The Green Plague caused the death of nearly a sixth of the Kingdom's population, and particularly affected the eastern area, where many villages had to be abandoned because there were not enough people to cultivate the fields.
King Ezran then committed himself body and soul to healing the wound of the Empire. One of his first acts was to establish in 11 a.p. the Imperial Hospital, where all citizens, even the poorest, could be treated by the best doctors of the kingdom.
It was no small thing: the average rate of a doctor at the time of King Harrow was around ten crowns, the equivalent of three weeks of work by a craftsman. The services of a healing magician, on the other hand, could be even three or four times more expensive.
Actually, the hospital at the beginning became sadly famous for the high percentage of deaths within it: despite the generous funding of the Emperor, it remained insufficient to treat the large mass of sick in the capital and the kingdom, and was often overcrowded. It was, however, an important step forward, and in the following centuries, it became one of the largest medical centers in the West.
It was also necessary to replace the members of the Council killed by the Plague. Lady Opeli was substituted by Lord Eutychos, Archpriest of the Temple of Justice. For quite some time the emperors had thought of involving him in government, because of his tolerant and syncretistic ideas about religion: he was the first High Cleric to also insert minor elfic deities in his prayers. Something that the faithful Opeli, of undoubted loyalty but traditionalist to the limit of bigotry, would never have allowed. After all, some of the Xadian deities had been enjoying certain popularity in the kingdom for years, especially among the lower classes.
It was harder to find a replacement for Lord Vrigel. After long discussions, the choice fell on Lady Karra, former Deputy Minister of the Treasury of Duren (which, we recall, was still governed by a Council independent of that of Katolis, although subordinate to the Emperors). Although she did not have the genius of her predecessor, during the years in which she remained in office Lady Karra achieved notable successes, including the extinction of the debt that the Crown of Katolis had with King Vigimer II of Del Bar.
The Green Plague was undoubtedly the greatest catastrophe that occurred under the reign of Ezran, but it was also the last one.
In the remaining years that Ezran wore the Imperial Crown, there would have been no other crisis of this magnitude.
The time for great adventures was finally over.
