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.
Councillors Folth, Pelk and Zawk represent the military, gardener guild and crafting guild of Rathatruum, and it’s notable that their appearances are similar, though they state they are not related. It’s rumoured, though, that the three are related, effectively giving one family control over the automaton.
Deliyan is an Aeon Priest who knows more about how the automaton that Rathatruum is built on works than anyone else. Some claim that she knows more about it than she’s telling, and is secretly trying to gain control of it for some unknown reason.
It’s said that Rathatruum is offering a bounty to anyone who can help repair the automaton on which their settlement has been constructed, for it’s slowing down as more of its legs malfunction beyond their ability to repair it. It’s also rumoured that there’s an even larger reward for someone who can also alter the automaton’s path.
Magistrate Alash assumed a leadership role in Sleeping Rock because they wanted to study the time skips the village is known for. Some think that the magistrate is a poor leader because of this, and that they would willingly sacrifice some of the other members of the village, just to learn more about the skips.
Rathatruum is built on the back of a multilegged automaton that walks a constant pattern. It’s rumoured that in recent years that the automaton has moved away from its regular pattern, albeit only briefly, leaving the inhabitants unsure as to whether this is a sing of its age, is changing its pattern or is avoiding some kind of threat.
Sleeping Rock is named after a rock formation that resembles a human sleeping on its side. It’s rumoured that those who spend too much time on or near the formation discover that the rock is a sleeping being, though not a human, and that tapping into its dreams brings insanity.
Sleeping Rock’s primary source of income is glass from the village’s glass mine. Though there were thought to be major seams of glass still to be harvested, it’s rumoured that recently these seams have been disappearing and playing out much faster than they should.
The inhabitants of Rathatruum plant seeds at the stops their automaton makes, so that the next time it comes around food can be harvested from them. Several recent stops, though, have had much less food than usual, and many plants are apparently missing. Some are said to be concerned that others are harvesting Rathatruum’s crops for themselves.
The mobile community of Rathatruum, by nature of its construction on the back of an automaton, has only a finite amount of room for everything that needs to be there. It’s rumoured that some within the community have been suggesting that some inhabitants should, instead of living on the automaton, live at the stops where the inhabitants grow food.
The village of Sleeping Rock is subject to time skips of mysterious origin, which some think might be a property of the glass mined by the villagers. It’s rumoured as well that large concentrations of the glass outside the village can cause time to act strangely in other places too.
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 six 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.
An important element of training for Earthborn on Ruk is how they react to the All Song. This can determine whether or not the recruit will make it. It’s rumoured that Zal in particular is trying to come up with a method of testing Earthborn before they even go to Ruk, hoping to reduce the number who need memory treatment due to washing out.
Potential recruits that Zal is looking for on Earth are often sent a package full of mysterious objects intended to help convince the recipient that what is claimed in the package about aliens living in a shadow dimension is true. There are worries that in the cases of “special” recruits, these items may literally convince the recipient against their will.
Some organisations on Earth are keeping a close eye on Zal’s social media recruitment and advertisements aimed at getting Earthborn interested in working for Ruk. They have been following up on rumours about things happening to some of those Zal has been attempting to recruit, or has apparently been attempting; there are suggestions that a third party may be interfering.
Those Earthborn recruits who visit Ruk for training, but who for one reason or another refuse the offer or lack the ability to pass training, are returned to Earth with their memories of the experience removed. Some within the Estate have come across rumours that eventually the process used to remove the former recruit’s memory has a much more serious long-term impact.
Those Zal recruits from the Earthborn are, should they pass training, sent to various different factions who are looking for Earthborn recruits. It’s rumoured that sometimes Zal will send recruits to factions they are not really suited to, which can cause problems for both recruits and the faction.
Zal is one of the factions of Ruk and it’s being used increasingly by the other factions in order to recruit Earthborn natives for the recursion, as the various factions are proving to have a need for them. It’s rumoured that Zal, though it mostly does outsourced recruiting for other factions, has also been using this to hide their own recruitment of Earthborn, under the guise of doing it for others.
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10 Hooks and Rumours for Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0.’s Europe
This list has ten hooks and rumours that can be heard about Europe’s Interior and Trade Commissions. Whether or not they are true is up to the GameMaster. They can be used as background colour or as potential adventure hooks.
