Arbor Research Station

Nestled on the inside edge of a collapsed volcano, Arbor Research Station is a permanent science and exploration base that supports the crew of 30-50 tasked with exploring Vassal Crater, the surrounding archipelago, and the ancient Ngladeni presence in the underground volcanic caverns. The structure is designed to withstand flooding, landslides, hurricane winds, and even heavy flying debris or bullets. The inside is spacious, and supports a wide range of living accommodations. Portioned between Trotans and Nastera, the base has two separate life support systems with redundancies but is powered entirely by wind and solar with water supplied by heavy rainfall. A lot of food is also grown inside via hydroponics.

---

Architecture

---

Exterior

The Arbor Research Building itself is a minimal structure. It's aluminum construction and steel frame form rounded sections designed to absorb impacts and maintain an interior overpressure. The atmospheric density of Cerulean is slightly less than native Trotan and Nastera, but the oxygen partial pressure is between what both species would be comfortable at. Overtime the Cerulean immigrants acclimated to the planetary atmosphere. This allowed for the air filtration systems to be taken offline and the station's pressure vessel to be deliberately compromised.
The base components, as originally designed, featured triple-pane bullet proof glass. Bulkheads were heavy and had to be shipped separately and installed onsite. Many of the bulkheads ended up being removed to make it easier to move around. After the original air systems were removed, some of the windows were also replaced with lighter windows that could also be opened.
The exterior of the habitat was considered somewhat oppressive. Its aluminum wrapped frame lacked any color and was purely functional in design. As a result, crew members volunteer to install and maintain homemade wood and metal structures built to the hull of the habitat. This ranged from functional decks for research purposes, gardens, additional rain collection, to some leisure spaces.

Interior

The interior of the base was relatively featureless as designed. Windows, bulkheads, skylights, and other functional items presented the only change in the monotone smooth walls. So naturally crews opted to change this. Various articles of comfort could be ordered which allowed much of the space to be decorated. Interior decorations of crew areas were limited to whatever could be sourced locally or from the mainland as higher quality material was reserved for needed upgrades and additions to the exterior. This created an interior environment that resembled a teen boy's bedroom if it were in a cheap rustic mobile home.

---

Abandonment

---

The Arbor Research Station would be in service for almost 20 years and 13 of those years would be in civilian operation. After the discoveries relating to the Kapisan-Ngladeni Society, the Quadriarma almost immediately took over authority of the station. Most of the crew would be replaced by federal employees and a military presence in the process. Construction of a large base on the crater's northern edge would replaced the relatively meager Arbor Research Station. The original station would be stripped of its equipment before being completely abandoned. It would succumb to the elements overtime, being partly buried and overgrown as the hull of the structure corrodes.

Type:
Modular Research Base

Structure:
Permanent (Anchored to driven piles)

Location:
Vassal Crater, West Inner Rim

---

Interior Rooms

---

Utilities

• Bacteria and virus lab
• Xenobiology cataloging lab
  
• Geochemical analysis station
• Shared mechanical workshop
• Native flora greenhouse and hydroponic garden
• Infirmaries with emergency surgical rooms
• Shared command bunker for monitoring expeditions, weather, communications, remote data collection, and ROV control
• Water filtration and blackwater treatment
• Batteries that can last for days
• High and low oxygen environmental control (eventually removed)

Crew Amenities

• Partitioned toilets
• Private showers
• Hydroponic crop garden
• Exterior gardens and greenhouse
• Full kitchen
• Crew commons with full glass wall and roof (faces east into the crater)
• Pot still (illicit)