List of species (The Culture)
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This article describes the fictional species mentioned in greater detail in the Culture science-fiction novels of Iain M. Banks, with the exception of the Culture humans itself.
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[edit] Affront
The Affront are a species described in Excession. Originally named after their homeworld Issorile, their current name was given to them by another involved species - the Padressahl - after they ate the members of a Padressahl trade mission to Issorile. They embraced their given name, proud of their exuberant sadism.
[edit] Physique
An average adult Affronter's body consists of a floating, bulbous mass about two metres in diameter, which hangs from a frilled gas sac one to five metres in diameter depending on their desired buoyancy and which can be deflated and covered by protective plates.
Six to eleven tentacles of varying length and thickness grow from the central mass, of which at least four end in leaf shaped paddles. Many affronters have lost one or more tentacles in combat or duels. Beaks on the front and rear of the central mass cover the creature's mouth and genitals, respectively. The eyes and ears are held on stalks above the fore beak (they also have a sensor bump atop the gas sac). An anus/gas vent is located in the bottom centre of the main body. The latter is one of their sources of propulsion, though they usually 'walk' on their limbs or 'paddle' through the air unless in a hurry.
As their homeworld is described as a "fog-bound moon-planet", probably similar to a larger version of Saturn's moon Titan, Affronters require a high pressure, low temperature environment, and breathe an atmosphere composed mostly of nitrogen and methane, plus other trace hydrocarbons.
[edit] History
The Affront became a major galactic species - of a power and advancement sufficient enough to prevent too direct intervention by the Culture - by virtue of several coincidences. Discovered by the Padressahl, a much more powerful species at that time, they proved impervious to the Padressahl's Culture-like attempts to change their predatory outlook towards other species, or to change their sadistic nature. When the Padressahl eventually sublimed, the Affront were advanced enough to start expanding widely from their local sphere of influence, which by chance lay on the other side of the galaxy from the Culture. By the time the two civilisations came into closer contact, shortly after the Idiran-Culture War, the Culture was not willing to entertain another massive military action to contain the Affront (even though it was at the height of its military power).
The Affront are intelligent and cooperative enough (ritual or spontaneous duels notwithstanding) to build a stellar empire, and to develop advanced technology, or else steal it. They have also received some Culture technology (such as the ability to build orbitals) in exchange for grudgingly kept promises of better behaviour.
Among their own technological accomplishments is a strong aptitude for genetic engineering, which they developed long before spaceflight. They use this skill almost exclusively on 'prey species', which tend to be changed so as to provide greater sport (and opportunity for sadism) during the communal hunts forming a major part of the Affront culture. One of the few changes to their own species was the redesign of their females to make sex painful for them, a choice exemplary of the reasons they are considered abhorrent by the Culture.
[edit] Changers
Changers are a species genetically engineered as a weapon in the distant past by an unknown species. They are capable of impersonating any humanoid being by restructuring their body to resemble any such individual.
[edit] Physique
Changers have the ability to grow, shrink and mold their body as willed, changing everything from looks to actual muscles and bones, though most major changes - induced by a trance-like state - take several days. While their cell structure will aways remain their own, the impersonation is nearly perfect outwardly, making visual identification as an imposter almost impossible.
Changers also have conscious control of most of their bodily functions - these include the ability to produce copious amounts of sweat or small quantities of acid on their skin (useful for close combat or escaping from bonds, respectively), while the ability to shape their bone structure also allows them to slip through bonds if they have enough time.
Changers also have various natural weapons, with their bite, spittle and nails containing poisons or acidic substances, and have perfected associated techniques in disguises, impersonation (psychological tactics as well as subconcious behaviour) and combat (assassination and self-defense) to improve their abilities.
[edit] History
Because of the threat they pose to most humanoid societies that depend on appearance as a means of identity, the Changers are an almost universally reviled species, and are usually killed where found. By the time of Culture novels, they were isolated to a single large asteroid, known as Heibohre, where they lived in a clan system of paramilitary structure. Some left that world for various reasons, and by the time of the Idiran-Culture War, many were working for the Idirans, mostly out of a dislike for the Culture. The Changers were destroyed as a species in the later stages the war.
[edit] Chelgrians
The Chelgrians, described in Look to Windward, are a recently contacted race, which suffered a major civil war with billions of dead when a failed Culture intervention caused a collapse of its millennia-old caste system.
[edit] Physique
The chelgrians are a mammalian species with two genders; male and female, having evolved from an apex predator of their home world. In looks, they somewhat resemble an earth tiger with six legs. However, in the course of evolving from animal to sentient being the mid legs have fused, making them tripedal (walking on the rear and mid legs). They are between three and four metres in length and one point five to two metres in height, and have two arms ending in six digit hands that resemble paws. They are furred with various markings, have large carnivore teeth.
[edit] Society
Chelgrian society takes the form of a rigidly enforced caste system, though sufficiently technologically advanced enough to be considered Involved (that is to say similarly advanced to the majority of space faring species).
