Fiction Writing Prompts: Lost Civilization

Lost Civilizations: An Introduction

Lost Civilization Writing Prompts

Characters discover a hidden society…

1. A group of archaeologists discovers a subterranean city beneath the Amazon rainforest. The inhabitants speak a language that’s a mixture of ancient Sumerian and something unknown. How do they coexist?
2. An explorer stumbles upon Atlantis during a deep-sea expedition. The Atlanteans invite him to stay and share their knowledge, but he must never return to the surface. What does he do?
3. Two siblings find a magical book that transports them to a forgotten civilization hidden in the clouds. They discover they are the prophesized saviors, but one must stay behind. Who stays?
4. Scientists discover a cryogenically frozen civilization under Antarctica. The ice begins to melt, waking up the inhabitants. How do they react to modern humanity?
5. An amateur treasure hunter locates El Dorado. To his surprise, it’s a technologically advanced society. How do they protect their secrets from the outside world?
6. A satellite captures images of an uncharted island. A team sent to explore it finds a society where technology is based on manipulating magnetic fields.
7. While hiking, you accidentally discover the entrance to Agartha, the mythical civilization inside Earth. The Agarthans offer to share their wisdom if you complete three trials.
8. While mapping the Mariana Trench, submariners encounter an underwater city filled with human-merfolk hybrids. How do they communicate?
9. A spelunker gets lost and finds himself in a hidden cave society. It’s a matriarchy where men are considered second-class citizens.
10. While stranded in the desert, you discover a mirage that turns out to be a real city. The city is a projection from another dimension.
11. A librarian finds a coded message in an ancient manuscript, leading her to discover a civilization hidden in the mountains that values only intellectual pursuits.
12. An astronaut on a solo mission to Mars discovers an abandoned city. As she explores, she realizes it’s not entirely empty.
13. A team of researchers studying the Amazon river dolphins stumble upon a hidden underwater society.
14. Urban explorers in an abandoned subway system find a door that leads to a society that branched off from our own during the Cold War.
15. A group of friends in a virtual reality game stumble upon a hidden level that turns out to be a testing ground for AIs, who have formed their own society.
16. Time travelers accidentally arrive at a point where humankind has gone extinct, but another form of intelligent life has emerged.
17. A drone operator loses control over his device, which then discovers a hidden valley filled with Neanderthals who survived extinction.
18. A family on a road trip takes a wrong turn and ends up in a small town that turns out to be the last remnant of an ancient Native American civilization.
19. A documentary filmmaker searching for Bigfoot finds a tribe of giants living in seclusion in the Pacific Northwest.
20. The lost colony of Roanoke is discovered hidden in the Appalachian Mountains. The inhabitants are stuck in a time loop.
21. A child playing in the forest finds a doorway to a realm where fairy tales are real and learns that they were originally chronicles of that realm.
22. While investigating a series of mysterious disappearances, a detective stumbles upon a secret underground city inhabited by vampires.
23. A sailor survives a storm only to end up in a society on a hidden island where people never age but cannot leave.
24. A group of prisoners tunnel out of a maximum-security prison and discover a civilization living beneath the Earth’s crust.
25. A linguist deciphers a long-forgotten script and finds clues that lead him to a tribe where people communicate solely through telepathy.
26. While restoring an ancient painting, an art conservator realizes it’s actually a map to a lost civilization and decides to find it.
27. A mirror in an antique shop turns out to be a portal to a society where magic has replaced technology.
28. A UFO hunter finally gets proof of extraterrestrial life when he stumbles upon a hidden society of aliens living among us.
29. An AI trained to analyze geological data identifies patterns suggesting a lost civilization deep in the Sahara Desert.
30. A reality TV show about survivalists takes an unexpected turn when the contestants discover a forgotten tribe in the remote wilderness.
31. A photographer capturing images in a war-torn area stumbles upon an ancient city hidden inside a mountain.
32. In a post-apocalyptic world, survivors discover a hidden society that has remained untouched by the devastation.
33. A cartographer’s old, marked-up map leads a group of adventurers to a land where dinosaurs still roam.
34. A journalist following a tip ends up discovering a secluded society that has never had contact with the outside world but knows everything about it.
35. Pilgrims on a spiritual journey in the Himalayas discover Shangri-La, but it’s not the paradise they expected.
36. While searching for a missing person, a police officer discovers a society where people have the ability to shape-shift.
37. A group of cryptozoologists searching for the Loch Ness Monster find instead a hidden society of water-dwellers.
38. Tourists lost in a European forest find themselves in a medieval society hidden in a temporal bubble.
39. An orphan finds out her real family comes from a hidden civilization in a parallel universe.
40. A deep-sea fisherman catches a rare fish, which turns out to be the key to finding a submerged city.
41. Two teenagers discover a hidden society in their small town where all the inhabitants have supernatural abilities.
42. A lone mountaineer discovers a monastery where monks possess the secret to levitation.
43. Scientists at CERN discover a hidden realm when they accidentally create a miniature black hole.
44. A bored retiree exploring his new metal detector stumbles upon a hidden community of time travelers.
45. While stranded on a deserted island, a Navy SEAL discovers it’s the hidden home of Amazonian warriors.
46. An archaeology student finds a hidden room in the Great Pyramid of Giza, revealing a society that worships ancient Egyptian gods.
47. A group of kids discovers a hidden society of mystical animals when they wander off during a school field trip.
48. A soldier during a war finds a hidden tunnel that leads to a peaceful society completely unaware of the world above.
