Speculative Fact #177: Golems

Like the "monster" in Mary Shelley’s "Frankenstein," the golem is a human made animate. The golem may offer a writer a preindustrial option for an artificial lifeform, like a robot, but using incantation instead of technology. First, get some mud. Then, get one of the traditional “names of God” and write it on a piece of paper. Insert it into the statue’s mouth, presto! Golems have amazing strength in some accounts, but use your golem wisely and make sure you know how to deactivate one when it inevitably runs amok!

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