The Coming Race · Chapter
Chapter XVIII explained
The narrator walks through the countryside with Taë, observing the Vril-ya's advanced agricultural machinery and automaton figures.
What happens
The narrator walks through the countryside with Taë, observing the Vril-ya's advanced agricultural machinery and automaton figures. Taë explains the structure of Vril-ya communities, their emigration practices, and their disdain for Koom-Posh and Glek-Nas political systems. The narrator reveals he is from a Koom-Posh, which Taë dismisses as a youthful state destined to decay. Later, Taë uses the narrator as a decoy to lure a giant Krek from a lake, then destroys it with a vril-powered flash, demonstrating the ease with which the Vril-ya eliminate threats.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Rising action.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
In this excerpt, the emotional and psychological peak occurs when the narrator realizes that Zee’s protective…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Utopian Society and Its Costs
Taë describes the Vril-ya's ideal of small, self-sufficient communities that maximize happiness and intellectual achievement, contrasting with the narrator's Koom-Posh, which Taë sees as doomed to decay.
- Technology and Power
The chapter showcases Vril-ya machinery and automaton figures, and culminates in Taë's effortless destruction of the Krek using vril, illustrating the immense power of their technology.
- Critique of Democracy and American Politics
Taë's critique of Koom-Posh (democracy) and Glek-Nas (mob rule) as unstable, idiotic systems that inevitably collapse, reflecting a satirical view of democratic governance.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator
Walks with Taë, learns about Vril-ya emigration and politics, is used as a decoy for the Krek, and witnesses its destruction.
- Taë
Guides the narrator through the fields, explains Vril-ya community structures and emigration, criticizes Koom-Posh and Glek-Nas, and uses vril to destroy a Krek.
- Zee
Mentioned by Taë as knowledgeable about differences among Vril-ya communities.
- Krek
A giant reptile that emerges from a lake to attack the narrator, but is instantly incinerated by Taë's vril weapon.
- Koom-Posh
Referenced as a political system; the narrator identifies as a citizen of a Koom-Posh, which Taë criticizes as a fleeting stage before Glek-Nas.
Key passages
“You mistake. All the tribes of the Vril-ya are in constant communication with each other, and settle amongst themselves each year what proportion of one community will unite with the emigrants of another, so as to form a state of sufficient size; and the place for emigration is agreed upon at least a year before, and pioneers sent from each state to level rocks, and embank waters, and construct houses; so that when the emigrants at last go, they find a city already made, and a country around it at least partially cleared.”
Taë explains that Vril-ya communities coordinate annually to combine emigrants from multiple tribes, sending pioneers ahead to prepare a city and cleared land before the main group arrives.
Describes the organized emigration process of the Vril-ya.
“In much less than another one hundred years your Koom-Posh will be a Glek-Nas.”
Taë predicts that the narrator's democratic state will soon degenerate into a chaotic mob rule.
Taë's cynical view of political evolution from democracy to anarchy.
“You see with what ease the Vril-ya destroy their enemies.”
Taë demonstrates the effortless power of vril by incinerating the Krek, showing the Vril-ya's dominance over threats.
Illustrates the theme of technology and power.
