I'm all for securing the trade quarter - specifically, bisecting it by taking 68(12,12), 69(12,13) and eventually 48(12,11; slaver's stronghold, IIRC, and a good new place for our HQ). This would contain the mobster gang, secure them from interacting with SA gang, and do a lot of other good stuff.
As for the Unreal, the Dreamers seem to have mentioned that they control (or, 'control'; gather local magic) at least some of the tiles inside there, so I'm not sure we would like to foster conflict with them just so soon. Placing an HQ there is... an actually interesting idea, considering the double magic word income, but I honestly worry about the long-term effects of magical radiation exposure on this level to our NPC freed slaves, if nothing else (but the NPC attacks there would seem some of the worst/the most dreadful of all possible NPC attacks, and that's quite something). All in all, it's a fancy idea to take a spot there early, but I'm not sure how good an idea is to move our base there; I'd rather the Dreamers protected us from the horrors inside the Unreal, rather than from the PCs and NPCs outside it (which they may not even want to do, given their "free entry" position).
Also, wow, [CHAIN]!!! Too bad if I try to mix it in with my [Clockwork] enchantment of blades, it won't get me proper chainswords, but something horribly, horribly inconvenient, knowing Piecewise.
Finally, on the new words: if we appear to be unable to take them all, I think it might be prudent to trade extensively, rather than have to discard any.