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 tower of living, greenish flesh, known as the Twisted Spire, stands near the centre of the Amorphous Fields. About three quarters of the way up is a ring of metal called the Halo, that slowly spins around the spire. There are rumours that the speed at which the Halo is turning has been gradually increasing over the years, and that it is now increasing in speed at a greater rate.
2. Dalthius is a well-known figure in Vebar, the City of Night in the Amorphous Fields. They were found in a metal cylinder not far from the city and seems to have difficulty in open air and sunlight. Dalthius is known to be friendly and helpful, as well as widely liked and the first to leap to the city’s defence. There are occasional murmurings, though, that Dalthius’s friendly nature hides a much darker secret, and that they are nowhere near as pleasant as they appear.
3. Fungi are the only things that grow in the Amorphous Fields, of types not found elsewhere, and whilst some are poisonous, others have valuable medicinal effects. It’s rumoured that some of the fungi are predatory as well, putting to sleep living creatures with spores, then feeding off their corpses.
4. Only a few people live in the unstable terrain of the Amorphous Fields and most outsiders consider them insane. The inhabitants know the routes across the terrain that are, mostly, safe, and live in areas of continuously stable ground. However, it’s rumoured that a few of these supposedly stable settlements have been swallowed up by the churning terrain, suggesting that the ground the settlements are built on is not as stable as might be believed.
5. The inhabitants of Vebar, the City of Night, an underground city in the Amorphous Fields, worship a being called Ourthalas that is said to live in the Cave of Life-Giving Shadow. It’s rumoured that this cave does exist and it’s close to Vebar, and that Ourthalas’s blind wife-priestesses know how to get there and take sacrifices of intelligent beings to feed to their god.
6. The ligoshi of the Amorphous Fields are house-sized bioluminescent jellyfish that swim in the liquid below the ground, emerging now and then when the crust breaks and floating in the air for hours. The ligoshi seem to enjoy wrapping their paralyzing tentacles around creatures, and some speculate the jellyfish may be more intelligent than they seem, doing this out of a love of cruelty.

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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.

1. Astaria in the Divided Seas has built a large membrane across the Imoros Strait which is only opened for passing ships and water transports once per day, and at a cost at that. There are rumours that Astaria is planning to increase the amount they charge to open the membrane, and counter rumours that some of those who have to use the strait are getting increasingly tired of being gouged and are seeking other methods of dealing with the tariff.
2. Halite Gabra is the current head of Our Order of the Lady of the Salt Way in the Divided Seas and used to be a member of the Order of Truth until she blinded and deafened herself following a vision. Or, at least, so it is claimed. Gabra is now said to see and hear using mechanical eyes and hearing aids, but there are rumours that perhaps she might not be as blind and death as she’s supposed to be, or that these were not self-inflicted.
3. Hayrest in the Divided Seas is a surprising centre of scholarly pursuits, which some link to the city’s large population of varjellen. There are rumours, though, that strife is increasing between certain elements of the human population and the varjellen. Should this continue, the entire city could be put at risk of internal conflict.
4. Hiberz is the nominal leader of the submerged city of Salachia in the Divided Seas. Some consider him to be the city’s saviour; others, its destroyer. The latter would happily see Hiberz dead so that they could restore the city properly, and its rumoured they have made several attempts to make this goal a reality, but so far have been unsuccessful.
5. Navae Marica in the Divided Seas is smaller and shallower than the Sere Marica but, unlike the larger sea, is a source of fresh water, rather than salt. There are rumours, though, that recently the Navae Marica’s water has started to taste slightly salty, and that the saltiness is gradually increasing over time. If it is turning to salt, this could cause a serious problem for those that rely on its fresh water.
6. Our Order of the Lady of the Salt Way in the Divided Seas like many religions considers others to be horribly misguided, though the Order is reputedly just waiting patiently for everyone else to see their truth. There’s a rumour, though, that a splinter faction of halites within the order have decided to hurry matters along a bit, by targeting followers of other religions and eliminating them; the more powerful the individual is within the religion, the better.
7. Salachia is an underwater city at the bottom of the Sere Marica in the Divided Seas. The outside of the city is covered in crystalline creatures called chiffons that inhale the carbon dioxide released by the city’s inhabitants and exhale the oxygen needed to breathe. As well as the crisis caused by the city’s diminishing population, which results in fewer chiffons being attracted, it’s also rumoured that they have recently been dying off.
8. Sere Marica in the Divided Seas is known for how hostile the environment surrounding it is to mechanical beings, as the salt is very hard on their mechanisms. It’s rumoured that the salt that appears in the Sere Marica is part of an ancient defence mechanism, one set up by a civilisation of a prior world that was under attack by mechanical foes.
9. The halites, the followers of Our Order of the Lady of the Salt Way, live on an island in the Salted Marshes of the Divided Seas. There have been rumours about members of the group possibly eating their dead, after being cured in salt, but other, darker rumours suggest that a number of travellers in the region disappear and end up on the tables of the halites where they are consumed.
10. The Sere Marica in the Divided Seas is a body of water filled with blue salts, though the water that flows into it is fresh. There’s a rumour of a vast ancient mechanism located somewhere on the bottom of the sea, one that changes the waters that enter the Sere Marica, adding the salt to them.

