Even those who specialize in studying numenera, such as Aeon Priests or Nanos, have only an inkling of what they are for. After all, what is magic if not the ability to bend reality to one’s will in fantastic ways via the application of secret knowledge? As befitting their arcane status, Ninth World inhabitants who use numemera often have no idea about their intended function. While many Nanos (the casters of the Ninth World) would balk at such a description, it is not altogether inaccurate. Clark’s third law that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”, the numenera are often seen as magical beings and objects of power by the inhabitants of the Ninth World. Perhaps the one thing all numenera have in common is that they are all examples of what might be considered the supernatural. From arcane devices to killer cyborgs and bioengineered monsters, numenera come in many forms. Numenera is a catch-all term for the hyper-advanced technology that exists everywhere in the Ninth World. Above all, the most ubiquitous danger to humans in the Beyond and elsewhere is also their greatest source of security and survival: the numenera.Īs the title of the game suggests, the beating heart of the setting is the numemera. Savage beasts, rogue automatons, hostile mutants, bestial abhumans, transdimensional ultraterrestrials, uncanny extraterrestrials, and transmogrifying clouds of nanites are an ever-present threat to unwary explorers.
Surrounding these isolated human villages are dangers untold. The Beyond is a vast wilderness where isolated human communities attempt to survive among the ruins of previous ages.
The landmasses of the Ninth World are consolidated in the form of a single supercontinent, and the vast majority of the world is unexplored territory, called the Beyond. The Aeon Priests devote their lives to understanding the numenera in order to aid the young human civilization gain a more secure foothold in the Ninth world. These kingdoms are united into a single human civilization by a religion called the Order of Truth, whose clergy, called Aeon Priests, are dedicated to uncovering the knowledge of the ancient past. Within the Steadfast are nine kingdoms, each comprised of a handful of cities and a plethora of agrarian communities. Since their mysterious reappearance, humans have managed to create roughly medieval societies in a small corner of the world called the Steadfast. Humanity, long extinct, inexplicably reappeared about 900 years ago and the humans themselves are unaware of their origins. The primary inhabitants of the Ninth World are humans. It is among the remnants of these civilizations that the inhabitants of the current age, called the Ninth World, are left to forge their destiny. It is also apparent that at least some of these civilizations were not human. At least some of these civilizations had the power to terraform planets, alter the course of celestial bodies, build a galactic empire, explore other dimensions, and suffuse the world with nanites capable of reshaping matter and energy at will. Little is known for certain about the nature of these civilizations or the fate of their inhabitants, save for what may be inferred from what they have left behind. Eight great civilizations have come and gone in that time, leaving evidence of their grandeur behind in the form of numenera incomprehensible technologies and objects of power that provide testament to the might and achievements of these prior worlds. The setting of Numenera takes place on Earth, approximately one billion years in the future. When fully fleshed out, the resultant setting can only be described as incredibly weird, in the best possible way. Heavily influenced by the science-fantasy fiction of authors such as Jack Vance and Gene Wolf, Numenera posits a far future Earth wherein a re-emergent humanity seeks to establish itself amongst a landscape populated by dangerous creatures, alien beings, and the wondrous remnants of past civilizations. Every once in a while, you come across a game that has such a cool premise that it immediately takes precedence on the list of TTRPGs you’re looking to play. I recently discovered Numenera while searching for post-apocalyptic games and fiction (one of my favorite genres). As I mentioned in the article on the Cypher System, Numenera is a critically acclaimed science-fantasy TTRPG published by Monte Cook Games. This week I will look at the game that the Cypher System was derived from: Numenera. Greetings gamers! Three weeks ago, we took a look at the game mechanics of the generic TTRPG, the Cypher System.
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