Although the koros-strohna worldship was designated as a transport battleship, it had more in common with a planet than a starship. The worldships housed entire communities of Yuuzhan Vong, giving them food and shelter, and protecting them from outside threats.

The koros-strohna, like various other bio-engineered vessels used by the Yuuzhan Vong, did not appear to be a starship at all. It resembled the very spiral galaxy the Yuuzhan Vong came to conquer, though on a far smaller scale. In comparison to other vessels of its type, however, the worldship was an immense and imposing creation. The main body of the worldship was a disc-shaped bulk littered with hundreds of weapon emplacements and other protrusions. Around the edges of the worldship were a series of large spiral arms, giving the ship its galactic shape.

These outrider ganglia served as docks for coralskipper fighters, though they also helped to propel the worldship through space. Once the tendrils anchoring the coralskippers were unfurled from the ganglia, the ship was pushed by the interstellar winds - the tendrils acted as something akin to solar sails, with the coralskippers keeping them extended. However, the primary form of propulsion for the koros-strohna was its dovin basals. These creatures projected gravity wells used to drag Yuuzhan Vong ships through the void, by locking onto specific gravity fields - no matter how distant they were from the worldship.

Though the dovin basal clusters were sometimes used as weapons - to strip deflector shields from enemy starships - the worldships were largely defended by hundreds of plasma cannon emplacements. These ranged from starfighter-sized cannons to weapons in comparison with the turbolasers of the New Republic - and some large enough to fire projectiles the size of a turbolaser itself. These emplacements were arranged sporadically over the worldship's surface, and though their recharge rates were slow - as Yuuzhan Vong cannons needed to be 'fed' rocks to fire - they were unerringly accurate.

Added defence came from the units housed in a worldship's interior. Though the koros-strohna carried civilians and families onboard, the ship's cargo and troop holds were large enough to transport up to five thousand warriors and their starfighters. Due to the size of the craft, worldships did not land on a planet's surface. Instead, a huge, tubular worm was extended from the belly of the worldship, allowing troops to disembark. This tube, known as a Gorros' Fen, also provided the worldship with the nutrients it needed to stay alive. Like all other living creatures, the semi-conscious koros-strohna required feeding, and thus aged and died as with any being. A standard worldship had a life-span of around five hundred years, though some, such as the massive Baanu Miir, lived for over a thousand years.

The worldships were used by the Yuuzhan Vong to transport the entire population of the dying Yuuzhan'tar to a new galaxy, a promised land. The crossing of the interstellar void took over a thousand years, in which time many worldships died. The journey took its toll on the Yuuzhan Vong - causing some to go mad from their confinement, and forcing the Shapers to release calming drugs into the atmosphere of the worldships - though eventually, a new galaxy was found. The advanced task force, the Praetorite Vong, brought three worldships through the galactic border, and established a base on Helska 4. Though their efforts were scuppered by the New Republic, more worldships soon entered the galaxy, carrying with them the complete invasion army.

While the other koros-strohna deployed their forces, the largest worldship the New Republic had encountered, the Baanu Miir, was placed in orbit around Myrkr. This vessel held pens for the bio-engineered voxyn - Jedi killers - and was the home of the voxyn queen herself. The Baanu Miir proved to be a prime target for the Jedi, who mounted an attack against the aging worldship. The worldship eventually died, symbolizing the decline in the bio-technology of the Yuuzhan Vong Finally, Supreme Overlord Shimrra's special worldship - which doubled as a palace capable of landing on a planet's surface - arrived to touch down on the Yuuzhan Vong-held Coruscant. When this worldship was taken by the Jedi, and the Yuuzhan Vong surrendered to the Galactic Alliance, their vessels were sentenced to death. The worldships, and all other weapons, were sent into Coruscant's sun, ushering in a new era for the Yuuzhan Vong, bereft of the need for such terrible battleships.

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Page created: 03 April 2004