Culture Series - The Culture

The Culture

The Culture is a post-scarcity society formed by various humanoid races and artificial intelligences about 9,000 years ago. Since the majority of its biological population can have virtually anything they want without the need to work, there is little need for laws or enforcement, and the Culture is semi-anarchist. Its members live mainly in spaceships and other off-planet constructs, because its founders wished to avoid the centralized political and corporate power-structures that planet-based economies foster. Most of the planning and administration is done by Minds, very advanced AIs.

Although the Culture has more advanced technology and a more powerful economy than the vast majority of known civilizations, it is just one of the "Involved" civilizations that take an active part in galactic affairs. The Homomda are slightly more advanced while the Morthanveld have a much larger population and economy. Some civilizations that take no part in galactic politics are vastly more powerful, such as the Dra'Azon, whom the Culture are reluctant to antagonize despite the need to rescue a Mind stranded on a planet set aside by the Dra'Azon as a memorial, and the Behemothaurs, of whom little is known except the civilizations that meddle with them have a habit of disappearing.

Some other civilizations hold less favorable views of the Culture. At the time of their war with the Culture, the Idirans and some of their allies regarded the control that the Minds exercised over the Culture as a form of idolatry. The Homomda regard the Culture as idealistic and hyper-active. Some members of the Culture have seceded and formed a similar but less activist civilization, the Zetetic Elench, while others simply drop out temporarily or permanently.