Megrez Trade House.

[Etranger]

Built for a Wargames Guild project build.

Megrez Trade House.

When the Megrez established a presence on Harmony, one of their major motivations was to establish a trade post. Although they could have built a new complex from scratch, that is not the Megrez way. Being a subtle and pragmatic people, they prefer to adapt to existing conditions, to fit into the local milieu. They find that this approach attracts less unwelcome attention from others.

Taking over one of the old fortified houses as a base, the Megrez adapted it to suit  their physiology, pressuring and supplementing the atmosphere inside the building, adding filters to the windows,  and otherwise modernising the old house.





The traditional Harmonic fortified house was built around a central courtyard, with shaded cloisters and storage areas, large doors & with accomodation on an upper level. Perfect for adaptation to a Trade House.







One of the many adaptions made by the Megrez merchants is to use local means of transport. The original colonists brought Terran camels with them, with the intention of using them for one of their favorite pastimes, camel racing. This turned out to be most fortuitous as camels were ideally suited as beasts of burden in the savannah like climate & they were promptly pressed into use following the loss of almost all mechanical transport in the original crashlanding. Although many other modes of transport still exist, the Megrez continue to find a role for camels in their trade caravans.



The large courtyard and high doorways are well suited to their role as a Caravanserai and Trade House.





There are modifications to the old buldings, not all of them immediately visible.






Although low key, the Megrez are well aware of the value of their goods & their Trade Houses are famously well defended. Hover Drones are only the most obvious & visible defence, monitoring traffic around the House & providing a potent deterrent to any intending thief or raider.

The building is the 20mm Italeri 'African House', bits & pieces from Ainstey, GZG, The Scene, & a couple of others (Critical Mass & Peter Pig IIRC). 15mm figures & camels from Museum Miniatures via Eureka.

[commissarmoody]

Vary cool, what kind of back ground and games are you useing this in?