folklore AU Albion

“Cambion have one foot on earth and one foot in hell, born with the instinctive knowledge that they’ll never fit into either world. Not surprisingly, they aren’t known for being well-adjusted or sane.”

— The Long Way Down, Craig Schaefer

A cambion is the offspring of either an incubus or a succubus, via a human host. Common in mediaeval demonology, accounts peak in the 15th century and coincide with the witch-hunts sweeping Great Britain. Both Caliban of Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Merlin of Arthurian legend are said to be cambions. In Albion’s case, his mother was a succubus who implanted his fertilized embryo into the body of an unsuspecting woman by lecherous methods; it’s really better not to ask about the mechanics, unless you want to get decked.

Newborn cambions are as cold as the dead, without breath or pulse, heavy, often to the point of sinking small water vessels, and cry upon being touched. At birth, several markers distinguish them from stillborns: tails, harelips, scaled patches of skin, red eyes and deformed wings are not uncommon.

If they survive past the age of seven without being cremated by a superstitious midwife, their demonic heritage will become apparent in their personality. A full-grown cambion is charismatic, cunning, hypersexual and malicious. This susceptibility to cruelty can be chalked up to a nature-versus-nurture argument, for most cambion infants are abandoned for dead and mature by sheer fluke—or dogged survival instinct. Consequently, they often favour their demonic half from sheer rage at the human world that abandoned them.  

Cambions possess a curious set of powers that almost qualifies them as warlocks; chief among these is possession and dream projection. The ability to worm oneself into the mind of a mortal whilst they sleep has proven a handy skill, although they will never gain as much proficiency as their sex-vampire parents. They can also become talented spellcasters if given over to magical discipline, which is why they often run in the same circles as witches. 

As a human-demon hybrid, they doubly vulnerable; a cambion can be slain by both sword or scripture. Like all demons, they cannot tolerate salt or music in large quantities. Although they may ford running water on occasion, you can be sure they won’t enjoy it, and make pained faces all the while.

In compensation, a cambion can procure nutrition from both souls and earthly sources, in-effect classifying them as spiritual omnivores. Although most of their kind will say (with leering eye and bloodthirsty smile) that there is no better taste than a human's life, most end up eating like humans for ethical and legal reasons. If you attempt to compare this to vegetarianism, the cambion will probably eye you up with distaste and say "Oh, so you get charged with breaking-and-entering and first degree sexual assault for eating a cow? What a fascinating insight into our justice system!"

While not immortal, they are remarkably long-lived; the oldest half-demon in existence is recorded at roughly a thousand years old. Cambions, more than the other ranks of demons, are the most likely to infest the business sector, as their apparent sociopathy and fatal charm makes them a natural fit for the fast-paced corporate world.