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[AutomataKittay]

A golem is just a solid statue turned alive, nothing special or mechanical about it. If dwarves were to mess with magical fields, I'd rather have it as something optionall then as commonplace. So dwarves might be building golems(there's nothing wrong with it), but I don't like golems running around the place. Magic should be rare and spectacular, not commonplace.

That's a completely different matter. We're talking about the kinds of magic common to Dwarves, not the kinds of magic common to the world in general. Basically everybody here has said that they want golems to be rare and difficult to make, so you won't have golems running around often.

Plus players will do things very differently than how computer would ( ethics and resources and all that ), so even rare things can get pretty often-seen give enough effort and desire

[hanni79]

As far as I have read, pretty much everyone here based Golems on Rabbi Loews story. Personally I prefer mechanical Golems.
For the sake of being dwarvy, I would suggest the following:

1. Golem only can origin from strange Moods.
2. Golem Type depends on
2.1 the Dwarves exact Mood:
Fey : Mechanical Golem
Secretive : Mechanical Golem
Possessed : 50% chance "Blood Golem, 50% Mechanical
Fell : Blood Golem
Macabre : Blood Golem
2.2 used shop, some examples :
Carpenter - Training Golem(one man danger room), Stapler Golem ( walking minecart)
Mason - Smasher Golem(Attacker), Living Wall(Defender)
Jeweler - Digger Golem (Oooh, shiny pickaxe hands )
and so on
3.Used shop sets base material, body and limbs will consist of it
3.1 Anything else is randomly used for stuff like joints, organs, eyes, decorations.

Explanation Mechanical /Bloodgolems:
Mechanical Golems pretty much behave like robots, which are used by their owner(creator) like pets/tools
Bloodgolems are more like Rabbi Loews magical creature, they required a living being to die for their creation(possessed state needs to be altered for that, since it normally doesn't involve murder).
But those creatures have a living soul, and therefore act like dwarves, demons, animals or whatever was used to create them.

I know this isn't really fully fledged out, but could be an interesting approach. Any comments on this ?

[Revanchist]

Basically everybody here has said that they want golems to be rare and difficult to make, so you won't have golems running around often.

For the record, I never said that. I just wont complain if it happens.

Perhaps golems could be an item that both dwarves and humans have a hand in making? The dwarves mass-produce cheap, effective shells, while the humans imbue them with life, and share them with the dwarves? They would need(?) the involvement of humans to work, but dwarves would be the ones that actually build them...

[Owlbread]

As far as I have read, pretty much everyone here based Golems on Rabbi Loews story. Personally I prefer mechanical Golems.
For the sake of being dwarvy, I would suggest the following:

1. Golem only can origin from strange Moods.
2. Golem Type depends on
2.1 the Dwarves exact Mood:
Fey : Mechanical Golem
Secretive : Mechanical Golem
Possessed : 50% chance "Blood Golem, 50% Mechanical
Fell : Blood Golem
Macabre : Blood Golem
2.2 used shop, some examples :
Carpenter - Training Golem(one man danger room), Stapler Golem ( walking minecart)
Mason - Smasher Golem(Attacker), Living Wall(Defender)
Jeweler - Digger Golem (Oooh, shiny pickaxe hands )
and so on
3.Used shop sets base material, body and limbs will consist of it
3.1 Anything else is randomly used for stuff like joints, organs, eyes, decorations.

Explanation Mechanical /Bloodgolems:
Mechanical Golems pretty much behave like robots, which are used by their owner(creator) like pets/tools
Bloodgolems are more like Rabbi Loews magical creature, they required a living being to die for their creation(possessed state needs to be altered for that, since it normally doesn't involve murder).
But those creatures have a living soul, and therefore act like dwarves, demons, animals or whatever was used to create them.

I know this isn't really fully fledged out, but could be an interesting approach. Any comments on this ?

Not necessarily just Rabbi Loew's story, but the mythology surrounding Golems in general in the Torah. I'm interested in your idea of blood golems though, as with the mechanical. I'm not sure how well they'd fit in with the whole 1400s thing though if we basically had robots. How mechanical would they be?

[hanni79]

I always imagine them like clockwork machines, but on artifact Level. A bit like those warriors from Hellboy 2 (but less advanced):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg5SLBapMiI

My suggestion aimed for a mixture of having Mechanical Golems (which are pretty much mechanical Robots indeed) and pure magical ones ( which have some kind of soul in my suggestion).
I named them "Bloodgolems" because something has to die for their creation being possible ( and transferring the creatures soul in the process)

[10ebbor10]

I'd divide that distinction even further:

Artificial golems: (The clockwork ones). Da vinci's machines are just past 1450, but he made things like this. (They just didn't work)
Golems: The clay/other material thingies imbued by a god
Blood golems: As above.

Artificial golems would be seldomly created, more or less reliable but almost not repairable. Real golems's availability depends on your relation with your god, and the meddling with magical fields. A blood golem can be created using a variety of ways, most of which involve blood. This is the origin for the bronze collosi. In fact, you can use a Bronze collosi head in it's construction.

[Owlbread]

I'd divide that distinction even further:

Artificial golems: (The clockwork ones). Da vinci's machines are just past 1450, but he made things like this. (They just didn't work)
Golems: The clay/other material thingies imbued by a god
Blood golems: As above.

