The Culture and it's Peers...

[Big Orange]

Although the Culture is for most intents and purposes indestructable and unstoppable as a space faring superpower, with a pan galactic presence, how powerful is the Culture in the context of it's own setting?

From Consider Phlebas onward the Culture is not the most powerful faction, with the Homomdans implied of being a far older and moderately more advanced race, while there is a Sublimed being watching over a Planet of the Dead that can strike down any conventional being that tries to set foot there (including a big Idiran taskforce that could outgun any non-Optima faction).

In Matter we are introduced to the Morthanveld Commonwealth, an alien empire that has been around for just over half a million years and has carved out a huge unchallenged sphere of influence within the Milky Way, with other very advanced (but smaller) empires implied of being Morthanveld protectorates of sorts (while the Culture has 'only' been around for about ten millennia and is implied of having no real imperial territory but has it's ships and habitats thinly dispersed instead).

Even though the Morthanveld Commonwealth is clearly vastly superior to the Culture in terms of logistics, industrial capacity, territory and numbers, it is somewhat more socially and economically conservative, and on a tactical level *minor spoiler* Culture operatives are not clearly outgunned by Morthanveld military units and evenly matched *minor spoiler* (although in the Idiran-Culture War the Homomda warships were stated as being superior, but the Culture was not so advanced then as in Matter).

But we know the Culture could sweep aside the Oct, Chelgrians, Azadians and the Affront with insulting ease if they weren't constrained by diplomatic considerations in regards to their peers (the Chelgrian race have partially Sublimed, but apart from that are as conventional as the Affront or even the Empire of Azad).

[Covenant]

In it's setting the Culture is akin to the Federation as of the start of DS9. A powerful force able to take on just about any other large power in their neighborhood with the ability, should it become necessary, to pull out a win at the cost of some of their diplomatic and ethical honor. Now place that within the context of the Dominion farther away, and the Borg, as larger-than-you rivals that could theoretically come in and mess you up fairly badly should you actually attempt to go after them instead of staying home. Then put that entire Galaxy of Trek-level power inside of the Star Wars local group of Galaxies, and realize that the only thing between you and utter, humiliating devastation is the distance to the Empire and the relative level of interest they have in you at the moment. That's the kind if difference in power between the Culture and the mind-boggling power of some Out Of Context powers, the term they used in Excession to refer to things for which there's really no basis of comparison in record.

The Culture is a superpower in reference only to most other realms like Trek and Wars, and it's not even stretch to bring up scenarios that would leave them obliterated in their own universe. Excession gave us a good example of something from one of those bigger, more dangerous contexts. We don't learn much about it, but it seems to be some kind of device or vessel created by someone else. And the relatively commonality of Sublimed beings, as well as the layers and layers of power even within the Sublimed food chain make it sound like the Culture, while a lot more potent than the still-potent small forces like the Affront, are just insects compared to the Out Of Context problems that could present themselves if writer's fiat demanded it.

[andrewgpaul]

One thing I think is expressed in the books is that while the Culture may not be the most advanced/powerful civilisation in the galaxy, they're among the most powerful still taking an active interest in galactic affairs. That was the reason the Homomdans opposed them in the Idiran war.

Look To Windward has an epilogue which is set after the fall/decline/Sublimation of the Culture.

[Big Orange]

The Culture is a relatively recent super advanced civilization, so they would relate more to less advanced civilizations and I guess the Culture's meddling among the thousands of young humanoid civilizations arising in the Milky Way distracts it away from regularily interacting with its (poor grammar for the title) peers never the less the Homomda have a hand in meddling in less civilizations as well (but in a more formal and sparing manner to balance political power).

Some Optima species that refuse to Sublime pretty much end up like the Dwellers from The Algebraist (or the prehistoric species that a Shellworld 'god' belonged to from Matter), with their geologically ancient civilizations falling apart from sheer entropy and most of their super technology collecting rust (like the mothballed Culture ships on the Pittance asteroid, but permanently).