Cambion

(CAM-bee-in)

Variations: Campion

In post-medieval Europe, belief in INCUBUS and SUCCUBUS attacks were commonly accepted. Naturally, it stands to reason that if a human is having sexual relations with a demon, willfully or not, there is bound to eventually be offspring from such an unholy union. These demonic hybrid progeny were called cambion and for the most part, developed as normally as any other child would. Typically, a child born with a physical defect was suspected of being a demonic half-breed, especially twins. Unfortunately for the poor cambion child, it was not considered to be a living being until it reached the age of seven years. Until that time, it was perfectly acceptable for a witch hunter to kill one without any fear of repercussion whatsoever. Acommon test that was performed to see if a child were a cambion or not was to have a holy man simply touch it. Being demonic, a cambion would cry out in pain. Naturally, should it survive, a cambion adult was often-times prejudiced against because of its lineage.

Incredibly dense and weighing more than itlooks like it would, a cambion grows into a tall and well-muscled individual who may have an apparent physical defect of some description. Its nature is to be arrogant, bold, and wicked and will have some sort of supernatural ability; most develop a talent for using magic spells and go on to become sorcerers.

King Arthur's very own Merlin was said tohave been a cambion—his mother a nun and his father an INCUBUS. The founding twins of Rome, Remus and Romulus, were also supposed to be cambions, as was Alexander the Great, Caesar Augustus, Martin Luther, Plato, Scipio Africanus, and the father of William the Conqueror. In 1 275, a woman by the name of Angela de Labarthe of Toulouse was burned at the stake for giving birth to a child who allegedly had the head of a wolf and a tail that resembled a snake. It was deduced that only an INCUBUS could have fathered such a child as hers, and therefore came from Hell.

Source: Gettings, Dictionary of Demons, 65; Kramer, Malleus Maleficarum, 26; Spence, Encyclopaedia of Occultism, 93; Wedeck, Dictionary of Spiritualism, 186