The United Culture

The United Culture, or "The UC," is a political entity in Ballad of the Laser Whales. The UC seems to be a free, post-scarcity society who dwell on giant sentient vessels called Thoughtships that protect them and see to their upkeep through whaling and gathering resources. The people of the UC seem to live completely effortless lives, and only interact with the outside world to try and "uplift" primitive societies, or to protect their interests. Though the self-contained economy of the Thoughtships are nominally post-scarcity, the ships themselves still need to consume resources, presumably to provide this lifestyle for their crews.
The United Culture may have been responsible for the rise of Sacred Chiron. Apparently in the attempt to subvert the more primitive feudal society and uplift them to UC levels of progressivism and enlightenment, something backfired, and the Chironites instead became violent moralistic fascists who rejected the UC's influence and pursued their own ends.
UC citizens are called "Culties" by outsiders, and are thought of as naive, inexperienced, and weak. They also seem to have no concept of racism or prejudice, which can be used to detect them when they attempt to blend in with locals. Nyashny Enginnsdottir spotted a UC agent by his failure to recognize a racist slur against him.
== Weapons ==
UC Weapons are mediocre, but not deficient in any particular way, and seem designed for use inside ships. It is unclear whether or not their soldiers wear armor, or if they even have soldiers.
== Trivia ==
The United Culture is almost certainly a reference or parody of The Culture from the works of the now-deceased Iain Banks, and may also be a reference to The United Federation of Planets from Star Trek. Both are post-scarcity utopian societies who act as the progressive protagonists of their various series. The United Culture is a less optimistic interpretation, in keeping with the cynical themes of the setting. It has been supposed that the shared acronym with the University of California system is not coincidental, and that this UC satirizes a more modern ideology than other factions in the setting.
Category:Ballad of the Laser Whales