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.
- Sarracenians are a group whose members are scholars that study and worship plants, especially those that are carnivorous or are plant like predators. The group has fallen from favour in the Steadfast, but individuals in the group are still in demand. It’s rumoured that the group has a hardcore element that is displeased with their organisation’s decline and are planning to make people respect them again. Or, rather, fear them, as the intention is to unleash specially engineered plants on a killing spree.
- Some say that war has become more common over time, with countries more often than not resorting to violent means rather than peaceful to resolve any differences that they have. No-one claims to know why this is the case, but it’s suggested that this is simply a common outcome when nations grow large and powerful enough.
- The Redfleets dislike anything manmade and the numenera, instead looking for the natural treasures of the ocean. Some manage to contain their distaste enough to sell any unnatural treasures that they find, and there are rumours that there are members who pay only lip service to the claim of distaste, using the Redfleets as a cover for what is at its root piracy.
- The Angulan Knights are a group that is dedicated to the advancement of humanity as a species, and they abhor governments, class distinctions and religious differences. It’s rumoured that a small number of the Knights so abhor the governments of the Steadfast that they are actively working to undermine them.
- The Convergence is an organisation whose members which to use the power of the numenera to benefit themselves, not anyone else, unlike the Aeon Priests of the Order of Truth. The Convergence is said to be a much smaller organisation, but it’s rumoured it has a number of Aeon Priests amongst its ranks, as the access such have to numenera is attractive to those who would join the Convergence.
- The Order of Truth is probably the most powerful organisation in the Steadfast, and perhaps Beyond, and there are rumours that the current Amber Pope, Durranet VI, is only looking to expand the order’s reach and power. It’s said that Durranet VI wants to increase the order’s grasp on the nations of the Steadfast, slowly incorporating them directly into the order’s structure. If true, this would be opposed by every country’s ruler.
Want some items that could be used as oddities? Check out 100 Xenoarchaeological Finds.