Tears of Ioun

The Tears of Ioun

The history of the Tear of Ioun according to Radaghast

            1245 years ago, Ioun gifted  her followers with 3 relics; the Tears of Ioun.  Each Tear, it was said, carried the sum of all knowledge, if one could  but gaze into the Tear to witness it.  Each Tear was given into the care of a different church and put under the protection of a sect within each church. 

            The first Tear was given to the Eladrin capital of Myth Drannor.  The second was given to main Ioun church, within the Tiefling Empire, at Wellspring.  The third was placed in Citadel Rashemen within the Dragonborn Empire.

            The Tear at Wellspring was the first to fall from memory.

            Approximately 1000 years ago, the guardians of the Tear known as the Katori Guard, led by a guard named Volarn, became obsessed with hidden knowledge.  The Katori wanted to create a portal to the Far Realm to learn its secrets, and built a device to do so.  Preparations were made to explore this strange new realm in addition to constructing the machine.

            Volarn and the rest of the Guard were ready for their journey.  They engaged the device, but there was not enough power to open the portal.  Volarn, who was beyond rational thought, took the Tear of Ioun and placed it within the device.  The Tear was much more powerful than expected however.  The portal did open and the group of Guards entered the Far Realm.  As the last stepped through, the device began to shudder and soon began to collapse upon itself.  What Volarn had failed to plan for was the Far Realm reaching into our plane during the portals opening.  As the machine began to destroy itself and the portal began to unravel, something reached through the portal and left its mark upon the Tear.

            The portal closed, stranding the Katori Guard and their captain Volarn in the Far Realm.  What the Guard did not witness, was the Tears corruption.  The taint from the Far Realm turned the once pearlescent stone into a blackened shadow.

            The affects were not immediately noted, but over time, that which came in contact with the corrupted Tear became twisted and changed.  It had it’s affect on the occupants of the keep.  Twisted dreams and madness within the halls became commonplace.  I ordered the Tear sealed away deep beneath the keep, the remaining members of our order to be sent to other churches, and I would remain behind in an attempt to cleanse the stone.

            I studied and prayed for many years within the keep, only returning to town as needed for supplies.  Apparently, even sealed away, the affects of the Tear could be felt.  It was probably a decade or more before I noticed the changes.  Fingers elongating, mustache becoming more whisker-like, shoes not fitting properly, face becoming more pointed.  Within another hundred years my transformation appeared complete, I am what you see before you, just less aged.  During this time, my only companions within the keep also began a transformation.  While I became more rat-like, the rats became more human-like until they too are what you now see around you.

            Having not luck in my studies and prayers to cleanse the Tear, I retired to this place to be with my new people, no longer fitting in with the above world.

            I have not been back to the keep within a couple of hundred years; I have no desire to visit the site of my failure.  Failure to protect the Tear, failure to cleanse it, failure in the eyes of Ioun.  Given the recent activity, it would probably be safe to say that someone has unearthed the Tear.  The corruption it spreads will slowly taint all it comes near.

            Of the other Tears, I know little.  I do know that the Tear gifted to the Eladrin was still in Myth Drannor when it fell to the walking dead.  I have heard nothing since that time.  Hopefully it was secreted away by the Eladrin, and did not fall into the hands of the undead.