Artificial golems would be seldomly created, more or less reliable but almost not repairable. Real golems's availability depends on your relation with your god, and the meddling with magical fields. A blood golem can be created using a variety of ways, most of which involve blood. This is the origin for the bronze collosi. In fact, you can use a Bronze collosi head in it's construction.

Maybe a bronze colossus is actually a special kind of golem created when a priest is punished by a god for going against him by being turned to bronze.

[Revanchist]

As opposed to a cool steel colossus? I imagine that would upset a dwarf.

[10ebbor10]

I'd divide that distinction even further:

Artificial golems: (The clockwork ones). Da vinci's machines are just past 1450, but he made things like this. (They just didn't work)
Golems: The clay/other material thingies imbued by a god
Blood golems: As above.

Artificial golems would be seldomly created, more or less reliable but almost not repairable. Real golems's availability depends on your relation with your god, and the meddling with magical fields. A blood golem can be created using a variety of ways, most of which involve blood. This is the origin for the bronze collosi. In fact, you can use a Bronze collosi head in it's construction.

Maybe a bronze colossus is actually a special kind of golem created when a priest is punished by a god for going against him by being turned to bronze.

They're to large for that. Also, Collosi don't follow any gods. I'd say by my original intrepretation that they're just made by mad mages/ scientists using a blood ritual to trap a demon spirit inside it, which didn't work out well.

[Owlbread]

Maybe a bronze colossus is actually a special kind of golem created when a priest is punished by a god for going against him by being turned to bronze.

They're to large for that. Also, Collosi don't follow any gods. I'd say by my original intrepretation that they're just made by mad mages/ scientists using a blood ritual to trap a demon spirit inside it, which didn't work out well.

What's to stop a god from transforming a human priest who became corrupt and disobeyed him into a giant living, raging statue of bronze? It's not like the god has to make it answer to him. The punishment and humiliation leaves the bronze priest utterly consumed by rage, and ultimately all shreds of his personality are lost. The demon spirit thing could also be cool, but the problem is that it would have to happen a lot in world where there's a lot of megabeasts. You'd think maybe the mages would get the message.

Of course, this isn't to say that golems can't occur without magical influence. We seem to be forgetting the iron men, gabbro men, mud men, blood men and so on that already exist in the game naturally.

[GreatWyrmGold]

I'd divide that distinction even further:

Artificial golems: (The clockwork ones). Da vinci's machines are just past 1450, but he made things like this. (They just didn't work)
Golems: The clay/other material thingies imbued by a god
Blood golems: As above.

Artificial golems would be seldomly created, more or less reliable but almost not repairable. Real golems's availability depends on your relation with your god, and the meddling with magical fields. A blood golem can be created using a variety of ways, most of which involve blood. This is the origin for the bronze collosi. In fact, you can use a Bronze collosi head in it's construction.

Maybe a bronze colossus is actually a special kind of golem created when a priest is punished by a god for going against him by being turned to bronze.

They're to large for that. Also, Collosi don't follow any gods. I'd say by my original intrepretation that they're just made by mad mages/ scientists using a blood ritual to trap a demon spirit inside it, which didn't work out well.

It's magic. You don't need to work by the laws of physics when you're a god.

Anyways. Golems, in whatever form, should be fairly rare. If they're several to a fortress in non-modded games, there's something wrong or a highly OCD player. Or maybe a liar. Anyways, aside from that I want variety. Some lumps of clay animated by a god, some mechanical beings made by master craftsmen, some enchanted statues made by moody dwarves...

[Manveru Taurënér]

I'd personally prefer to see golems tied into the (as far as I've seen around here) most commonly suggested form of dwarven magic, rune magic. Basically if you're lucky enough to end up with a rune mage (or whatever they'd be called) in your fortress they could inscribe a statue with runes of power bringing it to life, with appropriate balancing of costs, labor restrictions etc.

[Owlbread]

I'd personally prefer to see golems tied into the (as far as I've seen around here) most commonly suggested form of dwarven magic, rune magic. Basically if you're lucky enough to end up with a rune mage (or whatever they'd be called) in your fortress they could inscribe a statue with runes of power bringing it to life, with appropriate balancing of costs, labor restrictions etc.

Which ties in with the original idea of golems being controlled by words written on them. They would have the word "emet" written on them meaning truth, but if you rubbed out one letter it became met, meaning death. That would kill a golem.

[GreatWyrmGold]

I'd personally prefer to see golems tied into the (as far as I've seen around here) most commonly suggested form of dwarven magic, rune magic. Basically if you're lucky enough to end up with a rune mage (or whatever they'd be called) in your fortress they could inscribe a statue with runes of power bringing it to life, with appropriate balancing of costs, labor restrictions etc.

Which ties in with the original idea of golems being controlled by words written on them. They would have the word "emet" written on them meaning truth, but if you rubbed out one letter it became met, meaning death. That would kill a golem.

That should be one possible kind of golem, but not the only one.
Out of curiosity, what happens if you rub out the wrong letter?

[Owlbread]

That should be one possible kind of golem, but not the only one.
Out of curiosity, what happens if you rub out the wrong letter?

Good question. Indeed, all of these are just suggestions for different types, not necessarily every type full stop.