EC citizenship papers are issued by the Interior Commission, and such have a great deal of value to non-citizens. It’s rumoured that if you know the right palms to grease, you can get citizenship papers made to spec, but it’s also rumoured that many of these schemes are traps intended to catch the unwary.
Electric trains funded by the Interior Commission crisscross the EC, and they link the continent together in a speedy and supposedly safe web. There are rumours, though, of accidents on part of the network, caused by funds supposedly for superior quality materials being diverted elsewhere and substandard materials used instead.
Maglev trains are one of the ways in which the Interior Commission has improved the transport infrastructure within the EC, and that project alone involved vast sums of money. There are rumours that there is an internal investigation going into just how the money was spent, and rumours that corruption may have been excessive.
Member states of the EC who fail to follow EC rulings are punished by the Interior Commission by cutting their area development grants. It’s rumoured that the commission has sometimes used this ability as a weapon in order to force politicians to do what they want, or even leave office.
Some believe that the Trade Commission, which fights hard against excessively high import tariffs on European goods, has at times used means that could only be described as being underhanded in order to convince other countries that the tariffs they are considering would be a very bad idea, and that for everyone’s sake it would be best to abandon such ideas.
The Interior Commission has, over the last decade, changed the focus of their endeavours to improving conditions for EC residents in the hopes that this will help reduce stress and crime. It’s rumoured that some within the commission have been looking into other, less savoury, ways of getting people to behave, from drugs in the water and food to programming with subliminal messages incorporated.
The powers of the Interior Commission have been used to great effect in southern Europe, where countries are poorer and a loss of an area development grant can make a great deal of difference to the economy. There are rumours that the commission’s powers are wielded in such a way as to keep the poorer countries poor, so that they can’t challenge the richer ones.
The sea walls built on the coasts of Europe have provided an easy way for smugglers to dock and get their goods into the EC. It’s rumoured that the Trade Commission is looking into adding automated defences to the sea walls that will fire on those lacking the correct IFF response, but so far, they have been running into problems over fears that such automated defences might end up accidentally firing on someone foolish but connected who has turned off their IFF.
The Trade Commission has to deal with goods being smuggled into Europe, which costs the EC large amounts of money. It’s rumoured that many smugglers are backed by foreign powers and megacorps who want to see the EC weakened, and reducing the community’s tax income is one way of achieving this.
The Trade Commission is responsible for balancing out Europe’s trade, both imports and exports, and it is essential to ensure trading partners’ economies aren’t grinding to a halt. It’s rumoured that bribes are common in the Trade Commission, or at least bribery attempts are, with various exterior partners trying to get investment in their own economies and have their rivals shunned.
D10: Europe Rumours: The Interior and Trade Commissions is unofficial content provided under the Homebrew Content Policy of R. Talsorian Games and is not approved or endorsed by RTG. This content references materials that are the property of R. Talsorian Games and its licensees.
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The characters may at some point encounter a beanstalk of the type that was grown by Jack, and here are ten encounters and things they could see whilst climbing up it.
Birds have hollowed out part of the trunk here, riddling it with nests from which birds can be seen coming and going. The birds will aggressively try to stop intruders from approaching their nests.
Enormous aphids are feeding on the leaf. They will ignore intruders unless pestered by them.
Huge areas have been cut from the side of the leaf. Examining them carefully shows that they are similar to the depredations that such as a caterpillar would cause to a leaf, only much, much larger.
Large spiderwebs cover the leaf completely, yet no spiders can be seen. Several small animals have been trapped in the webs and look to be slowly dissolving.
Mould is growing thickly on the leaf, and stepping on it causes clouds of choking spores to billow up.
Nodules are growing on the upper portion of the leaf, all bright orange in colour. They can be easily removed, if this is attempted, and have a delightful smell. They prove to be oddly tasty as well.
Organic detritus has collected in the hollows of the leaf’s upper surface, and a variety of different plants are growing on these. The plants appear to have seeded naturally.
The leaf has a small depression in the centre where water has pooled. There look to be tiny fish in the water.
The leaf you are on looks to have been afflicted by some kind of blight, and it feels less sturdy than usual. As you walk across it, the leaf trembles and the substance of it gives way beneath your feet with a mushy feeling.
