Ruins are an important worldbuilding feature because they provide a sense of history. Unless your story starts on an entirely new planet, there will always be reminders of civilisations or creatures that came before. These kinds of details are what makes a landscape feel rich, as well as inspiring deeper curiosity.
Good Ruins Names
Any structure can become a ruin, given enough time. So you don’t need to stick to religious buildings, though those certainly make for spooky ruins. Once you’ve chosen the site, you can add flair by hinting at the circumstances that led to the area’s fall, or any spirits that still stalk the remains.
- Fort of the Forsaken
- Gloaming Graves
- The Tainted Tumulus
- Caustic Catacombs
- Fort of the Deserter
- Barrow of the Bat
- Sunken Undercroft
- The Forgotten Graves
- Peeling Palace
Abandoned Lover’s Arch
This arch was once the centerpiece of a celebrated wedding chapel, until a jilted bride refused to leave the grounds. Her enduring love can be seen in the verdant plant life wreathing the brickwork, springing from the bone-rich soil.
- The Corroded Citadel
- Torched Tumulus
- Doorless Vaults
- The Fool’s Fortress
- Endless Graves
- The Unburnt Hearth
- Desolate Donjon
- The Reliquary
- Mossy Mound
- The Unkept Keep
Mausoleum of the Miners
Only when the surrounding hills began to erode did this mass burial site emerge. The scattered tools and rotten buttresses send a powerful message of the disposability of the worker.
- Ghost’s Kiss Crypt
- Giant’s Chessboard
- The Century’s Last Stand
- Shipwreck Hollow
- Twilight Towers
- The Unmarked Graves
- Tomb at the End of Time
- The Abandoned Altar
- Burnt Barrows
- The Watery Graves
Calypso’s Crypt
An edifice of sunken stone, encrusted with coral of every hue. Creatures of the sea dart happily between the fallen pillars, unaffected by the crypt’s dark call.
- The Decimated Fort
- Faded Glory Hall
- Hallowed Hollow
- The Rotten Rooms
- Unfinished Palace
- Grave of the Glaive
- The Barren Barrow
- Castaway’s Castle
- The Deserted Post
- Sunken Vaults
Library of Ashes
No greater warning against the power of kings remains than the Library of Ashes. With a single order, thousands of years of accumulated knowledge were reduced to cinders that still seem to hang in the air.
- Solitary Gate
- Citadel of the Fallen Order
- Abandoned Alcazar
- The Decayed Doors
- Unburnt Undercroft
- Fallowed Fortress
- Altar of the Jilted Lover
- Glaring Sepulchre
- The Screeching City
- Chateau of the Shamed Baron
The Flooded Ballroom
Rotting drapes and the peeling remains of garish paint line the walls of this tragic site. Locals speculate that the ravaging flood came at the hand of a God, angered by the decadence displayed in these halls.
- Buried Barrow
- The Howling Halls
- Catacombs of the Condor
- Doomed Donjon
- Time-Honoured Tomb
- Mausoleum of Mirrors
- Giant’s Graves
- Outpost in the Fog
- Tumulus in the Tempest
- The Shambolic Chateau
Naming these ruins has inspired me to add some to my next fantasy landscape, they can really add some atmosphere! Which ones are your favorites? Let me know in the comments and share with anyone else who likes to add a bit of spooky flair to their stories!