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 black-colored 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.
Yorik coral was also used to create missiles used in planetary bombardment.
Five years after 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.
The New Jedi Order books occasionally misspell the coral as "yorick."
The New Jedi Order books occasionally misspell the coral as "yorick."