Need some inspiration for a Darrian pre-Maghiz research station

[Thisdan]

I am planning to let the PCs discover a pre-Maghiz research station next to the Darrian space. It was there to monitor a very unusual (maybe Ancient related?) anomaly in an empty hex space.
Besides scanners etc. I am looking for inspiration how the station would actually look like on TL 16 or 17. What rooms are there, what would the layout be like?

 

[Sigtrygg]

The darrians were masters of gravitics and had a thing for fire and plasma.

I would have the station with floors at different orientations and lots of plasma based ornaments. Something a bit like the Starbase in Star Trek Beyond.

 

[Alqualonde]

Depending on the actual size & since it is located far from any star, I would have thought of an hollowed cylindrical asteroid. The center is/was a line of plasma in a 'grav-bottle' providing warmth & light. A lot of trees surrounding the staterooms (more like smal cottage or wood cabins. And a very thick rocky layer to protect against rads and small pebbles impacts. And add a lot of libraries, labs, plus a few meeting areas where people can socialize. It might seems cliché, but it is in a station in the middle of nowhere, without even a sun or a planet (empty hex), for long term mental health you need an environment that looks a lot like your homeworld.
Darrians evolved in 'Orchards' surrounding a fire pit. They went from low tech to TL-16 after meeting Terran settlers. They seems to be even more social peoples than Solomani or Vilani since they evolved in what can be thought as cities (their Orchards).
Why the hollowed asteroid? Simpler to make & transport. Build at the closest solar system, fill the cavity with hydrogen, add a 1-shot jump drive. Once onsite, just install the fittings & remove the jump drive.

 

[Lurking Grue]

If your game is taking place in around the year 1105 Imperial, remember that anything pre-Maghiz is more or less 2000 years old or more (IIRC). If the station hasn't been crewed for two millennia, but has been abandoned all this time, it's going to be look more like a tomb than a research station. Any gardens and greenhouses have either run wild (if its a closed system) or been dead for a loooong time. Most systems are likely to not function very well if at all - missing the past 2000+ years of maintenance is going to leave its mark even with that TL16+ tech. Any maintenance robots ought to have broken down by now. Of course you can assume some high tech self-repairing and replicating bots, but I'm not sure if those fit Traveller that well. Even the power generator/reactor might no longer function (at the very least be shut down if/when the station was abandoned), it would suit the mood well, if you're looking for an eerie ghost station vibe.

Of course you can ignore all that and just assume TL16+ tech goes on practically forever, even if abandoned, and let everything be just like it was 2000+ years ago.

I've always envisioned Darrians as kinda-sorta Vulcans (of Star Trek) and using their symbology and style could give you inspiration in designing the station. Also the 'orchard' style could be interesting, with organic shapes and designs in even technical devices (rounded instead of hard angles etc.), maybe even using a lot of organic paneling in rooms, etc.

 

[Condottiere]

Architecture and layout is probably based on two things, function and culture.

As I recall, Darrians have a rather communal bent.

And if it's a research station, how much space does the research require, how secret it is, and how dangerous it could be.

 

[Thisdan]

Thanks for the ideas! What could I introduce in terms of some fascinating or "wow" High Sci Fi stuff (that might not be working any longer but still is fascinating)?

 

[Seffix]

If it was studying a spatial anomaly, perhaps they had a working model of the anomaly in the station, and the anomalous effects have spread beyond its original confines.

Lighting could be done by magnetically contained fire (as described above), and perhaps the station is modeled on a collection of trees growing from a basal bulb (power source) and 'growing' to surround the study area.