Throughout Comalan exists an arboreal species that is well known for its year-round orange leaves and peculiar white bark, which is hard as steel. They exist all over the world, but are rarely discovered and nearly always solitary. An entire grove of these trees exists only on the outskirts of the city of Palon, where they were planted by the Champion of Crane with the help of his brother Richard. Richard Blackstone, or Broger as he would come to be known, kept extensive notes on the Whitebark's Promises from then on. He would pass them on to a dendrologist named Lorna Wells who specialized in their study. Years later, Dr. Wells disappeared.
Shortly afterward, fate would intercede on her behalf when Broger's successor as Crane's Avatar discovered a tiny portion of his notes on the subject, which mentioned the name of the scientist he had deemed an authority. Desperate to make sense of his recent betrayal of Crane, Tir followed all of the references in his discovered notes, including this mystery. When she arrived in Palon with her good friend, Takaa of Ravager, she found Dr. Wells in a deep slumber. There, the two of them discovered that they had steeped the leaves of a whitebark into a tea and ingested it. Upon duplicating this process, Tir found herself in an ethereal plane, much like Comalan. In this world, the whitebarks were revealed to be sentient creatures known as ents.
It was upon interviewing these ents that Tir learned of the whitebarks' origin. As seeds that traveled through space from the nearby planet Allene, the ents of the Whitebark clan, put down roots in Comalan as explorers. They lacked a way to communicate with the fascinating beasts, fey, and mortals of Comalan until it was discovered that drinking tea made from their leaves could induce a state of mind that allows mortals and fey to communicate with all plants. Since the death of Dr. Wells, who decided to join the Whitebark clan by infusing her soul with a seed, it was determined that knowledge of this mysterious plane would remain a secret. However, this secret was accidentally spilled by Takaa after a night of drinking at a bar in the Restan Capitol.
Since this revelation, rumors of the Whitebarks' nature has spread like wildfire. Many others attempted to enter the whitebark plane, only to discover that leaving it and returning to the mortal world is no easy feat. For every person to adventure into this mystical world of talking plants and fail to leave, a new whitebark seed is spawned. Still, it is an enchanting experience for all who take the necessary precautions to wake up from their self-induced comas before their bodies wither away. Farmers in particular prize the opportunity to visit this realm and communicate with their crops so that they can better determine their needs.
While the Whitebark Plane certainly has a fringe appeal, it cannot be stressed enough that entering this reality is nearly always fatal unless proper precautions are taken. If you must explore, make sure your physical body is well taken care of, as it is impossible to nourish or defend yourself while you're there. You should never enter this plane while you are alone. Make sure those who are watching over you have the magic or medical supplies necessary to revive you should the need arise and never stay there for more than a day. It is also worth noting that whitebark tea is mildly toxic and can't be safely ingested often, so frequent visits are strongly discouraged. With these advisories in mind, however, a visit to the Whitebark Plane can expand your perception of life on Comalan.
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