# Chapter XVIII explained — The Coming Race > Chapter companion for The Coming Race by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. ## 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. ## Themes 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. ## Character check-ins ### 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 lines > 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._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_coming_race_se/chapters/xviii - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_coming_race_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_coming_race_se/chapters