Vaul

Vaul is the Aeldari God of Smiths and all craftsmen as well as the brother of the Phoenix King Asuryan, the ruler of the Aeldari pantheon in Aeldari Mythology. Vaul is the patron god of all artisans and is worshipped by a small sect of the Aeldari's primary psychic craftsmen, the Bonesingers. Vaul was the architect and primary engineer of Asuryan's palace during the First Age of the Aeldari.

Before Asuryan created the barrier between the world of the gods and of mortals that split the universe between the physical realm and the Immaterium, he was depicted as a busy man, always creating swords for the Aeldari War God Khaine, creating or repairing the Needles of Fate for the Crone Goddess Morai-Heg, maintaining the hunting equipment of Kurnous, and performing all the other acts of divine craftsmanship required by the Aeldari gods. He often created musical instruments to accompany the luring dream songs of Lileath or the life-preserving songs of Isha.

During the Fall of the Aeldari, Eldrad Ulthran believed that if Vaul had been set free from his imprisonment, he could have marshaled the defences of the Aeldari gods, because of his skills in craft and engineering, and the gods would never have fallen to the hunger of the newborn Prince of Chaos, Slaanesh.

War in Heaven[]

It was Isha who had inspired the creation of Asuryan's barrier between mortals and their gods, as she had wept over the destruction that Khaine, as the God of War and Murder, was causing amongst her children. It is also said that the first Spirit Stones were crafted from her tears so that the gods and mortals would be able to communicate with each other once more through the barrier erected between the Immaterium and the Materium. One of these stones was given to Isha and the rest were handed over to the Aeldari so that their prayers might be heard.

When Asuryan learned that his directive that the gods were to have no further contact with mortals had been violated, he gave Isha and her husband, Kurnous, to Khaine to do with as he wished. Khaine tortured the two of them in a burning pit until Vaul, the Aeldari God of Crafting who was Isha and Kurnous' uncle and was moved by their plight, struck a bargain with the War God to craft 100 enchanted swords, the Blades of Vaul, for him in one's year's time. In exchange, Khaine promised to release his fellow gods from their prison in his realm.

The Smith God worked long and hard at this task and managed to forge all of the blades by the deadline except for the last one, which lay unfinished on his anvil. In order to trick Khaine, Vaul substituted the last blade with a mortal one which he delivered to the War God, who released his two captives. The three gods quickly departed. But Khaine was quick to discover the subterfuge and cried out in rage. He called the Smith God a cheat and vowed revenge.

He immediately set off to track Vaul down and make him pay. The conflict that followed, known as the War in Heaven, polarised the gods, as Khaine's faction and Vaul's faction engaged in bloody warfare for an eternity. Gods changed sides, great deeds of heroism and of terrible evil were performed by both factions, and the war was mirrored in an internecine struggle between the Aeldari in the mortal realm. Asuryan himself never took a side, watching the carnage impassively, slowly coming to regret his impetuosity in sentencing Isha and Kurnous to Khaine's tender mercies.

Vaul reforged the final sword, the one that he had failed to finish for Khaine, the greatest of all, and called it Anaris. Armed with this weapon, Vaul strode forth to do battle with Khaine. It was a long, hard-fought struggle, but even with Anaris, Vaul was no match for the War God. Khaine cast down Vaul, maiming the smith, and bound Vaul to his own anvil.

However, the falcon, Faolchú, consort of the Great Hawk, who had fought for Vaul, took the sword Anaris and delivered it to Eldanesh, the greatest warrior and leader of the mortal Aeldari. With Anaris in hand, Eldanesh of the Red Moon took up the fight and faced Khaine in single combat.

Eldanesh fought well, but in the end, he too was defeated by Khaine, his body crushed by the God of War. As Khaine slew Eldanesh, his hands began to drip with red blood. Forever after he was to become known as Khaela Mensha Khaine, which means "Khaine the Bloody-Handed" in the Aeldari Lexicon. By this time, Asuryan, the greatest of the Aeldari gods, had seen enough of the slaughter and proclaimed the War in Heaven over. Khaine had gained his vengeance and left the field satisfied.

Vaul-Moon[]

An Aeldari artefact called The Awakening was discovered by the forces of the Imperium of Man on 2343.724.M41 on the world of Rahe's Paradise. It was studied by Sister Superior Meritia of the Orders Dialogous and is known to have concerned the ancient Necrontyr.

According to the translated inscription on the artefact, "the Vaul-Moon shall bring forth the Dragon" and the Sister's annotations led her to determine that Vaul was the Aeldari God of the Forge who was a blasphemous deity who was crippled both physically and spiritually. Her analysis led her to conclude that a "Vaul-Moon" was the Aeldari equivalent of an Adeptus Mechanicus Forge World.

Talismans of Vaul[]

The massive black star fortresses created by the Old Ones over sixty-five million standard years ago during their ancient conflict with the C'tan and the Necrons (which was the true War in Heaven only dimly remembered in Aeldari Mythology) are known as the "Talismans of Vaul" to the Aeldari, while the Imperium knows them as the Blackstone Fortresses.

When the fortresses' power is combined it is possible for them to cause a star to go supernova. This capability was originally intended to destroy the C'tan, who were sentient creatures of pure energy whose natural habitat was the core of stars.

Sources[]

Warhammer 40,000: Compilation (1st Edition), pp. 36, 38
Codex: Eldar (2nd Edition), pp. 8, 15
Codex: Eldar (4th Edition), pg. 43
Codex: Necrons (3rd Edition), pp. 5, 31
Eldar Prophecy (Novel) by C.S. Goto, pg. 150