Oryndoll Oryndoll , the City of Loretakers , was a large underground mind flayer citystate in the Lowerdark of the Darklands . Oryndoll was one of the earliest illithid cities on Toril and was highly famed for its inhabitants rampant collection of exclusive knowledge . Its wealth of knowledge rivaled even Candlekeep ' s great library . The mere mention of the city struck fear into most Underdark denizens of southwestern Faerûn . This city was the birthplace of both the duergar and tren races as well as the tzakand , urophion and mozgriken ceremorphs . Geography . Surface Oryndoll was located in the Underdark beneath the Shining Plains . It lay ninety miles northwest of Ormath and 90 miles northeast of Lheshayl . It was slightly more than 26 miles beneath the surface . Underdark The city was difficult to reach from other places in the Underdark because of its depth , but since the Mindstalker Wars , many tunnels were made that breached into the tunnels of Old Shanatar . Many of these eventually served as slaving routes for the drow of Guallidurth . There were also tunnels that led to Barakuir , the Underspires , Undraeth , the Savage Frontier , Anauroch , Cairnheim , Guallidurth , and Tellectus . Structure . The city was divided into three major sections on top of one another . History . The Crown Wars . - 12000 DR to - 9000 DR In - 11000 DR , the enclave of Oryndoll was founded by refugees from the Realmspace planet of Glyth . The Founding Time . - 9000 DR to - 3000 DR From - 8100 DR to - 8080 DR , the Mindstalker Wars between Oryndoll and the shield dwarves of Shanatar took place . This was started when Oryndoll launched attacks on the eastern subkingdoms of Shanatar . Their attack on Barakuir successfully destroyed the subkingdom . The illithids made Clan Duergar of Barakuir into thralls and took them back to Oryndoll . These later became the duergar . By the end of the wars , the illithid had been pushed back , but the dwarves of Shanatar never reached Oryndoll . Between - 8100 DR and - 4000 DR , the illithids worked heavily on breeding Clan Duergar to make them psionic , loyal , and capable in preparation for another all - out war against Shanatar . They succeeded in everything but breeding in loyalty . Around - 4000 DR , the duergar rose up against the mind flayers , plunging the city into chaos . Only the appearance of an avatar of Ilsensine was able to save the city . The duergar resettled in the Northdark . The Age of Humanity . - 3000 DR to 1000 DR In - 1850 DR , the duergar launched attacks upon the drow of Undraeth , Oryndoll , and eventually the dwarves of Deep Shanatar . In an unrecorded year , illithids from Oryndoll ventured out into the Underdark and established a colony at Tellectus . The Present Age . 1000 DR to Present In 1358 DR , during the Time of Troubles , Ilsensine adopted as its avatar the elder brain in Oryndoll , stimulating illithid society . The illithids created new technologies , new psionic items , and more psionic disciplines , as well as renewed their assaults on surface lore holdings . In 1384 DR , the War of Gold and Gloom came to an unexpected end in the abandoned halls of Barakuir . The crusaders of the Great Rift discovered a collection of ancient runestones while the fighting between the Army of Gold and the Army of Steel was raging . The runestones depicted the betrayal of Clan Duergar by the illithid of Oryndoll . This discovery made the loretaker illithids unleash a horde of thralls on the embattled armies . The army of thralls was shattered , and most of the duergar were killed . Half of the gold dwarves were also killed . This conflict united the the remnants of the gold dwarven and duergar armies against the illithid of Oryndoll . The combined army then marched west into Old Shanatar to reclaim a lost bastion of Deep Shanatar to use as a base against a possible illithid invasion . Inhabitants . In 1370 DR , there were approximately 6 , 000 mind flayers , 400 of them were ulitharid . There was of course , also an elder brain named Encephalithid . There were also 8 , 000 ceremorphs in the city of Oryndoll . These were mostly tzakandi , but also included urophions and mozgriken . The city also had 11 , 000 thralls which were lizardfolk , troglodytes , tren , duergar , and many other races . There were also around 200 golems , most of which were nyraala golem s , though a few brain golem s were also in the city . In 1372 DR , there were approximately 3 , 450 mindflayers , and 12 , 550 thralls , ceremorphs , and golems . Trade . The currency of Oryndoll was priceless knowledge , lost lore , and exclusive information . Illithids bought and sold lore in several different ways , among them were rare tomes , crumbling scrolls , and " feeblemind " - spelled thralls with information placed into their minds . Lore was only sold to non - illithids at ten times the regular price and had to be approved by the Elder Conclave , though exclusive information was disallowed . Internally , many illithids bought , bred , and sold thralls , as well as made ceremorphs . Fewer illithids traded externally compared to most other hives . " Mindgates " , which were jarred and jellied eyeballs , served as the physical currency of Oryndoll . The value of a jellied eyeball was determined by the degree of sentience of the race it was taken from . Human eyes generally ranged from nine to twelve gold piece s , though some were known to reach eighteen gold pieces . The value of a mindgate was determined by the psychic residues in the eyeball . Government . Two bodies governed the city of Oryndoll . The Encephalithid was the elder brain of the city . There was a council called the Elder Concord , that consisted of the Encephalithid and the nine Creedmasters in the city . Every Creedmaster was an ulitharid and they were all equal on the council . This changed , however , with Ilsensine ' s return during the Time of Troubles . This new appearance in Oryndoll upset the balance of power that had been in place and gave the Creedmaster of the Venerators the most power in the Elder Concord . He was called Cephalossk , the spawn of Lugribossk . Defenses . Oryndoll ' s military consisted mainly of thralls , led by vigileators . Officers were divided into military offense and defense , policing actions , and intelligence . This city was a nigh - impenetrable fortress . Oryndoll was heavily defended with different traps , psionic wards , magical defenses , and fortifications , many of which were focused on other species . They also had egg - shaped glass balls called " resonance stone " s scattered throughout the Underdark for twenty miles around . When a humanoid walked within twenty feet of one , they would become terrified for a minute or more . They were able to be activated and deactivated by illithids . One of the most important defenses was the Encephalithid itself . It was able to detect non - shielded minds for five miles in every direction and also speak directly to others through innate telepathy . It was also able to scry through dominated thralls . The mind flayers also frequently patrolled their territory with squads commanded by vigileators , and they had urophions that were psionically protected by the Encephalithid as sentries in the tunnels just on the edge of its influence . The environs of the city also had at least twelve packs of gholbrorn psionically dominated by illithids and separated into four hunting schools controlled by the Nourisher Creed . They were used to chase down those who tried to enter the region uninvited . On top of the above , major tunnels were also defended by three vigileators , a dozen or more elite thralls , and two tzakandi . The most important defense was the " invisible bulwark " . To put it into simple terms , it was a repository for psionic energy that mimicked a " mythal " . It was used by individual illithids with the Encephalithid ' s permission to augment their psionic powers , heal themselves , gain immunities to magical and nonmagical effects , and detect the presence of undead and other intruders .