Thultanthar Thultanthar ( " Shade " in the Loross language ) , also known as the Shade Enclave and the City of Shade , was a Netherese flying city situated in the middle of the Anauroch desert . Geography . On Toril , Thultanthar was located in the middle of the Anauroch desert among Bedine tribes along the Black Road trade route connecting the Silver Marches with Cormanthor . Near the city was the Shadow Sea , and the Scimitar Spires range surrounded both the lake and the city on three sides ( all except the north ) . Thultanthar ' s " twin " in the Shadowfell was known as Gloomwrought . History . Origins . Thultanthar was created in the year - 1471 DR , some 1 , 483 years after Ioulaum created the first such floating city . Thultanthar ' s high mage , known only as Lord Shadow , had been experimenting with the Plane of Shadow for some time and had successfully shifted the entire city into the Plane of Shadow mere days before Karsus cast " Karsus ' s Avatar " and temporarily destroyed the Weave in the Year of Sundered Webs , −339 DR . For some reason , however , Lord Shadow could not move the city back to the Prime Material Plane . It took weeks but eventually , they managed to return to Netheril , or at least what was left of it . Searching for survivors for days , the city floated over the ruins of the Netherese empire . Finding none , Lord Shadow assumed it was the work of the phaerimm and began planning his revenge . He stopped , however , when he realized that one city was not a match for them and that his subjects were likely the last of the empire ' s people . He abandoned those plans and retreated back into the Plane of Shadow , vowing that one day , they would return and reestablish the empire . The city ' s clerics of Shar cast divination s and saw what had really happened , but only informed the noble families , presumably on the whim of Shar herself for some reason . The excursion into the Plane of Shadow , due to unforeseen circumstances , lasted much longer than Lord Shadow anticipated . For over 1 , 700 years , the inhabitants battled the malaugrym and the other shadowy horrors of the realm , while each generation became gradually more attuned to the plane itself , becoming what were known as shadovar . Return . In the Year of Wild Magic , 1372 DR , Thultanthar returned to Faerûn after the elf Galaeron Nihmedu finished a spell to bring Shade back to Toril where the shadovar , led by Telamont Tanthul , found themselves floating over the Dire Wood . Almost immediately , the princes of Thultanthar ( now known more commonly by its translated name of Shade ) were busy looking for Netherese ruins and artifacts as well as spying on people and places that could possibly hinder their ultimate goal of creating a new Netheril in their image . The Netherese expanded their new empire for the next 113 years . In 1487 DR , Thultanthar was brought to ground by Elminster Aumar . It fell upon Myth Drannor , destroying both cities . Description . Thultanthar appeared as a floating inverted mountain of stone topped with harsh black spires and foreboding walls . A colony of bats lived on the bottom of the city . Notable inhabitants . " Post - Spellplague "