Ruins of the Lakes Region

Exploring a ruin, there are some things you should keep a wary eye out for. Giant spiders have been known to nest in any reasonably dry, sheltered area, places where something truly awful happened tend to generate undead by the score, and the people who lived there might have had creative thoughts when it came to home defence. If you find a place that’s pretty well picked-over, it’s disappointing but safe. If there’s treasure still to be found, the cautious wanderer might well ask… ‘why?’

• Antillicus Bosch, Exploring Other People’s Basements (1873 A.T.)

The Lakes Region is famously honeycombed with ruins dating back through the war-torn history of Ariel, as generations of peoples of all species have found their way to the banks of the lakes and seen the opportunities made available by access to large, (mostly) fresh water lakes, teeming with fish and surrounded by fertile soil. The oldest of these ruins predate the Tear, a strange mystical event about which details are scarce, which ended the Golden Age of Magic.

Of course, not all ruins are as old as that; a building can become a ruin if left untended for even a short amount of time, with finery turning to faded glory after even brief neglect. Nevertheless, the storied ruins – the ones which are rumoured to hold treasure and even rare magical items – tend to date back to earlier times, often holding rarities as a part of a double-service to holding the final resting places of heroes of legend, or at least their abandoned experiments in magical craft.

In addition to holding monsters – the unquiet dead, nesting wildlife, and dedicated guardians – ruins are often dotted with traps; these impediments are either designed to deter incautious explorers, or may even be accidentally created, perils resting against doors and in poorly supported roofs, which prove just as dangerous as intentional deadfalls and death traps.

Golden Age Ruins

The oldest and rarest of ruins, the basements of ancient buildings, crypts holding the bones of the long-forgotten dead, and magical hideaways where wonders of a now lost age were forged. While ruins dating back to the Golden Age will sometimes contain writing, they refer to peoples and places that are difficult to positively connect to any known historical figures or locations, and maps describe a landmass that is different in terrain and description than the continent of Ariel.

Golden Age ruins are often magically rich, sometimes with magical items, and sometimes with features of the buildings themselves, which may suggest magical conveniences were more common during this bygone era. Some of these amenities still work, but the most resilient seem to be security measures, in the forms of magical barriers, anti-magic corridors, and animated statues prepared to bludgeon unwary explorers. Some of these ruins also contain fabrications and technology that far exceeds what can currently be produced by master artisans.

Empire of Lannick Ruins

The first Human Emperor of the recorded era, Lannick‘s empire was short-lived, but extremely martial, leading to the construction of redoubts and fortifications, the bones of which still dot the countryside. In dungeons deep, ghosts of those that fell to the ambition of Lannick and his generals still walk, and the treasures collected by his armies are still rumoured to lurk in undiscovered shadowy halls. Although not all of these treasures were necessarily produced by the Empire, to the victors went the spoils, and so it is just as like to find dwarven or elven artifice as coins minted in Lannick’s empire.

Famous to this era were maps and charts that detailed where ruins lay even in Lannick’s era, drawn up by scouts and squads that surveyed their assigned regions. These scouts uncovered secrets and treasures too dangerous to swiftly claim, and with the empire’s dissolution following Lannick’s assassination by persons unknown, such maps may still lead to troves that yet lay buried – but only those that are most perilous remain unplundered.

War of the Twins Ruins

The rapid expansion of The Twins, Sarna and Tivolous, crossed much of the Lakes Regions, with undead and infernal forces causing temples, mages, and scholars to flee, many of them crossing Lake Haro and the Ire to seek refuge in the lands that are now Harodom and Eldersire. Although many relics and treasures from this era were eventually recovered by Alliance forces, many are still missing, with the very real possibility that treasure-laden ships may have sunk, or hidden and fortified temples captured by these unholy forces.

Although the War of the Twins occurred centuries past, arms and armour from the era will still sometimes turn up, well-forged steel carefully maintained and repaired as the years have gone by. Some claim that Alliance rations from the war are still as edible as the day that they were first made, no doubt to the detriment of morale on behalf of those opposing the Twins advance. Such ruins as date to this period are usually either occupied by remnant forces of the Army of the Twins, or are so heavily fortified against such forces that exploring them remains perilous.

Modern Ruins

Although the era following the founding of Harodom has been celebrated as a new Age of Reason, there have still been conflicts and natural disasters that have caused the rapid fleeing of areas, or death of their inhabitants. In the last twenty years, no fewer than four major wars have rocked the Lakes Region, with the Breaking of the Reach causing mage towers, merchant houses, and entire towns to be abandoned as the inhabitants fled or perished.

These new ruins contain threats – often in the form of restless undead, but no less magical and mechanical traps set by those who thought that they might one day be able to reclaim lost treasures. Still others are marked with creatures that have moved in since the building was abandoned.

As changing environmental effects have led to Alwyn‘s weather patterns changing, sinkholes and mudslides have also revealed ruins lost but not forgotten, and those willing to delve into a likely hole in the ground may find nothing but mud – or treasures, traps, and terrors that make the delving a story to be told in days and years to come.

Authored by: Andrew Dunlop
Fantasy Alive Lore Team 2026
Copyright © Endless Adventures Ontario