Care and Feeding of a Gen (CShaH)

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In addition to their own plans and the occasional gen quest, there are other things that must be taken care of in order for a gen to prosper.
First, the gen must be allowed to rest on the elemental plane appropriate to its type. Gens usually rest when their masters do and do not appreciate being woken from their rest. If a character, for whatever reason, wakes in the middle of the night (or during the normal resting period) and demands the presence of the gen, there is a very good chance that he will be ignored. This chance of being ignored by the gen is equal to 50 percent minus 5 percent per level of the sha'ir (to a minimum of 10 percent). Sha'irs of the same alignment as their gen receive an additional 10 percent bonus to this roll. If the gen chooses to ignore the sha'ir to whom it is loyal, it will not appear until its normal rest period is over and will be very grumpy about having its sleep disturbed. For the following day it will take the gen an additional 10 minutes to find any spell it is sent to retrieve.
If the gen does wake and respond to its master, it will be very sleepy and not at all in a mood to go searching for spells. If sent to find a spell, it will spend five minutes griping and groaning before it departs and will take an extra half an hour to return with the spell. If it knows its master is in dire need of the spell, it will take only the normal time to find the spell but will gripe and complain even louder until it is free to return to its elemental plane. Gens who wake and come to their master in the night will require an additional 20 minutes to locate spells during the next day.
The second requirement that must be dealt with is the payment of the gen. While they are loyal to their masters, they like to feel as if they are valued allies rather than slaves. For every level of the caster, the gen will require 10 gp per month in payment. Sha'irs may substitute other forms of treasure appropriate to the gen's element for gold and are encouraged to do so. No gen is happier than when carting back a nice bit of art or a new tool to its home on the elemental plane. Such items might include a nice brazier for a fire gen, an ornately crafted wind chime for an air gen, a beautifully carved model boat for a water gen, or a painstakingly sculpted piece of semi-precious stone for an earth gen, All of these are appropriate, as are many others. The gen appreciates those items made by its master over those crafted by the hands of strangers but will accept any items it is given. Precisely what gens do with their "payments" is unknown, but it is believed they simply hoard the stuff. Rumors that they send a portion of their tribute to others of geniekind are unfounded but still popular.
The third necessity required by all gens is praise. Gens believe that they perform a necessary function for their sha'ir and should be complimented for taking such action whenever possible. (The fact that it is also being paid for its services doesn't concern the average gen.) A sha'ir who doesn't introduce his gen to new acquaintances should expect the gen to handle this chore itself. This can be particularly disconcerting if the sha'ir is trying to conceal the fact that he is such a mage. Fortunately, most gens have enough sense not to endanger their sha'ir over much. Though they feel it is fine to make the sha'ir feel some discomfort (after all, humility is a sign of greatness), they will never do anything that may result in overt harm to their master.
The last thing that gens require is contact with those of geniekind. Gens are very much dependent on their more powerful cousins for their magical powers and, some believe, for their very existence. Gens must be allowed to spend at least five hours a week talking to their kindred. While this requires no special actions on the part of the sha'ir, it will place the gen beyond contact range for a time. Most gens like to tack this "social time" onto the beginning or end of their "resting time." This allows them to enter the elemental plane and talk to some genies and then rest.
If a gen is deprived of any of these requirements for a week, the gen becomes very irritable and prone to irrational fits of anger. During this time, the gen will not actively hurt the sha'ir or cause the sha'ir harm in any direct way, but it will not go out of its way to help the sha'ir, either. If a sha'ir wants a spell and is not in immediate danger of being killed without it, the gen may take up to twice as long as normal to find the spell. This continues until the gen has received the treatment it requires in addition to some small, special treat that its master has long denied it. All gens have a tendency to ask for things they cannot have; this is a good chance to make a sha'ir pamper the gen a bit.
If a sha'ir is so callous as to pay no heed to his gen's surly attitude, the gen becomes even harder to handle and takes even longer to retrieve spells. All spells will take double the normal time to find, and the gen will deliver the spell with a snide comment of some sort or another. In addition, the gen will refuse to wake during its rest period regardless of the situation its sha'ir is in. After a week of this, the gen will come right out and tell the sha'ir what the problem is and how to fix it. This will require no less than a week's "vacation" for the gen, as well as some sort of special prize that the gen has had its eye on. This gift must be worth at least 100 gp per level of the caster and must be delivered to the gen as quickly as possible.
Should all of this fail to apprise the sha'ir of his gen's exceedingly poor attitude, the gen will make the ultimate show of disgust—the poor creature will simply disappear for a week. What the sha'ir doesn't know is that the gen has sought refuge with geniekind and is busy pouring its heart out to anyone who will listen. At the end of the week, a genie will appear before the sha'ir and explain the problem to him in terms that cannot be misunderstood. The genie who appears will be a step above the most powerful genie that the sha'ir can bind and will not be amused should the sha'ir try anything so foolish. This member of geniekind will act as an arbitrator in the dispute and will protect the gen until something satisfactory has been worked out. If things get to this stage, the sha'ir is going to pay dearly and only some very persuasive arguments will prevent the forfeiture of the gen's services for no less than a month and tribute worth at least 1,000 gp per level. Geniekind will enforce the agreed upon settlement. Should the sha'ir decide to break his agreement, his gen will leave forever and he will be forced to begin his career over as a sorcerer or elemental mage.
While all of this may make gens seem to be vain, troublesome creatures, in truth what they ask is quite reasonable. After all, the gen provides its sha'ir with magicks that other wizards of similar levels can only dream about. And the gen is also a competent servant. While they require a little more care and pampering than a standard familiar, they are far more versatile and considerably more powerful. A sha'ir who abuses such a creature deserves whatever he gets.