Ioun

Ioun, the Knowing Mistress, also known as the Knowing Mentor, is the goddess of knowledge, prophecy, and skill. She opposes Vecna, who deals in dark secrets and hidden knowledge. As an NPC, Ioun is played by Matthew Mercer.

Appearance
Ioun appears as an older woman with long, wavy silver hair. Her skin is weathered and wrinkled around her almond shaped eyes with purple irises. She wears blue and white robes that tumble out from her form in tendrils of parchment.

Ioun has a large, darkened gash of black, curling void in her stomach.

Personality
In the Campaign One scenes where she is encountered by Vox Machina, Ioun comes across as a rather kindly, and even rather tolerant deity. The one thing she is intolerant of (or perhaps impatient with) is the keeping of secrets and the hiding of knowledge. This is the reason given as to why she chose Scanlan as her champion rather than Percy, who to many seemed a more obvious choice. This is a bit ironic considering her own secretiveness about her presence and location, though such caution's necessity was made evident by her unhealed wound.

Symbols
Ioun is frequently represented in religious iconography by either a triple eye symbol (such as the one shown at the top of the page or to the immediate right) or a unique eye-and-staff symbol, as shown center right.

Tal'Dorei
Beneath Whitestone lies an ancient underground ziggurat that was a temple to Ioun. More than 800 years ago during the Calamity, Ioun baited the rampaging Tharizdun to her central temple there, but Tharizdun badly wounded her and nearly destroyed her, causing her temple to sink underground in her sorrow. After Pelor then defeated Tharizdun in a climactic battle that transformed the nearby region in its violence, and after chasing and banishing Tharizdun elsewhere, Pelor returned to the site of Ioun's wounding and blessed the land with his own Sun Tree directly over the site of her sunken temple. The land has been under his protection ever since.

Issylra
The space underneath the guild hall of the Slayer's Take in Vasselheim holds another ziggurat, where Vanessa Cyndrial brings Vox Machina for their induction into the Take. The gynosphinx Osysa also resides within the walls of the temple.

Marquet
Scanlan Shorthalt and Lionel Gayheart discovered a ziggurat on the continent of Marquet, within the Smouldercrown Mountains. Here Delilah conducted a second, or possibly third, ritual for Vecna before Vox Machina could interfere.

Wildemount
The Knowing Mistress is one of the deities approved for worship within the Dwendalian Empire.

Archives of The Cobalt Soul
Worshipped in Ziggurat temples in the old days, Ioun finds her current worshippers gathering not in conventional temples, but rather in libraries dedicated to furthering her goals of fostering knowledge and enlightenment. The general policy of The Cobalt Soul branches is to be open to the public under supervision, though they have off-limits areas requiring special approval for access. After signing in, a monk is assigned as a watchful escort. Within the public areas, attendees can read and take notes on the materials within, though removing items from the library is strictly forbidden.The following archive locations are currently known in the campaign world:

The Cobalt Reserve
the Cobalt Reserve is a well-fortified library in Westruun. From its exterior, it is a grand dome of blue, polished stone, and within, its collection of knowledge is so great enough to draw individuals from far and wide to study here.

The Cobalt Vault
The Cobalt Vault is the order’s headquarters on the continent of Issylra. The Curator of the Vasselheim branch, at the time of the events of Campaign Two, had dual leadership of the Cobalt Soul with the High Curator of Rexxentrum.

The Valley Archive of the Cobalt Soul
This library is located on the western side of the Pentamarket in the Interstead Sprawl of Zadash, Like all archives, it is filled with tomes and writings

Rexxentrum Archive of the Cobalt Soul
One of the two headquarters of the Cobalt Soul, the other being in Vasselheim, this library is easily larger than the Zadash archive by fifty-percent or more. There are multiple floors, with at least four full fifteen-foot high tiers visible from the interior, with many little pocket chambers. Walkways connect the tiers. In the basement are teleportation circles to Vasselheim, Westruun, Port Damali, and Zadash. The exterior is a beautiful cerulean building marked by four short multi-level domed towers of polished blue stone in the Tangles, a neighborhood in Rexxentrum.

Other Archives of the Cobalt Soul in Wildemount
As of yet we only have had a view of the teleportation room of the archive in Port Damali, which does not have transportation to Vasselheim, unlike both Rexxentrum and Zadash.

From the Rexxentrum Archive of the Cobalt Soul

 * High Curator Yudala Fon - Has dual leadership of the Cobalt Soul with the Curator of the Cobalt Vault of Vasselheim.
 * Archivist Kathedoc - Handles the teleportation room.

From the Valley Archive of the Cobalt Soul

 * Expositor Beauregard Lionett (Currently traveling with the Mighty Nein.)
 * Expositor Dairon
 * Archivist Delan
 * Archivist Demid Sunlash (Was studying Exandria's moons in Uthodurn when the Mighty Nein first passed through, but he has left.)
 * Archivist Galesh
 * Archivist Jennah
 * Archivist Madeer
 * Tubo
 * Archivist Zeenoth

From the Cobalt Vault

 * Kusuo
 * Sura
 * Wailen

From the Cobalt Reserve

 * Quian

From the Slayer's Take

 * Osysa: she and her followers at the Take pay homage to Ioun, and in return the Knowing Mistress extends Osysa's vision in order to assist them.
 * Vanessa Cyndrial
 * Murtin Cyndrial

Others

 * Brom Goldhand: Master of Law on the Tal'Dorei Council and a cleric of Ioun.
 * Scanlan Shorthalt: Champion of Ioun
 * Sprigg: Steward of Ioun


 * Kamaljiori: A Sphinx dwelling in the Frostweald. It's implied he is a follower of Ioun, because of the way that Vox Machina found him by activating an obelisk to her with an Ioun Stone.

Background
Ioun was one of the gods who fought against the Chained Oblivion during the Calamity, around 800 years ago. She was badly wounded by the traitor god in that battle and has been recovering, in hiding, ever since.

Quotations

 * "Scanlan Shorthalt, you... are a buffoon." (To Scanlan, before offering her trial to him.)