The Gman is a mercenary for the Special Circumstances section of the Culture

[Duncan]

(or an SC hologram, possibly thrown by a nearby drone or Mind)

A Few Notes on the Culture by Iain M Banks

Any of you familiar with Iain M Banks' Culture novels will appreciate that this answers all the questions posed by Gman's existance.

We know the Culture Contact section visited us in the 1970s (State of The Art), presumably they kept an eye on us after that. Once they realised we had hit an Outside Context Problem (Excession), they leapt in in their typical arms-length fashion to help & shepherd us without appearing overtly involved.

If he was a mercenary, he'd probably behave more like Zakalwe in "Use of Weapons" & actually take on Gordon's front line role. My guess is that Gordon is being used, like Gurgeh in "Player of Games"

 

[happymushroom]

nice theory :thumbs:

 

[Eejit]

Some of those books are SO depressing... like Against A Dark Background.

The crows are probably Drones in disguise.


Actually, it's been a while since I read them, but I don't remember the Culture having teleportation technology

 

[JavaByte]

Actually, it's been a while since I read them, but I don't remember the Culture having teleportation technology

-Eejit

large field effectors can be used to displace via under-space

and it would be more culture than is in Banks last two Sci-Fi books (Look to windward and The Algebraist) contain nothing of the Culture we know and love

 

[Duncan]

Actually, it's been a while since I read them, but I don't remember the Culture having teleportation technology

In Excession it's how the stored warships got into Pittance. It's also how Sleeper Service offloaded all it's storees before zooming off (one of my favourite bits of the book, after the Affront)

...and it would be more culture than is in Banks last two Sci-Fi books (Look to windward and The Algebraist) contain nothing of the Culture we know and love

The Algebraist must be his worst book yet (apart from Song of Stone)

 

[Mediocrity]

Bah, I liked The Algebraist.

As for the G-Man being a Culture agent, it would have been nice to see the Citadel get gridfired, but I get the feeling that would be bad for the rest of City 17.

And wasn't Look to Windward set mostly on a Culture Orbital? (Holy shit! Halo and HL2 belong to the same universe! )