Graven Hulks
See also: Bloodstones, Meeting a Hulk
Each of these gargantuan living constructs is a unique composite of multiple artifacts of legendary/Level 9 power. A hulk is built from hardened stone woven together with maniac plants. Its outer surfaces are covered with arcane symbols that are first deeply engraved and then plated with precious metal. The first hulks were sculpted as humanoid soldiers, but over time astonishing variations have been tried: stag, bull, beetle, and so on. Most hulks create devastation with simply their size and strength, and most are invulnerable to almost any damage by their hardy physical form and layers of protective magic. However, some are further enhanced with giant melee weapons or even spell effects such as Lightning Bolt or Fire Shield. Artificers on both sides went to great lengths to devise creative, unstoppable combinations of form and magic.
The cost in materials and Strain for a single hulk was enormous, and the force of thousands of sentient beings had to be siphoned to create one bloodstone heart. A large team of crafters had to work for several months just to build a single hulk, and another large team of master artificers, spellcasters, and their assistants labored just as long to bring it to life. So even at the height of the war, hulks were rare. But a single hulk was ultimately decisive in any battle, able to be countered only by another hulk or a being of comparable power (e.g., a mature dragon). Most designers wove self-destruct magic into their hulks, meaning that even if a hulk could be stopped, its last act would be to detonate its bloodstone, releasing a maelstrom of maddened ghosts.
Limits of Control
On Tessera, two factors compelled the Empire and Republic leaders to halt their use of graven hulks. The first factor was the problem of controlling the hulks.
Controlling a hulk had always been a tenuous matter. A hulk might be pointed at the enemy to satisfying effect, but it was risky to maneuver any other friendly forces nearby. Different designers had experimented with different command solutions to refine their hulks' behavior, such as a magical crown to send thoughts as orders, or rudimentary onboard logical processes to discriminate friend from foe. However, in one famous battle a hulk's controller was abruptly killed by a sniper and the hulk began rampaging indiscriminately.
Both armies came to view graven hulks as necessary but volatile. They mostly switched to using hulks as detached forces, leaving one to guard an area, or ordering one to travel to a new location, but perhaps only tasking a few scouts to monitor its obedience. Sometimes both hulk and scouts were never heard from again. Over the last few years of the war, both armies "lost" more than a few hulks in this way. (The exact numbers are highly classified on each side.)
The second deterrent to using graven hulks was the blood debt.
