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As I mentioned before, dragons would be too goofy, werewolves are closer to oversized dogs, while lizardfolk are now finally part of the standard fantasy races. These creatures are more cool than terrifying anyway, so, I came up with a briliant idea!
enter image description here

Homonculi are a broad class of artificial humans, inspired by the titans from Shingeki no Kyojin, and the mannequin army from Full Metal Alchemist.

Mass-produced homonculi are human-sized (except one) and come in eight flavors: Warhammer, Colossal, Armored, Macaco, Female (jk, there are no girls on the Internet), Jaw, Cart, and Attack.

Warhammer homonculi are able to grow weapons out of their bodies. We were kind of on a tight budget, as arming mass-produced homonculi with weapons is a nightmare. "So, let's have homonculi that make them for us!" we thought.

However, I'm usnsure of the materials. Bo staffs and clubs shouldn't be a big deal to produce, but what about swords, halberds, pommels, goedendags, and poleaxes?

It's especially worrying since mass-produced homonculi are supposed to be going up against steel weapons, and while their sthick is Zerg Rush tactics, it's worthless if my homonculi can't even scratch an opponent who's only wearing a measly gambeson.

Is there any biogenic (produced by a living organism) material that could hold an edge when formed into a weapon and resist blows from steel weapons?

While I know that our body does have iron in it, I need a material that is (or its components are), well, more present within the human body.

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  • $\begingroup$ Try setting the zoom level to 150% for the true Mephistopheles experience. $\endgroup$
    – Mephistopheles
    Jan 21 at 22:55
  • $\begingroup$ You don't need steel to penetrate gambeson, you just need a sharp edged point, and once you combine that with an expendable zerg rush army, why do you need to resist steel at all? $\endgroup$
    – Halfthawed
    Jan 21 at 23:36
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It will have to be teeth.

bull shark jaw

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/576742296002302246/

Depicted: the jaw of a bull shark. These teeth hold an edge for long enough. An individual tooth is plenty hard and can resist blows from steel weapons. Until it doesn't and gets knocked loose. It was worn out anyway. A fresh one rolls in to replace it.

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Parasitic wasps often have hardened zinc-tipped ovipositors, though that may not scale to the size you need.

A few links to get you started:

Parasitic Fig Wasps Use Zinc-Tipped Ovipositor to Drill into Fruits -- http://www.sci-news.com/biology/science-fig-wasps-zinc-ovipositor-01951.html

Manganese and zinc in the ovipositors and mandibles of hymenopterous insects -- https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article/124/4/387/2684387

Breaking up the Wall: Metal-Enrichment in Ovipositors, but Not in Mandibles, Co-Varies with Substrate Hardness in Gall-Wasps and Their Associates -- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3722128/

Zinc-hardened Drill Bits Allow Parasitic Fig Wasps to Bore Holes to Lay Eggs -- https://entomologytoday.org/2014/05/29/zinc-hardened-drill-bits-allow-parasitic-fig-wasps-to-bore-holes-to-lay-eggs/

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Some sponges can produce silica-based spines to support their bodies. Silicate minerals can have a vicious edge- for example, the Aztecs used swords made by adding obsidian blades to a wooden war club. So, a creature engineered for war could have silicate blades naturally embedded in its skin.

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