Phantom Wood

On the Soarele Atins plains there are three great marvels but the dwarves of the plains and the humans who seem to have turned tribal in emulation of the bugbears that live in the area, the Phantom Forest is the only one that matters. The wood from the trees of this forest are part of many rituals. From coming of age ceremonies and births to funeral rites. The wood when burned can grant visions if the smoke is inhaled almost 70% of the time the visions are of ancestors who have passed before. There is a 50% chance that those breathing the smoke will have visions from breathing it. The wood also seems to work well with ancestral magic practiced by the shamans of the plain.

Properties

Material Characteristics

The wood is a light grey in color and is a hard wood not as dense as oak but is a bit stronger than mahogany. When polished or coated with water there is a purple sheen to it and several stains turn it black that shouldn't. The wood reacts strangely to many dyes and colors turning black much easier than any other color. White has not yet been achieved by anyone. If simply oiled and then coated with resin to seal the moisture in, it has a vermilion effect that usually ranges purple to red.

Physical & Chemical Properties

It only burns at higher temperatures and the smoke from it during the day is green and at night it burns a hazy blue. At twilight and dawn the colors seem to mix a bit until either night finishes falling or the sun fully rises. It cannot be used to make Methanol (wood alcohol). The oils taken from it have a powerful hallucinogenic quality and when used in alchemy it will boost any willpower or mind enhancing potions to nearly double the usual strength effects.
Weapons made from fire hardened phantom wood are easily enchanted. The wood doesn't seem to be toxic but is not edible to any animals (even those who can usually ingest bits of wood) or insects. Cut into strips and then cured either with tar/resin or alchemy the wood can make for a fairly strong bow but isn't naturally flexible.

Compounds

Potions of insight, will power, mental dominion, effortless wisdom, and anything else that enhances the mind gains greatly from using the oils from phantom wood in their mixture. The smoke if magically trapped can also enhance such potions but not quite as much.
The plains shamans will soak the wood for a month or two to soften it up and then render it into a pulp. The pulp is then mixed with various herbs and extracts to creat what they usually call 'dreaming tincture.' This tincture is used by the shamans to seek visions for the good of the tribe and also to prepare youths for their ordeal as they come of age and must venture into the Phantom Forest to retrieve a ghost flower and commune with their ancestors.

Origin & Source

Phantom Forest trees (there is only one kind the forest is not a naturally mixed forest) stand thirty to forty feet in height when fully grown and have leaves that are dark green on top and coppery colors on the bottom. When the leaves first begin to sprout they are a mint shade of green and turn a deep blue in the fall. The bark is usually a bit papery like that of a birch tree and is a silver color which makes the little light that comes through the forest canopy at night refract so that there seems to be more light than there should be.