List of ships (The Culture) 1161311 225728444 2008-07-15T03:02:29Z 98.108.211.238 /* Common ship types */ This is a list of ships found in the [[The Culture|Culture]] novels by [[Iain Banks|Iain M. Banks]]. All ships in the fictional universe are also artificial intelligences with quite distinct personalities, and many of them are significant characters in the novels. Except where indicated, all ships in this list are members of the main fictional society known as 'The Culture'. ==Naming== The machine intelligences called [[Mind (The Culture)|Minds]] (and, as a consequence, the Culture starships that they inhabit) usually bear names that do a little more than just identify them. The Minds themselves choose their own names, and thus they usually express something about a particular Mind's attitude, character or aims in their [[personal life]]. Warship names are similar in retaining the whimsical nature, though the humour tends to be more cynical and threatening. Banks composed many of the Culture ships' names very carefully to express the attitude of the ship's [[Mind (The Culture)|Mind]], and a few names contain puns where both meanings are appropriate to the ship's attitude. A few of the ship names are also installments in [[running gag]]s. ==Common ship types== {{Main|Ship types (The Culture)}} {| class="wikitable" ! Class !! Acronym !! Description |- |General Systems Vehicles ||GSV||Mobile habitats and / or factory ships, largest Culture ship type |- |Medium Systems Vehicles ||MSV||Smaller versions of the above |- |Limited Systems Vehicles ||LSV||Smaller versions of the above |- |General Contact Vehicles ||GCV||Larger versions of the below GCU (or possibly a misprint in one novel) |- |General Contact Units ||GCU||Ambassadors, scouts and light transports; also main warship in peacetime |- |General Offensive Units ||GOU||Dedicated main warships |- |Rapid Offensive Units ||ROU||Dedicated fast warships |- |Limited Offensive Units ||LOU||Dedicated warships, smaller than GOUs |- |Demilitarized ROUs ||(d)ROU||Civilianised ROUs used as courier ships, all or most weaponry removed |- |Very Fast Pickets ||VFP||A [[euphemism]] for (d)ROU, used in the same role. |} ==Novels== === ''[[Consider Phlebas]]'' === {| class="wikitable" |- ! Civilisation ! Name ! Ship type ! Comments |- | Culture || ''Nervous Energy'' || GCU (Mountain-class) || |- | Culture || ''Prosthetic Conscience'' || GCU || |- | Culture || [[GSV Bora Horza Gobuchul|''Bora Horza Gobuchul'']] || GSV (Ocean-class, later Range-class) || |- | Culture || ''Determinist'' || GSV (System-class) || Largest GSV class mentioned in the books so far. |- | Culture || ''Eschatologist'' (temporary name) || GSV (Ocean-class) || Sent by the Culture to destroy ''Vavatch'' [[Orbital (The Culture)|orbital]]. |- | Culture || ''Irregular Apocalypse'' || GSV || |- | Culture || ''No More Mr Nice Guy'' || GSV || |- | Culture || ''Profit Margin'' || LSV || |- | Culture || ''Revisionist'' || ROU (Killer-class) || |- | Culture || ''Trade Surplus'' || ROU (Killer-class) || |- | Culture [[Ship_types_of_the_Culture#Ulterior|Ulterior]] || ''The Ends Of Invention'' || GSV || |- | Non-aligned (Ex-Hronish) || ''Clear Air Turbulence'' || Armoured assault || Pirate ship, one of the main settings of the book. |- | [[List of species (The Culture)#Idirans|Idiran]] || ''The Hand of God 137'' || Light Cruiser || Advance force invading the planet Sorpen to rescue [[Bora Horza Gobuchul|Horza]]. |} === ''[[The Player of Games]]'' === {| class="wikitable" ! Ship Type !! Name !! Class !! Comments |- |n/a||Screw Loose||Clipper|| |- |GCU||Flexible Demeanour||n/a|| |- |GSV||Just Read The Instructions||n/a|| |- |GSV||Of Course I Still Love You||n/a|| |- |GOU||Limiting