The Reign of King Ophad the Young

Political event

Ophad, the only child of King Garron the Sickly, becomes king at the age of 12.

King Garron only reigned for 4 years. At the time his only child, Ophad, was 8 years old. Garron was too sickly to properly manage his kingdom. Ophad was ill-prepared to run a kingdom when he assumed the throne at the age of 12. Ophad looked to the reign of his grandfather, King Pedridas, and determined to continue the programs started during his reign. Thus many historians see the reign of Ophad the Young as more or less a continuation of King Pedridas' reign.   Ophad kept a close eye on the treasury and ensured that funds were always present for the development of the kingdom, particularly those areas devastated during the First Succession War 16 years earlier. As these areas were restored, Ophad looked to other needs in the kingdom.   Ophad was the first king to create an irrigation network in the plains where the majority of the kingdom's food was grown. He hired an agricultural expert from the Haustoen, the tribe that gained prominence in the mountains due to their implementation of terrace farming techniques. This Haustoen served as overseer of the irrigation project, and left a legacy in the form of an agricultural engineering institute, upon which rested the future of Odalla's agriculture for several centuries.   In the 13th year of Ophad's reign, at the age of 25, Ophad married the daughter of one of his prominent counselors. Her name was Leora, and her father had been appointed to replace one of the treacherous counselors who followed Rhydivern during the First Succession War. The couple produced no cchildren. About a month after their wedding, Ophad began exhibiting signs of an illness similar to that of his father.   The physicians were uncertain, as Ophad's father Garron had been sickly since birth, and Ophad developed his illness in adulthood, however the results were the same. Over the next four years, Ophad's condition degenerated until no one was allowed to see him except for his wife Leora and his many physicians. Leora began to relay orders from her ailing husband to the counsel, however many counselors suspected that in those final years, she was ruling the kingdom in her husband's place, possibly to preserve his legacy and thwart any threats to his crown. Leora, or Ophad by way of Leora, established a hospital in the capital ccit in the hopes that future generations might be spared from miserable conditions like those that plagued Ophad and his father.   Ophad succumbed to his illness in the 15th year of his reign. He died without leaving an heir, thus by custom of patrilineage, the eldest grandson of Ophad's cousin Mylleostea was determined as the next rightful King of Odalla.