MasterOfNap

A lot of people, even in this sub, seem to be under the misunderstanding that the Culture is an allegory for Western democracies, that the Culture's interventions in other societies are akin to the Western interventions in the Middle East or some cases of other imperialism. They seem to think that Banks was using the Culture's actions to criticize the actions of the Western world.

But if we actually look at Banks' interviews, it is obvious that this is a misconception. Banks intended the Culture to be a genuine utopia, not something to be compared with the Western countries. Here are some of the quotes from his interviews:

From an [interview](http://textualities.net/andrew-wilson/iain-bank

Suppose you have unlimited power/technology/resources to shape the material world of 40k. You could eradicate all life in the galaxy, or turn the entire Imperium into an egalitarian utopia where everyone lives a nice life, or build Necron pylons all over Milky Way. You can do whatever you want, with the only limitation being you cannot delve into the Immaterium.

What would be the best way to remove or minimize the threat of Chaos? Is it even possible, by the 41st millennium, to fix the Warp and return it to the calm realm before the War in Heaven?

Say if someone magically pops into the Vatican, declares himself as Jesus and starts casually resurrecting the dead and performing impossible miracles again and again in front of the Pope and the Cardinals. I don’t know if the Catholic Church would officially recognize him as Christ, but I’m sure many Catholics would be convinced.

Suppose YOU are the Omnisiah, is it possible to convince the Tech-priests on Mars that you are really the Machine god? Is there anything you can do, or any miracles to perform to prove that? If you somehow managed to convince the Fabricator-General to recognize you, would it help?

Or is it entirely impossible to convince the Adeptus Mechanicus that you are truly

I noticed that my megacity with over 150 population and over 1000 production per turn isn’t building buildings or units faster than another much smaller city with fewer pops. Apparently the bigger your city becomes, the costlier your stuff is gonna be.

Does anyone know how are the production costs calculated? Would be very useful to know whether absorbing another city would actually speed up the production or slow it down.

I mean sure, they are super powerful entities in the Warp, but why were they even called “gods”? Why wouldn’t people call them demons, or entities, or ghosts, or creatures, or lords, or even just “beings”?

Wouldn’t calling the Chaos gods as “warp beings” discourage people from worshiping them, reducing their cults’ influence?

There are some very powerful characters or factions in the 40k setting that could apparently just take control of enemy ships and AI. But among all of them, which one is the top contender?

Would it be the Void Dragon? The Omnissiah (if it’s not the Void Dragon)? Some DAoT superweapon? Or even one of the Chaos gods?

Why do you think that entity/faction is the strongest at hacking enemies, and what have they done to demonstrate that?

So the Emperor tried to preach the Imperial Truth, a teaching that rejects religions and superstitions, partly to starve off the Chaos gods, and partly to elevate mankind to a society grounded on science and rationality. But over time, the Emperor was worshiped as a god, partly due to Lorgar who desperately wanted to worship hin. Eventually the Imperium did a 180 and Imperial Cult ironically became the official religion and the only one allowed.

But would the original plan of the Imperial Truth have worked? Would a secular, rational Imperium that encourages scientific and technological advancement have fared better in the Grimdark world of 40k?

(Obviously we assume this society knows abou

Say the Imperium encounters a new human faction it has never met before. This faction is friendly and eager to open diplomatic relations, yet it refuses to become part of the Imperium or pay the imperial tithe. Unfortunately, due to whatever reasons this faction is also extremely advanced and literally impossible for the Imperium to conquer it militarily no matter what (say this faction is on par with the Culture, so conquering them is not an option). How would the Imperium react to them? Would it throw waves after waves of forces to hopelessly try to conquer this faction, or would it tolerate this human faction given that they are not xenos after all?

And what if this faction is willing to

For those who aren’t aware, Tech Schools represent some pre-existing biases in the academic circles in different countries in Vic 2. Intellectuals and scholars in a country might be more invested in philosophy and arts than military when compared to another country etc.

Do you guys think this’ll make a comeback in Vic 3? Personally I think it’ll be a great idea, what do you guys think?