Free Gens (CShaH)

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Though it doesn't happen very often, a gen does sometimes become a free creature, uncontrolled by a sha'ir or other master. Many of these creatures are merely mischievous beings of little power who delight in playing tricks on unsuspecting humans.
There are those, however, who are extremely powerful, having been augmented by their sha'ir (see above) to such a level that they can become a real threat.
Some debate exists as to just how a gen becomes free, and volumes have been devoted to just this topic in the libraries of many sha'irs. It is a question that impacts heavily upon every sha'ir: if a gen may one day become free-willed and able to act of its own volition, might it not turn on its master of so many years?
What is known is that no sha'ir has ever had a gen go free and remained in circulation long enough to talk about it. In all documented cases, free gens claim their sha'ir is either dead or imprisoned on some distant plane (usually at the hands of geniekind). These gens are reluctant to speak of how their former masters came to such a fate, though they do say they are not to blame. If what they say is to be believed, most gens go free when their sha'ir is slain in a sudden, unexpected manner, or when their sha'ir manages to offend geniekind in some great way.
The following are possible explanations for why this occurs. DMs are encouraged to chose which reasons are valid and which are just the misguided thinking of sha'irs.
* When a sha'ir dies suddenly, he is unable to give his gen the freedom it deserves. Because of this, the gen must either cease to exist entirely (just as its sha'ir has) or somehow manage to make the jump and become a free-willed creature. There must be a large amount of magic, either in recently cast spells or items, in the area for the gen to make the transformation. If this explanation is correct, odds are that less than 1 in 100 gens ever manage to gain their freedom this way.
* Sha'irs who are extremely unkind to their gens will be given a chance to atone for their misdeeds (see "Care and Feeding of a Gen" above). If the sha'ir doesn't prove himself worthy of his status, his gen will be taken away. In extreme cases, the sha'ir will become a prisoner of geniekind, who will treat the sha'ir just as he treated his gen. In the worst possible scenario, the sha'ir becomes a mindless servitor to geniekind, and his free will is implanted in the gen that suffered at his hand. This may explain why some free gens have more than a little of their former master's personality,
* Over time, a gen may be enhanced by its sha'ir, gaining greater and greater levels of intelligence as a result. Though there is no ritual specifically designed to increase the intelligence of a gen, this seems to be a side effect of the more powerful rituals. As the gen increases in intelligence, it may begin to rebel against its master. If the sha'ir is naive or recklessly continues to augment the gen, it is likely that the gen will openly confront the foolish sha'ir. In this case, the gen finds some way to get around his servitude to the sha'ir and will probably try to kill the sha'ir. Alternately, the gen may call upon the help of its cousins, geniekind, who may or may not free the gen. In either case, the gen will do its best to hide the fact that it killed its master, wary of calling the wrath of the entire sha'ir community down upon it.
* A gen may increase in abilities naturally. Some sha'irs believe that a gen gradually grows in power as its master increases his magical knowledge. Eventually, these gens gain the ability to become lesser members of geniekind themselves. When this occurs, the gen will ask for its freedom. It is believed that the gen will barter some sort of treasure for its freedom, tricking its sha'ir master into a trap. This theory is interesting as it assumes that gens serve sha'irs simply because they don't know any better. Once a gen reaches a certain level of intelligence, it realizes that it has a choice in its life and decides to exercise this choice.
* Some sha'irs believe that gens are merely immature genies. This theory states that the gens are sent out into the world to study the workings of man's magic. They must stay with their masters until their masters' deaths. Then they are allowed to return to their homes where they make the change to full genie. Of course, this is all kept quite secret by geniekind, who don't want their young to be held hostage by greedy sha'ir. A gen becomes free, under this theory, when its master dies quickly and its genie relatives do not believe it to be mature enough to make the transition to full genie. Thus, the gen is forced to stay among men for a while longer, learning more before it can return and come into its mature stage.
Regardless of how a gen becomes free, once they gain their freedom they are a significant discomfort to sha'irs everywhere. These creatures delight in taunting other gens, often doing all they can to delay or trouble the dutiful gen. When a free gen is in the area, it will take a bound gen twice as long to find a spell for its master. The free gen will always waylay the sha'ir's gen, leading it on a merry chase far away from whatever spell the gen is searching for.
Once a gen becomes free, it gains a personality of its own as well as goals and dreams that it pursues. A gen will retain its natural alignment (as determined by its elemental composition) and will act accordingly.
Good gens will generally do nothing that will result in the permanent loss of life, property, or station. They will keep their pranks on the level of practical jokes. Some good gens have even overcome their desire to taunt sha'irs and other gens altogether and act as advisors to those gens who seek them out.
Evil gens are just the opposite. Their idea of a good joke is installing a spring-loaded dagger in the outhouse or filling a sleeping man's bed with scorpions. Their jokes are based around cruelty and pain. To them, such acts of violence are hilarious, especially when several such pranks occur in rapid order. A sha'ir who draws the attention of evil free gen may find themselves experiencing a terrifying run of bad luck and mysterious accidents, all of which are accompanied by a nearby tittering.