Factor||Murderer||Jernau Morat Gurgeh's ship to the planet [[Player of Games|Azad]]. An allegedly demilitarized GOU. |- |GSV||Cargo Cult ||n/a|| |- |GSV||Little Rascal ||Plate||'Throughput'-ship (ship assembly and crewing). |- |GSV||So Much For Subtlety||n/a|| |- |GSV||Unfortunate Conflict Of Evidence ||n/a|| |- |GSV||Youthful Indiscretion ||n/a|| |- |LOU||Gunboat Diplomat||n/a||([[Special Circumstances]]) |- |dROU||Zealot||n/a|| |- |n/a||Kiss My Ass||Superlifter|| |- |n/a||Prime Mover||Superlifter|| |- |(Azadian)||Invincible||Battlecruiser||Flagship of the Azad Empire. |} === ''[[Use of Weapons]]'' === {| class="wikitable" ! Ship Type !! Name !! Class !! Comments |- |GCU||Just Testing||n/a || |- |dROU||Xenophobe||Torturer|| |- |GCU||Very Little Gravitas Indeed||n/a|| Part of the "... Gravitas ..." [[running gag]].<ref name="GravitasShipNames" /> |- |GSV||What Are The Civilian Applications?||Continent||Limited Edition "Prompt" subclass. Can outrun a [[Ship_types_%28The_Culture%29#Very Fast Picket|Very Fast Picket]]. |- |GSV||Congenital Optimist||n/a|| Rescued Zakalwe from Fohls. |- |GSV||Size Isn't Everything||n/a||The GCU ''Sweet and Full of Grace'' was constructed aboard this ship. |- |GCU||Sweet and Full of Grace ||n/a|| |} === ''[[Excession]]'' === {| class="wikitable" ! Civilisation !! Ship Type !! Name !! Class !! Comments |- |Culture||GCU||Different Tan||Mountain|| |- |Culture||GCU||Fate Amenable To Change||River|| |- |Culture||GCU||[[GCU Grey Area|Grey Area (AKA Meatfucker)]]||n/a||([[Ship_types_of_the_Culture#Eccentric|Eccentric]]) Ostracised for nonconsensual mindreading. <!-- MEATFUCKER is the real nickname of the ship in the book, do not edit for vandalism!--> |- |Culture||GCU ||It's Character Forming||n/a|| |- |Culture||GCU ||Jaundiced Outlook||Ridge|| |- |Culture||GCU ||Problem Child||Troubadour||Early (vs ''Excession''-contemporary) GCU, historical mention. |- |Culture||GCU ||Reasonable Excuse||n/a|| |- |Culture||GCU ||Recent Convert||n/a|| |- |Culture||GCU ||Tactical Grace||Escarpment|| |- |Culture||GCU ||Unacceptable Behaviour ||n/a|| |- |Culture||GCV ||Steely Glint||Plains|| |- |Culture||n/a||Highpoint||n/a||([[Ship_types_of_the_Culture#Ulterior / Absconded|Ulterior]]) |- |Culture||ROU||Shoot Them Later||Gangster||(Eccentric, Ulterior) |- |Culture||LOU||Attitude Adjuster||Killer|| |- |Culture||ROU||Killing Time||Torturer||A pun on a saying that 99% of war is just killing ''time'', while the rest is the ''killing'' time. |- |Culture||ROU||Heavy Messing||Gangster|| |- |Culture||dROU||Frank Exchange Of Views||Psychopath|| |- |Culture||GSV|| Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The||Plate|| |- |Culture||GSV|| Death and Gravity||n/a|| |- |Culture||GSV|| Ethics Gradient||Range|| |- |Culture||GSV ||Honest Mistake||n/a|| |- |Culture||GSV||Limivourous||Ocean|| |- |Culture||GSV||No Fixed Abode||Ex-Equator||(Sabbaticaler) |- |Culture||GSV ||Quietly Confident,<br>later [[Sleeper Service]]||Plate||(Eccentric, Ulterior) Known as storage ship for biological persons in stasis. The name ''Sleeper Service'' is a pun on [[sleeping car]] (transport) and [[sleeper agent]] (espionage). |- |Culture||GSV|| Uninvited Guest||n/a|| |- |Culture||GSV|| Use Psychology||n/a|| |- |Culture||GSV|| What Is The Answer and Why?||n/a|| |- |Culture||GSV|| Wisdom Like Silence ||Continent|| |- |Culture||GSV|| Yawning Angel||Range|| |- |Culture||GSV|| Zero Gravitas|| n/a|| Part of the "... Gravitas ..." [[running gag]].<ref name="GravitasShipNames" /> |- |Culture||LSV|| Misophist||n/a|| |- |Culture||LSV|| Serious Callers Only||Tundra|| |- |Culture||MSV||Not Invented Here ||Desert||<!