The Culture: Difference between revisions

** Also ''Excession''.

* [[Apocalypse How]]: The epilogue of ''Consider Phlebas'' gives the final tally of casualties of the Idiran-Culture-War in terms of sentient beings lost, destruction of ships, infrastructure, stars, etc. Spheres are Dyson Spheres, Orbitals are miniature (3 million kilometres wide) [[Ringworld|ringworlds]] and Rings are full-size [[Ringworld|ringworlds]].

* [[Artificial Gravity]]: Standard on ships in the series. But also averted by the orbitals, since they spin around to create centrifugal forces and do not have real gravity. That is why the standard antigrav units in armorsuits don't work there, as a unlucky mercenary finds out.

** It should be noted that they could easily created equally large habitats as orbitals with artificial gravity but don't see the need to be wasteful or inefficient. Just because you have practically unlimited resources doesn't mean you need to be wasteful when a natural solution is available.

** Several villains (including the Azadian Emperor and Veppers) hate the Culture for being weaklings who still appear to have flourished against the odds. Both seem to ignore the fact that you don't get as powerful as the Culture without having the capability of being very, very nasty indeed. But only when necessary.

** To quote the protagonist of ''[[The Culture/Use of Weapons|Use of Weapons]]'':

* [[BFG]]: The short story ''A Gift from the Culture'' mentions a antimatter-powered handgun capable of firing 10^8 W of plasma. The protagonists reflects that he would be able to level the entire city around him, in the end opting for just shooting down a starship. The gun is officially rated as a general purpose "peace" weapon not suitable for full battle use. Cheradinine Zakalwe, mercenary extraordinaire from ''Use of Weapons'', packs an arsenal of more capable arms. And, amusingly enough, an arsenal of ''less' capable, but more entertaining, arms. He seems to think that the Culture's coherent radiation energy weapons simply aren't enough fun, what with them being small, convenient, and not really bothering to waste energy on visual effects. There's a scene in which Zakalwe blows up several targets (large chunks of ice, dyed black) with a relatively primitive weapon, simply for the fun of watching it make them go boom. There's more to BFG status than merely doing a lot of damage, after all.

** ''Consider Phlebas'' features a subversion - {{spoiler|a very powerful plasma gun, probably more powerful than anything the mercenaries had, small enough to be disguised as a tooth.}}

* [[Deflector Shields]]: Fields.

* [[Deus Est Machina]]: The Minds.

** For Minds, base level reality is ridiculously boring. So they [[Mind Screw|don't actually live in it.]]

*** To briefly elaborate, a Mind can perform its day to day functions with a minuscule amount of its processing power. The rest of it can be used to mentally simulate 12 dimensional universes inside their own "heads". The only problem is that it can become very addictive.

* [[Feudal Future]]: Not quite the future, but within the science fiction universe of the series, there are a number of non-Culture humanoid societies who could have stepped out of [[Medieval European Fantasy]]. Notably, ''Matter'' and ''Inversions'' use this type of setting to a great degree.

* [[Fluffy the Terrible]]: Having a battleship that can destroy solar systems on a whim controlled by omnipotent AIs called (for example) ''Problem Child'' kinda qualifies. A more literal example appears in ''Use Of Weapons'', when Diziet Sma is aboard a warship that chooses as its avatar a small furry creature that asks Sma for a cuddle. In the same conversation:

'''Xenophobe''': Aw, come on; any silly GCU can do that! }}

* [[From a Single Cell]]: To make destroying the Culture harder, every single Ship of the Culture is able to rebuild it without help from others. This is just one of their backup plans.

* [[Leaning on the Fourth Wall]]: Xide Hyrlis in ''Matter'', addressing people secretly monitoring him for entertainment, though given an in-story reason to do so.

* [[Loads and Loads of Rules]]: Azad from ''The Player of Games'' is described to the protagonist like this:

Since any place in the hierarchy of the "Empire of Azad" is assigned by one's success in an Azad tournament, this may be a case of [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy]]. Though as it turns out, Azad really ''is'' a model of the player's approach to life: the Culture player's strategies mirror the Culture's basic philosophy and the Emperor's are purely imperialistic. {{spoiler|So much so that when the Culture player actually ''wins'', the Emperor goes [[Ax Crazy]] and the entire empire revolts. At least partly because the Culture lied to the Culture player. It's not a nice friendly game, the result may very well determine whether the Azad Empire is taken over by the Culture or not. At least that's what the Culture ''told'' the Emperor, but, by the time the reader finds this out, the reader has long since discovered that the Culture also has no compunction whatsoever about lying, when necessary. One possible interpretation is that the Culture had no plans to come in and take over, because the Minds involved knew that simply adding that to the stress the Emperor (and the Empire) was under would cause him to snap. Another is, well, yes, they ''would'' come in, all guns blazing. The question is very definitely not settled by the time the book ends, but rendered rather moot by the Emperor going nuts and killing the gathered heads of the Empire's government. It may be a case of [[Fridge Brilliance]] on the Culture's part if they actually believed in the accuracy of Azad. If their player lost, the Empire would be a credible threat to their way of life. If he won, they just proved they don't need to bother with an invasion, because they have just proven to the Empire that the Culture is effectively superior and can out compete them into extinction if need be}}

* [[A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far Far Away]]: Earth is only mentioned in the short story ''The State of the Art'' where a Culture ship and its crew visit our planet (in 1977). Humanity is totally oblivious to their presence. The mainline novels occur in the timeframe between AD 1300 and AD 2100. <ref>''[[The Culture/Use of Weapons|Use of Weapons]]'' very briefly implies one of the characters has been to Earth; it's Diziet Sma, whose recounts her time on Earth in ''The State of the Art''.</ref> The epilogue of ''[[The Culture/Consider Phlebas|Consider Phlebas]]'' describes the Culture-Idiran War of the book's setting as part of a translation once Earth is contacted. The war's date is fixed between the 13th and 14th Century AD.

* [[Technology Marches On]]: While the Culture was always ridiculously technologically advanced, it's kind of noticeable that details like the very instant message/message board discussion-like Mind communications only started being mentioned in more recent books, written after the internet entered popular use.

* [[Title Drop]]: There is one in ''Matter'':

"Matter." Hyrlis sighed. }}

* [[Tractor Beam]]: Effectors are sometimes used this way.

* [[Utopia]]: the Culture.

** [[Word of God|Straight from the horse's mouth]]: [http://nerdworld.blogs.time.com/2008/02/29/iain_banks_the_matter_intervie/\]

Good grief yes, to both! What's not to like? ...Well, unless you're actually a fascist or a power junkie or sincerely believe that money rather than happiness is what really matters in life. And even people with those bizarre beliefs are catered for in the Culture, albeit in extreme-immersion VR environments. }}

* [[Utopia Justifies the Means]]: This is Special Circumstances entire reason for existence:

'''Diziet Sma:''' And perhaps they would be right. Maybe that is all it is. But if nothing else, at least we need an excuse; think how many people need none at all. }}

** Crucially, the Culture's own utopian society is not in itself dependent on morally reprehensible means.