|
The Idiran-Culture War is a fictional conflict in the midst of which Iain M. Banks' science fiction novel Consider Phlebas is set. His later book, Look to Windward, contains many references to the war: particularly the induced supernovae of two stars, which resulted in the death of billions of sentient creatures. Vague references to the war can also be found in Excession. According to Banks' appendices to Consider Phlebas, the war began in 1327 AD, and continued for 48 years and one month, resulting in an eventual but total victory for the Culture. Total casualties amounted to 851.4 billion sentient creatures, including medjel (slaves of the Idirans), sentient machines and non-combatants. The war resulted in the destruction of over 91 million starships, fourteen thousand Orbitals, 53 planets and major moons, one Ring and three Spheres, and the significant mass-loss or sequence-position alteration of six stars. The conflict was one of principles; the Culture went to war because the Idirans' fanatical imperial expansion, justified on religious grounds, threatened the Culture's "moral right to exist". As the Culture saw it, the Idirans' extending sphere of influence would prevent them from improving the lives of those in less-advanced societies, and thus would greatly curtail the Culture's sense of purpose. As Horza, the protagonist in Consider Phlebas, observed, the conflict was inevitable; the Idirans would not halt their expansion, because their Faith wouldn't allow it; the Culture is so ill-defined, having no borders or laws, that it would also have grown ceaselessly. The two cultures would have been unlikely to forge a peaceful co-existence. Despite the relatively small scale — in comparison with the rumoured conflicts of the past — the Idiran-Culture war is considered a significant event in (Banks') galactic history.
| ||||||||
|
| |||||||||
 |
|
| |