History Main / LowCultureHighTech

[[caption-width-right:349:harld [[EyeScream ded]] [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfNormandy will]] prob king by xmas bk soon luv u x]]

** [[{{Mayincatec The]] [[BirdPeople Avians]] received spacefaring technology from a benevolent precursor. Unfortunately, this convinced them to worship the being that uplifted them as a god and ignore any further advances in technology; to this day, priests dutifully maintain and repair the advanced circuitry in ancient tombs, while Avians frequently sacrifice themselves via suicidal jumping; they believe their ancestors became so arrogant that they tried to one-up their own god, who then responded by forcefully de-evolving the Avians until they lost their wings, and that the only way to atone and become angel-like again is to prove they're willing to leap into the sky no matter what. Every heretical Avian who realizes how stupid this is gets on a spaceship, which permanently stigmatizes them as eternally damned (despite ensuring their major presence in the galaxy).

* In ''Videogame/{{Borderlands}}'', the various Bandit and Scav clans are groups of criminals, outlaws, and lunatics who are the broken leftovers of the endless corporate wars and expansions across the galaxy. Most of them are poorly-educated or completely insane and have become obsessed with violence, looting, destruction, torture, and cannibalism, and live in squalor, struggling to feed themselves. Nonetheless, they manage to have access to some highly-advanced technology, which is often the leftovers from various corporate colonization efforts or stolen from established settlements with normal, functional people. They have the capacity to build and maintain advanced firearms, construct vehicles and aircraft, and even make enormous mobile structures like Carnivora, all while living in scrapyard settlements made of rusty metal and adorned with the skulls and bodies of their victims.

** The Avians received spacefaring technology from a precursor race, and yet still have priest-castes and human... well, avian sacrifices to their god, with atheism being a crime. So, you have {{Mayincatec}} BirdPeople in space.
** Much, much worse are the Florans, a race of tribalistic, [[ManEatingPlant flesh-eating]] PlantAliens who somehow managed to reverse-engineer a crashed apex spaceship and subsequently became a menace to the galaxy, going so far as to drive the [[FishPeople Hylotl]] from their own homeworld. It's only recently that SOME of them are beginning to understand the concept of sentient animal life and the value thereof. Expect the occasional [[StealthPun tasteless]] [[IAmAHumanitarian remark]].

* ''Literature/OrphansOfTheSky'': The characters live on a GenerationShip whose crew mutinied several generations back. By the time the novel takes place, the crew has become so backward that they think the ship is the whole Universe, and a large portion live as subsistence farmers. The only reason the ship still works is that its reactor[[note]]the secondary reactor, actually, the main one having gone kaput during the mutiny[[/note]] can convert any matter into energy at pretty much 100% efficiency. Everything that is no longer useful, including the dead, are used as fuel for the reactor.

** This technically applies to ''all'' races in the setting, since they are purposefully manipulated from trying to explore or understand the technology and principles behind the Citadel and the Mass Relays. Before the Protheans altered the Keepers to prevent them opening the hidden Mass Relay built into the Citadel itself, millions of years worth of Cycles ended with the Reapers showing up and taking control of the Citadel, locking down the Mass Relays and declaring GameOver to the entire galaxy.

[[caption-width-right:349:harld [[EyeScream ded]] [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfNormandy bill]] prob king by xmas bk soon luv u x]]

* ''Literature/AllTomorrows'' features the Ruin Haunters, a race of ape-like post-humans whose home planet was ravaged by an alien invasion. They discovered the technology of the invaders and rebuilt their own civilization, but never fully understood the great power they controlled.

%%
%%
%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
%%
%%
%%
%%
%%

** The Daleks in all of their appearances are this. They're one of the most technologically advanced races in the universe but all of their advancement has gone into proving their might by destroying lesser races (i.e. everything that isn't a Dalek). When a Cyberman dismisses the design of the Dalek casing as "inelegant" the Daleks proudly reply that they have no concept of elegance.

* DC has the ''ComicBook/NewGods'' of New Genesis and Apokolips; they possess super high tech, and depending on how they are portrayed, are a super advanced alien race/or PhysicalGods. Apokolips is styled in Greek[=/=]Roman aesthetics, with slaves being lorded by the New Gods.

