A Golem.

The golem is one of the earliest conceptions of automata; centuries before Frankenstein terrified readers or the Maria-bot from Metropolis titillated moviegoers, these anthropomorphic creatures were doing their masters' bidding. Early golems were mute, hulking beasts. Incapable of thought or emotion, they were single-purpose creatures that were unstoppable until their purpose was fulfilled.

In the modern era, the principles that power these strange creations have been more thoroughly mapped, analyzed, and categories. A modern golem can look and sound indistinguishable from a human being, now fully articulate and capable of advanced cognition.

The golem is activated via a sacred script placed in the mouth which may contain a summation of the thing's task. For example, a classical golem script may read (in translation): KILL ŽIŽKOV. Thanks to high-precision printers, these scripts can now contain thousands of pages of text.

A modern script can detail a personality, a set of duties, even an education or experience. Today, golems are used for everything from demining to sushi preparation. They are as useful as they are ubiquitous, and these stories revolve around one or more of them.