Like most mythological creatures, there's substantial variation in the depiction of golems. Unity's golems do differ substantially from the usual depiction; there's also no indication of words being important in their contruction.
One reason for using the term "golem" might be to indicate that they are at least partly magical in their construction, and not strictly mechanical.
I was under the impression golems could be fashioned out of any innanimate material. Though as you point out, clay is a very common material but mostly due to the area of the world those myths were born in.
Also Pydro, you might be interested in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apprentice_Adept. The books are set in two worlds, Phaze and Proton, one ruled by magic and the other technology. There are deliberate parrallels drawn between golems and robots within that frame.
Yes Golems have a "programed" personality, but the source of magic vs. tech is a very facinating one to me at least ("programed" has very specific connotations in this day and age). And as for Swift Bot talking, what is important with Golems is the whole personification thing of the previously innanimate object. And in that vein, Unity's bots personality and speech all fit that bill.
I will admit I am not that knowledgeable in the specifics of rpgs, but more so in the Jewish tradition of golems. It didn’t come across, but I meant to emphasis the mechanical aspect not the material. However, it would be strange to go into rpgs here and not with the the other characters. The Matty thread is all about speculation based on the source not rpgs.
Regardless, short of Christopher saying no, Unity’s name, birthplace, and golem word choice hint that she might be Jewish.
It doesn't solely reside in RPGs, it was just the first thing that came to my mind when it was brought up that Golems are made of clumps of land. As my experience with golems only goes to modern day. Which from my limited expertise in the field, says golems can be made of anything, but are magically made.
I was only here to toss in about golems made of things other than earth. Character's religious standings isn't something I really pay attention to.
I guess when I see golem vs android/robot, I am not thinking of something built with moving parts just to move, with the only difference being whether it is magically animated. A golem, regardless of marterial, would just be something in the rough shape of human. Whether this is earth, metal, bone, woord (are there others), doesn't really matter. To me, a golem isn't mechanical. Although this is also the modern day image creeping in. Traditionally, it was only earth.
[quote="Foote"]I was under the impression golems could be fashioned out of any innanimate material. Though as you point out, clay is a very common material but mostly due to the area of the world those myths were born in.
Also Pydro, you might be interested in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apprentice_Adept. The books are set in two worlds, Phaze and Proton, one ruled by magic and the other technology. There are deliberate parrallels drawn between golems and robots within that frame.
Yes Golems have a "programed" personality, but the source of magic vs. tech is a very facinating one to me at least ("programed" has very specific connotations in this day and age).
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This sounds interesting, and I will take a look. In many things of the genra, I have seen androids with a personality, but I haven't seen this specific distinction with golems. This would just be a different understanding based on our different backgrounds. However, the real question is what is Christopher's source.
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And as for Swift Bot talking, what is important with Golems is the whole personification thing of the previously innanimate object. And in that vein, Unity's bots personality and speech all fit that bill.
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This would be a big difference in background information. From what I have seen, the single most important aspect of a golem is that is can't speak. This is the single characteristic of golems that will allow you to distinguish them from humans.
Of course I am taking a much more modern angle to how I view Golems. And especialy since we have been focusing on Unity and the fact that her constructs are called Golems, my approach is more about why that term was chosen over "robots" as Envisioner mentioned earlier. So when considering the historical context of Golems and what they mean when making connections to Unity's constructs, I think Unity's power of technopathy is telling. That is the whole magic vs technology angle is right there blurred in her powerset. She is a mixture of all these ideas no doubt.
I imagine that Unity's little friends are keyworded "golem" for several possible reasons.
1) To distinguish them from Omni-X and Omnitron, who are obviously robots (even if they are not keyworded as such) and obviously not the same kind of construct as everyone's favourite Raptor Bot. A card directing you to affect a "robot" in some way would cause endless confusion and have players trying to use it illegally on Omnitrons because they could quite rightly argue that they are robots too.
2) To reserve the keyword "robot" for future cards. I consider this unlikely, due to the Omniton issue.
3) The concept of traditional golems is thousands of years old (dates back to when mechanical objects were very simple) and relates to God creating Adam from clay (and presumably others - I don't pretend to be an expert in biblical stuff). Unity's golems are described in her bio as "mechanical golems", i.e. golems, but mechanical rather than the traditional clay type. "Mechanical golem" is a bit long for a keyword!
4) There isn't a good word other than "golem" for an autonamous being that is (magically) constructed from inanimate objects. "Robot" implies entirely mechanical, constructed in a mundane fashion rather than with magic. "Construct" is too vague.
Anyway, back to religion. While it's reasonable to assume that Unity's culturally Jewish*, we have no information as far as I know about whether she's Jewish in a religious sense.
* Assuming such things can sometimes lead to mistakes though - my friend Kim appears totally English in her accent, mannerisms, cultural behaviours, etc, and has an English hometown. But she's American, and has the US passport to prove it. Buyer beware.
Unity's constructs are golems, she isn't building them in a lab and writing programs for them, she can construct them in the field without carying around the neccessary software and hardware to create her golems.
Her powers are Ferro-Kinetics and Technopathy. She is constructing them with her mind out of metal (ferr-kinetics) and controlling them with her mind as well (Technopathy)
Their personality would not be programming, it would be Unity giving them that personality as she controls them.
It's like she's a very creative little kid, she builds her little freedom 5 toys and pretends that they are fighting bad guys.
Only the toys are life-sized metal constructs and they really are fighting bad guys, with help from their dinosaur friends and laser turrets.
And now I fear Unity once again. 
Honetly i thouigh Unity was Chinese......that's what I get for skipping past her birth city.....
Given Unity's middle name, I want to speculate that at least one of her parents/grandparents might be Greek -- the name Thalia crops up repeatedly in Greek mythology, most notably as the Muse of Comedy (but also as one of the three Graces).
Talia (without the H, but it could be...but it a long discussion) is a coming Hebrew name
So when will it arrive? 
In other news, when you say Talia, my mind automatically appends "al-Ghul"… 
"Head" actually.
Wikipedia says that Talia means "dew from God" in Hebrew, but can also be attributed to a female "lamb".
My understanding was that Ra's al-Ghul, literally translated (at least in the Batman mythos) meant "The head of the demon".
However, the (online) bio lists her middle name as "Thalia" (with an H), meaning "to bloom."