The Hands of Badiat abd Ala'i (CShaH)

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Admits: This society is only open to sha'irs, though any race or sex is allowed.
Members: The Hands of Badiat abd Ala'i is a large, loosely organized society. There are approximately 70 members located throughout the Land of Fate. Fifteen of its members are firmly ensconced within the Pantheist League, a rare coup for any sorcerous society. Those 15 are all human males. All are well respected within their various communities, having very carefully disguised themselves as merchants or other respected members of society. The remaining 55 members of the organization are scattered throughout cities outside the Pantheist League, and a small enclave is located in the ruins of Kadar. The majority of these individuals are human (30 members), with elvish membership comprising a close second (10 members). Eight dwarves, four gnomes, and three halflings make up the remainder of the membership. The male to female ratio is 4:1, though females tend to hold higher posts within the society. All members are sha'irs of at least 7th level, and many are considerably more experienced.
Initiation: To be considered for initiation, a sha'ir must have proven himself a loyal and humble friend to geniekind. This means that the sha'ir has not indulged in extorting wishes from any member of geniekind and has not used genie prisons. Any sha'ir that has lived by these restrictions (without being told to), and has reached 7th level, will most likely be approached by the Hands.
The Hands will contact the character by gen and will ask for a reply in the same way. Initial contact will include a short "sales pitch" for the organization, that goes something like this:
"Most honorable master. Your wisdom and power have come to our attention, and we would very much like to offer you a position within our assemblage. This arrangement would be of benefit to us and to you. You would be granted access to our magnificent library, which contains lore thought lost for ages. In return, we would ask that you perform certain tasks for us on an annual basis. If you would like to speak further with us, send your gen to (whatever location is nearby and relatively secluded). Rest assured that your gen will come to no harm and that we mean you no ill."
If the sha'ir agrees, his gen will be presented with a scroll that contains the particulars of the society's acceptance policies. The name of the group, as well as the identity of its members, will not be revealed at this time. Also contained in the scroll is the location where the sha'ir must appear for consideration as a member.
If the sha'ir refuses to reply, or declines to join the group at this point, he or she will be allowed to carry on as normal. The individual will know only that a group exists that wants him as a member, but will know none of its particulars and thus will not be a threat to security.
The sha'ir that agrees to meet with the Hands will be greeted by three members at the appointed time and place. These are all middle-level members (usually averaging 10th level) that are prepared for treachery and may be accompanied by a member of geniekind. They are also in possession of a magical device that allows instantaneous transport to the elemental planes. The sha'ir must then prove his level of ability as acceptable to the group.
To do this, two of the sha'irs that come to meet the character will join hands with the character. The third member will then move them to an elemental plane (usually fire). If the character can survive there for a time, then he has presented proof of ability. If the character begins to suffer from exposure before the allotted time (60 minutes), the accompanying sha'irs will quickly move him back to the material plane. Those that fail the test are sent on their way and may be contacted later to try again.
If successful, the sha'ir will be taken to a higherlevel member that is normally present within the same city. This sha'ir will quiz the applicant on any special items or information he might have and will determine the value of this item or information. Any item that is uncommon or any information gained from adventuring will be accepted as the character's contribution to the group. Characters without items or information will have a lunar month to discover information or retrieve an item that the Hands will find useful. Sometimes the Hands will point the character in the right direction of such an item, other times they leave everything up to the character.
Sha'irs that have, or can come up with, the proper contribution will be ready for the next step. The test involves a pilgrimage to the Genie's Anvil where the candidate must speak to a member of geniekind and prove his worth as a sha'ir. Candidates are not allowed to take any companions with them and may only take provisions that they can carry themselves.
Those who travel to the Anvil will have little difficulty finding a member of geniekind with whom to speak. The hard part comes when the creatures ask the candidate to perform some task to prove his worth. This task can be nearly anything, from the simple to the difficult, all depending on the candidate's level and, more importantly, his attitude. Those sha'irs who approach geniekind with a respectful demeanor will be assigned less arduous tasks than those that appear to be arrogant or belligerent. Candidates that demand anything from geniekind will be sent away without their approval.
Once the task is completed to the satisfaction of the genie in question, the candidate will be given a single golden coin. The coin radiates magic that can be detected easily and is readily identifiable as the work of genies. Return of this coin to the Hands is all that is required for acceptance into the society.
Description: The Hands of Badiat abd Ala'i is an organization devoted to the service of the various genie races in exchange for enhanced magical power.
