# The Kosekin — A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder character guide

> The Kosekin in A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder by James De Mille.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Kosekin, armed Kosekin, Kosekin Howard, O Kosekin

**First appearance:** 0003-iv-the-sight-of-human-beings

## Snapshot

A subterranean people who worship darkness, poverty, and death, greeting strangers with honors no sane visitor would ever want.

## Who they are

The Kosekin rule an Antarctic world where every value is inverted: paupers hold power, light is shameful, and dying young is the highest ambition. Their Council of State weighs whether to sacrifice the narrator or grant him the 'blessing' of exile, and their logic turns his every escape attempt into evidence of virtue. Their topsy-turvy morality is the engine of the novel's middle act, forcing the narrator to survive by seeming to crave his own destruction.

## In the story

### [IV: The Sight of Human Beings](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_strange_manuscript_found_in_a_copper_cylinder_se/chapters/iv-the-sight-of-human-beings)

Depicted as small, shriveled, black, hideous beings with long spears, who pursue the boat and later kill Agnew.

### [VI: The New World](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_strange_manuscript_found_in_a_copper_cylinder_se/chapters/vi-the-new-world)

The inhabitants of this land, described as small, slender, gentle, with half-closed eyes, who rescue the narrator and show him hospitality.

### [VIII: The Cave-Dwellers](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_strange_manuscript_found_in_a_copper_cylinder_se/chapters/viii-the-cave-dwellers)

The cave-dwelling people who lead the narrator through dark passages and seem to have weak eyes in sunlight but see well in darkness.

### [X: The Sacred Hunt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_strange_manuscript_found_in_a_copper_cylinder_se/chapters/x-the-sacred-hunt)

Display blind courage in the hunt, willingly sacrifice themselves, and perform mercy killings as a sacred act.

### [XI: The Swamp Monster](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_strange_manuscript_found_in_a_copper_cylinder_se/chapters/xi-the-swamp-monster)

The hunting party suffers heavy losses; the wounded are likely killed, reflecting their death-loving culture.

### [XII: The Baleful Sacrifice](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_strange_manuscript_found_in_a_copper_cylinder_se/chapters/xii-the-baleful-sacrifice)

The crowd participates in the chant and shouts during the sacrifice.

### [XIII: The Awful Mista Kosek](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_strange_manuscript_found_in_a_copper_cylinder_se/chapters/xiii-the-awful-mista-kosek)

Busy decorating the cavern for the Mista Kosek; exhibit friendly rivalry in helping one another; described as kindhearted yet bloodthirsty.

### [XIV: I Learn My Doom](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_strange_manuscript_found_in_a_copper_cylinder_se/chapters/xiv-i-learn-my-doom)

The community is profoundly agitated by Almah's illness; they regard sickness as a blessing yet show intense interest.

### [XVI: The Kosekin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_strange_manuscript_found_in_a_copper_cylinder_se/chapters/xvi-the-kosekin)

The Kosekin are the focus of the chapter, described in detail as a people who love darkness and death, with a completely inverted social hierarchy.

### [XVIII: A Voyage Over the Pole](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_strange_manuscript_found_in_a_copper_cylinder_se/chapters/xviii-a-voyage-over-the-pole)

The rowers and officers of the galley; they sing triumphantly during the storm, welcoming death, and later show gloom when the storm passes.

### [XIX: The Wonders of the Amir](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_strange_manuscript_found_in_a_copper_cylinder_se/chapters/xix-the-wonders-of-the-amir)

The Kosekin people are described as self-sacrificing and averse to light; the narrator finds their values alien and hopes to find selfish individuals among them.

### [XXIII: The Island of Fire](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_strange_manuscript_found_in_a_copper_cylinder_se/chapters/xxiii-the-island-of-fire)

Referenced as the people from whom they fled and to whom the athaleb might return.

### [XXIX: The Ceremony of Separation](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_strange_manuscript_found_in_a_copper_cylinder_se/chapters/xxix-the-ceremony-of-separation)

The ruling class of paupers who form the secret tribunal; they celebrate the ceremony of separation as a blessing.

### [XXX: The Day of Sacrifice](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_strange_manuscript_found_in_a_copper_cylinder_se/chapters/xxx-the-day-of-sacrifice)

The Kosekin crowd fills the terrace, initially hostile but later prostrates and worships the narrator.

### [XXXI: Conclusion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_strange_manuscript_found_in_a_copper_cylinder_se/chapters/xxxi-conclusion)

React with wild excitement to Almah's promises; they are distressed by sunlight.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_strange_manuscript_found_in_a_copper_cylinder_se/characters/the_kosekin
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_strange_manuscript_found_in_a_copper_cylinder_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_strange_manuscript_found_in_a_copper_cylinder_se/characters