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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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.

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. Mining operations on the Lambent Fields of Dessanedi, the Jagged Wastes, uncovered a giant mechanical creature, whose discovery brought matters to a standstill, or at least legal activities. There are rumours of pitched fights happening on the Lambent Fields during the night, though there never appears to be any sign of large-scale conflict in the morning. Some say that this is because it isn’t happening; others that someone, or something, is removing any traces of conflict.
2. Selascor Castle is a ruin south of White Lake in Dessanedi, the Jagged Wastes, formerly home to the ruler of the area until he was hanged by his subjects after an uprising. There are rumours that those who have been near the 400-year-old ruin in recent months have seen signs of new construction at the castle, suggesting that someone has moved in again and is rebuilding the fortress.
3. Sine Picalah in Dessanedi, the Jagged Wastes, excavated a giant mechanical creature in the Lambent Fields, there have been continual problems as the city has split into different factions with different ideas as to what should be done from henceforth. There’s a rumour that, although mining operations have effectively come to a standstill, proof has been found that more of the mechanical creatures are buried beneath the fields.
4. The city of Picalah in Dessanedi, the Jagged Wastes, split into different factions following the discovery of a mechanical creature during mining operations. The four factions that formed have been fighting amongst each other and it’s rumoured this fighting is starting to become physical, not just verbal, with assassination attempts on members of opposing factions.
5. The dust of the Lambent Fields in Dessanedi, the Jagged Wastes, is multicoloured and sines int he dimmest light. It is used by the wealthy to decorate everything from their homes to their bodies. There’s a rumour, though, that sometimes those who have been in direct contact with the dust for too long start to change, as the dust has an effect on their flesh.
6. The Great Slab is a huge construct rising from the ground of Dessanedi, the Jagged Wastes. The Slab is steep-sided and a reddish black oil runs down the sides, making it impossible to climb. There are rumours that some have managed to reach the top of the Great Slab, but anyone claiming to have done so seems to disappear not long afterwards.
7. The land of Dessanedi, the Jagged Wastes, is covered with broken shards of glass, splintered from the outcroppings that form the region. Some say that the glass is not as inanimate as it sometimes appears to be. That, in parts of the wastes, the glass shards creep across the landscape, looking for creatures to enshroud and feed on.
8. The town of Yosh-ul in Dessanedi, the Jagged Wastes, is not much more than a meeting point for the nomadic tribes of the plains, though it has permanent residents as well as transitory ones. The town has a natural spring that provides water for the inhabitants and some fields of food, but there’s a rumour that the spring’s flow has become increasingly erratic of late, as if it’s on the verge of drying up. Should that happen then Yosh-ul will become uninhabitable and will have to be abandoned.
9. The Wandering Walk is a pilgrimage route through the Ninth World and parts of it pass through Dessanedi, the Jagged Wastes. The wastes are not the safest places to travel through at the best of times, but there are rumours of numerous parties of pilgrims disappearing along the route in recent months. It seems that those most likely to disappear are those new to the Walk, which might be a reasonable explanation for why they disappear, but not why the number has increased.
10. White Lake in Dessanedi, the Jagged Wastes, is a small town on the edge of a lake where ferrix turtles lay their eggs every spring. The eggs are a delicacy and the inhabitants carefully leave enough to ensure another generation every year. However, the number of eggs being laid by the turtles is reportedly decreasing year on year, meaning the number that can safely harvested each year is also declining. It could be that the turtles are dying out.

