The Scroll of Ioun
Summary
The myth proposes there exists a scroll that has the secret knowledge of Ioun transcribed upon it. Ioun originally created it for Mysandra, god of magic to hold all her knowledge. After the eventual spell plague, Mysandra sacrificed herself to become the spellweave and hold the magical energy together in one weave. The fonts are what can be described as leaking pores of the spellweave, just called "the weave." Ioun retrieved the scroll through some means but lost it after Tharizdun and Zehir deceived her retreiver. A fight broke out and the scroll fell somewhere to the Prime Material Plane. There's a magic aura — from Mysandra's reconfigurement of one of Nystul's spell — that prevents divine magic from detecting it, and as such is lost forever.
Historical Basis
The actual events of the catastrophe are very well known thanks to some anonymous lorekeepers of the Second Era. They believe the scroll really does exist, and may even hold more secrets inside. Ioun searches for it desperately. Some champions of her even recite a code to "find the knowledge once treasured."
It is also known that Zehir orchestrated the theft, but Tharizdun intercepted the knowledge. The two agreed to team up and split the spoils, but both had plans to betray the other. Fortunately, that never occurred.
Spread
The story is a mage's campfire ghost story to help each other dig deeper into knowledge to find a way to divine its location. It isn't necessarily forbidden knowledge, but there aren't many who know it for one simple reason: it's impractical.
Variations & Mutation
Some variations from Sefir Daeg recite the tale that Ioun took a magical scroll from Mysandra and Mysandra simply sent her two champions to retrieve it. The story goes Ioun called upon her then-allies Tharizdun and Zehir for aid then pinning the theft on them to cover her tracks.
Another tale mentions Tharizdun and Zehir made the scroll evil and convinced Mysandra to take it. Once she refused they feigned violence and Ioun stopped them from unspeakable evil. In the tale, Ioun then takes the credit for the discovery.
Cultural Reception
The story holds importance to every arch-mage, who learns this tale and the updates on truths when they ascend to power. Some peasants speak of it and learned farmers like to boast of "figuring the riddle out." These are convinced there is some special code or riddle hidden in the words of the myth, though that's just hearsay.
In Literature
Several books have been written on the subject, only one of which concerns the actual truths of the situation. Some works of fiction mention the scroll, but the authors usually replace the gods with some other deities.
In Art
The scroll itself serves as a vehicle for any knowledge lost or stolen. "Ioun's scroll" serves an apt metaphor for mage's attempt to log or ascertain some inconceivable spell.
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