned during Oderion’s reign and on his orders. 

Oderion was a man with a fairly small circle of friends, but otherwise did not have the charisma of his siblings Pelgos and Bellia. His closest friend was his younger sister, Bellia Pelegon, who he named his daughter after.

Oderion was also known for his religious reforms. He oversaw the codification of the pelegonholybook, establishing a scriptural canon of the Imperial Faith. Under the partnership of Oderion I and Archpriest Kro I, the faith was reorganized into a true institution with reach and influence across the entire Imperium. 

Oderion was wed to Princess Natalya Kazimir, a political match forged from the peace brokered between Pelegon and the Byuntun Empire. However, their marriage was known to be fairly dispassionate. Oderion and Natalya kept separate apartments in the Golden Palace after the birth of their first and only child, the future Shahanshah Bellia I, and only interacted for public formal occasions.

However, Oderion was known to keep the close company of Natalya’s brother, Prince Timofrey Kazimir, who had accompanied her to the capital. 

Oderion’s reign was unceremoniously cut short when he woke up one day complaining of a pain in his side. This pain and other symptoms quickly escalated until the Emperor, despite the best work of his physicians, died. The cause was revealed to be appendicitis.