Cambions

**The Half Daemons**

*“Hark! What art these foul creatures? Horns adorn their misshapen skulls, their skin seems pale and diseased… They are akin to us but alas- far more hellish…”*

## Appearance & Anatomy

### Physical Description

With their ghastly horns, empty eyes and elvish ears, folk often carry the misconception that cambions are fearsome creatures, a race that only possesses means for evil. This is certainly not true; while their appearance is oft devilish, cambions scarce carry the capacity of a true chaotic evil.

### Horns

Their horns vary in size, some may have smaller horns protruding from their forehead, while others have three separate foot-long horns pointing in each direction. Colour is also distinct between each cambion, from beautiful pearlescent shades of pure white to matte blacks. Horns also do not grow back; cambion children have smaller horns which grow as they progress into adulthood. Once scratched, broken or dented, there is no means to fix them.

### Height

Cambions are typically taller than humans, averaging at around 6’0”-6’5”, but male cambions particularly can tower over others at 7’0”.  The tallest recorded cambion in recent history was 7’6”, with horns that were also over a foot long.

### Skin

The skin of cambions comes in paler shades than their demonic ancestors. There is no common colour of skin for cambions, their skins can range from the brightest white to the darkest black with everything in between. There have been some cases of cambions with human shades of skin, who have used this to get up to mischief by disguising within human society.

### Eyes

Cambion eyes also have great variations. Typically, their eyes are one colour that match either their skin or horns, but they can also be reptile-like slits.

## Culture & Society

### **Times of Old**

In their days of extensive wealth and glory, cambions dwelled in beautiful tall cities with gold demonic scripture and symbols adorning black spires, and cascading streams of glistening water fell from the mountains encompassing their homes. Unique architecture was at the heart of their homelands, and trade was nothing short of rich, with merchants bringing exotic delicacies and materials from all over.

### **Times of New**

The nature of cambions, however, led their cities to slowly crumble. The failure to maintain complex tall towers and bridges meant they fell, and this destruction of the city spread as the economy halted due to deterring visitors and merchants. Cambions left their abodes to travel to more affluent cities, gradually merging in with the rest of society and leaving their sheltered, isolated lands.

### **Society & Culture**

The cambions who left their homes  to seek out adventure  tend to live secluded lives. It is uncommon to stumble across cambion settlements due to them oft being strewn across numerous towns and villages, however unlike their prideful ancestors, should one converse with one in a tavern they will find cambions no longer care for the racial purity their relatives once devoted themselves to.

## History

“Behind the concealed walls of the house, a mother bore the first horned child known to man… Alack, it was not human, but a fiendish creature who would spread mischief and dismay, much like its demon father…”
Cambions were, at one time, a scarce rarity. Human women giving birth to children with white alabaster skin and empty black eyes would spark fear in those present, but the horns it would grow within weeks made it clear that demons were spreading their hellish existence. These children grew fast; within two years they were akin to a human adolescent, and their demonic characteristics which proved to be more so prominent by their third year deemed them unsuitable for human environments, forcing their loving and often overly attached mothers to bid them well as they ventured to find similar horned communities.

The first noted cambion is recorded as Tagord the Horned, whose diaries provide excellent insight into the early history of the race. He notes leaving his mother just before his fourth birth day in hopes of finding guidance from his father, but instead he found himself residing in one of the olden cambion cities. The presence of cambions was ever growing, but as the daemon offspring themselves formed families, negative demonic traits became less prominent, meaning cambions were able to live a civilised life (he did, however, recollect the presence of evil demons who possessed blatant traits of their parents).

The fall of the cambion cities meant many dispersed into the common lands. Seemingly, many ventured to Lochwind. As a result of their constant moving, cambions have lost their strong familial and racial bonds, and now instead dwell alone, once more leading secluded lives in hidden away towns.

## Characteristics

### Life Span

#### ✠ Birth to Two Years ✠

Childhood, with rapid growth development. Horns will start to appear, and it is this short span of time in which cambions will seem more akin to human children; playful and mischievous but innocent.

#### ✠ Two Years to Three Years ✠

Adolescence, in which their horns will begin to flourish and they will possess their most demonic characteristics. At this period of change in their lives, they are most prone to violence and chaos.

#### ✠ Three Years to Two Hundred Years ✠

These long years can be defined as adulthood, but the time before a cambion begins to become weakened and old is not clear. Commonly, it is around two hundred years in which their movement slows, but there are records of a prolonged adulthood with some cambions not displaying elderly characteristics until their three hundreds.

#### ✠ Two to Three Hundred Years Onwards ✠

It is in these years when a cambion begins to lose their demonic qualities, and their human roots means their bodies slow. However, this typically takes an extensive amount of time, and cambions have the capacity to live fulfilling lives even up until their four hundredth and fifth hundredth years.

### Alignments

Cambions can be any alignment, but pure and good cambions are an extreme rarity, and can only occur with extremely weakened demon bloodlines. More likely, cambions will fall into neutral or evil categories due to their fiendish instincts, but they are not necessarily an evil race as people typically believe they are.

### Philosophy

The separation from demonic belief and culture means cambions can be of any religion, but cambions who have found themselves more prone to their hellish core will stray from religion and typically worship no deity.