-- a typo? intro'd as "MSV" and during its history, but referred to as "LSV" later on --> |- |Culture||Superlifter ||Charitable View || Cliff || |- |[[Zetetic Elench]]||Stargazer||Appeal To Reason ||n/a|| |- |Zetetic Elench||Stargazer||Break Even ||n/a|| |- |Zetetic Elench||Stargazer||Long View ||n/a|| |- |Zetetic Elench||Stargazer||Peace Makes Plenty ||n/a|| |- |Zetetic Elench||Stargazer||Sober Counsel||n/a || |- |Zetetic Elench||Stargazer|| Within Reason||n/a|| |- |[[List of species (The Culture)#Affront|Affront]]||n/a||Kiss the Blade|| |- |Affront ||n/a||Frightspear ||n/a|| |- |Affront ||Light Cruiser||Furious Purpose ||Meteorite Class|| |- |Affront ||n/a||Riptalon ||n/a|| |- |Affront||n/a||Wingclipper ||n/a|| |- |Affront||n/a||SacSlicer II ||n/a|| |- |Affront||n/a||Xenoclast ||Battleship|| |- |[[List of species (The Culture)#Homomdan|Homomdan]]||Main Battle Unit||Full Refund (Ex-'MBU 604')||Empire Class||([[Ship types (The Culture)#Convertcraft|Convertcraft]]) |- |Culture||n/a||Just Passing Through ||Cruise Ship, n/a|| |} === ''[[The State of the Art]]'' === Most of the Culture ship names in this collection are only used as chapter names of the title [[novella]]. However, they all represent real ships of a particular production series. {| class="wikitable" ! Ship Type !! Name !! Class !! Comments |- |GSV|| Bad for Business||n/a|| |- |GCU|| Arbitrary||Escarpment (middle series)||Produced by a manufactory of the Yinang Orbitals of the Dahass-Khree, known for ships that are "a bit crazy."<ref>''[[The State of the Art]]'' - [[Iain Banks|Banks, Iain M.]], 1991</ref> |- |GCU|| Cantankerous||n/a|| |- |GCU|| Only Slightly Bent||n/a|| |- |GCU|| I Thought He Was With You||n/a|| |- |GCU|| Space Monster||n/a|| |- |GCU|| A Series Of Unlikely Explanations||n/a|| |- |GCU|| Big Sexy Beast||n/a|| |- |GCU|| Never Talk To Strangers||n/a|| |- |GCU|| Funny, It Worked Last Time...Boo!||n/a|| |- |GCU|| Ultimate Ship The Second||n/a|| |- |GCU|| It'll Be Over By Christmas||n/a|| |- |GCU||A Ship With A View<sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |GCU||Ablation<sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |GCU||Arrested Development<sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |GCU||Credibility Problem<sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |GCU||Dramatic Exit, Or, Thank you And Goodnight<sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |GCU||Excuses And Accusations<sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |GCU||God Told Me To Do It<sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |GCU||Halation Effect<sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |GCU||Happy Idiot Talk<sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |GCU||Helpless In The Face Of Your Beauty<sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |GCU||Heresiarch<sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |GCU||Just Another Victim Of The Ambient Morality<sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |GCU||Minority Report<sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |GCU||Not Wanted On Voyage<sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |GCU||Perfidy<sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |GCU||Sacrificial Victim<sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |GCU||Stranger Here Myself<sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |GCU||Synchronize Your Dogmas<sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |GCU||The Precise Nature Of The Catastrophe<sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |GCU||Unwitting Accomplice<sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |GCU||Undesirable Alien<sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |GCU||Well I Was In The Neighbourhood<sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |GCU||You Would If You Really Loved