Ched Nasad Ched Nasad , or the " City of Shimmering Webs " or " City of Webs " , was a drow city in the Middle Northdark that was destroyed on Uktar 3 , 1372 DR . Geography . Ched Nasad was located in the Middle Northdark beneath the High Cap in the northern Graypeak Mountains . In the Underdark , to the immediate east was the great Araumycos fungus . To the south were the remnants of the Graypeaks Hive of beholder s . To the east of the city were the phaerimm - held lands of ancient Netheril . To the far north was the dwarven Fardrimm . It was connected to the surface via tunnels through Ammarindar to the south , which eventually led to orc - held caverns in the Nether Mountains and the Fardrimm . Access points along the way could be found through the Nameless Dungeon , Hellgate Dell , and the ruins of Myth Glaurach . Menzoberranzan was a journey of several tendays to the northeast on the other side of Araumycos . The path through Ammarindar was the quickest journey between Menzoberranzan and Ched Nasad , but it was less traveled because of the danger that lurked there . A portal to the ruins of Hlaungadath in Anauroch was located in the Dangling Tower . It is through this portal that Quenthel Baenre , Halisstra Melarn , and their companions were able to escape the destruction of Ched Nasad in 1372 DR . Structure . Pre - destruction . The city was located in a large V - shaped cavern . The grotto was nearly a mile high and half a mile wide at the top ( narrower at the bottom ) . The walls of the cavern were very steep . The city had magically controlled lighting . The city structure was built of layers of petrified webs that were bathed in faerie fire that was usually purple , amber , green , and yellow . Hundreds of webs stretch across the cavern , with nearly vertical webs connecting layers ; for ease , the city was generally split into eleven major horizontal levels . Dwellings on the webs resembled cocoons and were located on both the top sides and bottom sides of the layers . The higher the level in Ched Nasad , the richer and better its inhabitants were . Non - drow needed permission to visit the upper levels . However , in the lower levels , few drow were found on the streets . The business section of the city was located on the middle levels . Water runoff along the cavern wall fostered farms of molds , lichen , and fungi . The cavern floor was used for the rearing of deep rothe tended by goblin slaves . Multiple gates lead into the city . The Fracture Gate opened up into the lowest quarters of the city . Post - destruction . After its destruction , the city was a ruined heap , with all of the central core having been firebombed by the attacking duergar . The calcified webs were weakened and broken apart . The web strands and what they held up fell to the bottom of the cavern . All that remained were parts of the ruined web strands that stayed connected to portions of the walls of the cavern . It was expected to take many , many years to reclaim the floors and rebuild the city . The Jaezred Chaulssin quickly moved in to take charge of the rebuilding of the city . Within a few months , the bottom of the chasm had already began melding with the Shadow Fringe ( part of the Plane of Shadow ) . History . Founding . Ched Nasad was founded in - 3843 DR by exiles from Menzoberranzan who had sided with House Nasadra against House S ' sril after the city was nearly destroyed by House Thaeyalla . Afterward , House Baenre encouraged House Nasadra to found another city honoring Lolth , the Spider Queen , while those who sided with House S ' sril remained . An avatar of Lolth herself appeared and gave her blessing to this plan , decreeing that the two cities were to remain friendly with each other . The Nasadran drow wandered for decades before Lolth ' s avatar led them to the grotto where they were to found their new city . Before it left , the avatar wove a great web throughout the cavern which was turned into stone and lined with faerie fire . The city continued to expand with the help of guardian spiders , which could be summoned from stone statuettes to repair the stone webs or create new ones . Ched Nasad flourished despite regular fighting with the dwarves of Ammarindar , the beholders of the Graypeaks Hive , the phaerimm beneath Anauroch , and the fiend s of Hellgate Keep . In 1233 DR , a number of drow from House Mylyl left the city for the Far Forest to continue their magical experiments and ended up creating the chitine race . Destruction . During the " Silence of Lolth " in 1372 DR when Lolth did not communicate with her clergy or grant them spells , a plot by the Jaezred Chaulssin ( inadvertently ) led to the near - complete destruction of the city on Uktar 3 . The city was already in upheaval at this time , as mobs arose in the city due to people blaming the priestesses of Lolth for angering the Spider Queen and fearing invasion . Additionally , refugees had flooded the city ; it was estimated that there were three times as many people in the city as there were normally , and many of them were starving . However , the true trouble began when the matron mother of a minor