Steel golem

Steel Golems are a variant of the war Golems that the Dwarves used to create. These are made entirely of steel and may possibly be stronger than their Stone Golem counterparts. By the current age (a steel golem was seen in the introduction movie to the Dwarf Commoner origin, however no date was given to when the cutscene took place) they have all but vanished from existence - excluding three.

Involvement
As Steel Golems are all but wiped out except for the Paragon Caridin, all involvement for Steel Golems centre around him which makes it a rather big part for the most of it. Caridin will be the one to help Shale remember some of her past as well as being the one to side with if you wish the Anvil of the Void to be destroyed.

Outside of Caridin two more Steel Golems exist and can be found near the end-game during the "robbery" quests, they will be automatically hostile to you. And while they are weaker than Caridin is in a fight (due to the fact Caridin is a boss while these two are Lieutenants) they still carry the same attacks and can be rather annoying if they decide to fire off the lightning DOT/AOE that Steel Golems have.

Strategy
When encountering the last two Steel Golems, which are part of the Slim Couldry line of quests, the easiest way to deal with them is, well, not to. The golems are triggered by pressure plates within the room, spread out in a checkerboard pattern of five. Disable all five (which requires a rogue with the appropriate skill) and the golems do not activate - allowing the Warden to enter the vault and retrieve the Tears of Andraste untouched. If the Warden is caught though.......deal with them as you would any golem.