Shindlyn was once thought the only Underdark city found under the mountainous land of Caledonia, mostly due to the nature of the rock itself under the land. Extremely hard and robust, it is difficult to tunnel with any sort of speed, and the rock is stable and tends not to form the fault lines and chasms found elsewhere that speed travel.

The city itself inhabits what appear to be a number of chambers formed by magma from a long-extinct volcano, the entire cavern system the result of superheated rock being pulverised and forced to expand and destroy the weakest areas of rock. As a result the city has long winding chimneys that reach up through the miles of rock before emerging far up in the coastal mountains of Northern Caledonia.

The ferocious updrafts caused by the winds in the mountains fans fires in the far-below smithies to incredible temperatures and allow the forging of adamantine, star-iron and many other of the more esoteric metals. Shindlyn smiths often see themselves as the masters of the forging process and snub work from other cities, often causing friction or even bitter rivalries between themselves and other smiths or guild members.

Truthfully though, the quality of work found at Shindlyn is, on average, better than that found elsewhere and in particular if non-standard metals are being forged. As a result, most of the spell-tempered weapons manufactured in the underdark are made here. The vast majority of the steel made for the troops may come from the fires of Uzzi city, but the officers weapons and armour come from Shindlyn.

Aside from this, the city contains the usual mix of temples, houses, small holdings and craftsmen, all huddled together in the shallow excavations of the incredibly hard stone walls.