Like a lonely island in a sea of grass, this cluster of hills sits smack in the middle of the Eastern Shaar. The hills would be utterly unremarkable except for the ruins of an ancient city in the central valley they enclose. Known as Shandaular during its heyday, the city rose up around the southern terminus of a two-way portal that connected with several other points throughout Faerûn. After the portal was shut down, the city slowly withered and faded away as its inhabitants took up the nomadic lifestyle and began to wander the Eastern Shaar. The final death knell for Shandaular occurred during a conflict with Unther and Mulhorand early in the third century DR.
Today, the site of the old city serves as a special gathering place for all the tribes of the Shaar. Every spring and fall, each tribe that is not engaged in war with its neighbors sends delegates to the ruins, where they hold peace talks and drink together, discussing alliances, hunting territory, and potential threats from other creatures. The area known as Council Hills is considered sacred neutral ground because many of the tribes have buried their ancestral chieftains in caves there. No fighting is permitted between nomads while either party stands among these hills. On numerous occasions, however, tribes have used violence to prevent enemy tribes from reaching the Council Hills gathering, setting up a perimeter of warriors to attack their approaching foes.
A small collection of hills in the otherwise largely flat savannah. Amidst these hills are the ruins of an ancient city. These city is greatly important to the Shaaran tribes. Representatives from each tribe convene here twice a year to discuss matters that affect all tribes (peace treaties, alliances, hunting territory, share threats). The tribes also bury their honored dead in this place. To discourage outsiders from visiting the city, the nomads spread rumors that it is cursed, haunted, monster-ridden, or corrupted by the Spellplague.