merchant house , Ssipriina Zauvirr of House Zauvirr , used Zammzt to hire the duergar mercenary band Clan Xornbane to aid her in destroying her rival , House Melarn . What Ssipriina didn ' t know , however , was that Zammzt was in fact a prince of the Jaezred Chaulssin and his intention was to weaken the city so that his group could take over . He provided stonefire to the mercenaries and prematurely gave them word to attack . The stonefire destroyed House Melarn but also had a massively destructive effect on the city , causing the house and the layer of web on which it was build to fall into the chasm and destroy the levels underneath it . In order to defend the city , the five of the most powerful matron mothers ( Aunrae Nasadra , Umrae D ' Dgttu , Nedylene Zinard , Ulviirala Rilynt , and ShiNeerune Hlaund ) summoned a humongous black guardian spider . However , the guardian spider ( and soon another guardian spider it summoned ) was never in their telepathic control , due to the artifacts being divine artifacts and tied to the power of Lolth , and began raging through the city , further compounding the chaos . Eventually , the entire city fell into the chasm in smoke and flames , marking the end of the great days of Ched Nasad . The Jaezred Chaulssin admitted that such utter destruction had not been their plan , but they were determined to take advantage of it . Post - destruction . It was estimated that half of Ched Nasad perished in the fall and a third fled into the tunnels . There were about 6 , 000 ( presumably drow ) who survived the initial destruction of the city and remained there , but over the next few months , nearly half of those died of privation or to monsters or simply left the city . A dozen minor houses who located on the sides of the chasm and in side caverns survived , although their holdings were quickly ransacked and they were forced to live in camps on the edge of the hole that is the city . Gangs , many run by non - drow ex - slaves , cropped up in the area . House Teh ' Kinrelliz was one house that survived because its noble members were away on a chitine hunt . Because of its size , it quickly rose to a position of power , setting up tools for reclamation at the edge of the city ' s pit and capturing slaves to do the work for them . Zesstra Aleanrahel , a daughter of one of the ruling houses , survived the city ' s destruction and gathered a cult of more than 70 worshipers of Shar to enact revenge on her remaining enemies . Her zeal turned away many of the cultists , however . Additionally , the evil blue dragon Krashos , disguised as a drow named " Quevven Jusztiirn , " was living in the city at the time of its disaster . He survived , but lost some magical items he attempted to retrieve by capturing a fire genasi named Hurnoj Rikrekts to do his dirty work . At the end of the Silence of Lolth in 1373 DR , the Jaezred Chaulssin moved to control the ruins of Ched Nasad . Directed by Patron Father Mauzzkyl , the Shadow Wyrm , overall progress moved slowly but the bottom of the chasm quickly began merging with the Plane of Shadow . After their siege against Menzoberranzan failed , the Jaezred Chaulssin realized that they couldn ' t restore Ched Nasad on their own and left for Chaulssin , and enforced to have influence in the city ' s power structure . Post - Spellplague . Ched Nasad was officially ruled by a ruling council of seven Houses with House Teh ' Kinrellz as the leading House and its matron Faathryll Teh ' Kinrellz in full control of it . The council was considered an abomination by the one in Menzoberranzan , because House Teh ' Kinrellz ' s male members held power that equaled and sometimes exceeded the one owned by the female cleric s of Lolth . These male drow were controlled by in turn by the Jaezred Chaulssin . The city in general had a close association with the assassin s ' guild , which maintained its major fosterage as nobility under Patron Father Zammzt Everharn . While much of the city remained in ruins , the arrangement of power proved itself successful . The lower city was civilized enough to allow trade to reestablished with Menzoberranzan . While ideological differences between the cities were a problem , there were also more tangible problems for this trade in the form of the beholder s of Graypeaks Hive and the tanarukk s from Ammarindar . In 1463 DR , Menzoberranyr drow talking about the city said it had never been rebuilt . Government . Pre - destruction . The city was officially ruled by the Council , which was composed of the matron mother s of the first twelve houses of the city . In 1370 DR , those leaders were Aunrae Nasadra , Umrae D ' Dgttu , Drisinil Melarn , Shyntlara Auvryndar , Inidil Mylyl , Jyslin Aleanrahel , Talabrina Claddath , Ulviirala Rilynt ( House Rilynt ' tar ) , Lirdnolu Maerret , Nedylene Zinard , Pellanistra Ousstyl , and ShriNeerune Hlaund . However , as the matron mother of the most powerful house in Ched Nasad , Aunrae Nasadra of House Nasadra ( matron since 689 DR ) held the greatest power , said to be unmatched even by the scope of Yvonnel Baenre of House Baenre in Menzoberranzan . While the