Crypts & Mausoleums
Crypts & mausoleums are locations where the venerated dead lie in rest. Crypts are underground structures beneath a church, cathedral, temple, or other building while mausoleums are above ground structures often found in graveyards. Fictional crypts and mausoleums are usually either places of tranquil reverence or places where the dead have come back to life. In game-oriented worlds these areas are often dungeons. They are home to grave robbers, zombies, skeletons, necromancers, and other monsters.
| Synonyms: tombs, sepulchers |
| Example Mythonyms: Tomb of the Last King, the Forgotten Crypt |
Designing Fictional Crypts & Mausoleums
Archetypes
Overview
When designing crypts & mausoleums for fictional worlds, the belief systems, religions, and afterlife rituals of that culture should be considered. Your own fictional world may not even include such structures if they honor the dead by some other means.
Are crypts in your world a place to honor the dead, or contain them?
Additional Elements
| Element | Icon | Description | Sub-Elements | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Altar | | b, s | Simplified | For prayers, for sacrifices, for both? | Explore |
| Archway |  | s | An ornate stone or iron overhang | ||
| Burial Chamber | | a, b | Who or what lies within? | ||
| Candle |  | s | Simplified | How brightly does it shine? | |
| Church |  | a, b | Simplified | A place of worship | Explore |
| Coffin |  | s | Is it empty or being used? | ||
| Corpse |  | s | Fresh or less fresh? | ||
| Crematorium |  | b | Simplified | To ashes we will return | |
| Crypt |  | a, b | Simplified | A burial chamber beneath a church or holy site | Explore |
| Cult Chamber | | a | Necromancers? | Explore | |
| Dead Graverobber | | s | Check his pockets | ||
| Fence |  | s | To surround the grounds | ||
| Ferry Boat |  | s, a | Some belief systems feature souls being ferried across a river | ||
| Flowers |  | s | What kind? | ||
| Fog |  | e | Simplified | An eerie grey mist | |
| Fountain |  | s, b | Does it still work? | Explore | |
| Fresh Grave |  | s | Who has been here? | ||
| Gargoyle |  | s | A stone carving of a monster | ||
| Giant Monument |  | b, s | Just how large is it? | Explore | |
| Grave | | s | Simplified | Has it been disturbed? | |
| Graveyard |  | a, b | Simplified | An area of buried bodies | Explore |
| Hallowed Ground |  | a | A holy or revered area | Explore | |
| Hedge |  | s | To separate areas | ||
| Hidden Passage |  | a, b | Where does it lead? | ||
| Iron Door |  | s | What does it guard? | ||
| Ivy |  | s | A tangle of vines and leaves | ||
| Mausoleum |  | a, b | Simplified | An above-ground crypt | Explore |
| Mist | | e | Eerie | ||
| Obelisk | | b, s | Simplified | A stone monument | |
| Offerings |  | s | Simplified | Food, wine, flowers, or other items left to honor the dead | |
| Open Grave |  | s | Is it empty or is something in it? | ||
| Pile of Bones | | s | Simplified | Rest in pieces | |
| Pillar |  | s, b | A stone column | ||
| Portal |  | b | To the underworld, to hell, or to somewhere else? | Explore | |
| Pyre |  | s | A funeral blaze | ||
| Rain |  | e | Like tears | ||
| Rat Nest |  | s | You call it a nest, they call it a home. | ||
| Relic | | s | An ancient bit of bone from a prophet | Explore | |
| Roots |  | s | How extensive is the root system? | ||
| Ruins |  | b, s | Simplified | Of what type of structure? | Explore |
| Sacrifice | | s | Human? | ||
| Sanctuary | | b, s, a | Simplified | A holy, consecrated place | Explore |
| Séance Circle |  | a, s | To commune with the dead | ||
| Skeleton | | s | Does it walk? | ||
| Skull | | s | Nothing is connected to this head bone | ||
| Statue |  | b, s | Simplified | Of what? | Explore |
| Summoning Circle |  | a, s | To bring forth…something | ||
| Tomb | | b, s | Simplified | For a prince, or for a pauper? | |
| Tombstone | | s | What is written upon it? | ||
| Torch |  | s | Lit or unlit | ||
| Tree |  | s | Simplified | Willow trees are associated with death and dying | |
| Underground River |  | a | Where does it lead? | ||
| Urn |  | s | A vase of ash | ||
| Vault |  | b, a | What is inside? | ||
| Wall of Bones | | b, s | Simplified | A wall of skulls and bones | |
| Well |  | b | Simplified | Well, well, well | Explore |