Jinn FAQ (the Cradle and the Crescent - Chapter 4)

Heaven_s_Thunder_Ham · January 18, 2015, 2:05am

Here's something that I still haven't quite nailed down in my head:

What separates a Jinn from a Non-Jinn? What exactly makes them live only in Islamic vs Christian lands?

From this old thread, genii loci I found:

Mark Shirley » Fri Jun 29, 2007 7:35 am

Jarkman wrote:
Per HoH:S Jinn are a type of genii loci.

They are very elemental but not true elementals I gather.

There were genii loci in ArM4 Mysteries and slightly different Spirits of Place/Artifice introduced in ArM4 Hedge Magic.

There are presumably other, non-Islamic influenced genii loci ie. not all genii loci are Jinn. Whether there are Jinn susceptible to Sihr that are not genii loci is open to interpretation at this point - I'd argue that there are as there are certainly Infernal Jinn, which HoH:S states are no different to demons ie. not genii loci. There is also mention of Faerie aligned Jinn (those who profess to follow Islam) which are not usually enslaved by sahir as Islam prohibits enslaving another Muslim.

Yup, you've hit the nail on the head - at least how I've conceived it. Magical jinn are (mainly) a subset of a class of spirits called genii loci, which are literally "spirits of places". However, there are also Faerie Jinn and Infernal Jinn (neither of which are genii loci), but bear superficial resemblances to the Magical jinn. There may also be Magical jinn who are not genii loci. For simplicity (at least until we gain any other official rules to work from), all jinn can be assumed to have similar powers but different Mights and motivations. You could create an Infernal Jinn from the Order of Aerial Powers, should you have a copy of RoP:tI. All types of jinn are susceptible to Sihr, but other spirits aren't. You can't use Sihr on a ghost, for example. Only that group which your SG designates as jinn are susceptible - principally creatures involved in Islamic lore. Sihr is based on the rituals of King Solomon; who presumably codified some common element which defines the creatures called "jinn".

Genii loci (and that would be pronounced "GAIN-ee-eye LOAK-eye", and have nothing - etymologically speaking - to do with jinn) are given a description in GotF, principally as the spirits of forests. However, the jinn are weaker and made more mobile by the magic of the sahirs.

Mark