Gwadar Castle

Gwadar Castle is the site of the Ostwick Circle of Magi and the former seat of the Banns Polperro. Its earliest construction predates Ostwick's independence from the Tevinter Imperium, but most of the building dates from the Storm Age.

Construction
Gwadar Castle is at least 1000 years old, and the current castle was built in four main stages, with minor building projects in between. Then main house is constructed around the oldest part of the castle, the Great Hall, and has twelve bedrooms. Adjoining it are the Black Age north and south wings, which expanded the accommodation and storage. The bailey walls were constructed during the Exalted Age, and the stables and guardhouses added to them during the Storm Age. The most recent addition was the Mage Tower in the late Blessed Age. In addition to the main castle, the estate used to control twelve tenanted farms and the river port village of Gwadarion, although these were sold to neighbouring Banns when the castle passed into Chantry ownership. It retains the Groundsman's Cottage, Lady Katherine's Chateau and the Blessed Age stableblock.

History
The first reference to a castle at Gwadar is in an account of the First Exalted March, when the Magisters of Emerius (modern day Kirkwall) retreated to Ostwick (then called Parthan) and were beseiged by the rebelling slaves at a fortified farmhouse. They were able to hold out for long enough for relief to arrive, but was then sacked and occupied by the rebels. According to local legend, the great hall of the current Gwadar Castle is the same hall where the elven rebel leader Isona declared Ostwick free from the Imperium. She became the first Teyrn of Ostwick, and placed the hall under the command of her close ally, a smuggler named Thiar.

Thiar restored the castle's defences and made it the base of the rebellion, establishing it as a major staging point for Andraste's forces. As a result, it was besieged by Tevinter forces on three occasions, and many of the existing buildings were destroyed. It was during this period that the dyke and ramparts that enclose the site on three sides were first constructed, with the Gawar River forming the fourth side. When Parthan reached an accord with Tevinter, following the death of both Isona and Thiar, Gwadar Castle was made the seat of one of the twelve Bannons and given to Kirthu Polpero, a Laetan trader who had supported the rebellion and helped to negotiate the peace with Tevinter.

The Gwadar bannon comprises large hunting forests, highly productive veins of tin and copper, several granite and slate quarries, and the fertile Gawar River valley. All the bannons were of equal size when established, but Gwadar's natural resources brought it huge prosperity, and it eventually began to expand when the boundaries were relaxed in the Black Age. The main house was constructed around the Great Hall beginning in 4:70 Black and the curtain wall was added in 4:75 Black. The defences were improved in 5:12 Exalted upon the emergence of the Fourth Blight. The Grey Wardens largely held back the Darkspawn Horde from crossing the Vinmarks, but Ostwick was attacked through the Deep Roads entrance at Amgarrak in 5:13 and Gwadar was besieged. The siege was broken in 5:14 by the Grey Wardens, who conscripted its defenders and further fortified the castle, making it their base in Ostwick. From there they led the forces that drove the Darkspawn back from the peninsular and relieved the Grey Warden foretresses in the Vinmark Pass. Gwadar remained a fortress retreat until the end of the Blight in 5:24, sheltering many hundreds of refugees from Markham and Ostwick.

Following the Blight, the Bannons of Ostwick were redistributed, with an additional six Bannons created. Gwadar was reduced in size and lost its direct access to the coast, although its trade connections continued up the river from Padstock, one of the newly created Bannons, which granted free passage in perpetuity.

The next major period of building for the castle came in the late Storm Age, after Ostwick's invasion by the Qunari. The mages of the Ostwick Circle were instrumental in defending the castle from capture, but it took significant damage during the fighting. Following the Qunari retreat, Bann Jacot rebuilt the dyke and moat, expanded the accommodation and cellars, and built the stable block. He intended it to be able to accommodate a thousand civilians and their defenders and hold supplies for six months. It would be ages before his preparations were tested by the mages of the Free Circle when they successfully defended the castle against repeated Templar assaults during the Mage-Templar War.

Gwadar Castle remained in the hands of the Polperro family for ages, and only passed out of their control in 8:78 Blessed, when it was sold to the Chantry to settle the late Bann's gambling debts. It was handed to the Circle for them to use to be able to take in more apprentices, and in 8:98 his eldest daughter, Esme, was named First Enchanter, returning the Castle to Polperro control. The Bannon was declared vacant until 9:42, when Teryna Alexandra confirmed Gwadar Castle the seat of the Bannon, and the First Enchanter the Bann. Thus the Bann of Gwadar is one of only two elected Banns in Ostwick, along with the Hahren of the Ostwick Alienage.

The Banns Polperro
The Banns Polperro governed Gwadar from Ostwick's independence until 8:78. They profited greatly from the rich natural resources in the area, and maintained strict control over the hunting and fishing rights in their forests and rivers. These attracted visitors from Orlais, Nevarra and even Tevinter, and as a result the castle at Gwadar is mentioned frequently in royal records across Thedas. It was one of the first to invite King Calenhad of Ferelden to visit, helping Ostwick to cement an early and lasting alliance with Ferelden.

The Ostwick Circle
In 8:78 Blessed the late Bann Henry Polperro's gambling debts consumed the estate, and his widow was forced to sell off what remained. Left with only the castle itself and three children to care for, she sold the castle to the Chantry for use as the new Circle, on the agreement that she and her youngest child, Erica, would be permitted to remain in the chateau her father-in-law had had built for her upon her marriage. The Circle's mages and templars moved into the castle in 8:79 and began construction of a mage tower around the south wing in 8:80.

The acquistion of such a fortified site caused concerns within the chantry outside Ostwick, but these were largely ignored on the peninsular. The mages continued to enjoy a high level of freedom, with regular excursions into Ostwick City and many senior mages permitted to remain living in the old Circle Tower in the harbour or enter service to noble houses or the city council. During the Dragon Age the Circle became one of the first to rebel against the Chantry, although its isolation and liberal nature meant that few people noticed the change, and its skilled Knight-Enchanters meant that only the most determined rebel templars dared to challenge it.