When this sorcerous society was founded is uncertain—even the leaders dispute the exact date. What is known is that one of the most famous sha'irs of all time sold herself into slavery to the marid Ala'i in exchange for the knowledge necessary to free her people from the evil yak-men. The marid was so impressed with her dedication to her people that he later freed her with his blessing. To honor Ala'i, Badiat kept her slave name and continued to perform tasks for Ala'i on a regular basis.
Eventually, Badiat grew old and enfeebled, and, knowing that her time was drawing short, she sent messages to other prominent sha'irs of her acquaintance. She requested that these men and women continue to work with and for Ala'i as a lasting tribute to that marid's generosity and goodwill.
Many of these sha'irs didn't agree and went on their way with no ill will. A small core, however, decided that this would be a goodwill gesture to all of geniekind. Such gestures had been rewarded in the past, and these sha'irs believed that they might be rewarded in the future. These first men and women named the society and set about organizing it.
To start, they contacted a number of genies with whom they were acquainted. This meeting was designed to inform the genies of what was happening so as to avoid any unpleasant misunderstandings that might otherwise occur. The meeting went very smoothly, and, with the exception of a few dao, most of the genie representatives were agreeable to the formation of the society.
The group was designed to perform tasks for genies, tasks that might be impossible for individual sha'irs to complete. For their part, the genies would make available spells that were difficult to find and would, if necessary, act as a buffer between sha'irs and deities from which sha'irs might "borrow" spells. Though the last function was symbolic, it has actually been called upon three times. Each time the sha'ir who had taken the spell was saved from a nasty blast of the evil eye and let off with a stern warning.
Since the formation of the Hands, the society has grown slowly but steadily. Sha'irs that are contacted by the Hands are almost always ready to join once they discover the group's purpose. The few that decline the invitation are let go without threat of retribution, though there is the underlying inference that certain powerful genies might not be happy if the society's existence was leaked to hostile individuals or groups.
This society is very loosely organized, with members scattered about. There is a council of leaders, though these men and women never dictate policy. Instead, they serve as liaisons for geniekind and the rest of the sha'irs in the society. It is through these individuals that tasks come down, and they are responsible for assignation to the most appropriate individual. The sha'ir closest to the goal of the task will receive the assignment. On rare occasions, the society will ask a sha'ir to travel to an area in order to complete a task, but travel expenses are always covered by the Hands' treasury.
There is only one inviolate rule among the Hands: no assignment may be declined. It is vital to the functioning of this society that the sha'irs always complete their tasks promptly and without complaints. This central precept is carefully explained to new members to avoid inadvertent offenses against the group and the genies they represent.
If a sha'ir has the nerve to refuse a task, he'd better have a very good reason. Such individuals will always be called before a genie court and asked to justify their actions. There really is no way to do this; members of the Hands have received special abilities in exchange for the promise to complete assignments, and refusal to do so is a clear breach of etiquette and honor.
Refusal results in the loss of station, as the character is relegated to the station of a criminal among sha'irs and genies alike. The character will be excommunicated from the group and will be unable to retrieve spells for a year and a day. At the end of this time, his gen will be able to find spells once again, but the difficulty will always be 10 percent higher than normal. Such is the price of offending the genies.
All members of the Hands are able to retrieve spells easier than those sha'irs who are not members. The gen of these sha'irs will have the difficulty of any attempt to find a spell reduced by 5 percent. This never increases. In addition, the effective level of any priest spell retrieved will be reduced by two, making it much easier for sha'irs of the Hands to get away with using priest magic. This represents the mediation of geniekind for the character in question.
Goals: The Hands of Badiat abd Ala'i are dedicated to serving geniekind. Many serve out of loyalty, others serve willingly in exchange for enhanced abilities. All wish to see better relations between geniekind and other intelligent races.
To further this, the Hands play up the good qualities of the genies wherever they travel. They also downplay the negative aspects of these creatures, acting as "public relations managers" for the genie races. They also attempt to demystify the nature of sha'irs and their relationship with genies so that one day the sha'ir will be respected, not feared, by the general populace.
Some sha'irs are not amused by this goal. They like their status as mysterious, powerful, and sometimes dangerous workers of magic and want to retain their mystique. Such sha'irs will rarely act against the Hands directly but won't go out of their way to help either. This has led to some friction, but sha'irs aren't big fans of conflict among themselves and mediation is almost always successful.