Story Seed - The Rings

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The rings hovered, motionless, drawing heat from the vents below. Like so many of the numenera, they seemed to defy natural law. They did not move, did not age, they ignored storm and sun. The rings even failed to cast shadows, perversely casting doubt on their very substance, and yet if one had the means one could touch them, and prove them solid and real.

The people of the region shunned them for these reasons, and so they were alone more often than not, quietly drawing heat from the earth.  That heat never seemed to change the rings, those that had touched them found them to be almost cool to the touch and possessing a texture that was difficult to describe, neither metal nor stone or synth. The heat that passes from earth to the rings is sufficient to reduce a bird to ash and cinder.

The rings seem to have an endless appetite for the warmth of the earth; what purpose could such things have?