Hardgate (Bastonian Family)

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The Hardgate Family was a fairly minor noble house of Bastonia, established around the year 1000 Age of Bastion. The principal line of the family were the scions of Uther Hardgate, First Baron Hardgate, who fought in the War of the Bastion Line with some distinction, eventually raising to the knighthood (in the Order of the Lanyard) and the Barony. By the time of the Southern Expansion, this was largely forgotten history to those outside the family, which counted for little in the ebb and flow of Bastonian politics. Rolls of the Noble Houses, a work compiled in 1340 Age of Bastion by the Grand Prince of Estmarch, remarked on the house simply as "Riverine Vassals of County Skywatch". The family had no major holdings apart from their eponymous castle along the River Coldwater, though too far south to be in the major flow of its trade.

The party's traditional arms were those of the First Baron: Vert, a tower argent. The family saw something of a revival in the 16th Century Age of Bastion, elevated to an Earldom for the actions of Billiam Hardgate, First Earl Hardgate and later cemented in importance by his only heir, Sir Draven Hardgate. Sir Draven was a knight of the Companions of Light and intercharged the family arms with the arms of his order, resulting in a new set of arms that was used by the family thereafter: Argent party per fess vert, a tower argent, in chief a sun radiant gules. The 'Second Earl' was a formidable campaigner and figure in his own right and prominent in his day, who also moved the family seat to Pendragon.