The Cambion Families
In the ancient past, creatures of unimaginable power and evil visited the earth, making mortals their playthings or their servants. These creatures, known to us now as demons, left their mark across many different cultures and peoples. Many of these demons, those most human in thought and form, took human lovers for themselves and these unholy unions lead to children being born. These children, often known as cambions, had many of the supernatural powers and features of their demonic parents as well as some of the weaknesses. Because of their unique abilities and connection to their hellish parents, these cambions were often used as servants and followers of the demons, doing their bidding and sometimes ruling on their behalf. As the ages past and civilizations progressed, the demons began to visit the realm of mortals less and less frequently, instead relying upon their mortal or cambion servants to enact their wishes. Eventually, they did not communicate with their children at all.
The cambions, now left to their own devices, sought to further their own power and either pave the way for the return of their demonic parents, prevent it, or bring their return about. They knew that they carried their powers within their blood and so sought to pass along these powers to other mortals, perhaps to have more servants of their own. As time went on, the cambions developed their own culture, no longer ruling mortals openly but using their powers to secretly manipulate them. Cambions of a certain lineage bred with each other, eventually forming distinct cambion families with certain shared characteristics, powers, and traditions.
These families have remained relatively insular over the centuries, raising and teaching their own children, living in huge mansions or estates in isolated areas away from prying eyes of mortals, using their supernatural powers to retain their wealth and privilege as the mortal world changed around them. As one might expect, cambion culture is extremely conservative and traditional, with a special focus being placed on family and seniority, with social orders much like those of ancient days. They are also dark and twisted by their nature and upbringing, with a callous attitudes towards life, sick rituals, incest, and other unspeakable practices.
The first generation of cambions, sometimes called the progenitors or the ancients, are said to be truly immortal and unaging, though most have withdrawn from the world and are only rarely seen by even the most ancient of cambions. Cambions have mystic power based on the purity of their blood, how many generations they are removed from the demonic ancestors, and their actual age. More powerful cambions age more slowly, with some weak blooded cambions living only twice as long as humans, while some are thousands of years old and show little sign of age. Unfortunately, the more powerful a cambion is, the more detached it is from the world of mortals and the more vulnerable they are to demonic weaknesses such as holy ground or the faith of the virtuous.
The powers that cambions wield vary tremendously from individual to individual, though certain types of powers tend to run in families. Their diabolic sorcery tends to have strange reality warping effects, usually based around certain themes or concepts. Ultimately, the cambions are cruel and terrifying creatures and their powers tend to act like nightmare that have come to life, reality becomes surreal and nightmarish as cambions use their magic, a victim's worse fears may come to life or time and space may not behave in normal ways. Some cambions have an affinity for heat and flame, being immune to fire and having the ability to summon the unnatural fires of hell. Others command powers of darkness and cold, drawing it forth from the abyss. All cambions have enhanced physical prowess, strength and resilience far exceeding that of humans, amazing agility and vitality, as well as regenerative abilities. Once again, the purer the blood, the more powerful the cambion.
Cambions also have strange weaknesses as well, inexplicable limitations to their powers or vulnerabilities. The most common is that some cambions are stronger in the night and weaker in the day. For most, this is merely a reduction of powers during the day, though some cannot stand the light of the sun at all and must hide away from it. Another common weakness is to religious faith or even innocence such as that of a child or saintly individual. They are sometimes vulnerable to blessed items, being burned by holy water or not being able to enter holy ground. As with power, the weaknesses are more potent for those who are older and purer of blood. Knowing the true name of a cambion also gives you some measure of power over it and resistance it its powers, which is another reason why the families tend to be so conservative - because parents have supernatural power over their children as they have given them their true names.
While they are bound by familial loyalty and ancient codes of honor, cambions are not kind or moral by any stretch of the imagination. Demons are cruel sadistic creatures and their twisted descendants carry on those traits in their blood and in their traditions. Cambions also see themselves as a higher life form than mortals, a master race of sorts chosen by gods to be a cut above humanity. This belief combined with their ancient traditions of rule by nobility and their callousness makes the behavior of the cambions horrifying. Some cambions indulge in torture for their own sick pleasure, experiment on human subjects using magic or science, hunt people as though their were game, delight in causing fear and terror, or keep mind altered slaves. Many cambions are also hedonistic and decadent, having lavish parties or engaging in orgies or frivolously spending their money.
