Genies -- the djinn of folklore

[David]

Howdy folks,

Just a heads up, but I've been doing a fair amount of research on genies/jinn/djinn/efreet/ifrit/marid/etc lately. Much of this info is either cryptic or clearly influenced by modern game design. There also seems to be a general reluctance of Islamic sources to discuss these beings as they are still accepted as reality in this religion (at least as real and tangible as angels are to most Catholics). Anyway, here are a few things I've come up with...:

Yes, the djinn are free-willed beings made of smokeless fire and the breath of God. As such, they have abilities which, to humans, seem magical but which merely are due to their nature. In fact, there are abilities which humans have which equally confound "djinn-logic". All that said, and thanks to the later European works of literature, what we have in the game are NOT very accurate representations of djinn. Djinn and ifrits (efreet) are valid, but marid are really just rebellious giants and dao were made of whole cloth in order to emulate the Greek construction of the Four Elements. Djinn really have issue with earth and stone (since unlike us, it is NOT part of their nature -- and they can't figure out why we have such a problem with fire, since it's not harmful to their nature), so earth-genies really don't work from a truly-Muslim perspective. True, you could argue that Solomon sought out djinn dwelling in "earth, air, fire, and water" but this text, even if based on Jewish and Islamic mysticism of the time, post-dates Mohammad and further was written from a European viewpoint. Heck you could argue that djinn "hiding in earth" were in "nooks and crannies" and not actually within the stone or earth as they would hide within water or flames.

My solution?

Well, short of a complete rewrite of all sentient-elemental and genie-esque aspects of the game system (including the structure of the elemental planes, a couple of gods, all five types of genie, the sha'ir class, and lots of elemental magics), I'm just gonna go with Dnd's version of genies (gen, jinn, djinn, efreet, dao, and marid). I would, however, like to expand the abilities of genies a bit, so that whatever sourcebook has the most power wins (even picking and choosing between books for the best collection). Supposedly, a single djinni can build a castle or temporarily detour a river -- feats outside the scope of any genie without a wish. So, and in keeping with a gen's power to "fetch" spells, a djinni (or efreeti, dao, marid, etc [note, the last two names don't shift, like other, real Arabic names do!]) can perform well beyond the Dnd parameter's of its abilities to accomplish fairytale-like, non-combat endeavors. In addition, djinn and greater genies can ALL polymorph at least once per day into a "realistic" form (a human or animal or other non-fantastic, animate, living form similar to a druid) but bearing some slight trace of its true nature (eyes, color, etc).

In case you're wondering what the point is of going into this detail -- well, many PCs either have had dealings with genies and therefore "know" their abilities (Tyris=Flare, Kara, Mandar, Moorak, Bart, Taarna, etc) or are from a culture (Zakharan) where they're at least somewhat familiar with all this. My goal is to put genies more on par with demons and dragons and therefore have them be less similar to "ogres with magic powers" or "minotaur that grant wishes". I also want to explain myself and give folks a glimpse into some of the cool stuff I came up with.

Thoughts?

[sgeorge1701]

Since Flint has "Genie Lore" as one of his abilities (and his interaction with the apple of knowledge).

He is looking forward to next month's update of "Genie Monthly - you source for all things Djinn!"

;-D

I like the "eyes or colour" aspect of genie transformations (on the surface it is very disney), but I know that it echos earlier stories where a street smart urchin could get a "clue" as to what was going on around him.

The Eyes may only be detectable to "those" in the know or a wicked cool perception role or to high int/wis.

Also - as to the Djinn having trouble understanding humans interaction with stone? How do you plan to play that out?

Djinn aren't notoriously afraid of stone structures, they can craft stoney objects (buildings, bridges, etc) so I"m not sure how they have trouble with stone, like humans have trouble with fire. I's Love to read the stories.

Steve

[David]

Howdy Steven,

Flint is a great example of someone who should "know" about any changes I plan to make to genies because he has the correct skill and (now) lives in the correct culture.

Supposedly, genies had the most difficulty hiding their true nature from those who looked into their eyes. I also, however, like the idea in European folklore that witches and whatnot always had some tell-tale give-away in another form. I should point out that when a genie becomes a (for example) dog, it can't become ANY dog -- even Shaytan (Muslim Satan) always became the exact same (black) dog.

