Intelligence

A Fire upon the Deep depicts the Milky Way Galaxy as seeded with a vast array of intelligent species, grouping them together under the general term "sophonts." The galaxy is governed by "Zones of Thought" that generally follow its mass distribution. These have always existed and tend slightly towards a movement inward to the core. Races continually "upwell" from the Great Slowness and move into the Transcend to become either Powers or prey. Civilizations tend not last long. Many develop high technology and then revert to medieval levels. Several linguae francae have developed to facilitate communication among them and individuals in some species are multi-lingual. Public facilities offer machine translation among their service and starships have programs not only to translate but also to sort and analyze messages. These fail as one descends to the Bottom of the Beyond.

Various sophonts have natural restraints placed on them by...