hwoaarang:

At the height of the Tevinter Imperium’s slave trade, Kirkwall’s elite prospered beyond dreams of avarice. Hightown was built for the wealthiest slavers, its glitzy mansions rising atop a great wall of rock that borders, on one side, the Waking Sea. Lowtown cowered on its other side until Kirkwall’s slaves rose to plunder and destroy Hightown’s riches. Today, Hightown’s prominent buildings are the Keep, home to the ruling viscount, and the chantry, home to the grand cleric and the city’s religious center. Both are converted estates that once housed wealthy magisters, rebuilt and converted after the uprising.

—From In Pursuit of Knowledge: The Travels of a Chantry Scholar, by Brother Genitivi