Genies (Part 1): General Lore

Hoo, boy! Time for another multi-parter! Hooray! And it’s another four-elements situation!

On the Material Plane, genies are so rare that they’ve become a thing of myth. However, on the Elemental Planes, they basically live as kings, relaxing in palaces where servants worship them. They have a massive ego, stemming from the fact that they know only other genies and the gods themselves can rival their power.

Genies are born when a sentient creature’s soul melds with primordial matter on an Elemental Plane. This process is extremely rare, however, which is why they are so low in number. They retain no connection to the soul that birthed them, with the life giving the genie physical form rather than personality (though it does have a small effect on one or two traits).

While they resemble humans, genies are anything but. They don’t reproduce sexually, though they can choose to reproduce with a human should the bond between them be strong enough. When they die, only their belongings, such as clothing, are left behind, along with a small trace of their element.

Genies keep mortal slaves in order to validate themselves. To them, the sound of worship is a beautiful melody. These slaves are viewed as property. Any genie without that property amounts to nothing, at least among genies. As a result, slaves are treasured, often treated with a surprising amount of honor. Although more evil genies freely abuse their slaves.

In contrast, genies hate being enslaved more than anything. Only powerful magic or bribery can bind them into service. Most harness the power of the elements, but a rare few have the power to grant wishes. This makes enslaved genies a great boon, one often searched for by mortals, especially mages.

Noble genies are the rarest of them all. They are spoiled and supremely powerful, essentially ruling as gods of their homes. Other genies follow their rule, knowing it would be foolish to defy them.

While all genies acknowledge the gods, none bother to praise or worship them. This is because they see themselves as gods, so the idea of worshipping another is redundant to then. Some even go so far as to demand mortals on the other planes worship them.

Phew! That is a lot! And that’s just the general stuff!

This lore gives the DM so much to work with! You can make a genie the big bad of the campaign, an important magical item, a quest giver, whatever you can imagine, you can do it! The creative possibilities are so vast that you could play with these guys forever!

And that’s all before we get into the actual genies!