List of ships (The Culture)

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This is a list of spaceships found in the Culture novels by Iain M. Banks. Except where indicated, all ships in this list are members of the main fictional society known as 'The Culture'. In this fictional universe, all Culture ships, and also some others, are also artificial intelligences with quite distinct personalities. Many of them are significant characters in the novels.^[1][2]

Contents 1 Naming 2 Common ship types 3 Novels 3.1 Consider Phlebas 3.2 The Player of Games 3.3 Use of Weapons 3.4 Excession 3.5 The State of the Art 3.6 Look to Windward 3.7 Matter 4 Guardian interview 5 See also 6 References

[edit] Naming

The machine intelligences called 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, and a few names contain puns where both meanings are appropriate to the ship's attitude. A few of the ship names, like variations on "gravitas" are also installments in running gags.

[edit] Common ship types

Class	Acronym	Description
General Systems Vehicles	GSV	Mobile habitats and / or factory ships, largest Culture ship type. May be home to billions of people.
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
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.

[edit] Novels

[edit] Consider Phlebas

Civilisation	Name	Ship type	Comments
Culture	Nervous Energy	GCU (Mountain-class)
Culture	Prosthetic Conscience	GCU
Culture	Bora Horza Gobuchul	GSV (Ocean-class, later Range-class)	The name chosen by the Mind at the center of events after rescue, upon emplacement within a GSV.
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.
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 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.
Idiran	The Hand of God 137	Light Cruiser	Advance force invading the planet Sorpen to rescue Horza.

[edit] The Player of Games

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 Azad. An allegedly demilitarized GOU.
GSV	Cargo Cult	n/a	Play on the cargo cult concept.
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), play on the gunboat diplomacy concept.
dROU	Zealot	n/a
n/a	Kiss My Ass	Superlifter
n/a	Prime Mover	Superlifter
(Azadian)	Invincible	Battlecruiser	Flagship of the Azad Empire.

[edit] Use of Weapons

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.[3]
GSV	What Are The Civilian Applications?	Continent	Limited Edition "Prompt" subclass. Can outrun a 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

[edit] Excession

Civilisation	Ship Type	Name	Class	Comments
Culture	GCU	Different Tan	Mountain
Culture	GCU	Fate Amenable To Change	Escarpment
Culture	GCU	Grey Area (AKA Meatfucker)	n/a	(Eccentric) Ostracised for nonconsensual mindreading.
Culture	GCU	It's Character Forming	n/a
Culture	GCU	Jaundiced Outlook	Ridge	Child ship of the Sleeper Service.
Culture	GCU	Problem Child	Troubadour	Early (vs Excession-contemporary) GCU, historical mention. Nominally captained by Zreyn Tramow.
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	(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	Limivorous	Ocean
Culture	GSV	No Fixed Abode	Ex-Equator	(Sabbaticaler)
Culture	GSV	Quietly Confident, 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.[3]
Culture	LSV	Misophist	n/a
Culture	LSV	Serious Callers Only	Tundra
Culture	MSV	Not Invented Here	Desert
Culture	Superlifter	Charitable View	Cliff
Culture	n/a	I Blame My Mother	n/a
Culture	n/a	I Blame Your Mother	n/a
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
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
Homomdan	Main Battle Unit	Full Refund (Ex-'MBU 604')	Empire Class	(Convertcraft)
Culture	n/a	Just Passing Through	Cruise Ship, n/a

[edit] The State of the Art

Most of the Culture ship names in this collection come from the titles of the chapters in the titular novella; the narrator explains that he has chosen ship names for these titles.

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."[4]
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...	n/a
GCU	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*	n/a
GCU	Ablation*	n/a
GCU	Arrested Development*	n/a
GCU	Credibility Problem*	n/a
GCU	Dramatic Exit, Or, Thank you And Goodnight*	n/a
GCU	Excuses And Accusations*	n/a
GCU	God Told Me To Do It*	n/a
GCU	Halation Effect*	n/a
GCU	Happy Idiot Talk*	n/a
GCU	Helpless In The Face Of Your Beauty*	n/a
GCU	Heresiarch*	n/a
GCU	Just Another Victim Of The Ambient Morality*	n/a
GCU	Minority Report*	n/a
GCU	Not Wanted On Voyage*	n/a
GCU	Perfidy*	n/a
GCU	Sacrificial Victim*	n/a
GCU	Stranger Here Myself*	n/a
GCU	Synchronize Your Dogmas*	n/a
GCU	The Precise Nature Of The Catastrophe*	n/a
GCU	Unwitting Accomplice*	n/a
GCU	Undesirable Alien*	n/a
GCU	Well I Was In The Neighbourhood*	n/a
GCU	You Would If You Really Loved Me*	n/a
GCU	You'll Thank Me Later*	n/a

^*Names mentioned in the chapter names of the title novella only. All of them belong to ships produced by the Infracaninophile manufactury in Yinang orbital.