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Numenera is a game published by Monte Cook Games. Its setting is the Ninth World, and this list has eight 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. Deathwater Canyon on the edge of the Black Riage is noted for the network of huge ceramic pipes that run through it, exiting from the rock, running outside it, and then entering back in. The pipes are said to be empty, or nearly so, but recently travellers who have passed through the canyon have claimed they have heard something in some of the smaller pipes, perhaps a liquid, though no-one seems exactly sure what they heard. This has raised some concern, as many of the larger pipes are used as thoroughfares.
2. Scorpion Sanctum in the desert around the Cloudcrystal Skyfields is a place rarely visited due to the presence of chirog raiders, and that seems to be the way the residents of the Sanctum like it. There’s a rumour that whoever lives there encourages the chirog raiders to attack travellers, to ensure their own privacy and, perhaps, acquire anything of interest to them that the chirog might loot.
3. Seven families who have lived in Uxphon, built in Deathwater Canyon, the longest claim noble status and essentially rule the city. There are rumours that the families have hidden chambers beneath their manors where they hide treasures and their secrets, though none have managed to find any. There are rumours, though, that these secret chambers were not built by the nobles, but were already there and the manors built on top of them, which some believe means they could contain far more secrets than those of the families.
4. The Cloudcrystal Skyfields float in the sky to the north of the Steadfast, beyond the Tithe River. The crystalline shards continually grow, but some fall to the ground as well, littering the fields below with their shattered remnants. There are rumours that in recent months more crystals than usual have been dropping out of the sky, making passing beneath them substantially more dangerous, especially as a crystal the size of a city is almost impossible to avoid if it falls.
5. The Crowd City is a mass of millions of corpses of all types of beings beneath the Cloudcrystal Skyfields that have been fused together into a strange city, with the dead making buildings, streets and the other structures of a city. Even stranger, the city frequently moves position, though usually very slowly. Some believe that the Crowd City’s movement has meaning, and that the patterns reveal some insight, though nobody seems to know what.
6. The Unseen Lake in the Cloudcrystal Skyfields is a lake of invisible water, though it will regain a more normal appearance after a few days, unless tightly sealed in a container. There’s a rumour that the lake’s water can be used to make a concoction that will render the imbiber invisible as well, and more than one thief, assassin or spy, or those who employ such, has tried to find out how this can be done.
7. There are people rumoured to be living beneath a small lake to the far west of the Skyfields, in a place called Deep Vormask. The inhabitants are said to have access to a strange, odd technology that is only found within the caverns and doesn’t work anywhere else. A Nano plans to lead an expedition to Deep Vormask in an attempt to discover just what this technology is. By the sounds of it, the Nano isn’t bothered about how they go about this.
8. Uxphon in the Cloudcrystal Skyfields is known for its slave market and in particular its gladiatorial arena, where slave combatants fight each other, as well as beasts, with the most successful of these gaining not only their freedom but also gaining wealth. There’s a rumour that the arena has put out a call for something different. That they are seeking new beasts to fight that are more than a little unusual. It’s said that the arena isn’t really bothered what, just as long as they’re something previously unseen.

