Mount&Blade/Castles

You can rest at castles you own for free. Your men will draw food from the castle's lands during this time.

Recruiting and garrisoning
Faction troops of varying skill levels will gradually take up residence in your castle to defend it. You can add them to your party by choosing the "Station a garrison" option, and you can also deposit men in your party in the same way. You can also drop off or pick up prisoners. Companions can also be garrisoned. Garrisoned troops draw their food from the surrounding lands.

Men left in a castle are paid only half wages as they are not on active duty, and their wages are automatically deducted (along with those of the men in your party) at the end of each week. If you place your entire party in a castle's garrison and then wait until pay day you will end up giving all your men only half the wages they earn for active service.

Improvements
The "Manage this castle" menu option lets you build several improvements to enhance your castle's effectiveness. The cost and construction time will be decreased if you or your companions have points in Engineer.
 * Building a Messenger Post will let you be informed about enemy activity near your castle even if you are far away. The Messenger Post has a base cost of 4000 denars and 43 days.
 * A Prisoner Tower significantly reduces the chance of imprisoned lords escaping. The escape chance is normally 30%, but a Prisoner Tower reduces it to 5%. The Prisoner Tower has a base cost of 7000 denars and 73 days.

Prosperity
The prosperity of the castle can be improved by building improvements. Also putting food in the chest.