Vaul

This article is a stub

Vaul was the Smith God that existed within the pantheon of the Eldar race. Brother of the Phoenix King Asuryan.⁶

History

The Legend

This deity was accalimed to be a craftsman without peer and it was said that he was without morality with his singular purpose being beauty rather than truth.^5-p150 After the Phoenix King Asuryan banished the Eldar from the Heavenly Realms to the Mortal Lands, both Kurnous and Isha came to their uncle Vaul as they were both dismayed for being separated from their children. Thus, they asked Vaul to aid them in finding a means to regain contact with their offspring and, according to legend, the smith god took the tears of Isha which he fashioned the first Spirit stones. Through such a means, the Eldar were able to communicate with their gods despite being separated from one another and though Asuryan had banished them - Vaul gave one of the spirit stones to Isha whilst the rest were given to her children so that they could speak to one another in secret. Through these secret exchanges, the Eldar learnt how to use runes and create skeletal structures from Wraithbone.^1-p36

However, Kaela Mensha Khaine one day overheard Isha talking through the stone to the Eldar and informed Asuryan himself who was enraged that his command was broken. To punish the perpetrators, he had Kurnous and Isha given over to Khaine to do with as he pleased. But Vaul could not see any harm done to them and thus struck a bargain with the War God who agreed to release the pair in exchange for a thousand enchanted blades within a years time. The smith god worked long and hard where he managed to forge all the blades except 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 whereupon the three departed. Khaine was quick to discover the subterfurge and cried out in rage where he called the smith god a cheat whilst vowing revenge.^1-p36

The aftermath of this event is explained in the Dream of Asuryan where Vaul returned in order to reforge the unfinished blade that was intended for Khaine.^1-p38 In the last days of the War in Heaven, the weapon was reworked into a blade which he named Anaris.^4-p43 With it by his hand, he moved to fight with the War God in a series of battle after being caught by him.^1-p38 Vaul used Anaris to fight against Khaine in a long and hard battle where he managed to wound his foe but despite his injuries, the War God's fury managed to overpower the Smith God who was toppled from the heavens. It is said that it is the result of this fall that crippled Vaul and his final defeat came when Khaine chained him to his own anvil thus leading to the War God's victory in the War in Heaven.^4-p43 The crippled Vaul's sword was later taken by Khaine who used it to slay Eldanesh.^1-p38

Further Events

During the War in Heaven, powerful weapons known as the Talismans of Vaul were crafted by the Eldar which were to be used to destroy the C'tan if they emerged again.^3-p31 Following the emergence of Slaanesh, the majority of the Eldar deities died and were absorbed by this new Chaos God with only Khaine and Cegorach being the only known survivors.^2-p15 Despite this being the case, the wraithsmiths of Craftworld Kaelor held Vaul as their most potent patron with Gwrih the Radiant building many monuments to honour his name.^5-p150

An Eldar artefact called The Awakening was discovered by the Imperium of Mankind on 2343724.M41 at Rahe's Paradise and was studied by Sister Superior Meritia of the Order Dialogus which concerned the ancient Necrontyr. According to it, "the Vaul-Moon shall bring forth the Dragon" and the Sister's annotations led her to determine that Vaul was the Eldar God of the Forge who was a blasphemous deity that was crippled both physically and spiritually. Her analysis led her to conclude that a "Vaul-Moon" was the Eldar equivalent of a Forge World.^3-p5

Recently, many of the feared Talismans of Vaul had been destroyed by the machinations of the Deceiver.^3-p5

Sources

• ¹:Warhammer 40,000: Compilation, pg. 36-38
• ²:Codex: Eldar (2nd Edition), pg. 8, 15
• ³:Codex: Necrons (3rd Edition), pg. 5, 31
• ⁴:Codex: Eldar (4th Edition), pg 43
• ⁵:Eldar Prophecy (Novel), pg. 150
• ⁶: http://web.archive.org/web/20050410234311/uk.games-workshop.com/necrons/eldar-mythology/3/