Golem

Golem, introduced in Fullmetal Alchemist 2: Curse of the Crimson Elixir, are artificially created beings primarily formed from soil. Different types of golems could be made for various applications. The life of a golem could last for just a few hours to several years, but the golem would eventually revert back to ordinary soil. They are a creation of the alchemists of Lebis, originally intended to be used as slaves.

As the primary ingredient for creating one was soil, making a golem's body as black as lead. They also possess a certain level of intelligence, with an ability to grasp basic human speech. Like homunculi, golems require souls of their own to provide them with animating power, though Jack Crowley animated his golems using the power of the Philosopher's Stone in Lebis.

Abilities
Golems range from all different shapes and sizes with each form having its own advantages. Smaller golems have shown the ability to levitate while larger ones are physically stronger.

The larger golems are capable of creating localized tornadoes around their body by spinning. The tornado is capable of thrusting those caught within them back a considerable distance. Some golems are able to create smaller golem's from their own mass. The size of the golems will normally depend on the size of the originating golem. Golems are also able to transform themselves into a human-like form for the purpose of disguising themselves. Though this form does not give them any human-features aside from the appearance, as they can be seen through by their lack of human speech and patterns. A rare ability possessed by some Golems is the ability to project laser beams.

It is possible to use golems as receptacles for soul binding, though this is dangerous due to the instability of the golem body, which will invariably begin to deteriorate, degenerating into insanity and extreme physical mutation before finally collapsing back into mud, an extremely painful process for the bonded soul. The degeneration can be exacerbated with the Philosopher's Stone: shortly before his death, Jack Crowley used a Philosopher's Stone to transform himself into a gigantic, mindless mass of gelatinous tentacles that no longer possessed any semblance of his former self.

Resurrection
Through an unknown form of human transmutation, the souls of dead humans may be called back from the afterlife and placed within the body of a golem by someone masterful in their creation. The resurrected individual will outwardly resemble their original human appearance, though this arrangement is only temporary as the golem body will eventually deteriorate as it does after soul binding, causing the resurrectee a great deal of anguish.

As the only known individual resurrected through this process (and more than once), Elma reacted poorly to being resurrected, her physical features twisting grotesquely and her mind developing a deranged split personality. What remained of her original psyche exhibited an intense desire to die and take her husband Jack Crowley with her.

Trivia

 * The method in which humans may be resurrected in the form of golems should not be possible, as alchemy cannot create or manipulate the soul of someone who is deceased. However, the process appears to not be a true form of resurrection, as the resurrected soul appears to still be "dead" and unhappy with its new state, doomed to return to the afterlife one way or another.