The cambions have been declining in temporal power in the modern age. With the advancement of technology, their conservatism and isolation does not serve them well. A few families, those with weaker blood but more progressive and flexible attitudes, have become more wealthy than strong blooded families who depended on magical might instead of social connections.
The Amidas
The Amidas family stands out from among the cambion families, because as opposed to embracing their twisted demonic natures, they fight against them. The Amidas attempt to hold on to their humanity, morality, and their honor despite dark drives that they may still have. This often puts them at odds with other families, as they often seek to curtail other families’ worst abuses of humanity. They also work diligently to police their own members as well, as some succumb to the worst part of their natures. The Amidas family is relatively thin blooded and they exert less control over the breeding practices of young members and often even marry and reproduce out of love rather than family loyalty.
The Amidas have strong passions and sometimes lose control of them - experiencing terrible rages or bouts of depression, perhaps from the stress of trying to suppress rather than act on their dark urges. Much effort within the Amidas family is spent trying to suppress these feelings - meditation, prayer, philosophy, distractions, and various methods of venting their feelings are all common. Some even turn to drugs, alcohol, or other addictions.
The Amidas family has few supernatural abilities. To a large degree they eschew sorcery and witchcraft as they know that drawing power from such dark forces can only corrupt them eventually. Their blood is weak by Cambion standards and while their physical prowess is quite impressive for mortals, it pales by comparison to some others. Members of the Amidas family do, though, put a great deal of effort into learning to fight. Not merely close combat and martial arts, but many join the military or dedicate themselves to small unit tactics, mastering firearms, or even constructing explosives. The Amidas family also loves to utilize technology and any advantage that it can provide, especially against more conservative (if mystically potent) families.
While they aren’t known for any particular supernatural abilities, the Amidas family has had a long tradition of adopting members of the other cambion families who have fled their own family. Because of this, the Amidas can manifest a variety of relatively weak supernatural abilities, sometimes even powers that other families are known for. Very few do the Amidas excel in any of these powers, they are quite weak compared to the mastery shown by many families, but the versatility of the Amidas give them certain advantages over more specialized families. Some Amidas display no supernatural abilities save for the enhanced physical prowess universal to all cambions and some will possess powers that are associated with a number of the families.
It is not uncommon for the Amidas family to find itself in conflict with others families. The Amidas view themselves as good, or at least struggling to be, and so they seek to thwart some of the worst atrocities of other families. Though, because they cannot take on all of the other families together, they must use discretion, only fighting other families when the circumstances are truly dire or when they can form an alliance against one of the more evil families. This leads to the Amidas family being the black sheep of the cambions, not really respected but rather seen as a thorn in the side by other families.
The Amidas family allows young members to mate and marry with whom they desire, leading to many thin blooded Amidas and human extended families. This also leads them to being more physically diverse than other families. It is not uncommon to find members of the Amidas family of any race or ethnicity or mix of them. While they aren’t the wealthiest family, the Amidas are larger than many other families and have networks of human allies and extended family which can sometimes aid them in times of strife. This fact combined with the ability to interact with mortals allows them to gain greater influence and resources than families who find it difficult to adjust to modern mortal society.
The Ascania
Among all of the Cambion families, no other family embraces their demonic nature as do the Ascania. This family openly accepts their nature as evil personified and, in fact, have dedicated themselves to the worship of the Abrahamic fallen angel Satan. The Ascania see themselves then as dark priests of sorts, dedicated to opposing God and conquering Heaven itself in the name of the father Satan - who they believe to be the literal ancestor of their family as well as their spiritual father.