What look like insect cocoons, only much larger, being the size of a human, have been affixed to the leaf in various places by a strong adhesive of some description. The cocoons seem to pulse with life if touched.
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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.
Access to Glain is through six narrow ravines that the town keeps heavily guarded. There are rumours, though, of a seventh way into Glain, one which isn’t guarded because the inhabitants haven’t found it as yet. This leads to suggestions that perhaps the seventh way is hidden in some manner.
Glain needs access to something that can be rendered down into liquid organic fuel in order to run a device that creates adamant silk. It’s rumoured that travellers who arrive in Glain in times when fuel is scarce have a habit of disappearing, possibly rendered down into fuel.
Grandmother Reldoin and Grandfather Smaree are those currently in charge of Ikalen and so far they’ve done a good job of keeping the community together and their personalities have proven to be complimentary. It’s rumoured that there is trouble at home, though, and such troubles could easily spill over into Ikalen as a whole, given their positions.
Ikalen uses sailing vessels on runners to traverse the salt flats they live on, but the vessels can’t travel beyond that region. The inhabitants are said to be attempting to redesign some of the vessels so that they can travel on other surfaces, but are having problems doing this.
Mayor Ithon of Glain is looking for ways to pull his village out of the slump it’s currently in, and it’s rumoured that he’s been communicating with people in other places, looking for either ideas or someone who can be hired to help. The latter is more of a problem, as there’s little available to pay anyone to help.
Megwill Cove is home to brightly-coloured fish local to the waters. They are gentle, and some grow stunted with the ability to mimic a few human words. It’s rumoured that the fish would be more intelligent, and less gentle, but a numenera device in the waters keeps them limited.
The beach and cliff that Megwill Cove are built on contain prior-world structures that have been adapted for the use of the current inhabitants. There are rumours of deeper chambers containing strange things that the current occupants are yet to find.
The inhabitants of the nomadic village of Ikalen seek out the occasional oases to be found on the salt flat where they live, where there are patches of mud covered by a mineral crust. The briny water of these patches is important to the settlement’s survival, and it’s rumoured that recently the oases have had less water than usual. The inhabitants have therefore been sending scouts further afield for water.
Those of Ikalen leave the bodies of undesirables in their wake, smothered to death and left for open air burial. It’s rumoured that occasionally one of those survives, and that over time a number of them have gathered together with the intent of making the settlement pay for trying to kill them.
Water is plentiful in Glain, thanks to it being just outside the rain shadow of the mountain its valley is in, especially when compared to how much water is available otherwise locally. There have reputedly been issues with the water recently, with less rain falling than expected and the water that is falling being tainted in some way. The inhabitants are said to be getting concerned.
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.
Ardeyn’s Glass Desert is one of the most treacherous parts of the recursion because of the ground glass particles that comprise the sand. It’s rumoured that those who are killed by the abrasive nature of the sand may rise as undead beings composed of particles of swirling glass and in a vaguely humanoid form.
Calometh is an Umber Judge who seeks the Silver Sword believing that it will enable him to free demons from evil taint. He’s regarded as a dangerous lunatic by the Court of Sleep, and was cast out to wander alone, though it’s rumoured that Calometh has recently started recruiting a handful of humans to his cause.
Galeta Swan is the current leader of the Reclaimers of the Glass Desert, who was captured and put into slavery by glass pirates when she was young. Though Galeta has vowed to bring the Green Wilds to the desert as a way of seeking revenge on the pirates, it’s rumoured that sometimes she uses more direct means against them, and regularly hires others to seek out and destroy pirate ships.
It’s rumoured that someone has been taking advantage of the fact that the glass pirates are not unified in order to turn at least some of them against the others. It’s being said that a clan is being paid a bounty for any other pirates they hunt down, and that some from outside the Glass Sea have started to consider signing up to do the same.
Siraja, the captain of the Revenge, has a fearsome reputation such that some of the other glass pirates fear her. It’s rumoured that her reputation has grown to such an extent that a bounty has been offered on her head, body optional, in order to end her depredations.
Taimin of the Nightstar is one of the most well-known of the pirates of the Glass Sea, and it’s known that he has a habit of decreeing death matches between members of his crew who are feuding with each other. It’s rumoured that he’s not averse to ordering a death match to eliminate those he fears might try and usurp him at some point.
