Ioun

Ioun
Prime Deity
Official art of Ioun the Knowing Mentor, by Wesley Griffith from "Exandria: An Intimate History" (Mx12) at 4:22.
Symbols of Ioun.
Deity information
Other names	The Knowing Mistress The Knowing Mentor The Broken Goddess (by Sprigg)
Pronouns	she/her
Province	Knowledge, Learning, Teaching
Symbol	Pair of open eyes crowned with a third open eye
Alignment	Neutral
Realm	Endless Athenaeum
Worship
Worshipers	Cobalt Soul Slayer's Take
Holy day	None
Major temples	Ziggurats Cobalt Soul archives
Cleric domains	Arcana Knowledge Twilight
Appearances First seen "The Fear of Isolation" (1x105) Last seen "Downfall: Part Three" (3x101) Stream Campaign 1 (2 episodes) Downfall (1 episode)

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 in Campaign 1, Ioun is played by Matthew Mercer and in Downfall by Brennan Lee Mulligan.

Description

Appearance

Ioun's avatar appears as an older woman with long, wavy silver hair. Her olive 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.

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

Personality

When Ioun encountered Vox Machina, she came across as a rather kindly, and even relatively tolerant deity. Ioun showed empathy for everything that came up in the conversation except the act of keeping secrets and hiding knowledge. Additionally, Ioun displayed caution still remembering her past wounds.

Biography

Age of Arcanum

It was under Ioun's guidance that civilization flourished and spread in the Age of Arcanum.

Around a hundred years after the start of the Calamity, the gods agreed to a brief truce to collectively destroy the Factorum Malleus, the weapon developed by the mages of Aeor to kill the gods. Around 30 years before the gods' strike on the city, the Knowing Mistress created an avatar of Arcadia Cerenvetorix as their initial scout. However, the Knowing Mistress was betrayed by the Lord of the Hells just before the gods' attack on the Factotum Malleus, captured her into a talisman, taking over as Arcadia, and placing an illusion instead of himself. He then gave it to Acastriel, who in turn negotiated with Aeorian mages and held over the talisman to Primarch Selena Erenves who wanted the trapped god to test the Factotum Malleus. After the Prime Deities defeated the mages and exploded the Aeorian weapon, they freed the Knowing Mistress who immediately assumed her godly form.

Official art of Ioun battling Tharizdun, by Wesley Griffith from "Exandria: An Intimate History" (Mx12) at 4:22.

The Knowing Mistress led the charge against Tharizdun, the Chained Oblivion, during the Calamity. She devised the Prime Trammels that could be used to help banish a god from the Material Plane. She baited the Oblivion to her central temple where Whitestone now stands. She was badly wounded by the traitor god in that battle and has been recovering, in hiding, ever since. Some believe she cannot be completely healed until Tharizdun was destroyed.

Campaign 1: Vox Machina

Pelor told Vox Machina that Ioun had the design for the artifact necessary to banish Vecna, and gave them directions to the the Pools of Wittebak, where they could find the key into her realm.

Pelor's directions led Vox Machina to Sprigg's home. Sprigg turned out to be the unwitting mortal "key" into Ioun's realm. Vox Machina convinced Sprigg let them enter the Endless Athenaeum library, and while Vox Machina was walking to Ioun, Percy scanned the bypassed books written in Celestial language, thinking that the existence of such a complete record to be life-affirming; it meant no one was forgotten. Scanlan, with the assistance of his Ioun Stone, led the party directly to the common area where Ioun's avatar awaited.

Ioun found, of the people present, only the prolific storyteller Scanlan worthy of a trial to be her champion; Percy was too fond of keeping secrets. She challenged Scanlan to find the Tome of Isolation within her vast library and return it to her within one hour, or else find someone else ready to take the challenge. Scanlan found that continuously singing about the Tome he sought, especially with the aid of Mythcarver, attracted the spectral servants to assist him, and on the back of Vex's broom he raced to the appropriate bookshelf. Vex had to pick a virtually impossible lock to get into the case, then they raced back to the common area, just in time. Along the way, Scanlan learned that casting a sufficiently powerful spell into the Tome would reveal the book's text.

Ioun returned the tome to Scanlan for completing the trial, explaining that the ways they could defeat Vecna were inscribed within this tome, and granted him the Blessing of the Knowing Mistress. She granted the design for Prime Trammels to the party's tinkerer Percy, and imbued the mighty Grog with the proficiency with blacksmithing tools. Together, they were equipped to forge the implements to make banishing Vecna feasible. When Vax asked, Ioun told them the story of Vecna—the lich lord's rise and fall in the Age of Arcanum, and noted that the Sword of Kas, though an evil weapon, could be a powerful tool to help take down Vecna, and was lost in Thar Amphala.