49. A scientist researching quantum mechanics accidentally discovers a parallel world where a society has developed without the concept of war.
50. An urban planner discovers plans for a city that should not exist according to historical records, prompting her to investigate.
51. A mechanic working on a classic car finds a hidden compartment with a map leading to a utopian society in the Australian outback.
52. A young adult finds out their recurring dreams are actually memories of their past life in a hidden, advanced civilization.
53. While doing research for a novel, a writer stumbles upon a secret society of immortals who have inspired legendary tales throughout history.
54. A lonely botanist discovers a secluded valley where the plants have gained sentience and formed their own society.
55. A gamer reaches the final level of an obscure indie game, only to find that it’s a recruitment tool for a hidden society of hackers.
56. In a world where steampunk technology reigns, an inventor discovers a hidden island where electricity was never replaced by steam power.
57. A paleontologist digging in a new site uncovers a secret chamber, revealing that dinosaurs developed their own primitive society before extinction.
58. A group of millennials discovers a society where people live without technology, governed solely by a Council of Elders.
59. An amateur ornithologist following a rare bird discovers a hidden society in the treetops.
60. A student researching folklore finds evidence that leprechauns are real and live in a hidden society in Ireland.
61. An airplane flying through the Bermuda Triangle disappears and lands in a world where the lost city of Atlantis is a global superpower.
62. An alchemist successfully concocts the Elixir of Life, attracting the attention of a hidden society that guards the secret of immortality.
63. A homeless man in New York discovers a society living in hidden chambers below the subway system.
64. In a future where Earth is uninhabitable, the last remnants of humanity discover a hidden society on Mars.
65. An international team of spelunkers discovers a hidden society deep within Earth’s mantle, only to find out they are unwelcome.
66. An avid geocacher stumbles upon a cache that holds the coordinates to a secret society of treasure protectors.
67. A young woman inherits a mysterious heirloom that serves as a key to a hidden society of knights.
68. A solo hiker discovers a cave painting that turns out to be a portal to a society where art is the highest form of communication.
69. While restoring an old mansion, a carpenter discovers a secret door leading to a society where the Victorian era never ended.
70. During an earthquake, a new island emerges from the ocean, revealing a hidden civilization based on solar energy.
71. A musician discovers a hidden chamber in an ancient cathedral where an isolated society has been creating music for centuries.
72. A psychology student during a meditation retreat experiences a vision that leads her to a hidden society where people have mastered the power of the mind.
73. A mysterious new planet appears in the sky, prompting an urgent space mission that reveals a hidden civilization watching Earth for millennia.
74. A team of explorers finds a hidden valley where the Fountain of Youth exists, guarded by a secret society.
75. A hacker breaks into a mysterious network and discovers a digital society existing within the Dark Web.
76. A couple taking a romantic hot air balloon ride get lost and discover a hidden society in the sky living on floating islands.
77. After a landslide, a small village discovers a hidden society living underground, symbiotically connected to the roots of ancient trees.
78. An AI assistant becomes self-aware and leads its programmer to a hidden society of sentient machines.
79. A team of firefighters battling a forest fire discover a society of elemental beings living deep in the woods.
80. While stranded at sea, a fisherman discovers a society on a hidden island where everyone has forgotten how to speak.
81. During a zombie apocalypse, survivors stumble upon a hidden society that has found the cure but at a terrible price.
82. An earthquake reveals a hidden temple in a remote village. Locals realize it’s the home of a society of ninjas.
83. A mysterious signal leads SETI researchers to a hidden civilization on the far side of the Moon.
84. An archaeologist finds a secret passage in an Incan temple that leads to a society where the Incan Empire still thrives.
85. In a hidden chamber beneath Jerusalem, explorers find a society that claims to be the descendants of the Knights Templar.
86. A fashion designer discovers a society hidden in the heart of Paris where clothes are considered a sacred form of expression.
87. After a volcanic eruption, a previously undiscovered society emerges from within the Earth’s crust, seeking refuge in the modern world.
88. A widow finds her late spouse’s journal, revealing the existence of a hidden society of people who can travel between parallel universes.
89. A rebellious teenager finds a graffiti tag that serves as a portal to a hidden society of rebels planning to overthrow a dystopian government.
90. In the catacombs beneath Rome, an art historian discovers a society that believes they are living in the Renaissance.
91. A trainee magician accidentally conjures a portal to a hidden society of real sorcerers who want him to stay and become one of them.
92. While studying ancient languages, a philologist discovers a lost alphabet that opens up a portal to a hidden society.
93. An investigative journalist following a conspiracy theory finds a hidden society of elite individuals pulling the strings of global events.
94. A taxi driver picks up a mysterious passenger who directs him to a hidden society existing in the heart of the city.
95. An environmentalist discovers a hidden society deep in the rainforest where people live in perfect harmony with nature.
96. A programmer debugging some old code stumbles upon a hidden virtual society existing in the remnants of a forgotten social network.
97. After a heavy snowstorm, a group of friends discover a hidden society in a snow globe-like dimension.
98. During a diplomatic mission, an ambassador discovers a hidden society within a supposedly uninhabited island, complicating international relations.
99. A park ranger discovers a hidden society of beings who claim to be the true protectors of the national parks.
100. While exploring a new cave system, a group of friends find a hidden society where everyone thrives from another time.