Vaejume are the oldest Jume {Soul Star} of the cosmos and are born of dark matter. They are an integral part of holding the universe together and maintaining balance and order, functioning with other Jume in mysterious and secretive ways. Very little is known about Vaejume as they are seldom seen crossing the heavens above Sirin, and no solid documentation of their purpose has ever been discovered

What is known of the Vaejume is that they work independently to the others of their kind, and are the basic foundations of life. The loss of even one Vaejume would drastically alter the quadrant of space they were overseeing. This may be the cause of transformation upon Sirin with the rise and fall of the Engels and the subsequent Spehirikin race, though we may never understand the full phenomenon of Vaejume.

The Metsaeris of Liretika have theorised that it was the presence of dark matter given out by these Vaejume that created the Spehirikin race and gifted them with their otherworldly powers. There are documents that are dated back to the beginning of the first era that mentions a Vaejume coming to Sirin during a time when esoteric energies and powers were prevalent, and weird and wonderful creatures emerged from the shadows of ancient forests.

Whilst the way in which Jume communicate with each other, or for what reasons remained unknown, it is clear from the records that the Vaejume’s arrival on Sirin was only several months before one of the Sykajume appeared on Sirin and brought the nightmare with it; three years before two more of the Sykajume also came down from the heavens in a storm of meteors and fire that shattered the north of Khalilja. These cataclysmic events towards the end of the first era tie in with the last definitive recorded information of the Vaejume, and the rapid demise of the Lightning Trees and the Spehirikin across Sirin.

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Much like the Sykajume, Vaejume can also possess a corporeal body and be seen by the unelmuns if they chose. One known form is that of a behemoth wolf, Satakhan, first seen in the North Khalilja in the Rannan Forest, close to the Ancient city of Kata Jinja and the neighbouring town of Tenalue that first appeared as the Great War consumed all of Sirin.

Many speculate it is a direct result of this Vaejume’s interference that vexed the Sykajume and wrought the destruction of Khalilja and the subsequent loss of Kata Jinja and the Engels; though others still believe the Vaejume to have been a guardian of the Rannan Forest and Kata Jinja that would prowl the shadows and keep the unworthy away from the city, and the actions of the Sykajume unrelated to the Vaejume.

Seen most commonly by travellers to the area who would pass through the forest on their way to Kata Jinja, the Vaejume was said to stand as tall as the oldest pine trees and never left the shadows of the forest. The people soon found a different path to Kata Jinja that climbed through the Kharina Mountains as the Vaejume’s howls and growling would reverberate through the trees of Rannan and make the ground tremble. It’s fur and flesh were made of shadow, changing every moment and allowing the Vaejume to vanish into darkness with ease, making any shadow of the Rannan Forest a terrifying and dangerous place.

The clearest description comes from a painting that was sent to Liretika with one of the Bastard Engels that matched up to the other vaguer sightings of the time. The Vaejume of the first era stood as tall as the oldest pine trees with a magnificent coat of silver and pewter fur. Black crystalline horns grew from behind its ears to form a jagged crown and grew down its spine; its eyes were a burning gold colour. Around its neck, it had a chain of silver colour that cut into the Vaejume’s flesh and glowed like moonlight. Notes included with that painting mention that is was a type of celestial chain, made of starlight woven with silver that burnt the flesh of anyone who tried to touch it and was unbreakable.

The young Bastard Engel that brought the painting to Liretika talked of the Vaejume’s love of the youngest Aesan that had somehow charmed the great wolf and tamed its heart over many years. Whilst studying in Liretika, he received a letter that mentioned how Satakhan had changed form to that of a considerably less imposing wolf and lived in the palace with the young Aesan and never left her. The letter continued to describe the nature of the Vaejume and the lessons it taught of the Sykajume and other arcane secrets.

When the Annihilation of Kata Jinja came, all sightings of the Vaejume ceased and it is believed Satakhan too perished along with the Engels.

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After the Great War, peace returned to Sirin and the animosity of the races dissipated as the presence of Spehirikin lessened and were almost extinct by the middle of the second era. The apocryphal offspring of Lilin and Tseva that had wandered Sirin since the Dawn of Life faded away and all evidence of the esoteric workings of the Jume became fable as unelmuns slowly forgot the truth of the past.

There are plentiful recordings of the Vaejume all across Sirin, never seeming to reside in one place longer than twenty years. In all of these, the Vaejume’s form is considerably diminished being less than half the original size and similar to the secondary description of Satakhan, and smaller and less fanciful with each new sighting.

The presence of the Vaejume’s horns was gone and the flesh was described as more stable and wolflike with each sighting, and the chain described merely as old and tarnished silver. It is also often described as being ‘faded’, as though the Vaejume was not entirely physical in form. This led to many of the reports of that time to be put down as fantasy created by travellers and no more than a fanciful imagination over a distant wolf.

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The most abundant of sightings came towards the end of the second era when it is also documented that an Engel had been reborn into the world. Shortly before this time, the Spehirikin had also returned to the world, and with them, the old abhorations and hostility, and the Nightmare; the youngest Sykajume that seemed intent on destroying the coexistence of unelmuns and Spehirikin, and Sirin with them.

Both the Engel and the Vaejume were seen travelling together through Khalilja during the time of great division between unelmuns and Spehirikin, though now it’s only discernible feature was its colossal size, standing only just taller than the blue roan water horses of the northern hemisphere.

In comparison to the first documentation of the Vaejume, the beast had no animosity with unelmuns unless he perceived them to be a threat to the Engel he followed. It is also highly documented that the Vaejume at this point could change form into that of unelmun, an event witnessed by few people and described as unsettling to watch. This Vaejume went by the name of Vaenel, an old word for ‘shadow wolf’ and as with many of the mysteries of the Vaejume, it is unclear whether Vaenel and Satakhan are the same Vaejume.

Out of all the recordings of the Vaejume, this was the most documented, and the shortest period of his known existence. Merely a year after the resurgence of his corporeal form, much of Khalilja had been ravaged by the Sykajume known as Raketselka and an immense storm spread out from the depths of the Oraman desert where all three met their demise. What happened within the Adhar Chott is another mystery, though one of the companions of the Vaejume and the Engel appeared in Liretika with a curious artefact – a jagged black crystalline star of celestial matter with ethereal veins tracing throughout the darkness which he called Katzatagyr Saeren.

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The intangible star marked the end of the second era, and with it, the entirety of all Spehirikin as the lightning trees of Sirin vanished entirely with the race. Throughout the third era, not a single sighting – reliable or fanciful – has been mentioned, and even the Katzatagyr Saeren is beginning to fade.

Original article: Vaejume and The Rise and Fall of Spehirikin.