They are an especially notable race because of an event in their history, as six percent of the Chelgrian population sublimed when they had been Involved for only a few hundred years. For this to happen to a young race is unusual, and there was another unexpected and remarkable outcome. The sublimed part of the population maintains links with the majority part of the population which has not moved on, calling itself the Chelgrian-Puen (the 'gone before'). This is a unique phenomenon in the culture universe, and strongly influences the societies outlook, as the Chelgrian-Puen consider themselves (and are accepted as) the gatekeepers of the Chelgrian Heaven.
[edit] History
The Culture had decided to change Chelgrian society via covert intervention to diminish the caste system that was considered an impediment to Chel’s development. Unfortunately Chel erupted into civil war as an indirect result of the Culture’s actions. Shocked by this disastrous turn of events, the Culture announced that they had been manipulating Chel all along, with the admission succeeding in stopping the war, but also in creating strong hatred towards the Culture.
The need of the Chelgrien-Puen to take revenge on the Culture drives the events in Look to Windward.
[edit] Homomda
The Homomda are a major galactic race, somewhat further advanced than the Culture, but not yet as removed from the material universe as the Dra'Azon or the Sublimed civilizations. They see themselves as acting as a balancing factor between other major races.
[edit] Physique
The Homomda have a tripedal, pyramid-formed structure of around three and a half metres. They have a glistening black skin color, and are at times 'mistaken for sculptures' when amongst other species, as they have a habit of remaining perfectly still for long periods of time.
[edit] History
Among the history revealed about the Homomda is that they gave shelter to the 'Holy Remnants' of the Idiran species when they were driven from their world and almost made extinct by another species. They used the Idirans (who share similarities to their tripedal form) as elite mercenary troops and later helped them reconquer their homeworld and expand their own sphere of influence. In the Idiran-Culture War, they supported the Idirans against the Culture, due to a policy of trying to prevent one species (or group) from attaining too much influence in the galaxy, similar to real-world Great Britain before World War I.
After sustaining heavy losses during the decade-long war - even with their ships being described as more powerful than most Culture ships (Appendices of Consider Phlebas) - they eventually struck a truce with the Culture - this becoming a major factor in the eventual Idiran defeat.
In Look To Windward it is noted that the Homomda consider the Culture to be immature, impulsive - childish, in a word.
[edit] Idirans
The Idirans are a major galactic race, most known for their war against the Culture. By the time of Consider Phlebas, they are an aggressive but calculating warrior species which considers it their holy duty to bring order the universe and its lesser races.
[edit] Physique
Full-grown Idirans stand about three meters tall on a tripod of legs and have two arms. There is some hint of fully trilateral symmetry in their ancestry, as a third, vestigial, arm has evolved into a chest-flap which the Idirans use to create loud, booming warning signals. They have a saddle-shaped head with two eyes at each end of the saddle.
Idirans are biologically immortal and are very resilient to physical damage as they are protected by a natural keratinous body-armour and can withstand catastrophic damage and even remain conscious, though they do not naturally regenerate. They are dual hermaphrodites, each half of a couple impregnating the other. After one or two pregnancies Idirans lose their fertility and develop into the warrior stage, reaching full size and weight, the armour hardening fully. Idirans are capable of taking enormous amounts of damage and can survive massive trauma that would kill a human being instantly-for example, losing a large fraction of their head.
The biological immortality was a result of their evolution as the 'top monster on a planet full of monsters', where strong natural selection pressure and a strong background radiation (causing mutations) prevented the biological immortality from stifling the evolution of the species.
[edit] History
The Idirans are a deeply religious people and believe in a single, rational God who wants a better existence for his creation. Everything in life has its place and it is desirable to bring about order by putting things into their right places. This belief developed while they were struggling for survival in the harsh and chaotic conditions of their home world. Idirans also believe that they are the only beings with immortal souls - as other species do not even possess biological immortality, they see no reason to assume they would possess the spiritual kind. In this way, they treat all other sentient races as similar to very intelligent pets.
Once they had tamed their environment they lived in peace and solitude for forty-five thousand years until they were almost made extinct by alien invaders. In response (and in reflection of their physical change from breeder to warrior), they turned into a warrior race and attempted to conquer and convert all other races in the galaxy to bring about the order their God desires. This successful and brutal expansion eventually resulted in the Idiran-Culture War, and in their need to defend once-conquered territory, it was part of their downfall.
By the time of the later novels, the Idirans have apparently been contained from further expansion and are being 'Culturized' to some degree, with some Idirans described as having joined Culture ships crews.
[edit] Medjel
The Medjel are a 'companion' (or slave) species to the Idirans. They originally evolved in a social symbiosis with the Idirans, who later bred them as a companion species over the course of forty thousand years (by the time of the Idiran-Culture War). They are reckoned to be about two thirds as intelligent as the average human. Outnumbering Idirans by about 12 to 1 but being genetically loyal to them, they provide good, if unimaginative, soldiers and servants.
Physically, the medjel are about two metres long, with green-brown skin. They have flat, long heads with distinct muzzles, walk on four feet and use two front feet as hands. The tail of military medjel is docked.
