Ship Types of The Culture - Behaviour and Relations - Eccentric

Eccentric

Ships which appear to have mental 'instability' (though only compared with the very reasoned rationality of the other Culture Minds) or act in ways that are otherwise considered eccentric or at odds with accepted standards of behavior are considered to be Eccentric. Eccentric is a descriptive term for ships and not a group in its own right; for example, ROU Shoot Them Later was both Eccentric and part of the AhForgetIt Tendency of the Culture Ulterior.

Eccentric ships are not considered to have rejected their society. They may still act as members or representatives of their civilisation, though they may be viewed as pariahs. However, being considered Eccentric usually does carry some consequences from other members of their society. Theoretically, Culture military doctrine excludes any Eccentric ships from being members of high-level Special Circumstances (SC) "military commands" (more properly known as a patchwork of SC Core Groups, Sub-Committees, and Committees), and presumably precludes them from Special Circumstances membership completely.

In practice, highly respected Eccentric ships can still be active members in the Culture military command. An additional reason that Eccentric ships can be part of the military command is that some Eccentrics may use their Eccentric status as a cover for SC or simply to conceal their political allegiances within the Culture. This allows them to act with a degree of secrecy not afforded to ships of the Culture proper. This also allows them freedom of action to carry out missions on behalf of Special Circumstances to protect Culture interests or values while allowing the Culture proper to maintain plausible deniability.