Golem

A Bone Golem

A **Golem** is an animated, anthropomorphic being in Jewish folklore, which is entirely created from inanimate matter. In the Psalms and medieval writings, the word golem was used as a term for an amorphous, unformed material.

## Etymology

The oldest stories of golems date to early Judaism. In the Talmud, Adam was initially created as a golem when his dust was "kneaded into a shapeless husk". Like Adam, all golems are created from mud by those close to divinity, but no anthropogenic golem is fully human. Early on, the main disability of the golem was its inability to speak. Sanhedrin 65b describes Rava creating a man. He sent the man to Rav Zeira. Rav Zeira spoke to him, but he did not answer. Rav Zeira said, "You were created by the sages; return to your dust".

## Golem of Vilna

A similar tradition relates to the Vilna Gaon or "the saintly genius from Vilnius". Rabbi Chaim Volozhin reported in an introduction to Sifra de Tzeniuta that he once presented to his teacher, the Vilna Gaon, ten different versions of a certain passage in the Sefer Yetzira and asked the Gaon to determine the correct text. The Gaon immediately identified one version as the accurate rendition of the passage. The amazed student then commented to his teacher that, with such clarity, he should easily be able to create a live human. The Gaon affirmed Rabbi Chaim's assertion and said that he once began to create a person when he was a child, under the age of 13, but during the process, he received a sign from Heaven ordering him to desist because of his tender age.

## Hubris

The existence of a golem is sometimes a mixed blessing. Golems are not intelligent, and if commanded to perform a task, they will perform the instructions literally. In many depictions, golems are inherently perfectly obedient. In its earliest known modern form, the Golem of Chełm became enormous and uncooperative. In one version of this story, the rabbi had to resort to trickery to deactivate it, whereupon it crumbled upon its creator and crushed him.

## Culture

The golem is a popular figure in the Czech Republic. The 1915 novel by Gustav Meyrink was briefly popular and did much to keep the imagination about the golem going. Several restaurants and other businesses have names that make reference to the creature, a Czech strongman goes by the nickname "Golem", and a Czech monster truck outfit calls itself the "Golem Team".

## Capabilities

Golems are artificially animated beings created entirely from inanimate matter. They can be composed of a wide variety of materials such as clay, stone, minerals, wood, ice, water, or in the case of the Bone Golem, corpses.

## Variants

**Bone Golem:** Bone Golems are made of or can transform their body completely into bone or bones. Bone Golems can be anatomically identical to their normal form, aside of being made of bones, in which case, it contains all to organs and is somewhat vulnerable to attacks. Alternately, Bone Golems can transform into homogeneous matter, without any part of their form being more important than the other.

**Clay Golem:** Clay Golems are made up of or can transform their body completely into clay. Clay Golems transformed form is anatomically identical to their normal form, aside of being made of clay, in which case it contains all to organs and is somewhat vulnerable to attacks. Alternately Clay Golems can transform into homogeneous matter, without any part of their form being more important than the other.

**Earth Golem:** Earth Golems are made up of or can transform their body completely into earth, including soil, stone, metal, clay or other earthen substance. Earth Golems transformed form is anatomically identical to their normal form, aside of being made of earth, in which case it contains all to organs and is somewhat vulnerable to attacks. Alternately, Earth Golems can transform into homogeneous matter, without any part of their form being more important than the other.

**Flesh Golem:** Flesh Golems with this ability either is or can transform into a Frankensteinian monster, a being created from corpses of dead people, or sometimes animals. As they are formed from dead beings, they lack most of the weaknesses of living beings, including need for sustenance or rest, pain, etc. Due to the fact that most such monsters are animated by electrical impulses, they are naturally resistant to electrical attacks, and some may possess other electricity related abilities as well.

**Ice Golem:** Ice Golems are made up of or can transform their body completely into ice. Ice Golems transformed form is anatomically identical to their normal form, aside of being made of ice, in which case it contains all to organs and is somewhat vulnerable to attacks. Alternately Ice Golems can transform into homogeneous matter, without any part of their form being more important than the other.

**Metal Golem:** Metal Golems are made up of or can transform their body completely into metal. Metal Golems transformed form is anatomically identical to their normal form, aside of being made of metal, in which case it contains all to organs and is somewhat vulnerable to attacks. Alternately Metal Golems can transform into homogeneous matter, without any part of their form being more important than the other.

**Stone Golem:** Stone Golems are made up of or can transform their body completely into stone. Stone Golems transformed form is anatomically identical to their normal form, aside of being made of stone, in which case it contains all to organs and is somewhat vulnerable to attacks. Alternately, Stone Golems can transform into homogeneous matter, without any part of their form being more important than the other.

**Wood Golem:** Wood Golems are made up of or can transform their body completely into wood. Wood Golems transformed form is anatomically identical to their normal form, aside of being made of wood, in which case it contains all to organs and is somewhat vulnerable to attacks. Alternately Wood Golems can transform into homogeneous matter, without any part of their form being more important than the other.

## Common powers

**Elemental Manipulation:** Golems can create, shape and manipulate elements.

**Enhanced Body:** Golems physical conditions are above normal and peak members of their species in that verse, beyond what can be emulated via natural training and with little to no maintaining.

**Semi-Immortality:** Golems of this ability never age, and as a result, they stay young forever or at least never suffer the ravages of aging.

**Unnatural Quality:** Golems either possesses a level of any physical property either different from that of a normal member of their species, or is simply a member of a species that is naturally a different property than humans.