[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/knightwithsmartphone.png]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/knightwithsmartphone.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:harld [[EyeScream ded]] [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfNormandy bill]] prob king by xmas bk soon luv u x]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Knightwithsmartphone_894.gif]]

* ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'': Downplayed. Ultratech is an important and pervasive component of Sephirotic and other important civilizations and ranges from technologies that could potentially be invented by Modosophonts, devices that can only be created and even often operated by beings of a higher singularity level, to artifacts whose function itself are incomprehensible to non-transapients.

Lastly, we want to draw attention to the following from the first paragraph "far in advance of their scientific and '''cultural''' knowledge". It's important to point out that not only are they using things they don't understand technologically, but for which they haven't considered the cultural, social, or ethical ramifications. It's one thing to give a hunter-gatherer society an EnergyBow, but giving them a cloning device? Their society may crumble from the onset of massive CloningBlues, not to mention the ecological disaster of the massive population growth. It's because of this that many aliens (and future humanity) tend to subscribe to an AlienNonInterferenceClause or a YouAreNotReady attitude.

* ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'': Not at all uncommon due to the [[OneStatToRuleThemAll general universality of science over all other stats]], including culture. This is especially true in ''VI'' - scientific technologies and cultural civics have their own [[TechTree trees of development]], and betting on the former is usually more profitable, as the vast majority of military units become available through science, which allows you to quickly defeat those civilizations that [[InvertedTrope invert this trope]] and focus on culture instead. In particularly neglected cases, a certain civilization may know the nuances of robotics and nanotechnology while preparing for interstellar flights but have no idea about, say, nationalism or even institutions of UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment.

* ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'': This can often happen due to the [[OneStatToRuleThemAll general universality of science over all other stats]], including culture. This is especially true in VI - scientific technologies and cultural civics have their own [[TechTree trees of development]], and betting on the former is usually more profitable, because the vast majority of military units become available through science, which allows you to quickly defeat those civilizations that [[InvertedTrope invert this trope]] and focus on culture instead. In particularly neglected cases, a certain civilization may know the nuances of robotics and nanotechnology while preparing for interstellar flights, but have no idea about nationalism or even institutions of UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment.

* ''Literature/{{Foundation}}'': This is one of the major themes in the first book. As the Galactic Empire begins to come apart at the seams, planets on the very periphery of the Empire lose the ability to build nuclear reactors. Even in the heart of the Empire itself, scientific knowledge has stagnated so much that they can only perform routine maintenance on their power plants. As early as 25 years after Hari Seldon predicted the fall of the Empire, a reactor on a planet experiences a Chernobyl-like meltdown, and the response by the Empire is to restrict further nuclear testing. The Foundation first manages to establish hegemony in the fringes of the Galaxy by providing the independent Kingdoms around them with nuclear technology, as well as technicians able to run and maintain the devices (and keeping for themselves anyone smart and educated enough to design new technology). In the first sequence, the kingdoms surrounding the Foundation power their interstellar spaceships by oil and coal.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': The novel ''Ishmael'' by Barbara Hambly posits that the Klingons received a sudden technology boost when they were briefly conquered by alien invaders called the Karsids. Being Klingons, they eventually beat the Karsids and retook their world, gaining all the Karsids' technology and weapons in the process, while still being a warlike and feudal society, and thus became a huge threat to all their neighbors. Hence, they are the universe's best object lesson in the importance of the [[AlienNonInterferenceClause Prime Directive]]. Note that the ''Trek'' novels have never been considered official canon, certainly not in [[TheEighties those days]], and [[CanonDiscontinuity the rest of Trek canon has never supported this idea]]. But it's a nifty notion.

