Balebos Powers

PLEASE NOTE: All religious themes for the Golem summoning are not set in stone; I am merely borrowing the source materials to create a unique, interesting and separate power set.

Golems, not to exaggerate, are one of mythology’s most ambiguous creatures. They take many different roles, shapes, and abilities throughout history. To compile each of the details into one concrete being would be impossible, as it is often contradictory when looking at golem mythos from different eras and regions, even when only looking through the Hebrew lens. So, I’m taking pieces of different texts and compiling them for a power set.

The word “Golem” is actually the base of which the term “Goy” and its longhand “Goyim” originate, in old Hebrew, meaning something or someone who’s will is being manipulated or controlled. So, one would assume that this makes Golems will-less creatures that exist to take commands. This is not the case; in most writings, Golems not only have free will, but varying alignments, personalities, and goals. They have been written as heroes, villains, and tools, but one thing that remains is that they do not occur in the world naturally. They must be created or summoned.
Judaism does not have a “hell” as Christians do. Rather, the chosen people may enter heaven, while the wicked and the gentiles walk a dark, empty void for eternity, searching for the promised land’s gate. This plane, referred to as “Sheol” is more closely related to a bleak purgatory. For my lore, I assume that this plane is the natural habitat of the golem. Golems traverse these planes, in their many forms, not needing to consume to live, and spend an eternity forming their identities amongst themselves and the souls of people they come across.
Golems do not see as we do, they empathically sense living and spiritual beings, and objects with their lack of living or spiritual matter. It’s like looking through a thermal scope, but for spirit. They lack what we would consider any of the five senses. Golems do not communicate directly; they have a language that they speak, but their meaning is simply placed in your mind rather than making noise. Likewise, they do not understand human language as they cannot hear you, but infer the meaning when you speak to them.
Golem Summoning is a power one has to be born with. It can be refined, but the physical ability is bloodline-related. Specifically, summoners of this class are referred to most accurately as Balebos. Initially, only Jews could be summoners, but as the millenia went on, and peoples mixed genealogies, the ability was spread around slightly more evenly. Still, Jews maintain the highest concentrated group of summoners. To summon a golem, the summoner must first be able to enter Sheol.
Entering Sheol is done through meditation or deep sleep, allowing the spirit to traverse the void planes while still being alive, and encounter the golems in their home. To summon them, the person must first convince the golem that they are worth taking orders from. Since golems have varying personalities, like people, sometimes this can be easy or extremely difficult. Should a golem agree, they form a spiritual contract, and can now be summoned into the realm of the living.
Sheol is not without its dangers, however. Other creatures inhabit Sheol, and not all golems are approachable. If your spiritual form is attacked and destroyed, your physical body becomes a husk- a nightmarish, braindead shell of who you once were, guided ONLY by physical programming and instinct. Sheol, being vast and primarily empty, does not guarantee you meet a golem with every visit. Finding and recruiting a golem is an exhausting task.
When summoned, a golem is formed from the earthy material around the summoner, including less natural materials like concrete and asphalt. The Golem can only maintain its shape in the living world so long as the user has energy to do so, like mana. Different strength levels, sizes, or powers of golems have different tolls on the summoner. If a summoner is rendered unconscious, the golem will fade back into Sheol, until summoned again. A golem does not feel pain, and will expend summoner’s mana to repair its body as it is damaged.
Golem contracts are two-way. It is up to the summoner to maintain their end of the bargain, helping the golem achieve whatever it is they agreed to in the contract when possible. This is a dangerous game, however, as not all golems mean well, and their agendas may be harmful. Violation of a contract, rating on severity, is grounds to break and the summoner will lose the ability to call on that golem, and may never encounter it again in the literally endless planes of Sheol. It is possible to maintain as many contracts as you can fulfill. Should a Golem violate its contract, its very spirit dissolves into nothingness. A golem under contract can be summoned, introduced to another summoner, and form a contract with them- creating generational contracts.
Of course, the nature of the divine is indescribable to mortals, whether the Jews were right or not. Sheol may simply be just one plane of existence from which some pull their power from, and the exact knowledge is not for any to understand, not even the golems. Golems, like mortals, are not born with intrinsic knowledge. They must learn, and typically their primary method of doing so is in contact with souls, or their contracted entry into the land of the living.