Some of the most intelligent good and evil gens have even managed to form loose organizations. These are extremely small in number, usually supporting no more than three to five gens. These organizations do what they can to achieve a specific goal. Many have come into existence for the sole purpose of battling one another, leading to gen wars that rage on for years before one or both sides are wiped out by magical abilities and surprise attacks.
There are rarely more than 50 free gens loose in Zakhara at any time. Of these, perhaps 10 will be of the most intelligent variety while the others are of low intelligence. As stated, the circumstances under which free gens are created are mysterious and rare, limiting the numbers of these creatures extant at any one time.
==Attributes for Free Gens==
A free gen has the hit points, AC, damage capabilities, and other abilities that it possessed when it was serving its sha'ir master. None of this changes just because the gen has gained its freedom. The gen's intelligence does increase, raising to the low end of the Moderate level. A very few gens have their intelligence increased greatly, going from Low to High. These gens do not suddenly gain a number of intelligence points, but instead have been slowly becoming more and more intelligent. Their freedom was merely the catalyst that energized this ability and allowed them to use their intelligence to its fullest.
Gens will normally loot the home of the sha'ir they used to serve. This means that the majority of free gens will have a number of magic items with them when encountered. Gens may use any magic item that a sha'ir may use, which is another reason they harass other sha'ir. If they can cause enough trouble, they may be able to convince the sha'ir to "buy off" their troubles by giving forfeiting a magic item or two.
Due to their long-standing relationship with their sha'ir, free gens can continue to seek out spells as they had under their masters and, in addition, may cast these spells (though not as proficiently as they would have others believe). Their ability to search out spells is the same as when they had masters, and they have the same chance of success as had their masters when the gens were released. Chance of failure in casting the spell is equal to 10 percent per level of the spell, with a further modification of 60 percent for priestly magic. Should the spell fail, nothing happens to the gen. A free gen can cast only a single spell per day. In general, a free gen will have a single impressive spell on hand to deal with those who come calling.
No gen will sully its hands with weapons or wear armor. Not only is this a display of weakness and fear, but it is extremely difficult to find any armor designed for a person only 18 inches tall.
==Life of The Free Gens==
Most free gens spend their time traipsing about and causing trouble for any sha'ir and gen they meet. They play practical jokes and steal on a whim, making them a very real nuisance to those sha'irs they target. Many free gens will allow themselves to be bought off with magic items, as long as the sha'ir appears to be properly respectful of them. Once a gen has been paid to leave a particular sha'ir alone, it will do so. But it will also inform other free gens of the whereabouts of a sha'ir who is "a real pushover." The sha'ir can then count on being harassed at every turn by other free gens, all trying to get him to buy them off for outrageous sums.
Most free gens have no permanent home on the Prime Material Plane. They keep all their goods on their elemental plane and retrieve those they need when they need them. If a gen has managed to remain free for some time, his home will have as many luxuries and magical items as that of any sultan. Many are the adventurers who have tried to find the location of just such a treasure-trove. Mysteriously, none of these has ever returned from his quest.
There are gens who are more intelligent than their peers, and these have taken the title of "exalted gen" for themselves. Among the lesser gens, the exalted gen wields much power and is treated as a noble ruler. Though exalted gens are not significantly more powerful than their companions (some have no special abilities other than those they started with), they are significantly more intelligent. Their rating of High allows them to trick and cajole lesser free gens into service. This gives each exalted gen a retinue of gens that serve it loyally. These servitors are used to gather items of power. They are used as soldiers, bodyguards, spies, and messengers. The least powerful among them may find themselves working to expand or organize the home of the exalted gen that they serve.
Exalted gens spend their time trying to increase their power. They may converse freely with sha'irs, trying to learn various "tricks of the trade," or they may indulge their baser instincts in acts of espionage and thievery. Unfortunately for the sha'ir, there is very little that can be done to prevent an exalted gen from sending in his gen spies. A sha'ir's own gen can detect these spies and report their presence to the sha'ir, but most an exalted gen's operatives are sent in groups of three or four. Only by carefully warding one's place of residence and laboratory against intruders from other planes of existence can a sha'ir hope to stem the tide of spying and stealing.
The most evil of gens are capable of unspeakable acts. Some have enslaved other elemental races through magical means and used them to capture humans to use as slaves and spies in the city of Zakhara. These evil, exalted gens are almost always opposed by other exalted gens who do not want to draw too much attention to themselves. The majority of exalted gens see sha'irs as valid targets for harassment or other punishments, but the rest of the intelligent beings of the Land of Fate are off-limits. Exalted gens wish to keep their nature secret from those already in the know, and to keep other sorts of mages from ever learning about them. It is every gen's worst nightmare that a sorcerer or elemental mage learn to conjure and control it. Such a discovery by such wizards would result in a much larger number of gens being enslaved than are currently under the sway of the sha'irs. Far better to leave non-sha'irs alone.