* In the Creator/MachineGames ''VideoGame/{{Wolfenstein}}'' games, [[ThoseWackyNazis the Germans]] use extremely advanced technology to [[CurbStompBattle grind the free world into dust]]. By 1960, they have entire armies of combat robots and {{Super Soldier}}s to terrorise the enslaved populations with, and even have a HumongousMecha named the London Monitor to (literally) crush any resistance under a stomping boot. They put a man on the Moon in 1951 (and consequently started drawing up plans to build a concentration camp there) and are beginning to colonise Venus. They're even getting the hang of laser weapons. [[spoiler:[[{{Irony}} Ironically]], they owe all this progress to stealing the ClarkesThirdLaw-level technologies of a sect of ''Jewish'' priest-scientists.]] Where the low culture part comes in, is that the series pulls no punches in showing how horrifically brutal the Nazis' racist and reactionary ideology was.
* ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'':
** A few of the pre-set empires have some elements of low culture as part of their ethos. Most if not all of the Fallen Empires are also of low culture despite having the most advanced technology in the game. Likewise, it is also possible to create a custom empire with some low culture tones to it as well.
** The Marauders are entirely housed in massive, complex space habitats, often in stable orbit of black holes. However their society is split into small tribes which frequently feud and raid one another for supplies when they're not raiding empires that can't defend themselves. The "dwamak" personality in particular comes off as a race of shrieking buffoons, with the First Contact team questioning if they're actually a sapient species or not.
* ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'': This can often happen due to the [[OneStatToRuleThemAll general universality of science over all other stats]], including culture. This is especially true in VI - scientific technologies and cultural civics have their own [[TechTree trees of development]], and betting on the former is usually more profitable, because the vast majority of military units become available through science, which allows you to quickly defeat those civilizations that [[InvertedTrope invert this trope]] and focus on culture instead. In particularly neglected cases, a certain civilization may know the nuances of robotics and nanotechnology while preparing for interstellar flights, but have no idea about nationalism or even institutions of UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment.

[[folder:WebOriginal]]
* ''Website/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2039 SCP-2039]] is a pair of hillbilly FeudingFamilies stuck in a ForeverWar with random weapons, sometimes primitive, sometimes futuristic.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Anime/LastExile'': The nations of Dissith and Anatore qualify by virtue of not having anti-gravity technology which they lease from the Guild. The best they've developed is small fighter planes.
* ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'': The airships rely on engines that reflect technology from before the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Seven Days of Fire]]. Several times throughout the manga, characters scramble to recover the engines from downed ships as they are the only components that are irreplaceable.

* In ''Anime/AldnoahZero'', the Vers have access to some of the greatest technology in the known universe, but their culture is so lacking that the only thing holding it together is an incredibly half-baked religion and resentment against the people of Earth.

* ''ComicBook/{{Thorgal}}'': Done in an issue where a "sun sword" used by a minor warlord to conquer his neighbours turns out to be a phaser left after the villain of one of the previous arcs.
* ''ComicBook/TheWarlordDC'': Some of the civilisations of Skartaris have access to advanced Atlantean technology, but no understanding of how it actually works.
* ''Franchise/MastersOfTheUniverse'' : The early mini-comics from the original toyline have the primitive barbarian tribe He-man belongs to, the Eternians, use technology that had been left by their technologically-advanced ancestors.

