Rumors and Urban Legends

This is the reason why so many go missing in Lumen City.
This page will have all urban legends, city-wide rumors, and other plot hooks for in-game exploration or backstory information. Feel free to ask me for any, but please don't spam me with tik tok videos. They're funny but I value what few brain cells I have left.

Urban Legends

This will be more about regional stories and more on the mythical/folkloric side
I want to make it clear that this campaign is not supposed to be Scooby Doo. If you find these hooks interesting, I can promise the hunt for urban legends will become a lot less mysterious and spooky the moment the real story kicks off and anything here will be linked in some way to the bigger picture in a non-spoopy, non-"Curse You Meddling Kids" kind of way.

The Kóoshdaa káa

The Kóoshdaa káa are an urban legend described as were-otters who immitate children to lure people close to the ocean. Legends of these beasts originate from northern rural Lumen along the coast; it originated as folklore from the indigenous Lumen peoples and spread as a cryptid throughout coastal Lumen. The Kóoshdaa káa are mostly described as malicious beings, but there are stories of these shifters saving the shipwrecked or luring people to riches or other discoveries. Most benevolent versions involve the Kóoshdaa káa assisting children. The overwhelming majority of stories are malicious, and read like horror stories akin to kelpies or sirens. In most lore, they are warded off by copper and are afraid of dogs.

The Lumen Terror

Umbral terrors are real monstrosities that have shaken the city in the past, though their conception has caused many to wonder if a light-aligned alternative is possible. There are legends of a beast created by an uncorrupted Lumen Vigil and their Familiar, a Lumen Terror, but no such creature has been spotted or recorded with substantial evidence. It is theoretically possible, but no force of light yet encountered would willingly subject a Lumen Vigil to such a horrific life. Urban legend says that there is such a beast in existence today, but the only evidence of this are a few shaky witnesses to monsters that could fit a number of more likely labels.

The 27 Club

The 27 Club is an urban legend based on the statistically anomalous frequency of popular musicians and artists dieing at the age of 27. In Lumen City, this specifically reffers to the conspiracy that popular musicians and artists are assassinated at 27 due to the myth, and that there is a group responsible for such actions in the city since so many popular artists and musicians find their fame in Lumen City. There's little solid evidence to back up the statistical anomaly other than morbid coincidence, and there are plenty of artists who survive the daunting year, but it is still joked about frequently.

Bandage Man

Bandage Man is a legend of a man who was horrifically mauled during a city attack while attempting to protect his family. The real man in this legend, Henry Waylon, was horribly scarred and confirmed dead shortly after the event, but an internet creepypasta (accompanied by a picture of the man wrapped in bandages on a stretcher) popularized the urban legend that his ghost torments midnight drivers in the area of the attack (north of Lasha High School). Namely, he is known to slash tires if you stop at a gas station in the area in order to stalk and kill the driver/passengers, resulting in several gas stations in the area going out of business.

Beast of Yaza

The Beast of Yaza is the legend of a wild-shaping druid who became stuck in a half-wild shaped form due to a mishap with a planar portal and, over time, lost their humanity and sentience. They are described as a large cat-like being with alien features who stalks the park and hunts unsuspecting park-goers at night. Some versions of the legend even state that the beasts only hunts between midnight and six in the morning, with any attacks abruptly ending at six and the beast being impossible to find at any other time.

The Golden Man

The Golden Man is a colelction of stories surrounding a man who appears in dreams and offers wishes, salvation, or aid to those he visits. He is described to be glwoing gold, shimmering, or otherwise dressed in gold, hence the name. The conspiracy surrounding his existence states that all stories involving a person of this description are the same being, despite most tellings being written off as religious ("an angel visited me" or otherwise), hysteria, or wishful projection (like someone saying "I think I saw the golden man...!" simply because they know of the stories). The city founder Ebeneezer Lucian was the first historical record of any person saying the name "Golden Man", and he was as fascinated by this entity as many conspiracy theorists today (though there is evidence to suggest that this "Golden Man" was a result of mental stress). He erected a statue in Rami Park dedicated to the Golden Man, which still stands today covered in ivy.

Mackenzie Poltergeist

The Mackenzie poltergeist is a ghost story detailing the image of a young girl who terrorizes children and teenagers who engage in popular media works or anime. Tales of the ghost tell that she becomes defensive of certain characters in the media of choice and the only way to drive her off is to finish the book, show, or movie being targetted and swear to the ghost that you will leave the characters alone. The creepypasta detailing the Mackenzie Poltergeist that became popular on the internet is a video using a strained text-to-speech voice explaining that if you do not share the video, she will haunt you next.

Wanderlust Infection

Wanderlust Infection is a theory surrounding several dissapearances in Lumen City due to people "simply wandering off". It is supposed to explain all the unexplained dissapearances at once, describing each missing person case as a case of the wanderlust infection, that the person was willed away by some mind-altering disease never to be seen again. This theory came about when an individual who was declared missing was discovered alive a mile from the city limits, covered in strange scaring and with no recolection of how they got there or why. Another individual several decades later was discovered with the same scars and the same memory loss. Thus, the conspiracy of a disease that scars your body and your mind and forces you to wander, limiting you to animalistic instincts to survive and evade civilization. More likely, these instances are both a result of intense Sunburn abuse (see in Rumors below) as the symptoms are very similar.

Northern Bone Snatcher

The Northern Bone Snatcher is a creature rumored to hunt in northern Jahiri. Popularized on the internet after a mysterious pile of bones was discovered with no known identity, the legend goes that a man became cursed by the natives living on a nearby reservation after he disrespected the land. Several days later, hikers found the pile of bones, and a mysterious beast came out of the woods to "snatch the bones" right in front of the hikers. This legend inspired the movie "Bone Snatcher" by Jason Wolfsohn.

Rumors

this will be more about NPCs and/or less mythical stories

The Wynnes

The Wynnes are the large family behind Avalon Corporation (see here at the bottom) who have held control over the business for generations. The rumors surrounding the family are vast; there is discussion about whether or not the Wynne family has direct control over the city's politics, there's discussion about whether or not every company secretly answers to Avalon, there's talk that the current head of the company Thomas Wynne is secretly immportal, and beyond that there's conspiracies that the family is full of immortals like vampires or fey that have a supernatural hold over the city. The family denies any claims of immortality, mega monopolization, and interference in politics beyond "lawful campaigning".

Lone Mercenaries

Vigilantism isn't unheard of in a city built around the concept of Vigils, but those that hide themselves and work alone are more scarce and often worry the general population. A Vigil afraid to show themselves may not be a Vigil at all, and may have their own morals and code of honor that do not reflect the city's best interests. There are plenty of stories of lone mercenaries, some who have been brought to light as civilians trying to do the right thing or Vigils without a team sticking to their pledge alone, but many more have been left unexplained and vigilantics still regularly occur in Lumen City.

Yen Sid's Sunburn

Yen Sid, an old man living in the slums of Gwenneg, is known by the LCU population to be the best source of "Sunburn", an adderal-type drug that heightens the focus, boosts memory retention, and information recall. It is rumored to be a magical substance, but Yen Sid denies his association with the drug around any news reporters or officers.
Those that take the drug often suffer from a burning sensation around the neck and mouth after injesting the substance, hence the name. Sunburn abusers can be identified by scarring on the skin around the neck and mouth, spreading outwards with more intense usage. Abuse of the drug can also negate the positive affects; after too much use, the user can experience memory loss and difficulty focusing while not under the influence of the drug.

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