Trade posts are outposts or settlements established to facilitate trade between distant lands.
Around the Three Great Seas
Many nations around the Three Great Seas, and around the Chaska Sea in particular, have for centuries if not millennia invested great effort, time, and expense into organizing networks of trade posts on foreign soil. Small maritime states, like Tamkaranu, Eretrebus, Korymbos, and to a lesser degree the Ersas city-states have pursued these projects especially vigorously.
Especially around the Chaska, trade posts are often established on land leased, purchased, or ceded from whatever local government may exist, usually near existing docks or other maritime infrastructure. By convention these are usually left to manage themselves, largely separate from the government and politics around them, as long as they continue to pay their taxes and do not interfere in the local matters of their host cities. Small neighborhoods, enclaves of people from the trade post's home country, often form around the outposts.
These trade posts may be managed by the state, by merchant guilds or collectives, or by wealthy individuals. In any case, their relative separation from their host nation makes them into beacons of stability upon which traveling merchants can rely. To illustrate using those of Tamkaranu - though they are hardly unique - trade posts in the Western Coast, Khapesh, the Halakran League, Viridia, or Dalbanu, just to use a few examples, greatly assist whoever from the parent country may visit in a number of ways. They handle diplomatic matters, such as the collection of taxes and tariffs for local rulers, or negotiations for safe passage. They also act as safe havens for rest and resupply. Most galleys traversing the Chaska do not venture far out to sea but rather, if they can, make short hops along the coast for safety. Having trade posts where they know they can replenish their supplies encourages merchants to follow profitable routes, and to carry more cargo without fear of running out of food on the waves. Finally, the trade posts pass along information to aid allied merchants, with signboards and meeting halls always full of the latest news of distant shores or new opportunities.
These trade posts serve not only to aid one's merchants overseas but also to project power abroad, as they frequently serve as diplomatic missions of sorts as well.
Chaskan trade posts are typically well-integrated into their host cities. Most are built using the conventions and material of local architecture, but others prefer those of their home countries for familiarity. They are not infrequently walled for security.