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. Farond, the mayor of Omar in the Sea Kingdom of Ghan, is a tough individual who maintains order in her equally tough town using a suit of ancient armour and its devastating numenera weapons. There’s a rumour, though, that Farond is quietly seeking out people familiar with that sort of armour, as reputedly it’s starting to fail and becoming less effective. Without the armour, Mayor Farond will have much greater difficulty maintaining order.
2. It’s been said that King Laird, the ruler of the Sea Kingdom of Ghan, hasn’t been seen in public in some time. Some are claiming that the king is very ill; others that he’s actually died and his advisors are ruling in his stead. Most citizens of the Sea Kingdom, whilst loyal to the king, dislike a heavy-handed government and, should the king truly be unable to rule or dead, as long as whoever is doing so in his stead doesn’t alter the current situation, they may well go along with it.
3. Keford is a lumber town in the Sea Kingdom of Ghan and the lumberjacks of Keford frequently cross into Navarene to harvest wood from the Westwood, as there is no firm border. Navarene does patrol the woods, and sometimes the lumberjacks and soldiers come into conflict. Recently, a number of parties on both sides, lumberjacks and soldiers alike, have disappeared in the woods without a trace. Both Navarene and Ghan seem to think the other is responsible.
4. King Laird, the ruler of the Sea Kingdom of Ghan, lives in the Coral Palace in the City of Bridges, taking up most of one platform and provides a location for the king’s personal ships to dock. Recently, those close to the palace have said that access to it has been greatly restricted, with outsiders being searched before entering and leaving, and that there has been a substantial increase in the guard presence.
5. Massive humanoid statues float above the Sea Kingdom of Ghan, ancient war machines that have done nothing but float above the hills, never travelling far from their origin point. They have floated for so long that most don’t pay them much attention any longer. Recently, though, some of the inhabitants of the region have claimed that they have seen signs of activity from some of the machines. Not much, little more than twitches or lights, but they seem to suggest that the war machines are coming back to life somehow.
6. Omar in the Sea Kingdom of Ghan is a mining town whose miners cut away metal from an ancient structure below the surface, which can then be reforged, though not easily. The metal, known as omaroa or azure steel, is in great demand, but there are rumours that recently supplies have started to become scarcer. It’s been said that the miners have run into trouble, perhaps an ancient defence mechanism that is objecting to the intruders and attacking them.
7. The City of Bridges is the capital of the Sea Kingdom of Ghan, though truthfully the construction is not in Ghan itself, but stretches out into the sea, a series of metal platforms joined together by a web of bridges. The platforms are constructed from materials from prior world and, until now, have proven perfectly safe. There’s a rumour, though, that some of the material of which the city is constructed has started to rapidly fail. Should this not be stopped, then the city may have to have large parts replaced, or perhaps even abandoned.
8. The lumber town of Keford in the Sea Kingdom of Ghan is known for the constant, and deafening, noise that can constantly be heard by everyone except, oddly, those that are blind. The sound is deafening enough that those who can hear it find it troublesome, and there are rumours that the sound is both growing louder and that the area in which it can be heard is growing in size.
9. The Sea Kingdom of Ghan maintains its position primarily through the leverage of its vast merchant fleet. With the ships being merchant ships, they are not an immediate military threat to any other nation, but they could also be converted to naval vessels if need be. The merchant fleet is also a vital part of the economy of the Steadfast; loss of it would cause damage to the trade routes that the other kingdoms depend on. In recent months, losses amongst the merchant fleet have apparently been higher than normal. More vessels are being lost, and lost without a trace, than is usual. It could be that a foreign power is attempting to reduce the fleet’s utility, harming the Sea Kingdom and, perhaps, the other nations of the Steadfast as well.
10. There are rumours of a chain of islands leagues to the west of the Steadfast, and King Laird of the Sea Kingdom of Ghan is said to be preparing an expedition to head to those islands to discover if they are as rumoured. Some say that the expedition has actually happened, and that the fleet discovered something extremely unusual, perhaps extremely dangerous, and that its discovery is being covered up until a course of action can be decided on.

