Great Tree Bark

Description

The outer shell of the tree is a dark almost smooth silver, small imperfections in the bark marr the otherwise perfect surface. If one were to inhale it's aroma you would detect the distinct notes of a forest, two things are unusual about this the first is that even those who have never been or seen a forest describe it as such and 2nd no one can place which kind of forest it actually is. 

Discovery

The Bark is one of the first items the early settlers to Arbor discovered when they arrived. At first though they were unable to cut it and were only able to pull down small chunks at a time by stripping the bark with their bare hands or finding what had fallen from the tree.
The bark is incredibly strong in addition to being extraordinarily light, it's said that you can balance a sheet the size of a man on your finger and barely feel any strain. Because of these two properties the bark historically was made into shields and armor primarily, though it was not unheard of for ancient warriors of Arbor to fashion blades out of the stuff.

Uses

The bark has a number of uses and over time this list has grown as different methods of cutting, shaping and utilizing the bark became available as technology advanced.

1. Building material: One of the first uses of the bark was in the construction of roofs for the early settlers, they found that the bark was not only water proof but had near perfect insulating properties creating extremely warm homes in winter. More recently as tastes and technologies have advanced the process of grinding the bark into mulch has mean that the same insulating properties can be used in the walls of homes.
2. Armor: Once it was discovered how to shape and cut the bark it followed not long after that it was being made into armor and shields which were as strong or stronger in most cases to the steel plate being used by other nearby countries. In more recent times with advances in blade technology cutting the bark proved possible though difficult and even shaving the sheets down lessened the properties only minorly so small panels are often sewn into clothing to provide protection to those who need it
3. Heat Isolation: Recently there has been a need to isolate the heat generated by the steam generators from injuring workers and containing the great pressure that builds up during the creation of steam. The bark combined with a steel outer casing is a perfect vessel for this. It's so good in fact that even when the great boilers are running at full speed one can place a hand directly on the outer steel hull and feel nothing more than the warmth of a babies cheek.
4. Weapons: While other methods are more effective at creating weapons there are still a few carpenters that specialize in creating small knives out of the bark, these blades are extremely hard and sharp though one made of other materials may be just as good.

Mechanics & Inner Workings

Internally the bark has an interesting spiral like structure which is part of what gives it its strength. Being on the outer edge of the tree it does have the lowest amount of magic present in any of the materials that the tree produces, however this does not mean that it is without magic.

Item type

Component

Current Location

The Great Tree

Owning Organization

The Silver Council

Rarity

Common

Base Price

10gp per sq meter