The glass pirates of the Glass Desert are anything but a coherent force and the clans will often fight when they come across each other. This makes the rumour that someone is trying to unite the pirate clans worrying, as the potential infighting is one thing that somewhat diminishes the risk the pirates pose.
The Reclaimers want to return the Glass Desert to the garden it once was, and are seeking out any way of doing so. There are occasional rumours that for some Reclaimers this means any way at all, and that they have performed frightful acts in their attempts to recreate the lost garden.
The Silver Sword is a blade of glass visible only every nine years in the Glass Desert and can briefly be used to shrink the borders of the desert. Knowledge of its existence has leaked out and many adventurers are now seeking it, as well as the Reclaimers. It’s rumoured that the Reclaimers have taken measures to deal with others seeking the sword.
There is said to be one dragon living in the Glass Desert, and scholars believe it is an embodiment of elemental disaster. It’s rumoured that some sorcerers have been seeking out information on the Glass Desert dragon, but only in the hopes of being able to make a lesser beast of disaster.
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10 Hooks and Rumours for Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0.’s Europe
This list has ten hooks and rumours that can be heard about Europe’s Finance Commission. Whether or not they are true is up to the GameMaster. They can be used as background colour or as potential adventure hooks.
Audits by the Finance Commission are done on individuals and companies with holdings or throughput in excess of 20,000 eurodollars, with random samplings done on those with less value. It’s rumoured that the random samplings are not entirely random, and that it’s possible to get individuals or companies specifically targeted.
Commissioners of the Finance Commission often work with Interpol to help the latter with their cases. It’s rumoured that some within the Finance Commission and within Interpol believe that those employed by the other should be permanently assigned to them as part of their own organisation.
Company and personal finances are audited by the Finance Commission, and it’s rumoured that some of the auditors working for the commission are little more than thugs running a protection racket, with those refusing to pay the necessary “fees” ending up on the wrong ends of audits which, without fail, always find indications of illegal activity.
Eurobonds are issued by the Eurobank to investors, offering fixed interest rates and available for multiples of five years. It’s rumoured that recently the bank has been issuing Eurobonds in greater than normal numbers, with some wondering just why the bank is seeking so much investor money.
Part of the Finance Commission is currently running blind tests with members of the general public, both within the EU and without, to see what neutral name the eurodollar should be renamed to, so that there is less objection to it becoming the world’s currency.
The auditors and inspectors of the Finance Commission all have degrees of at least masters level, though some study in their spare time whilst at more junior levels. It’s rumoured that the commission has been considering founding its own college in order to train its staff with the degrees they need.
The EC’s finances are controlled by the Finance Commission, which ensures that the budgets of the different commissions are sufficient for their needs. It’s rumoured that those commissions who annoy the Finance Commission in any way find their income drying up and the reasons for this always seem to be corruption within the targeted commission.
The Eurobank is the most powerful financial institution in the world, and rumour is that it’s even more powerful than it seems. It’s said that the Eurobank has been quietly picking up stakes in financial institutions in other countries, slowly allowing it to affect a country’s economics without wielding the brute force of the eurodollar against them.
The Finance Commission has a large number of security personnel, for transportation and site security and as the bodyguards of inspectors and auditors. It’s rumoured that the commission is planning to organise its security personnel so that they are more like a military force than a security one.
The reserves of the Eurobank are stored within vaults in the mountains between Freilassing and Salzburg. These have a reputation for being the strongest vaults on the planet, and it’s rumoured that, so far, no-one has managed to successfully breach them. Which doesn’t stop people from trying, and it’s said that those who get closest, and survive the experience, are offered the choice of either indenture to the Finance Commission or being disappeared.
D10: Europe Rumours: The Finance Commission is unofficial content provided under the Homebrew Content Policy of R. Talsorian Games and is not approved or endorsed by RTG. This content references materials that are the property of R. Talsorian Games and its licensees.
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Characters may come across cryogenic and stasis tubes in sci-fi settings, and they may not always hold what they are intended to hold. Here are ten things to find in such.
Completely empty.
Conglomerate humanoid that appears to have been assembled from many different individuals.
Human-sized cocoon that looks to be on the verge of hatching.
