GCU Grey Area

The GCU Grey Area is a General Contact Unit of the fictional society The Culture turned eccentric. It has the dubious honour of being the only Culture ship not to be listed in official records by its chosen name.

The Grey Area has a fascination with pain and the methods of inflicting it. It's interior is a museum containing devices that inflict pain and documents detailing their use. It also takes an interest in acts such as genocide.

The Grey Area also has chosen to ignore the Culture's informal prohibition on the reading of minds. It is for this reason that the ship is more commonly known as the Meatfucker.

During the events of Excession, the Grey Area pauses its research into a surprising comprehensive incident of genocide to help deliver Byr Genar-Hofoen to the GSV Sleeper Service. It travelled within the Sleeper Service to the excession, and near the end of events appeared to crash into the excession and was presumed destroyed by the Culture, but this was not the case.