Numenera is a game published by Monte Cook Games. Its setting is the Ninth World, and this list has ten rumours for that setting. The rumours, which are similar to the Hearsay that can be found in the official books, can be used as adventure hooks or as simple misinformation.
- Druissi in the Ba-Adenu Forest is built on ancient wreckage that has, until now, generated heat all year round at a stable level, allowing the inhabitants to use the heat to warm everything from food to water. There’s a rumour, though, that the temperature has been gradually increasing in recent months. Not enough to cause an immediate problem but, should the rise continue, it could eventually reach potentially hazardous levels.
- Padun in the Ba-Adenu Forest is an enormous oval wall, one that has been repaired over the years, and sometimes breached as well. Inside are the ruins of cities and strongholds that have been built within the wall’s defensive perimeter, all of which have fallen due to the difficulty of defending a wall of such a size. There’s a rumour that a new ruler is building a city within Padun, but that they are ensuring that there will be defences on the inside as well as Padun itself.
- The Ba-Adenu Forest encompasses a vast area of the Beyond, with many different beings living beneath its boughs in the different climates that can be found within it. There’s a rumour, though, that the forest has recently started to shrink in size, with trees on the borders quickly dying and collapsing into rot, diminishing the size of the forest slowly but steadily.
- The inhabitants of Ephremon in the Ba-Adenu Forest worship a being called the Falgreen which appears in the form of a floating young woman in a tattered dress with twigs for hair. Some outsiders say the Falgreen is the spirit of the Ba-Adenu Forest, taking on a form that allows it to interact with humans, though at a price, claiming that the Falgreen desires human sacrifice above all other things.
- The part of the Ba-Adenu Forest that borders the Black Riage is known for its strong winds and the frequent tendency for trees to fall in them. Calls to warn others of falling trees are equally common, and there’s a rumour that someone has been studying tree falls for some time. They have apparently come to the conclusion that many of the falls are not accidental, and that the reason so many encounter falling trees, is they are most likely to happen when there are people around. Perhaps suggesting the tree falls are deliberate.
- The Untethered Legion in the Ba-Adenu Forest is an area where pools of a murky red substance gradually birth hounds, which when born are ridden by the biomechanical humans of the Legion. The forces of the Untethered Legion have been gathering in the forest for some time, though no-one knows what for, but there’s a rumour that they have finally started to stir and venture further afield.
Want some items that could be used as oddities? Check out 100 Xenoarchaeological Finds.