Individual whose top half is alive and well, but whose bottom half has been reduced to a skeleton.
Large egg sack from an unknown creature.
Lifeform with a long tail, exoskeleton and a curved head, as well as two arms and two legs.
Occupant who has been frozen into a solid block of ice.
Organic soup that was the occupant.
Scratched interior and a skeleton inside with its armed raised.
Several organs that appear to have been surgically removed from different owners.
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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.
Abbrilo is built on, in and around the Angled Tower, though there are floors both above the inhabited areas, and below the ground, that are not cleared out. It’s also rumoured that there are subsidiary belowground floors that are not part of the main tower itself, but are connected to its underground regions by passages.
Delegate Sarden works for the council of Abbrilo, who ensures that every transaction she does helps the settlement in some way, and has turned Aeon Priests away when she thought their goals did not help Abbrilo. The priests want to study the Angled Tower, and it’s rumoured that they have tried to get around the delegate by hiring other explorers to work on their behalf.
Folier is built on a floating reef that consists of countless oyster-like creatures that are linked to each other. It’s rumoured that recently the creatures have been suffering from some kind of disease, and there are worries that if too many are affected, the reef will fall apart; it’s said that a cure to the blight is being sought.
Healer Jesjan of Folier is skilled in healing, knowing many cures that revolve around stingray venom. She’s said to be seeking to expand her knowledge by trading what she knows with what healers in other places know, especially those who live in or around the ocean.
In the centre of Cassinhill is an excavation site leading to a network of rooms and tunnels below. The inhabitants of the settlement are known to have explored the complex beneath them, but there are rumours that it is vaster than even they know and that there are large areas that are as yet undiscovered, let alone explored.
Mayor Orish is in charge of Cassinhill and has been for several years now. Though she has currently kept the job without any problems, it’s rumoured that some of the inhabitants are considering replacing her, thanks to the arrival of the varjellen nearby.
Numenera is bought and sold in Abbrilo, often harvested from the Angled Tower which the community is built in and around. Though it’s rumoured that the truly useful numenera harvested from the tower, by the inhabitants or by taxed explorers, never sees the light of day, being kept in case of future need.
The excavation site in Cassinhill was, by the sounds of it, recently broken into. No-one knows who did it and no-one knows if anything was taken, but there are concerns that it might happen again, as whoever did it may have been looking for something specific. Unless they already found it, which poses a different set of worries.
The fingernail-sized oyster-like creatures that make up the reef that Folier sits upon are sometimes reputed to have other properties, though ones that the inhabitants of Folier are unwilling to share with anyone else, or even talk about.
Varjellen have settled near to the settlement of Cassinhill, and relations between the two groups have so far been peaceful. It’s rumoured that not everyone is happy about this, and that some would love to stir up some trouble between the two settlements.
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 six 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.
Amongst the Collections of the Implausible Geographic Society are items brought back from many different recursions. It’s said that some of these are very dangerous, but that the IGS keeps the most dangerous hidden well away. Which hasn’t stopped some from attempting to acquire them.
Dame Amanda Wallace currently occupies the office of the president of the IGS but has not taken the role and the society hasn’t had a president in thirty years. There are rumours, though, that Dame Amanda, for some reason, is now considering taking up the role she is essentially fulfilling.
Sir Raymond Creswicke is one of the few members of the IGS who is permanently at the Lodge. He’s always eager to give advice to new members, and it’s said that Sir Raymond has a list of recursions and things to look for in them, should they be found, that he will be happy to share with anyone willing to go searching for them.
The IGS has apparently been performing research into those recursions that were explored by the Society in its early days, based on fiction that has diminished in popularity, which are now difficult to find or much smaller than they were. It’s said the Society has been considering trying to boost the popularity of the old books, perhaps by funding film and television adaptations.
The Implausible Geographic Society separated from the Royal Geographical Society in 1913, though it’s rumoured this was not a complete and final separation. It’s said that some within the RGS still know what the IGS is up to, and are a means by which the two organisations communicate with each other.
When knowledge of the IGS escapes beyond its group, agents are dispatched to erase it by any means necessary. Though this may just be through the use of a memory eraser, it’s rumoured that those who have proven resistant to such measures have themselves been erased.
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