Numenera Discovery
No one knows where the tall, mysterious philethis come from. Some people think they might be the remaining inhabitants of a prior world, as they seem to have a far greater mastery of numenera than do most creatures alive today. No human has seen the entire body of a philethis and reported what they saw, but the glimpses noted to date suggest a biomechanical hybrid form. Typically what is seen is a metal and glass "face" surrounded by voluminous cloaks.
Other speculation about the philethis includes claims that they are entirely robotic, they are ultraterrestrial extrusions into this world, and their "face" is actually a viewport for a creature beyond space and time. Most theories about their nature don't even guess at what their goals or motivations might be. They appear when and where they want to, and they usually seem to observe events from a distance (although another theory suggests that they influence the events somehow).
A typical philethis interaction might go as follows.
Human: Who are you and what are you doing here?
Philethis: The moon is full, and the roses will bloom in 437 hours.
Human: What are you talking about?
Philethis: When you were eleven years old and playing with that ball, why did you bounce it three times against the wall but four times against the ground?
Human: How do you know anything about when I was a child?
Philethis: The galaxies will collide soon. We must prepare.
Motive: Unknown
Environment: Anywhere
Health: 30
Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (5 points)
Armor: 4
Movement: Short
Modifications: Defends as level 6. Defends against mental attack as
level 8
Combat: Philethis seldom engage in combat. When they do, they are likely to produce a mysterious numenera weapon—perhaps some kind of energy emitter, or maybe something of a more psychic nature that disrupts thought processes. However, because a philethis can teleport any distance, it usually just teleports away when threatened.
Although unlikely to do so in combat, a philethis can also modify probability in small ways, such as making a rope break, causing a gust of wind to close a door, and so forth. They do this to manipulate events in their favor. If the manipulation affects a PC, the GM can force the character to reroll a die at any time. (It also begs for frequent GM Intrusions.)
Interaction: Philethis are not automatically hostile. If engaged in conversation, they might respond in their strange, machinelike voices, speaking in the native language of whomever they talk to. However, such interchanges usually make a philethis more enigmatic rather than less. Their explanations for things rarely make sense, and the questions they ask seem unrelated to anything going on around them.
Use: Philethis are meant to be an enigma. Players should never fully understand the creatures, and if they believe that they do, something should happen to show that they are wrong. Moreover, the PCs should find out at odd times and in odd ways that the philethis are involved—or at least appear to be involved—in surprising situations. Are they just observing, or are they manipulating events somehow? And if so, why? The quest for this knowledge could be the basis for an entire campaign.
Loot: Philethis always have 1d6 cyphers and an artifact of some kind.
GM Intrusion: Something unexpected and unpredictable happens when the philethis is near. The event is small, but it results in a significant change. For example, the PC slips and falls into a pit, suffering damage, but then finds something of great interest in the pit.