Graven Hulks

Gear; Magic

Graven hulks are extraordinary gargantuan constructs built for war. They were a central weapon in the Bloodstone War on Tessera. Some sources indicate that graven hulks have been built on other worlds. The Adintech Conspiracy may be behind the spread of the technology of building hulks. Most hulks are powered by bloodstones

Each of these 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 on Tessera 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 mundane 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 of the Bloodstone War 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 Bloodstone 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 heart, releasing a maelstrom of maddened ghosts.