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.

1. Cities were built on the Island of the Last Migration during the isle’s rapid industrialisation, cities which now stand empty following the exile of the Gutonons. Creatures have started to reclaim the cities, as has vegetation, but there are rumours of darker things lurking in the back alleys and sewers, beings born of the wastes formed by the industrial period, creatures that hate everything.
2. Fengali Forest is comprised of many acres of submerged trees, which rise above the surface of the water and are connected below by a tangled network of roots. There are rumours that the forest, whose root system continues to grow, has recently started to expand in the area it covers, with fresh trees growing up from the seabed.
3. Ghost crabs can be found in the depths of the Fengali Forest and are dangerous predators, even though they are blind. The crabs seem to appear and disappear and some of those who have encountered the crustaceans state that this is sometimes the case; the crabs are literally appearing out of nowhere, then disappearing again, meaning they could appear almost anywhere.
4. The Corare Sea is rumoured to be home of intelligent predators, part synth, part cetacean, that dwell in its depths, coming to the surface to hunt. Though most of these, if they exist, do not sound as if they are a great danger for any substantial ship, the same isn’t true for smaller craft. Even worse, there’s a rumour of a very rare and gargantuan hunter that, when it reaches the surface, is large enough to swallow a ship down whole.
5. The Fengali Forest consists of submerged trees located about a hundred miles from the coast of the Steadfast. A clan of humans, called Grovers, lives above the water in the trees, and are generally not hostile or aggressive unless they believe their clan or their forest or threatened. There’s a rumour, though, of a splinter group that was forced away from the others who are much more aggressive and seek out travellers to prey on.
6. The Gutonons, the part of the Gutos clan of the Island of the Last Migration that splintered off and sold parts of the island to others, were either assimilated back into the greater clan after the war that devastated the island or fled forever. There are some Gutonons, though, who still plan to return to the island and retake what they believe was stolen from them, and are working to gather enough resources to co0mpletely obliterate the Gutos in the next conflict.
7. The Island of the Last Migration is home to an unusual species of intelligent bees that were nearly wiped out by the industrialisation that devastated the island. Mabon Macabee, one of those who immigrated to the island, discovered the bees and has since become their advocate, and can often be found cloaked in a living coat of them. The bees are rumoured to be even more intelligent than anyone thinks, and that they are working to ensure that that nothing comes close to wiping them out again.
8. The Sea of Secrets is said by some to have a city frozen in the ice to the far south, though few are those who claim to have reached the city and most, if not all, of those would seem to be lying. Recently, a ship in poor state staggered home with most of the crew dead, and those that were alive quickly died of something unknown. Before they did, the captain said they had travelled to the city, and that no-one else should do so.
9. There are rumours of vessels disappearing in the Eldan Frith, though not every vessel that ventures there does. Some claim that a civilisation that lives below the waters of the Frith is responsible, but others say that more vessels are disappearing than would normally be the case, suggesting there is something else active there.
10. Trunked lilies are plants found in the Fengali Forest that blossom with poisonous flowers which quickly kill creatures that consume them. The lilies then grow in the bodies of their victims. Notably, trunked lilies are also known to swim up to 100 miles away from the forest, and then return home. Some claim they have seen trunked lilies even further afield, and that they sometimes act in a manner that almost appears to be intelligent.

Want some items that could be used as oddities? Check out 100 Xenoarchaeological Finds.

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.

1. A series of metal towers runs along the length of Titanic Ridge in the Black Riage. The towers are covered with red and blue lights, and most of these lights are still functional. Or, at least, they were. There’s a rumour that the lights are gradually switching off. Not all at once but, every now and then, one will fade and die, never to come back on again.
2. Deep within a canyon in the Black Riage is an enormous statue of a vaguely humanoid figure with their hands aloft, seemingly always holding the sun between them during the day, and a full moon at night. A community has built up around this statue, who call it Curtar and believe it to be the creator of the universe. There’s a rumour that, recently, the cult was disturbed when it is said the sun disappeared from Curtar’s hands during the day, and some think it is a sign of the end of the universe.
3. Hidden Naresh lies on one of the paths through the Black Riage and travelling through the mountain range that way requires the traveller also go through the unpleasant city. Most would choose a different route, especially as it’s said that many of those who do choose to travel through Hidden Naresh never make it out the other side.
4. In winter, Tremble Pass is more often than not the only one of the three passes through the Black Riage that remains clear of snow, funnelling traffic through a known route. There’s a rumour that, when this happens, the number of losses that happen in the pass increases noticeably, as presumably someone, perhaps bandits or abhumans, is taking advantage of knowing just where travellers will need to be.
5. Legrash is a stopping point in Tremble Pass in the Black Riage, but one that is avoided by many travellers unless they don’t have a choice, as both the settlement and its inns have a poor reputation. It’s possible that the reputation may not be as bad as the settlement truly deserves, either; there are rumours of travellers disappearing in the vicinity of it.
6. Mencala Peak in the Black Riage is known to be home to two savage tribes of lattimors that attack anyone, and everyone, on sight. The mountain is also a volcano that constantly rumbles, and recently the rumbling has grown more frequent, together with ground tremors. It could be that Mencala is about to erupt, and an eruption could drive the lattimors into the lower lands before it happens.
7. Mt. Zanlis, the tallest peak in the Black Riage, is known locally for all sorts of strange events happening in the region, from peculiar physical manifestations to the appearance of creatures or disappearance of travellers. Though not everyone who passes through the region sees anything out of the ordinary. It’s rumoured that the disappearance of people is followed, not long afterwards, by the appearance of strange beings. Some suggest the mountain is abducting and transforming people, then releasing them again.
8. The Slant Milieu in the Black Riage is a place where a wind called the welkerwind blows nonstop, bending everything within the region towards the ground. There’s a rumour that this isn’t all the welkerwind does, that when the wind blows through the Slant Milieu in the right way, words can be heard on the wind. No-one knows what these words are, but it’s said that they tell secrets of the world to those who do manage to understand them.
9. The Sorcan is the closest thing that Hidden Naresh in the Black Riage has to a ruler, though if so, he’s a ruler who seems unconcerned with whether or not the city, or its people, flourish or die; one appears to be just as uninteresting as the other. There’s a rumour that The Sorcan is seeking something and that they will give a great deal to possess it, but it isn’t known if this is a thing, a person, knowledge or something else entirely.
10. There’s a citadel in the foothills of the Black Riage that anyone with any sense avoids, for it is believed to be home of a great evil. There are few people who live in the region closest to the citadel, and there are rumours that some of those have started disappearing of late, including entire hamlets that have supposedly vanished between one visit and the next.

