The Strange is a game published by Monte Cook Games. It is, at least in part, set in the normal world, but there are other worlds out there, in the Strange. This list has ten rumours for that setting, similar to the various different adventure hooks in the books, and these can be used as adventure hooks or simple misinformation.
- Butterfly Objectors are former recursors who have given up the ability due to a belief that those who translate to other realities do not in fact translate but are instead copied at the other end, the original person dying in the process. They believe that groups that use operatives to translate are evil perpetrators of lies. It’s rumoured that some Objectors have grown tired of trying to convince people of the truth by peaceful means and plan to start using violence against the Estate and others.
- Disgraced former senator Jerry Toomey is the most visible advocate of the Circle of Liberty and, as well as being a talking head who regularly appears on various programmes, Toomey also operates a private compound called Promised Land, billed as a relaxation spot for the wealthy. Rumour is that not everyone who goes to the compound comes back out again.
- Quiet Cabal agents operate on Earth, with the agents often being Earth humans. It’s rumoured that more agents than usual have been deployed recently, perhaps indicating that the Cabal is expecting a threat of some kind that will need dealing with, perhaps because they are searching for something.
- Recursion miners are those individuals and groups that find and explore recursions, or that attempt to create new recursions. Sometimes, their methods can be problematic at best and outright dangerous at worst and there are rumours that some of the individuals and groups are also banded together into a larger organisation, and that these miners are those who use the most destabilising methods.
- Spiral dust is a drug made from cyphers that has hit the streets that has an odd effect on the heaviest users, as such end up translated against their will to another recursion. It’s not known who is supplying spiral dust, or how it is made, but there are rumours that the amount of it on the streets is continually increasing, creating more and more addicts.
- The Circle of Liberty is a loosely-connected collection of groups, including advocacy groups, think tanks, charities and industry associations, that advocates for decentralised government. It’s rumoured that the Circle is even larger than it might appear, with affiliated groups in many different countries, connected to the Circle though such connections are hidden.
- The Estate has encountered reports of a number of people on Earth being attacked by what sounds like skeletons from Ardeyn, but there is little proof of the matter and, naturally, no dead skeletons to examine, given they crumble away very quickly. The organisation is trying to determine if there’s any truth in the matter.
- The Quiet Cabal maintains a number of sanctums on Earth, camouflaged to look like normal businesses and establishments, often those that are out of the way that might see regular visits by strangers. It’s rumoured that a number of these sanctums have recently been attacked by an unknown party or parties, but presumably one of the Cabal’s rivals or enemies.
- The September Project is attempting to create a quantum computer and is regarded as something of a joke thanks to the Estate’s efforts. There are rumours, though, that the Project has managed to convince at least one section of government, or of a government, that they are not a joke and are thereby gaining increased access to funding and resources.
- There are reports that there have been issues between agents of the Office of Strategic Recursion, the Quiet Cabal and the Estate on Earth. Though the OSR regularly feeds information to the other two groups, there are rumours that they’ve clashed on occasion when the OSR disagreed with something the other groups were trying to achieve.
