Culture

Some will take offense to see culture reduced as a mere resource, but it is ultimately what it is.

Remnants of the past

We call "Culture" anything that connects us to our past, even when it would not be considered culture then. Novels, figurines and electronic devices are Culture, but administrative documents, newspapers and magazines are too. The Mist, time and creatures destroyed most of what would be considered Culture. The few pieces that remain are rare and precious.

Over time, with the Library's shenanigans, Culture became the de fact bartering system of Detroit. With it, it is possible to buy services, better food or any kind of tool, even other Culture pieces. Due to the great amount of knowledge they contain, pieces like well-preserved novels are among the most expensive, giving to their owner wealth and information.

Culture help us to picture what the past was like, what were the trends of the time, more or less. The destruction of the culture have been unregarding and unequal. It is hard to know for sure if the most common pieces we trade were also commonplace before us. Was Brandon Sanderson the greatest author prior to the Mist, or is it simply by chance that we possess so many of his books? Were phones something reserved to an wealthy elite, since only a handful has ever been found?

Knowledge crave

Everybody wants to know how was the world before the fog, and to dive into its greatness from time to time. Unfortunately, culture fails to be shared vertically, since children of the mist are separated from their parents early on. Even back in the shelter, people begin to forget their childhood and the life they had before. I fear it's only a matter of years before Culture becomes the only link we have with our ancestors.

Beyond this important link to the past, numerous artworks allow us to escape our harsh life, to think of something else than day-to-day survival in a devastated world. Play with plastic bricks, read a novel or a comic, admire a painting... We need at least this much to avoid falling into despair or madness.

Counterfeit

Fraud and counterfeit of Culture are crimes taken very seriously by the Library. It comes at no surprise that some tried to abuse the system for their personal gain, trading fake art with real one. Fakes can deceive the untrained eye, but are obvious for any expert.

Alas, experts are rare, even among the Library, and in the time it takes for a fake to reach them, the creator is untraceable. With the assistance of the FISH and the Wayne Sorcerers, the guild takes drastic measures to fight against this traffic that may jeopardize our whole cultural legacy.

Is architecture part of Culture?

Recently, a question comes often in debate circles. It states that the buildings of Detroit that we inhabit are direct links with the past, through their size and architecture. Then, should we consider them as Culture and introduce them in the art market? The caveat being that they would exist on two legal planes: both the guild's property and the Culture's.

The concept of intellectual property was coined last week. Coming ironically from the last days before the appearance of the Fog, developed after an article about a new vision of numerical art. It would allow anyone to buy any building, even guild headquarters, as an art piece. They wouldn't really own the building, which would still belong to the guild, but the virtual Cultural concept of it. Far from satisfying everyone, this question is actively discussed and may make us reconsider Detroit as a city.