Sha'ir (at like 3rd or 5th) and hakima (at some level) can automatically detect genies and their works, even in disguise. Unfortunately, genie lore will not allow this (unless maybe a percentile roll and with regard to a specific, known genie, like Namared, Dilirum, or Kamar).

As for the authentic genie issues with human abilities, I'm afraid they do NOT have a place in the Dnd version, since there ARE both dao and marid. Please note, one of the reasons genies could be contained in bottles at sea was because they did not really understand water (it wasn't part of them) and thus had limited power over it. Once ashore, they could then at least exert some minor influence in air. Likewise, djinn do not like to be in the earth -- just as humans dislike being in fire! It "quenches" their air/fire nature (humans, per Islamic thought, are earth/water in nature).

The theological explanation is that while fire is the greatest of elements, when linked with air it has no shape or form and is only ephemeral. Humans' water quenches fire and our earth displaces air, and since we can build and have perseverance, we are, in the long term, superior to djinn. Shaytan's fall was because he didn't take God's word for it and insisted, per Muslim alchemy, that fire is the most powerful element, hence djinn are superior to humans since they're made of better "stuff", and refused to bow to Adam -- yup, the Muslim Satan isn't a fallen angel, but a rebellious djinni, hence why literal belief in genies is core to Islamic theology.

I'm still digging, but it appears that the human ability to (painlessly) go swimming or happily dig in the dirt perplexed djinn. To us, it's part of our nature and perfectly natural, much as djinn (lacking shape, since they're made of smokeless fire and air) can readily shapeshift and become invisible and even possess the wicked (I still don't get the theo-logic there fully). Unfortunately, in a Dnd cosmos with both marid and dao, these very cool aspects must be downplayed (although perhaps relevant to djinn and efreet?).

For more info, Steven, look at contemporary Muslim theological sites and search on jinn or djinn. You'll see, to Islamic scholars, "genies" are serious business...

[David]

One more thing -- because we're made of such different stuff, it explains why humans and djinn (or efreet/ifrit) couldn't interbreed. Human water (semen) impregnated female humans (it's all about the man; she's just an oven) and djinn air (don't ask me, I've never sucked off a genie!) impregnated female djinn. Oh, and another thing, the first djinn was hermaphroditic (as part of its ephemeral nature) and knocked itself up, thereby making male and female children. I'd bet hermaphrodites were explained as foetues that were cursed by ifrits or something...!

Anyway, the point is that half-genies should be EXTREMELY rare (the result of more-potent magic being used to FORCE a successful pregnancy). And genasai should be grand-children or more remotely removed, generally.

Final note, genies as a species are supposedly 60,000 years older than humans, long lived, but otherwise very human-like, with their own (mirrored) societies, intrigues, death-rituals, etc. They get married, have wars, die, have kids, get confused with (erroneous) mythology, become Muslim (or not), etc just like we do.

[Ghost of Bob]

I have to say I like reading about this "bowing to Adam" concept. I'd like to adopt it. Makes perfect sense.

[aaronthecow]

I see what you did there...

[Ghost of Bob]

From my reading on djinn, strong anthropomorphism efforts are incorrect. Only in the children's tales are they really human-like in nature. In the tales without Alladin they were dangerous and somewhat ineffable as they do not have human motivations or thought processes - it was described akin to trying to reason with an enlightened wheat thresher - common motivational grounds may not exist. In most of the non-Disney folk tales I have run across djinn are forces of nature any capricious to a fault - you either incidently do very well through the interaction or you're dead. No middle ground.

[David]

I think it depends on the version and time period you're looking at. There are tales of djinn becoming enlightened and serving Suleman (Soloman). The problem is, without a localized, centralized authority, Muslim belief on this (fairy tale) concept has evolved quite a bit over the last 1500 years. And, keep in mind, this is a concept that predates Islam -- the kahins of Dnd are actually based more on polythestic exorcists...!

When Islam hit one of its esoteric periods, the djinn were given less human-like qualities. And like the Sidhe of Ireland, they're largely seen as amoral given their altered perspective and power levels. This was actually one of the topics I was going to be exploring next year in my Islam class, so more refinement to follow...