Ransim

Ransim is a ruined city located in Westmarch. It is located adjacent to the Dyre River and the Hawk's Beak Mountains.

Early History
Ransim was built prior to the Sin War. A port city, it was an enigma, something that shouldn't have existed. Its builders took advantage of the natural caverns in the area above the Dyre River, which they used as storehouses for the goods they traded. The caverns could also serve as natural cisterns of groundwater in the event of a siege (which happened several times over the city's history), and as protection from the storms that often buffeted the town

Ransim remained hidden from the bulk of the Sin War and the general populace, but during the conflict, it was razed to the ground by a demon, either through the use of magic or an invading army. Its buildings were torched, and its denizens were slaughtered and raised as zombies. Even the skeletons of the graveyards had clawed their way to the surface.

Legacy
Ransim had a legacy of sorts in that some of the Mages of the East had chosen Ransim to work and hide in. They had left their secrets behind as well. The chronicler Dumal Lunnash referred to Ransim in his forgotten texts.

The city of Tauruk's Port was built over Ransim's original site. Over time, as Ransim was burried by layers of earth, rats made their way down from the surface to feast on the corpses below.

In 1263, the Zakarum priest Buyard Cholik used Lunnash's texts to find his way into Ransim, and by extension, his goal&mdash;the prison that held Kabraxis. In this, he was successful, and Kabraxis was released.