* Creator/MarvelComics:
** Wakanda is a subversion. It is a small yet high tech nation in the center of Africa with access to [[GreenRocks Vibranium]], a super element. While its people still live in tribal lifestyle and maintain an absolute monarchy, they single handedly developed high tech capabilities and a beyond first world industrial base. While many westerners think it's odd that such a technologically advanced society is still rooted in tribalism, the Wakandans usually point out that they have a higher standard of living than most western countries ''because'' their social roots remain strong. For this reason it also retains a very isolationist stance. On the flip side, the post of king is open to KlingonPromotion. On the flip flip side, the ''current'' king happens to be Marvel's nearest analogue to [=DC's=] Franchise/{{Batman}}.
** ''ComicBook/AstonishingXMen'': The Breakworld seen in Joss Whedon's run possesses some very impressive technology, but exists in a constant state of warfare and tyranny. [[BlueAndOrangeMorality Most of the Breakworlders don't think this is a bad thing]], and the one that does [[spoiler:is the true BigBad of the arc and an OmnicidalManiac who wants to blow up her own planet to boot.]]
* DC has the ComicBook/NewGods of New Genesis and Apokolips; they possess super high tech, and depending on how they are portrayed, are a super advanced alien race/or PhysicalGods. Apokolips is styled in Greek[=/=]Roman aesthetics, with slaves being lorded by the New Gods.
* {{Atlantis}} in DC Comics is usually portrayed this way. They have advanced technology and powerful magic, but they culturally haven't moved since they sank, with all the FantasticRacism, xenophobia, institutional sexism, militarism and rigid class structure that implies. They are ruled by an absolute monarchy with power concentrated in the hands of a small number of nobles and organisations, and every time ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} or Mera try to introduce liberal reforms there's usually a quick and harsh backlash.
* In ''ComicBook/SevenSoldiers'', the Sheeda's entire civilization is based around travelling through time and plundering the technology of past civilizations. This has left them with a lot of technology and magic (including a giant time machine, a cauldron that restores life, and various sophisticated means of MindControl), but all they do with such technology is continue plundering other time periods for more.
* ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'':
** Chase's MadScientist parents created a host of advanced technology, but Chase's curiosity about it ended after he figured out that the Fistigons make fire and the Leapfrog has lasers. At one point, he discovers that the Leapfrog included holographic records of his parents' exploits, but never decided to look through them.
** Nico's family has wielded the Staff of One for centuries, giving them access to the kind of power that could scare ''gods'', but Nico's mother used it as if it were just a melee weapon that could channel spells. When Nico meets her ancestor Witchbreaker, the old witch laments that her descendants stopped exploring how to use the staff properly after figuring out how to cast simple offensive spells.

* An issue of ''House of Secrets'' had a group of white men discover a tribe of natives that had been gifted extraterrestrial technology. They had things like hovercraft for travel and a miniature sun to use for cooking.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* ''Literature/KnownSpace'' has the Kzin, tribals bootstrapped by an alien race as mercenaries turned galactic conquerors. Had no idea reaction drives could be used as weapons. Their culture also is heavily influenced by what happens when Bronze Age cultures get genetic engineering and try to engineer their men into Heroes and make their women become less naggy. They make their women effectively non-sentient, and their men into buff warriors with few skills but leaping and yelling.

* ''[[Literature/TheChroniclesOfAmber The Guns Of Avalon]]'': Inverted. The inhabitants of the mythical land understand very well how firearms work and how to build them; the problem is that the intrinsic magic of the land blocks the use of explosive agents, so... no gunpowder. Until the climax, when everything is at stake.
-->"We won because I brought rifles. I finally found an explosive agent that functions here."
* ''Literature/HammersSlammers'': In ''At Any Price'' the generally stone age natives have [[PlasmaCannon powerguns]] purchased from human traders, which actually makes them better armed than the human colonists whose army is equipped with shotguns. But not the [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Slammers]] [[HoverTank of course]].
* ''Literature/JonShannow'': The Hellborn ride horses, practice human sacrifice, wear goats' horns on their helmets... and pack high-quality firearms.
* ''Literature/TheTommyknockers'': The titular aliens (and the people who are transformed into them) create devices that have incredible power, but which they have no philosophical or ethical insight into. As the main protagonist puts it, they're "Thomas Edisons rather than Albert Einsteins".
* ''Literature/JohnCarterOfMars'': Barsoom is littered with artifacts from the more advanced White Martians who once ruled the planet, but most of those ruins have been overrun with Green Martians, who aren't intelligent enough to appreciate anything more complicated than the fact that the radium rifles kill things.
* ''Literature/TheSisterVerseAndTheTalonsOfRuin'' has the Sisters of Ruin, a tribe of misandristic, cannibalistic [[BloodKnight Blood Knights]] with stolen hovercrafts and energy weapons.
* ''Literature/UndefeatedBahamutChronicle'' is a medieval fantasy setting in which knights use suits of MiniMecha known as Drag-Rides. These are salvaged from the ruins of an ancient civilisation that had much more advanced technology. People can repair and maintain Drag-Rides but generally can't improve on them -- Lisha's ability to do so is seen as exceptional.
* ''Literature/MyTeacherIsAnAlien'' has humans seen as this as a result of HumansAdvanceSwiftly. Most species have enough time to culturally mature out of warfare and other social ills ''long'' before they get anywhere near space travel. TheFederation is thus utterly terrified of what will happen when humans discover the technology to leave their home system, and some factions are actively advocating KillAllHumans as an act of immediate self-defense.
* ''Literature/AllTomorrows'' features the Ruin Haunters, a race of ape-like post-humans whose home planet was ravaged by an alien invasion. They discovered the technology of the invaders and rebuilt their own civilization, but never fully understood the great power they controlled.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': The novel ''Ishmael'' by Barbara Hambly posits that the Klingons received a sudden technology boost when they were briefly conquered by alien invaders called the Karsids. Being Klingons, they eventually beat the Karsids and retook their world, gaining all the Karsids' technology and weapons in the process, while still being a warlike and feudal society, and thus became a huge threat to all their neighbors. Hence, they are the universe's best object lesson in the importance of the [[AlienNonInterferenceClause Prime Directive]]. Note that the ''Trek'' novels have never been considered official canon, certainly not in [[TheEighties those days]], and [[CanonDiscontinuity the rest of Trek canon has never supported this idea]]. But it's a nifty notion.

