Relentless Rumor
Value: 3
Secrets • Ravens • Books • Flame
Meanings: Endless, half-truths, incessant drives, ruthlessness
There is never a real truth in whispered rumors. Searching for authenticity amid the clandestine, furtive words of a rumor is a fruitless task. And yet still we try. We listen.
Despite the lack of complete veracity, though, this rumor is relentless. It cannot die, and a living rumor is one not just told and told again, but believed and believed again.
Addiction and relentless drives are a part of this. Needs and compulsions are strong motivators and they never stop pushing.
Divination: Relentless Rumor suggests an ongoing action. If one is hoping for resolution, there’s none to be found here. It also indicates that there’s something involved—a fact, a person, a device, a spell—that cannot be entirely relied upon.
Game Narrative: An NPC shares a rumor. An NPC chooses not to quit. Something turns out to not be entirely true. An NPC is addicted to something. An NPC acts ruthlessly.
Joy: The PC learns something that might be of real value amid other information that isn’t true. An NPC refuses to quit, to the PC’s betterment.
Despair: An NPC refuses to quit, to the PC’s detriment (or the NPC’s own, if they are important to the PC). Something the PC was relying on turns out to be only partially true or partially functional. Something the PC is using becomes addictive.
She didn’t want to hear what he had to say, but she couldn’t stop herself from listening.