[edit] 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.

Ship Type	Name	Class	Comments
(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 *	n/a
n/a	Someone Else's Problem *	n/a
n/a	Lacking That Small Match Temperament *	n/a
GCU	Poke It With A Stick *	n/a
OU	I Said, I've Got A Big Stick *	n/a	The small print (spoken softly) is a pun on "Speak softly and carry a big stick."
n/a	Hand Me The Gun And Ask Me Again *	n/a
n/a	But Who's Counting? *	n/a
n/a	Germane Riposte *	n/a
n/a	We Haven't Met But You're A Great Fan Of Mine *	n/a
n/a	All The Same, I Saw It First *	n/a
n/a	Ravished By The Sheer Implausibility Of That Last Statement	n/a
n/a	Zero Credibility *	n/a
n/a	Charming But Irrational *	n/a
n/a	Demented But Determined *	n/a
n/a	You May Not Be The Coolest Person Here *	n/a
n/a	Lucid Nonsense *	n/a
n/a	Awkward Customer *	n/a
n/a	Thorough But ... Unreliable *	n/a
n/a	Advanced Case Of Chronic Patheticism *	n/a
n/a	Another Fine Product From The Nonsense Factory *	n/a
n/a	Conventional Wisdom *	n/a
n/a	In One Ear *	n/a
n/a	Fine Till You Came Along *	n/a
n/a	I Blame The Parents *	n/a
n/a	Inappropriate Response *	n/a
n/a	A Momentary Lapse Of Sanity *	n/a
n/a	Lapsed Pacifist *	n/a
n/a	Reformed Nice Guy *	n/a
n/a	Pride Comes Before A Fall *	n/a
n/a	Injury Time *	n/a
n/a	Now Look What You've Made Me Do *	n/a
n/a	Kiss This Then *	n/a
GSV	Lasting Damage	n/a	Later mind-state copied into other ships, becomes Masaq orbital.
GSV	Lasting Damage I	n/a
GSV	Lasting Damage II	n/a
GSV	Experiencing A Significant Gravitas Shortfall	n/a	Part of the "... Gravitas ..." running gag.[3]

^*Names mentioned in a humorous conversation about various Culture ships in Chapter 11 of the novel.

[edit] Matter

Civilisation	Name	Ship type	Comments
Culture	Don't Try This At Home	MSV (Steppe-class)
Culture	Eight Rounds Rapid	(ex) GOU (Delinquent-class)	Potentially an inside joke reference to Dr Who's Brigadier' directing his troops; "Five Rounds Rapid" was enough to despatch a threatening alien.
Culture	Experiencing A Significant Gravitas Shortfall	GCU	Part of the "... Gravitas ..." running gag.[3]
Culture	It's My Party And I'll Sing If I Want To	GCU (Escarpment-class)	Pun on the 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 a Special Circumstances operative. Pun on a common computer systems term hinting at the fact that the problem lies with the system's user.[5]
Culture	Pure Big Mad Boat Man	GCU	An inside joke based upon the language of Ned (Scottish) culture. It would be read/heard as " a pure big, mad boat, man" roughly meaning "a very large and deadly serious boat my good man".
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)
Nariscene	Hence the Fortress	Comet (Star-cruiser)
Nariscene	Hundredth Idiot, The	White Dwarf	Chose its name from a Nariscene proverb.
Morthanveld	Fasilyce, Upon Waking	Cat.5 SwellHull
Morthanveld	Inspiral, Coalescence, Ringdown	Great Ship	Comparable to a GSV; the name refers to three stages in the merger of two black holes.
Morthanveld	On First Seeing Jhiriit	Cat.4 CleaveHull
Morthanveld	Now, Turning to Reason, & Its Just Sweetness	Cat.3 SlimHull

[edit] Guardian interview

The following ships have not appeared in any books, however they were named by Iain Banks in an interview with The Guardian.^[3] These ships obtained their names as a result of another (unnamed) 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
• Zero Gravitas

[edit] See also

• Ship types (The Culture)
• List of fictional spaceships

[edit] References