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 eight 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. Archeol is a miniature city within the Caecilian Jungle, where the buildings rise no higher than the knee of a human. Those who have visited the city say that it is clearly inhabited, but the inhabitants have not been seen as yet. One Nao has postulated that the city is a reflection of an ultraterrestrial city, one that is in fact full size, and that its inhabitants can only be seen by travelling to their home dimension, something the Nano is hoping to achieve.
2. It’s said that an immense, frog-like beast lurks somewhere within the Caecilian Jungle, preying on any creature that ventures too close to its home. The creature reputedly despises everything else and considers trespassers as nothing more than food waiting to be eaten. There are no first-hand accounts of this beast, because no-one is said to have survived the encounter.
3. Le Temple de Frogue is one of the locations of interest said to be within the Caecilian Jungle and is said to be a fertility symbol, a giant temple constructed in the shape of a humanoid frog. There are rumours of strange beings lurking in the region of the temple, creatures of mud and flesh and frogs, and it’s said that sometimes these creatures venture away from the temple, seeking new people to incorporate into more of their kind.
4. Mechanical creatures lurk in the Caecilian Jungle waiting for the foolish to enter so that they can be preyed upon. There are rumours that some of these creatures are more impatient, and unwilling to wait for prey to approach them. Instead, they raid out from the jungle at settlements and camps in the surrounding region.
5. Scattered on the edges of the Caecilian Jungle are a number of makeshift camps that have been set up by those who decided not to proceed any further into the jungle, instead stopping and selling supplies, maps and equipment to those who do proceed. There are rumours that some of these camps are more dangerous to visit than others, for the inhabitants of these camps deliberately send people astray, to be robbed, sold into slavery or killed.
6. The Caecilian Jungle is known for the strange creatures that can be found it, including, reportedly, carnivorous plants that have been enhanced. There are rumours, though, that some of these plants managed to escape from where they were being kept penned up and are now spreading out into the rest of the jungle and, perhaps, even beyond it.
7. The Malingering Valley in the Caecilian Jungle is filled with cold springs that sometimes erupt in cold water and ice steam. One of the things that the eruptions may produce is small creatures carried up from the bowels of the earth. It’s said that sometimes these are things that have never been seen before, and sometimes a hefty reward is said to be offered by interested parties for any creatures recovered that have never been previously encountered.
8. The Westwind is a tornado within the Caecilian Jungle that is in constant movement, and can carry away anything from a small animal to a tree. The Westwind constantly changes its size, but there’s a rumour that recently it has only been getting larger, never smaller again. It’s also said that the Westwind’s movement has become more purposeful of late, as if being directed by something.

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 eight 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. Bands of human nomads roam the Plains of Kataru. Recently, some of the bands have taken to raiding other tribes and settlements of the plains. This is reportedly starting to become more serious, as one tribe is adding members of those it defeats in battle to its own strength, which will quickly make it the most powerful tribe in the region, if not stopped one way or another, able to conquer everyone else.
2. In the middle of a field of white stones on the Plains of Kataru is a structure called the Orgorek. On occasion, those who fiddle with the hatches of the structure are attacked by whiplike tendrils that come out of the interior. The touch of the tendrils burns flesh, and some say that, if they kill a living creature, that creature will be turned into something neither alive nor dead, neither organic nor machine, but under the control of the Orgorek.
3. Needlestorms are winds of the Plains of Kataru that gather up shards of glass, and those exposed to such storms can get cut to ribbons by the needles and fragments. There’s a rumour that needlestorms are not entirely random in their nature; that they seem to follow some sort of pattern, almost as if they were, at least partially, under the control of something.
4. Small towns and aldeia dot the Plains of Kataru, primarily farming communities that occasionally trade with caravans from the Steadfast. Recently, there have been reports that a number of the smaller communities have been destroyed, though it isn’t known who by. At best, all that has been left are smoking ruins. At worst, the settlement has vanished completely, with no sign it ever existed.
5. The Ausren Woods of the Plains of Kataru are a forest of purple trees found nowhere else. The trees have a purple fruit that travellers are advised not to eat. There’s a rumour that someone went into the woods to harvest this fruit and bring it out, for some unknown, but probably inadvisable, purpose.
6. The Beanstalk on the Plains of Kataru is a tower of metal and glass that continues up into the sky as a thin stalk, 10′ wide but only a few inches thick. The stalk seems to disappear into the sky. Recently, there have been rumours that the stalk has been vibrating, as if something unimaginable was shaking it, and that the vibration seems to be increasing as if something is getting closer.
7. The Empty Machine on the Plains of Kataru is a huge structure embedded in the ground. Many hatchways exist and more entrances have been cut inside, though the interior lacks anything but the leftovers of those who have made a home in the machine over the years. Recently, though, there have been rumours of changes in the machine, of lights blinking on and off both inside and out, and the occasional sounds of mechanisms trying to start up.
8. The Plains of Kataru are known for their terrible storms that engulf the land, particularly in spring months. It’s rumoured that both the frequency and severity of these storms has been increasing over the past few years, making the land far more dangerous than it used to be.

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. 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.