Me<sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |GCU||You'll Thank Me Later<sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |} <sup>''*''</sup>Names mentioned in the chapter names of the title novella only. === ''[[Look to Windward]]'' === Most of the Culture ship names in this novel are only mentioned in a humorous conversation about ship names in Chapter 11, ''Absence of Gravitas'', and do not represent characters in the novel. The Chelgrian ships are not artificial intelligences like those of the Culture. {| class="wikitable" ! Ship Type !! Name !! Class !! Comments |- |([[List of species (The Culture)|Chelgrian]])||Winter Storm ||n/a|| |- |(Chelgrian)||Piety ||n/a (Temple ship)|| |- |(Chelgrian)||Soulhaven||n/a (Temple ship)|| |- |ROU ||Nuisance Value||Torturer|| |- |n/a||Vulgarian ||Superlifter|| |- |GSV ||Sanctioned Parts List||n/a || |- |VFP|| Resistance Is Character-Forming||Gangster|| |- |OU|| All Through With This Niceness And Negotiation Stuff <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |n/a||Someone Else's Problem <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |n/a||Lacking That Small Match Temperament <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |GCU|| Poke It With A Stick <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |OU ||<small>I Said, I've Got A Big Stick</small> <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a||The small print (spoken softly) is a pun on "[[Big Stick Diplomacy|Speak softly and carry a big stick]]." |- |n/a||Hand Me The Gun And Ask Me Again <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |n/a||But Who's Counting? <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |n/a||Germane Riposte <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |n/a||We Haven't Met But You're A Great Fan Of Mine <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |n/a||All The Same, I Saw It First <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |n/a||Ravished By The Sheer Implausibility Of That Last Statement||n/a|| |- |n/a||Zero Credibility <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |n/a||Charming But Irrational <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |n/a||Demented But Determined <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |n/a||You May Not Be The Coolest Person Here <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |n/a||Lucid Nonsense <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |n/a||Awkward Customer <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |n/a||Thorough But ... Unreliable <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |n/a||Advanced Case Of Chronic Patheticism <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |n/a||Another Fine Product From The Nonsense Factory <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |n/a||Conventional Wisdom <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |n/a||In One Ear <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |n/a||Fine Till You Came Along <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |n/a||I Blame The Parents <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |n/a||Inappropriate Response <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |n/a||A Momentary Lapse Of Sanity <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |n/a||Lapsed Pacifist <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |n/a||Reformed Nice Guy <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |n/a||Pride Comes Before A Fall <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |n/a||Injury Time <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |n/a||Now Look What You've Made Me Do <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |n/a||Kiss This Then <sup>''*''</sup>||n/a|| |- |GSV||[[GSV Lasting Damage|Lasting Damage]]||n/a||Later mind-state copied into other ships, becomes ''Masaq'' [[Orbital (The Culture)|orbital]]. |- |GSV||[[GSV Lasting Damage|Lasting Damage I]]||n/a|| |- |GSV||[[GSV Lasting Damage|Lasting Damage II]]||n/a|| |- |GSV|| Experiencing A Significant Gravitas Shortfall||n/a|| Part of the "... Gravitas ..." [[running gag]].