CHAPTER XXVI. -The coming Race

After his conversation with Zee, the narrator expresses profound melancholy. He begins to view the marvelous community of the Vril-ya with dread, realizing that despite their kindness, they could easily destroy him. His once-curious interest in their unique way of life transforms into a longing for the familiar world above, complete with its imperfections and challenges. He reflects on how the Vril-ya’s society realizes many utopian ideas philosophers dream of, with no war, true equality, and a world where the problems of the working class are solved through advanced technology and communal living.

Their society is marked by harmony, free from the corruption of democracies and the discontent of monarchies, achieving an ideal state envisioned by many but realized by none above ground. Their technological marvels extend even to abolishing a separate working class, with machines operated in a way that eludes the narrator’s understanding. Vices and diseases are virtually non-existent, as the Vril-ya live in a state of lasting health and moral integrity, with average lifespans far beyond what is imaginable to the surface world’s denizens.

The roles and rights of women stand out significantly in Vril-ya society. Women are physically stronger and possess a more potent will, which gives them superiority in utilizing the enigmatic power of Vril. This inversion of gender norms extends to intellectual pursuits and the right to choose a spouse, challenges conventional views from the narrator’s world. Despite the potential for tyranny this could introduce, the narrator observes that in marriage, Vril-ya women become supportive and tender partners.

Central to the peace and cohesion of the Vril-ya is their unified belief in a benevolent deity and an afterlife, which dissuades petty squabbles over theological nuances. Such beliefs underpin a society devoid of the religious strife that plagues the surface world. The narrator concludes that despite the enviable state of the Vril-ya, transplanting individuals from the upper world into this society would likely lead to dissatisfaction due to entrenched desires for individual achievement and the dynamics of competition.

Lastly, the narrator muses on the potential for catastrophic conflict should the Vril-ya decide to ascend to the surface, due to their disdain for upper world governance and superior abilities. Any notion of coexistence through intermarriage or gradual integration is dismissed as overly optimistic, likening the likelihood of peaceful assimilation to the historical interactions between European colonists and indigenous populations. He grimly predicts that the Vril-ya’s emergence would swiftly lead to the domination or extermination of existing human societies.