Djinni

Djinni are a type of servitor constructs created by the dwarves of Mozaz, bound to enchanted objects etched with magical formulas.

Over time the djinni developed self awareness and began to free themselves from the objects they were bound to, creating considerable political and social upheaval throughout Mozaz and much of Xaxalin.

In modern times many 'liberated' djinni live alongside other mortal beings.

Background
Shortly after Mozaz's founding, its farsighted leaders began developing the city's facilities for magical research to cater to its growing population of spellcasters. Its location near the coast and upon a major trade route that stretches across the continent allowed many scholars easy access to exotic materials and reagents of all kinds, and its skilled craftsmen provided myriad tools and facilities for their work. With so many high quality resources and in such abundance, the region underwent an arcane renaissance.

The first djinni arose out of one of these numerous projects, imagined by a dwarf named Jarrah Dawnbeard, son of a wealthy merchant family that had an inherent talent for magic. The djinni were born out of the goal to create automatons more flexible than the crude assistants many magi and artificers made and maintained themselves. The process of development was not simple however, the first attempts at the new servitors and constructs were carved from stone and imbued with magic, too clumsy and heavy for maneuvering in crowded workshops or across unstable desert sands. While they could load goods in and out of carts and in storerooms in the city or on roads, they were not much more intelligent than many wizards homemade constructions, and far more expensive than simply hiring traditional workers.

Jarrah was frustrated but remained determined to make his dream a reality. The excitement he had seen in the eyes of those he'd explained his project to had only stoked the fires of his ambition as he revised his designs and came closer to completion with each attempt. Jarrah had realized that his constructs would need bodies that were strong, yet lightweight enough not to shift in desert sand and dexterous enough to move about in workshops. Jarrah's next few designs gained much acclaim, elegant works of ceramic and metal twisted into ornate art, striding lightly through bazaars to procure materials and carry them home, but while the problems of precision and movement had been addressed, the constructs were still enormously expensive and could only obey simple instructions. Regardless, the growing spectacle had captured the imagination of the city, and Jarrah found himself the subject of newfound notoriety.

He exchanged messages with several other prominent casters and craftsmen, and arranged to meet with them to learn from their methods and perspectives. The attempt at cooperation helped Jarrah make progress and gave his project new vigor, but by now the concept had spread to others outside of Jarrah's circle of friends and contacts. Soon enough, numerous guilds and spellcasters were engaged in similar research, and a race to see who could create the most effective design began. Desperate thefts, ostentatious experiments, and long nights of research became the norm until a stunning breakthrough was reached.

Jarrah had realized that no single construct design could be cheaply mass-produced to meet the varying needs of the city's inhabitants, and he lacked the means to produce multiple types of constructs in large numbers. Seemingly stumped, he visited a friend for dinner and saw several workers making blown glass in a shop along the way. As he saw their breath give shape to the glass, Jarrah rushed home and reworked the magics that animated his constructs. Rather than maneuvering a single interconnected body, the magics would animate a cloud of ambient energy. Building a construct's body represented a large portion of the cost, altering the formula to animate a cloud of varying sizes and with differing elemental affinities was relatively simple, all that remained was to anchor the arcane formula within objects that could be carried or worn by the owners of the djinni.