By default, entities that you haven’t seen or met will be unknown. In the world tab, they will be displayed as Unknown and their images will not be visible.

When you visit a Point of Interest (POI) or an Area, you will learn that location and it will become known to you. When visiting a POI, any characters at that POI will become visible and you’ll be able to see their avatar. When you learn their name, they’ll become known.

You can turn this mechanic off in the campaign settings, at which point every entity will become visible with their image and name.