Yorik coral

Yorik coral was the primary shipbuilding material of the Yuuzhan Vong. It was grown on-planet in the form of a ship, and later symbiotic creatures were implanted or grown within it to perform the ship's functions. It would absorb the material it was grown on (rock, unrefined ores, or occasionally wreckage of enemy bunkers or buildings) but also required organic material. In a completed ship, the yorik coral was run through with the nervous system that controlled and coordinated the various biots, as well as a circulatory system that sustained them. Thus, if the yorik coral of a ship sustained enough damage, it would cut off control and sustenance to all of the various subsystems, resulting in loss of efficiency and then total failure. The handle of Darth Nihl's Long-handle lightsaber was said to be made out of yorik coral.

Yorik coral was also used to create missiles used in planetary bombardment.

Five years after the end of the war between the Galactic Alliance and the Yuuzhan Vong, it was used as decoration in Unity Green park on Coruscant created as part of a peace treaty between the two. It also continued to grow unchecked in the Coruscant Undercity.

Behind the scenes
Although science fiction has postulated many forms of biological spacecraft through the decades, the idea of growing them specifically out of coral was possibly influenced by the ship designs of the Lectroids in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai.

The New Jedi Order books occasionally misspell the coral as "yorick."

Appearances

 * Vector Prime
 * Dark Tide I: Onslaught
 * Dark Tide II: Ruin
 * Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial
 * Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse
 * Edge of Victory II: Rebirth
 * Star by Star
 * Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand
 * Traitor
 * Destiny's Way
 * Ylesia
 * Force Heretic II: Refugee
 * The Final Prophecy
 * The Unifying Force
 * Dark Nest I: The Joiner King
 * Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen
 * Tempest
 * Invincible
 * Millennium Falcon
 * Allies
 * Star Wars Legacy 43: Monster, Part 1