* ''Series/DaveAllenAtLarge'': One sketch shows Allen as a native American chief who a British explorer is negotiating with; he is offered trinkets for various tracts of land. He wants the "stick that goes boom" (a rifle) but is refused. Finally he offers all the land they're trying to acquire for the "stick that goes boom", and the Brit, seeing this as a huge bargain, agrees. Brit gives Chief the rifle. Chief shoots Brit, and then he and his tribe members take the chest full of trinkets.
* ''Series/{{Spellbinder}}'':
** The Land of the Spellbinders is an agrarian/mining society with technology equal to the medieval era. The land is ruled by the Spellbinders, an order of scientists masquerading as sorcerers. Their power comes from technology based largely on electricity and magnetism (such as radios, flying ships and electrical combat suits). The Spellbinders' technology was created so long ago that the current Spellbinders do not even know how their own equipment works, nor can they repair it if it breaks.
** The BigBad Ashka manages to make it to our world and tricks an engineer into re-creating one of those combat suits using late 20th-century tech. The resulting suit looks less like ornate Medieval armor and more like a sleek black body-hugging jumpsuit with gadgets. Not only that, but it's better than the original Spellbinder suits, able to fly. It's also waterproof, since that would be one of the things an engineer would do to a piece of tech, unlike the original suits that could be stopped by a puddle.

* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'': The theocratic Covenant base most of their technology on [[{{Precursors}} Forerunner]] artifacts, and despite their copied tech being vastly inferior to the Forerunner originals, any attempt to even better understand it, much less actually improve it, runs the risk of being seen as blasphemy. It's gotten to the point where their grasp of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell%27s_equations Maxwell's equations]] is actually worse than that of humanity's.
** While operating a captured Covenant ship, Cortana rewrites the firmware to make the ship's [[HomingProjectile slow-moving plasma mortars]] shoot [[WaveMotionGun pinpoint focused ion beams]]. The native shipboard AI is so enraged by her simply fiddling with the settings that it accuses her of blasphemy and notes her changes as one of its chief grievances in a distress signal.
** Even on a social level, many of the Covenant races are somewhat old-fashioned; the Elites live in a feudal society complete with serfdom, the Brutes and Grunts still organize themselves by clans and tribes, and the Jackals have no real governments of their own outside of the Covenant High Council, though it's worth noting that both the Jackals and Elites still managed to independently develop space colonization technologies not only back when humans were still using swords and bows, but ''before'' either of them ever began reverse-engineering Forerunner artifacts. And the only reason the Elites did the last part was because the Prophets were beating them badly with a single Forerunner Dreadnought, making them finally realize that they had to commit sacrilege and study the Forerunner relics in order to improve their tech to match the Prophets'.
* ''VideoGame/MassEffect'':
** Professor Mordin Solus refers to the "uplifting" of the Krogan as "like giving nuclear weapons to cavemen".
** This technically applies to ''all'' races in the setting, since they are purposefully manipulated from trying to explore or understand the technology and principles behind the Citadel and the Mass Relays. Before the Protheans altered the Keepers to prevent them opening the hidden Mass Relay built into the Citadel itself, millions of years worth of Cycles ended with the Reapers showing up and taking control of the Citadel, locking down the Mass Relays and declaring GameOver to the entire galaxy.
** Humanity freely admits that discovering the Prothean archives on Mars jumped their technology level upward by over 200 years. Upon their entry to the galactic scene they were roughly on par with the turians in term of technological development, despite having only having mass effect technology for 11 years at that point, while the turians had possessed it for little over a millennium.

* ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'': The Skedar, who have spaceships and cloning technology but no culture to speak of besides warfare and violence.
* ''Somewhat'' the case involving the Pieces of Eden in ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'', although by the time of ''[[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedRevelations Revelations]]'' (the fourth main game) the Abstergo Industries articles given to Abstergo Industries' secret insiders reveal that they knew a lot more about the Pieces than was let on in the first game.
* ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'': Shown in passing, with Kano supplying modern weaponry to the Tarkata who clearly have no idea how to use them. One nearly blew their own head off by curiously looking down its barrel.
* ''VisualNovel/AnalogueAHateStory'': The people living aboard the GenerationShip Mugunghwa have somehow degraded culturally into something resembling Joseon-era Korea. It's implied that none of them understand the principles of how the ship works, or know anything about astronomy.
* In ''VideoGame/WingsOfDawn'', this is the case for the Nordera. Their spaceship technology is crude and primitive compared to the other species' (it works, but only just), but even that much was given to them by the Hertak. On their own, the Nordera had gotten about as far as discovering large-scale metalwork and explosives.
* ''VideoGame/RiseOfLegends'': The Cuotl is a {{Mayincatec}} empire ruled by SufficientlyAdvancedAliens. Their warriors give off a distinct ''Franchise/{{Stargate|Verse}}'' feel. Their battle dress looks similar to that worn by Jaffa, and they wield energy weapons shaped as staffs.
* ''Franchise/StarCraft'': Downplayed with the [[HigherTechSpecies Protoss]]. They possess a highly advanced civilization with a deep understanding of both technical prowess and psionic abilities. At the same time, however, their culture retains a strong spiritual and tribal framework, as well as [[spoiler:at least until Artanis abolishes it in ''Legacy of the Void'']] a [[FantasticCasteSystem rigid caste system]]. Given that they were [[TouchedByVorlons uplifted by the Xel'Naga]] in their distant past, it's justified.
* ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'': Humanity itself is this; you spend the game furiously reverse-engineering alien tech just enough to know what it does and how to build more of it. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] by humanity being ''at war'', fighting against extinction or enslavement. Your R&D teams seem pretty confident that, given time, they could take the tech all the way apart and learn how it works. For now, though, "here's a new gun, it shoots plasma, we can build it, ASK QUESTIONS LATER" is pretty solid tactics. That being said, XCOM's Chief Engineer Dr. Shen openly states his fears about pretty much this trope coming into action after the war. It's implied in some of the fluff that this is true for at least one enemy race; [[TheBrute Mutons]] apparently have some kind of tattoos or ritual scarification, which combined with their observed behaviour in combat (including some sort of war chant) leads Dr Vahlen to theorise that they're some kind of tribal society forcibly uplifted as {{Mooks}}.
** Later in the game, the BigBad explains that they forcefully uplifted many species in an attempt to forge the ultimate psionic-warrior race, then left them culturally stunted when they all failed the trials. Sequels show that the Mutons developed a CargoCult based on spaceships, while the Andromedons live in enclaves due to their restrictive biology.

* ''Videogame/{{Starbound}}'':
** The Avians received spacefaring technology from a precursor race, and yet still have priest-castes and human... well, avian sacrifices to their god, with atheism being a crime. So, you have {{Mayincatec}} BirdPeople in space.
** Much, much worse are the Florans, a race of tribalistic, [[ManEatingPlant flesh-eating]] PlantAliens who somehow managed to reverse-engineer a crashed apex spaceship and subsequently became a menace to the galaxy, going so far as to drive the [[FishPeople Hylotl]] from their own homeworld. It's only recently that SOME of them are beginning to understand the concept of sentient animal life and the value thereof. Expect the occasional [[StealthPun tasteless]] [[IAmAHumanitarian remark]].