Ioun, finishing the story, sensed that Vecna had just completed the Ritual of Seeding to ascend to godhood, and she urged Vox Machina to hurry before Vecna could fully come into his power through a "miracle of terror" that would attract worshipers. She painfully extracted from herself a fragment of divinity for use in creating another Prime Trammel, and gave it to Scanlan. Finally, she asked Sprigg to stay in her realm and help her tend to her books, and Vox Machina plane shift away through the Divine Gate back to Sprigg's house.

Worship

Commandments of the Knowing Mentor

• Unmask those who would destroy the Knowing Mentor. Learn their secrets and unveil them to the world.
• Uphold and teach the importance of reason, perception, and truth in guiding one's emotions and path.
• Condemn those who lie without moral cause, for evil folk gain power when their followers obscure the truth. Never stoop to the level of selfish liars.

— from the Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn

Symbols

Ioun is frequently represented in religious iconography by either a triple eye symbol or a unique eye-and-staff symbol.

Places of worship

Though Ioun's followers generally worship in private, as they are hunted by followers of her enemies, not all of her temples are secret.

Vasselheim

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.

Tal'Dorei

Ioun has a minority following in the Verdant Expanse, and there are halls in which to worship Ioun in Emon's Temple District as well. The Cavern of Axiom in the Frostweald, watched over by the androsphinx Kamaljiori, is a hidden shrine to Ioun.

Beneath Whitestone lies an ancient ziggurat, an abandoned temple to Ioun. More than 800 years before 812 PD, 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.

Wildemount

The Knowing Mistress is one of the six deities approved for worship within the Dwendalian Empire. In Gwardan on the Menagerie Coast, the House of Enlightenment is both a temple to Ioun and a place of higher learning.

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.

Archives of the Cobalt Soul

Main article: Cobalt Soul § Locations

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.

Known worshipers

• Members of the Cobalt Soul
• Scanlan Shorthalt: Champion of Ioun.
• Sprigg: Steward of Ioun.
• Osysa: A gynosphinx who, as well as her followers at the Slayer's Take, pay homage to Ioun, and in return the Knowing Mistress extends Osysa's vision in order to assist them.
• Kamaljiori: An androsphinx guarding the Cavern of Axiom, a hidden shrine to Ioun in the Frostweald.
• Vanessa Cyndrial
• Mertin Cyndrial^[presumed]
• Brom Goldhand: Master of Law on the Tal'Dorei Council and a cleric of Ioun.
• Ulysses: Follower of Ioun, buried in the Blooming Grove. His grave has the Knowing Mistress's symbol.

Behind the scenes

According to the page dedicated to Quian on the Vox Machina Wiki which was created by Matthew Mercer before Critical Role began, Delleb was the god of intellect and study in the pre-stream campaign rather than Ioun.

Appearances and mentions

Appearances

• Campaign 1
  • "The Fear of Isolation" (1x105) (first appearance)
  • "The Endless Atheneum" (1x106)
• Downfall
  • "Downfall: Part Three" (3x101)

Mentions

• Campaign 1
  • "Aramente to Pyrah" (1x22) (first mentioned)
  • "Consequences and Cows" (1x26)
  • "A Musician's Nostalgia" (1x37)
  • "Return to Vasselheim" (1x43)
  • "Into the Frostweald" (1x48)
  • "A Name Is Earned" (1x49)
  • "Duskmeadow" (1x57)
  • "The Coming Storm" (1x73)
  • "Clash at Daxio" (1x77)
  • "Voice of the Tempest" (1x90)
  • "Thar Amphala" (1x101)
  • "The Fate-Touched" (1x103)
  • "Elysium" (1x104)
  • "Scaldseat" (1x107)
  • "The Core Anvil" (1x108)
  • "The Ominous March" (1x109)
  • "The Final Ascent" (1x113)
  • "Vecna, the Ascended" (1x114)
  • "The Chapter Closes" (1x115)
• Campaign 2
  • "Disparate Pieces" (2x04)
  • "Steam and Conversation" (2x09)
  • "Harvest Close" (2x17)
  • "Whispers of War" (2x18)
  • "Lost Treasures" (2x22)
  • "Xhorhas" (2x51)
  • "Wood and Steel" (2x58)
  • "Agreements" (2x61)
  • "Causatum" (2x70)
  • "Manifold Morals" (2x74)
  • "A Tangled Web" (2x77)
  • "Between the Lines" (2x78)
  • "Titles and Tattoos" (2x84)
  • "The Threads Converge" (2x85)
  • "Bathhouses and Bastions" (2x90)
  • "Traveler Con" (2x108)
  • "Frigid Propositions" (2x109)
  • "New Homes and Old Friends" (2x111)
  • "The Calm Before the Storm" (2x130)
• Downfall
  • "Downfall: Part One" (3x99)
  • "Downfall: Part Two" (3x100)
• One-shots
  • "The Search For Grog" (OSx28)

Quotations

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

References

Art: