Should an Ioun Stone be called a Nethys Stone?


Lost Omens Campaign Setting General Discussion

Scarab Sages

I was wandering this because Ioun is the goddess of magic in the world's oldest roleplaying game, and Nethys is the god of magic in Pathfinder. How would the name Ioun have gotten into this setting? Do clerics of Nethys chastise or do worse to people for using the name "Ioun Stone," citing heretical belief in a false god? Is this issue too insignificant so that the developers said to just go with it?


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Ioun stones were, according to the lore, around before Nethys.


This is curious and interesting. Ioun was a mage of Nehteril in the forgotten realm setting.

Does somebody know if what other person in D&D are called Ioun?

Why paizo could use Ioun stones but not things like Otiluke's Resilient Sphere?


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The name Ioun is not WotC (or TSR) IP, having been borrowed from Jack Vance's fiction.


Nicos wrote:

This is curious and interesting. Ioun was a mage of Nehteril in the forgotten realm setting.

Does somebody know if what other person in D&D are called Ioun?

Why paizo could use Ioun stones but not things like Otiluke's Resilient Sphere?

Ioun stones predate D&D and PF.

EDIT: Damn ninjas.


Pretty interesting. Thanks people.

Scarab Sages

Joana wrote:
The name Ioun is not WotC (or TSR) IP, having been borrowed from Jack Vance's fiction.

Because it's not named after a deity in the world's oldest roleplaying game, I have been convinced that they should be called Ioun Stones and not Nethys Stones. I'm lucky I didn't bet my players on this, or I would be buying a lot of drinks for them.


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Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

D&D also has a deity named Ioun, but they can't make it Product Identity because that name isn't original with TSR or WotC.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Should it? There's no reason to mandate anything.

Can you as GM make that change. Damm bloody yes you can.


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Nicos wrote:
This is curious and interesting. Ioun was a mage of Nehteril in the forgotten realm setting.

Congenio Ioun from Netheril was created for purpose of Netheril setting as a creator of ioun stones that way to explain why whole category of items is called that way in Forgotten Realms. It's the case of NPC following the name of the item, not the other way.

David knott 242 wrote:
D&D also has a deity named Ioun, but they can't make it Product Identity because that name isn't original with TSR or WotC.

The same applies to Ioun - the deity was named after the item.

Dark Archive

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If you were going to rename ion stones I would say go with Yuelral as she is the goddess of crystals, jewelry, and magic.

Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer

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They are sometimes called Azlanti stones, because their manufacture seems to have originated (and is most commonly associated with) the prehistoric human kingdom of Azlant.

We have not revealed why they are called "ioun" stones in an official source, and probably won't for a good long while.

Sovereign Court

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Pfft! everyone knows that "ioun" means "magic" or "tiny orbiting planet" in Azlanti!


David knott 242 wrote:
D&D also has a deity named Ioun, but they can't make it Product Identity because that name isn't original with TSR or WotC.

Though the Githyanki somehow made it into their product identity, despite the name being from George R.R. Martin's writings.

Grand Lodge

Emmit Svenson wrote:


Though the Githyanki somehow made it into their product identity, despite the name being from George R.R. Martin's writings.

I did not know that.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16

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Um, George RR Martin was writing in the early 80's?

Because Githyanki stems from the original Fiend Folio, which came out in what, 1986?

==Aelryinth

Dark Archive

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According to the Wiki page on them the name was borrowed from GRRM's story. But they are different in there ecologies. Githyanki


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The name comes from Martin's Dying of the Light. The name is the same, but the races were vastly different. Apparently Martin didn't find out until much later. Luckily, there were no repercussions (unlike the Deities & Demigods book, where it was reprinted without the material from Moorcock, Leiber, and the Cthulhu mythos.)

Scarab Sages

The Fritz Leiber material was never removed from later printing of D&D-G 1st edition, just the Moorcock and Lovecraft chapters.

Leiber (or his estate) didn't seem to mind his work being used by TSR, since they printed Lankhmar as one of the official settings.


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Ah. Wasn't sure. I still have my original with all the copyright-offending goodness in it.

Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer

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Ironically, the game writer who lifted Githyanki and Githzerai from Martin is Charles Stross, who turned out to be a famous SF writer in his own right.


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Aelryinth wrote:

Um, George RR Martin was writing in the early 80's?

Because Githyanki stems from the original Fiend Folio, which came out in what, 1986?

==Aelryinth

Yup. Dying of the Light came out in 1977 when Martin was about 29. Obviously, his popularity didn't REALLY start to gain steam in popular culture until A Game of Thrones came out in 1996.


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People who have never heard of any of Martin's books other than Game of Thrones should look for such works as Tuf Voyaging, Sandkings, Fevre Dream, and the Wild Cards series.


Was Tuf Voyaging the one about the cat-loving guy in the massive bio-warfare spaceship?


Steve Geddes wrote:
Was Tuf Voyaging the one about the cat-loving guy in the massive bio-warfare spaceship?

That's the one!


I loved that book. :)


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Purple Dragon Knight wrote:
Pfft! everyone knows that "ioun" means "magic" or "tiny orbiting planet" in Azlanti!

In Thassilion it means, "Only pansies use floaters."

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