Ousters

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In Dan Simmons' Hyperion universe, the branch of humanity that left the Worldweb and the Hegemony, and chose instead to travel among the stars, adapting away from planetary life and the influence of the TechnoCore.

From time to time, the Ousters clash with the Hegemony at the edges of Hegemony space, and are generally considered to be the Hegemony's "prime bogeymen" and "interstellar barbarians". In truth, the Ousters are extremely civilized and have evolved far beyond the scope of the Hegemony's imagining. They possess superior technology and their "comet forts and can cities" actually resemble pristine old-Earth countryside, replete with waterfalls, fields, giant tree cities, etc.

The Ousters have twelve 'swarms', or migration clusters consisting of thousands of ships ranging from single-person to massive habitation structures. Many Ousters live outside of the swarms, though, instead cultivating orbital forest rings around distant stars.

The Ousters loathe the TechnoCore and refuse to make use of Farcasters, instead relying upon the Hawking drive for interstellar travel.