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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. Bodrov in Navarene is an unusual city, being built on top of a strange rock formation. It resembles a round table with a single leg more than anything. Though the city is extremely defensible, and can house nearly ten times as many people as it currently does, the difficulty of getting supplies to the top has restrained its growth. There’s a rumour that a means of more easily shipping supplies to the city is being investigated, via some sort of ancient mechanism, and that if this is achieved, the city will grow substantially.
2. Charmonde, the capital of Navarene, is protected by four fortresses, each of which has a powerful and ancient device that can emit a standing field that inflicts pain, and eventually death, on anyone who tries to cross the barrier. The devices have not been used in living memory, but there’s a rumour that recently they’ve started briefly activating all by themselves, without being switched on.
3. For years, people feared the Westwood, believing it to be the haunt of ghosts and beasts, but the citizens of Navarene have started claiming the forest for their own, cutting down trees, building roads and clearing land for farming. They have met opposition which, until now, has been the creatures called the colovas. However, more recently there have been rumours of something else stirring in the region, and of strange disappearances, leading some to believe the tales of ghosts were not as far-fetched as is now commonly thought.
4. In the Westwood on Navarene’s coastline is a huge tree known simply as the Emperor of the Green, substantially taller than any other tree and of a different species. Occasionally, some attempt to travel to the tree, but the journey can be dangerous. Recently, the survivors of one party returned, claiming that they couldn’t find the tree. Most think they simply got lost but some wonder how they could have failed to see a tree of the Emperor’s size.
5. Queen Armalu, the ruler of Navarene, lives in Empiternal House, her palace in the capital city of Charmonde, and has not left there for years. Anyone wishing to visit the queen must pass through a whole series of stringent checks, something that, in combination with other procedures, has apparently allowed the queen for 253 years. Yet there are mutterings that none of that is true. That the elaborate procedures and protections are intended to cover up the truth, and add an air of mystery, that the queen died many years ago and the current Queen Armalu is merely the latest successor.
6. The Emols, a noble family of Navarene, own a machine called the Dark Smoker that cuts down and processes the trees of the Westwood at a tremendous rate. The Dark Smoker requires constant maintenance to keep it going, both because of how jury-rigged the machine and because of constant attacks by culovas. Recently, though, the Dark Smoker has been suffering from an increasing number of problems, failing with greater regularity, in some cases injuring those working on it. The Emols suspect sabotage.
7. The Empiternal House in Charmonde, home of Queen Armalu, the ruler of Navarene, is also called the House of a Thousand Slaves, as that is said to be the exact number of slaves that the queen has in the palace. There’s a rumour that this is also the number of slaves that the queen goes through each year, some being simply worn out but many of the others dying, fuel for whatever means the queen uses to extend her life.
8. The northern portion of Navarene is filled with fortresses south of the Tithe River that are used to defend the border from the Beyond, and are important given that the Amber Pope has declared war on the lands to the north. Queen Armalu has been attempting to get the other eight kingdoms to help subsidise these fortresses, but they are reluctant, fearing that they may be funding a potential invasion of their own realms. It’s even been said that the Amber Pope has been duped by Queen Armalu into declaring war on a non-existent foe, simply to raise funding for her own army.
9. The Vacant Palace in Bodrov in Navarene was constructed by a now long-dead suitor of Queen Armalu as a place for the queen to retreat to in time of war or calamity. Queen Armalu never leaves her chambers in Empiternal House, and has never set foot in the palace, though the suitor’s estate still maintains it as if the queen could arrive there any day. There’s a rumour that the estate also hides a secret in the palace, one that the suitor never shared with anyone else, something that could perhaps interest the queen, were she to find out the truth.
10. There’s a ruin in Navarene whose mirror image can be seen in the sky, though there are some differences. For one, the image is always in winter, no matter what the season, and for another, the inhabitants don’t seem quite human. There’s a rumour that recently the ruin itself has started to take on some of the characteristics of the mirror image. Snow has been seen on the ruin outside of winter and some claim to have spied some of the inhabitants of the mirror image in the ruin on the ground as well.

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