It ran off the power of the planet's inner core and was made mobile by the use of many threaded wheels.
The Tahlbooreans hoped to use it to sculpt their world's surface and change the tides by altering their twin moons' orbits. It destroyed one moon and apparently caused the fall of their civilization.
Around 5.5 BBY, Jake Harthan tried to cause a genocidal war between the Troobs and Hobors to give the Tion Hegemony access to the weapon.