Gol-Dough Golems
Like all modern enchanting materials, the stuff that goes into Modeling Compound (we’ll call the stuff Gol-Dough) Golems has advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantages first: Gol-Dough does not last very long, will dry out if not kept either oiled or hydrated, is not particularly strong, breaks apart easily under pressure or impact, and needs to be wrapped around some sort of framework or skeleton in order to get full use out of it. And, of course, Gol-Dough Golems have a top weight of about, say, four or five pounds before bits start falling off in earnest.
So, what are the advantages? The primary one is that Gol-Dough Golems are incredibly ethical. Not in the sense of how they’re made, but in the sense of how they act. It’s like Gol-Dough has the Golden Rule and Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics hardwired into its structure, only without any attempts to subvert the intent of the rules by blindly obeying the letter of them. Gol-Dough Golems are so reliable that you can trust them around children or babies. In fact, they’re somehow extremely responsible caregivers despite not being actually sentient (or if Gol-Dough Golems are sentient, they’re incredibly fine with having such short lifespans). They golems are also non-toxic – not particularly tasty, but non-toxic. And, while Gol-Dough Golems may need a skeletal structure of some kind to do manipulate their environment, in their natural form they can slide through pretty much any hole or gap whatsoever. Cutting or crushing one is pretty much an exercise in futility, too. Lastly: it’s very easy to enchant a Gol-Dough so that you can use its sensorium remotely.
And that’s why there’s so many of them around these days. Apparently, even archmages have kids. And if you can see a Gol-Dough Golem, that means that there’s very possibly a powerful and over-protective magic user nearby who can see you…