* ''VideoGame/EndlessSpace'': The [[HumanityIsAdvanced Vaulters]] have technology far in advance of all the other factions. In ''Legend'' they possess firearms and electricity; in ''Space'' they possess the portal technology of their Mezari ancestors. However their cultural trapping are pure [[SpaceRomans Space Norse]], their political system is feudal, and depending on player choices they can drop their tendencies towards science and exploration in favour of a militaristic culture. However {{Subverted|Trope}} in that there is no sex discrimination present: women are viewed as equally capable of being warriors and leaders as men.

** Taken to new heights in the ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' add-on ''Honest Hearts." The entire reason the plot is in motion is because the White Legs tribe were given automatic weapons by Ulysses, as well as a huge store of ammunition and the knowledge of how to clean them. The White Legs never developed past a Stone Age level of civilization because they have no knowledge of agriculture, animal husbandry, or the other necessities of civilization. If something they stole or scavenged breaks, they just throw it out. Joining Caesar's Legion is the only way they have forward to survive.

*** Even the Brotherhood of Steel and the Enclave can be argued to fall under the "low culture" part of this trope. The Brotherhood of Steel in [[VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas the West]] has fallen into dogmatism and fundamentalism and makes no attempt to improve their technology, research new ones or actually put it to use, and they mostly focus on military technology to the detriment of more mundane but still incredibly practical ones like agriculture. The only thing they do is hoard technology and wait for "when the time is right" while other factions like the [[TheRepublic NCR]] or the [[ChaoticGood Followers of the Apocalypse]] just move on and in the case of the NCR, manage to actually force the Brotherhood of Steel into hiding. It's gotten so bad that when Elder Lyons of the [[VideoGame/Fallout3 Capital Wasteland]] attempted to actually use their technology and manpower to make a difference in the Wasteland he was branded a traitor and suffered a civil war. The Enclave meanwhile attempts to pursue cruel genocide of the entirety of mainland North America and even the world beyond so that the "Master Race" (read "any human who has not been exposed to mutagens, such as the Enclave or people in Vaults") can reclaim the world.

* ''VideoGame/RimWorld'' plays this both forwards and backwards, as the background concept is that on any given rim world there are distinct cultures that interact with each other but are nonetheless living at very different tech levels. In game terms, your own faction begins at either "tribal" or "colony" (space-faring but stranded) level, which dictates which technologies on the extensive tech tree will be pre-learned. Anybody can use the products of any technology (e.g., scavenged weapons, advanced medicines bought from a trader), but to make something yourself may require research--a lot of research. It works both ways, in that beginning at a higher tech level leaves some more primitive techs locked, and actually puts you at a disadvantage when you try to research them. For example, colonist types have forgotten how to brew beer. This is however {{Averted|Trope}} in the strictest sense that a tribe or futuristic colony can produce art which can enhance the beauty value of a room or be sold for profit. The limiting factor isn't technology but rather that the basic survival needs of your colonists can be sufficiently met, so that you can afford to have a colonist sitting around sculpting rather than all hands desperately scrounging up the day's meal.

* In ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero'', there are caches of weapons from Earth scattered over the continent of Halkeginia, which is a MedievalEuropeanFantasy land. It is the result of a spell that is constantly pulling weapons from Earth for quite some time.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Numenera}}'' is all about this. The game takes place during the ''eigth'' PostPostApocalypse, where everything has regressed to a FeudalFuture but LostTechnology still persists. Many fiefdoms are centered around some ancient artifact that produces massive wealth, but is too complicated to replicate, let alone understand. Warriors, rogues, and wizards fight alongside diplomats, explorers, and combat engineers, and everyone has frequent access to Cyphers, bits of partially working gadgets that each have one charge of their miraculous effects remaining. As such, an adventurer might hack a supercomputer with an omnitool in one round, and then go back to stabbing a horde of dire ferrets in the next.