rule of the clergy and the noble houses was absolute , both wizards and merchants wielded great influence . Post - destruction . After the destruction of the city , the Jaezred Chaulssin took control of the city . They were a group of shadow dragon - blooded assassins that were determined to rid drow society of the worship of Lolth and the matriarchy . Because of the great destruction of the city , it would take many years for the Jaezred Chaulssin to reclaim even a fraction of its former glory , but they were determined to rebuild the city in their image . Inhabitants . Pre - destruction . Before Ched Nasad ' s destruction in 1372 DR , the city had a population of just under 30 , 000 drow . That figure had been declining somewhat for centuries due to the common in - fighting , politics , and intrigue of the drow . Approximately 1 , 600 drow were considered nobles , forming about 100 noble houses . An additional 70 , 000 inhabitants lived in the city , the majority of them slaves ( although officially there were no slaves ; only drow battle captives could be openly named slaves ) . Frequently seen races were dwarves , hobgoblin s , orc s , quaggoth s , svirfneblin , and thaaluud . Bugbear s were also common . Typically , there were about 2 , 000 visitors residing in the city . These included aboleth s , deep dragon s , grell , illithid s , and even fiend s . Duergar traders were particularly common . However , beholder s were not welcome in the city due to past wars with the Graypeaks Hive . Surfacers were relatively rare due to general inaccessibility of the city . Post - destruction . There were about 6 , 000 ( presumably drow ) who survived the initial destruction of the city , but over the next few months , nearly half of those died of privation or monster or simply left the city . Gangs , many run by non - drow ex - slaves , cropped up in the area . Culture . Education . There were a number of wizards ' guilds and schools located in the city where aspiring mages could be trained , including the Disciples of Phelthong , the Weavespinners Academy , the Runemasters of the Dangling Tower , and the Arcanist Conservatory . The schools are more or less independent , although a few are tied to noble houses . Rivalries between the schools not only exist but can also serve as proxies for interhouse warfare . Food and drink . Common staples of Ched Nasad were rothe meat and cheese , as well as the fungus cultivated on the walls of the cavern . The Glowing Goblet tavern has a specialty drink known as glowwine , which is named for its faerie fire glow . Trade . Ched Nasad produced a great variety of items . These included body dyes , pottery ( from calcified webs ) , everdark ink ( from deep dragon scales ) , fine armor and weapons , giant solifugids ( used as guardians ) , molds ( brown , chromatic , death , deep , gray , russet , sonic , and yellow ) , poisons , potions , riding lizards , rothe wool , meat , cheese , spells , textiles , and water . Netherese artifacts made up a significant part of Ched Nasad ' s fortune . Regular raids into the phaerimm lands ( known as the Buried Realms ) produced valuable plunder , even though more than half of all raiding bands never returned . Foreign traders in Ched Nasad included duergar , trog s , and kuo - toa . Merchants sold mushrooms , jewelry , potions , chitine s , and slugs , among other items Several trading guilds operated in Ched Nasad , including the White Spider Company , Fellowship of the Seventh Scepter , Company of the Flickering Flame , and the Dragon ' s Hoard ( destroyed in 1361 DR ) . The Council did not allow lesser nobles to invest in a single company , instead pressuring them to invest in multiple companies . Before its destruction , Ched Nasad provided fully half of Menzoberranzan ' s goods . Other trading partners included Gracklstugh , Ch ' Chitl , and Eryndlyn , Gualidurth , and Underspires . Defenses . Before its destruction , Ched Nasad had more than 12 , 000 drow soldiers and 6 , 000 slaves that were directed by noble houses , merchant companies , or mercenary bands . An additional 1 , 200 drow wizards and 15 , 000 priests lived in the city ; all of them except the nobles were required to serve one month per year in the military . The ruling matron mother s could also summon guardian spiders to protect the city . Guardian spiders were huge black spiders that protected and repaired the city . They had originally been summoned by priestesses and wizards at the founding of the city of Ched Nasad to spin the city ' s webs , which were then turned to stone . They were Lolth ' s blessing . After they created the city ' s levels , they were transformed into crystal statues but could be brought to life by the matrons of Ched Nasad in times of great need . They could repair the city or defend it . Guardian spiders were also able to summon other guardian spiders . Locations of interest . Prior to destruction , the following buildings exited in Ched Nasad . ( Note : The major levels are numbered from top to bottom , with the lowest level being the eleventh level . ) Appendix . Appearances . Novels . War of the Spider Queen :