i keep hearing about paragons, i have only found one, and im not sure what purpose they serve.

They give you some good loot, in particular auriels shield.

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1388511-paragon-locations/

There are the locations.

there are 5 in the vale. there is also a paragon portal that when you use a specific paragon, it takes you to treasure. the ruby paragon takes you to a unique item

i guess i need to go back to the vale then

Yep. Loooots of cool stuff in the vale. Including mineable bugs and underwater dragons.