Alignment: Unaligned
Ioun is the Goddess of knowledge, skill, and prophecy. Sages, seers, and tacticians revere her, as do all who live by their knowledge and mental power. Corellon is the patron of arcane magic, but Ioun is the patron of its study. Libraries and wizard academies are built in her name. Her commands are also teachings:
- Seek the perfection of your mind by bringing reason, perception, and emotion into balance with one another.
- Accumulate, preserve, and distribute knowledge in all forms. Pursue education, build libraries, and seek out lost and ancient lore.
- Be watchful at all times for the followers of Vecna, who seek to control knowledge and keep secrets. Oppose their schemes, unmask their secrets, and blind them with the light of truth and reason.
Ioun is worshipped in the Temple of the Mind of Zerthadlun. She is said to be the second most popular deity among metallic dragons.
Swan Tower[]
Swan Tower, also known as Kerith-Ald, is a glorious arc containing sages that attempt to learn, discover and catalog every piece of knowledge in the universe. Those devoted to Ioun pray to fill a position within this tower, or even potentially be recognized as a Pillar of Ioun. It is not given a specific position in a "points of light" campaign, being treated as a fantasy tale told to children. [Dr397:Channel Divinity: Ioun]
The scribes in this tower work to ensure that this knowledge is not lost, and encode each work with a distinct series of musical tones to track down specific topics. The seers use their divination talents to unlock specific mysteries either to provide to the sages for recording, or to heroes to handle urgent or dire situations. The sages work tirelessly to uncover the secrets of reality, sometimes specializing in one field, but are sufficiently theoretical that they may attract skeptics or detractors.
Notable sages within the tower become a Pillar of Ioun. To date, seven sages have received this honor.
See also[]
Trivia[]
Ioun's name originates from the ioun stone, a popular Dungeons & Dragons magic item first introduced in The Strategic Review #4 (Winter 1975). In turn, the ioun stone originally appeared in Jack Vance's short story Morreion, published in the fantasy anthology Flashing Swords! #1 (1973) and later collected in Vance's anthology Rhialto the Marvellous (1984).
According to the editorial to Dragon Magazine #405, writer Christopher Perkins made the decision to take the name Ioun for D&D 4th edition's new god of knowledge. Perkins is also credited with inventing the name Feywild.