<ref name="GravitasShipNames"/> |} <sup>''*''</sup>Names mentioned in a humorous conversation about various Culture ships in Chapter 11 of the novel. === ''[[Matter (novel)|Matter]]'' === {| class="wikitable" |- ! Civilisation ! Name ! Ship Type ! Comments |- | Culture || ''Don't Try This At Home'' || MSV (Steppe-class) || |- | Culture || ''Eight Rounds Rapid'' || (ex) GOU (Delinquent-class) || |- | Culture || ''Experiencing A Significant Gravitas Shortfall'' || GCU || Part of the "... Gravitas ..." [[running gag]].<ref name="GravitasShipNames" /> |- | Culture || ''It's My Party And I'll Sing If I Want To'' || GCU (Escarpment-class) || Pun on the song ''[[It's My Party (song)|It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to]]'', which continues "... You would cry too if it happened to you." |- | Culture || ''Lightly Seared On The Reality Grill'' || GCU || |- | Culture || ''Now We Try It My Way'' || (ex) General Transport Craft (Interstellar-class) || |- | Culture || ''Liveware Problem'' || Superlifter (Stream-class, modified Delta-class) || Likely [[Special Circumstances]] operative. Pun on a common computer systems term hinting at the fact that the problem lies with the system's user.<ref>[http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/l/liveware.htm Liveware] (from the 'webopedia.com' website. Accessed 2008-06-18.)</ref> |- | Culture || ''Pure Big Mad Boat Man'' ||GCU || |- | Culture || ''Qualifier'' || GCU (Trench-class) || |- | Culture || ''Seed Drill'' || GSV (Ocean-class) || |- | Culture || ''Subtle Shift In Emphasis'' || GCV (Plains-class) || |- | Culture || ''Transient Atmospheric Phenomenon'' || GCU || |- | Culture || ''Xenoglossicist'' || LSV (Air-class) || |- | Culture || ''You Naughty Monsters'' ||GCU || |- | Culture || ''You'll Clean That Up Before You Leave'' || (d)ROU (Gangster-class) || |- | [[List_of_species_%28The_Culture%29#Nariscene|Nariscene]] || ''Hence the Fortress'' || Comet (Star-cruiser) || |- | Nariscene || ''Hundredth Idiot, The'' || White Dwarf || |- | [[List_of_species_%28The_Culture%29#Morthanveld|Morthanveld]]|| ''Fasilyce, Upon Waking'' || Cat.5 SwellHull || |- | Morthanveld || ''Inspiral, Coalescence, Ringdown'' || Great Ship || Comparable to a GSV |- | Morthanveld || ''On First Seeing Jhiriit'' || Cat.4 CleaveHull || |- | Morthanveld || ''Now, Turning to Reason, & Its Just Sweetness'' ||Cat.3 SlimHull || |} ==Guardian interview== The following ships have not appeared in any books, however they were named by Iain Banks in an interview with [[The Guardian]].<ref name="GravitasShipNames">[http://homepages.compuserve.de/Mostral/interviews/guardian00.htm Interview] - [[Iain Banks|Banks, Iain M.]], originally published in [[The Guardian]], 2000</ref> These ships obtained their names as a result of another (unnamed) [[The Involved | Involved]] civilisation criticizing Culture ship naming policy, claiming that such powerful ships ought to have names with a little more gravitas. *Stood Far Back When The Gravitas Was Handed Out *Gravitas, What Gravitas? *Gravitas... Gravitas... No, Don't Help Me, I'll Get It In A Moment... *Gravitas Free Zone *Low Gravitas Warning Signal *Absolutely No You-Know-What ==See also== *[[Ship types (The Culture)]] *[[List of fictional spaceships]] ==References== {{Reflist}} [[Category:The Culture| List of ships]] [[Category:Lists of fictional things]]