Want some items that could be used as oddities? Check out 100 Xenoarchaeological Finds.

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.

1. Aian, the City of Merchants or the City of Beggars, is barely part of Milave. It is ruled by an elected senate, but some say that it is truly ruled by wealth. There are rumours that the senate is planning to cut what little ties bind the city to Milave and to set up as an independent city-state. Some believe if that happens, though, Aian will become a tempting target for raiders at the very least.
2. Ghianche, sometimes just called ganch, is a herb grown in Milave, one that is a mild relaxant but can also be a powerful hallucinogenic. The herb is smoked, in pipes, and made into cigars as well. Ganch is difficult to grow and maintain and requires the use of a large workforce of numenera machines, but the ganch farmers have been running into problems of late. Sometimes the machines are sabotaged; sometimes the workers are hassled. These attacks seem to stem from a group that objects to ganch usage.
3. In recent years a tent city has grown around the southern gate of Orrila in Milave, covering a place that is now known as the Field of Voices. Some of Orrila’s inhabitants are getting increasingly tired of the tent city, blaming its inhabitants for all manner of problems. Some think the tents should be made into proper buildings whilst others would be happy enough to see the entire place burn to the ground.
4. Orrila, the nominal capital of Milave, is where the ruling council comprised of representatives of all the factions in the country meets to, in theory, run the country, though in practice they accomplish very little of this. There’s a rumour that someone has been assassinating the representatives of a number of factions with seats on the council. It can’t be to disrupt the country, for doing such might make the council more effective at coming to decisions.
5. Ossam’s Traveling Menagerie and Soaring Circus mostly travels through Milave, providing entertainment for the watchers, in exchange for money, of course. The entertainment is said to be enjoyable to watch, but there are darker rumours about the circus. Some claim that its passage through an area can be linked to various disappearances.
6. Someone claimed to have found proof that the Order of Truth was working with the Beggar Queen in Aian in Milave, something that some have suspected for some time. The individual disappeared shortly afterwards, and it’s thought that they were killed by the Beggar Queen’s biomechanical hybrid lieutenants. That would suggest that the rumour is true and that whatever was discovered was more than just evidence that the Amber Papacy was working with the Beggar Queen.
7. Tarvesh is a warlord of Milave that has the support of many of the country’s citizens and, it’s rumored, of the Amber Papacy as well. There are rumours, though, the Tarvesh has been using the terrifying numenera war machines under his control to slaughter villages who refuse to support his forces. Some say, though, that these rumours come from the Pytharon Empire, whose empress would love to reintegrate the former province back into the empire, and therefore seeks to undermine any potentially unifying forces.
8. The All-Speech in Orrila in Milave is a device that automatically translates any language spoken in the city, and some distance outside it, into a language that is understandable to the listener. There are rumours, though, that sometimes the All-Speech alters what is being translated as well. Not even close to every time, and never in a major way, but sometimes what is spoken doesn’t have the same meaning as what is heard. This might just be an occasional glitch, due to the differences between languages, or it might be something else entirely.
9. The floatstone quarries east of Orrila in Milave are where workers dig up the remains of what look like former monuments of some time from a previous age. Tarps are spread to catch the floatstone as it rises, but there’s a rumour that recently something that was uncovered did not merely rise but shot up into the air, still intact, and disappeared from sight.
10. The Sadara River forms the southern border of Milave and normally functions well as a protective barrier against various kinds of raids and attacks from the southern lands. Recently, though, villages along the northern banks of the Sadara have reputedly been attacked on many occasions by forces who seem to cross the river as if it wasn’t there, suggesting that the raiders are using numenera.

Want some items that could be used as oddities? Check out 100 Xenoarchaeological Finds.