[Index]
Numenera Destiny
A ryn's 20-foot (6 m) tall, tower-like body seems as if it has always been there, just one more broken machine housing that no one had ever previously paid any mind to. However, when it unfolds its many metallic arms and collecting probes, which then further split into smaller and smaller tendrils with sharp edges for fine manipulation, it's obvious that the ryn is something new—or at the very least, its behavior is. The ryn uses its manipulator arms to snatch objects of interest, salvage iotum from nearby sources, and abduct living creatures who get too close for further study.
Once a ryn has what it needs, it folds all its implements (and stolen items and kidnapped victims) back into a single tower, becoming once more a feature of the background with nothing special to mark it from its surroundings. From time to time, in a process taking several hours, a ryn can teleport itself to another location, usually at least 100 miles (160 km) away, fading to nothingness and subtly appearing elsewhere.
Ryns vary in size but can reach heights of 30 feet (9 m) and widths of 10 feet (3 m).
Motive: Hungers for iotum
Environment: Almost anywhere
Health: 25
Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (7 points)
Armor: 4
Movement: Immobile
Modifications: Speed defense as level 2 due to size and immobility
Combat: A ryn inflicts damage with its sharp manipulator arms and tendrils. A victim who takes damage from a tendril must succeed on a Might defense task or be caught and immobilized, wrapped in several metallic coils composed of those same tendrils. A caught target takes 7 points of damage each round until it can escape. A victim who doesn't escape before the ryn decides to fade to some other location may never be seen again, depending on how well the victim fares in whatever location the ryn transfers to (typically at some hidden location within 10 miles [15 km] of where the victim was taken).
Each time a ryn gains an iotum, it drains the energy from it, adding points to its health equal to the iotum's level, even if this exceeds the creature's normal maximum.
A ryn manifestation eventually fades, especially if the entity's health becomes dangerously low. When this happens, what was previously an active and dangerous mechanism seems to be no more than a broken machine, incapable of acting in the ways a ryn can.
Interaction: If allowed to disassemble an installation, vehicle, or other salvage source in peace, a ryn may choose to leave living creatures alone, though sometimes it becomes interested in characters who carry cyphers and artifacts anyway.
Use: Reports of a vanishing tower have become common around the community, as have episodes of vandalism where someone has partly disassembled community installations and removed iotum.
Loot: A ryn that's defeated before its manifestation fades can be salvaged for 1d6 cyphers or three rolls on the Iotum Result Table.
GM Intrusion: The character mistakes a ryn for a wall or inert ower to lean against or walk past without noticing it stir to life.