The Ascania embrace a philosophy which they hold as counter to Christianity - the embrace violence, deceit, fornication, and blasphemy. In practice, this ideology has become one which encourages not only the strong to dominate the weak, but for the treacherous to rule over the honorable. This also causes conflict and intrigues within this family, as rival siblings or cousins seek to prove themselves worthy of leading the family. Maintaining their religious dedication to serving Satan and opposing God causes them to attempt to maintain at least the appearance of family loyalty, though secret attempts to undermine family members is an ever present concern that sometimes causes the family to fail when a more cooperative family might have succeeded.
The Ascania believe in acquiring temporal wealth and power, they are obsessed with it in fact, not only as a path to greater power, but as a symbol of their devotion to avarice. Ascania are one of the wealthier and more influential Cambion families. The Ascania are dedicated not only to serving Satan, but in winning converts, in corrupting other Cambions as well as mortals. This activity takes the form of trying to morally corrupt humans through the use of the media and with wealth. They try to find a human’s weakness and use that to turn them to evil, either through sex, money, drugs, or what ever other vice a human might have. Those people who are sufficiently debauched will be invited to join the worship of Satan.
Members of the Ascania family usually extremely attractive. They are tall and fit with perfect features. They tend to have very fair skin, blonde hair, and light blue eyes. The few exceptions are those individuals who have entirely dedicated themselves to the worship of Satan, the family priests, whose dark magic causes them to take on reptilian characteristics such as scaly skin, extended faces full of fangs, serpentine eyes, or even scaly wings. In recent years, a bit of a schism has arisen in this already fractious family between those devout worshipers of the Devil and members of the family who are more interested in worldly power than impiety.
Among the powers commanded by the Ascania are a supernatural ability to manipulate emotions, to create passions in others especially dark ones. Some members of the family can sense emotions or in some cases discern moral frailty and sin with a glance or sometimes a touch. Both of these abilities serve the Ascania well in attaining temporal power. The Ascania are also masters of fire. Their skin always feels a bit warm to the touch and they are immune to all fire or extremes of heat. When they become angry their skin grows even hotter, becoming painful to the touch and their eye start to glow with fiery heat. Many Ascania can call upon this fire, using it to burn their foes. When they become angry, their ability to manipulate fire and heat increases and they can wreath themselves in flames as their eyes glow with fiery intensity. The more powerful the Ascania, the hotter their flames. The weakest among the family may only be able to burn a mortal with a touch, others can call upon red and orange flames, while the pure blooded ancients can summon blue flames that can even blind mortals who look upon them. Elder Ascania and those who have trained themselves in the mastery of hellfire can cause foes to burst into flames, burn down buildings, or melt cars into slag with a wave of their hand. The dark priests of the Ascania few the dragon features as Satan’s blessing, though the more secular Ascania who treasure their ability to interact with mortals avoid delving too deeply into the mystical rites of the family.
The Ephrati
The Ephrati are unique among the cambion families because they consider themselves not the descendants of demons, or even of creatures which transcend moral classification, but instead as the descendants of angels. The Ephrati see themselves a holy family, uniquely blessed by God. Contrary to what one might imagine, this belief does not drive the Ephrati family towards goodness and virtue. Quite to the contrary, the Ephrati family may be one of the most wicked of any of the cambion families. They see humanity as nothing more than chattel, to be used and abused as they desire and ultimately to be enslaved or even sacrificed for the benefit of the Ephrati.
The Ephrati believe that God has anointed them, and them alone, to rule over all of humanity and elevated them to a level where moral law no longer applies. They see it as their right to inflict what ever harm on humans that they please - even the most innocent of humans. The goal of the Ephrati is to eventually openly rule the world, with humanity completely subject to their every whim. To achieve this goal, they believe it is first necessary to bring down human civilization - to spread misery and suffering, to foster hatred and vice, to encourage conflict and immorality until human society must turn to the Ephrati as their saviors.
In their mission to bring down the world’s civilization, the Ephrati seek power within both the business and political worlds. They amass great wealth and power and use this to cause as much misfortune as possible. They are even involved in organized crime, including child pornography, sex slavery, kidnapping, racketeering, contract killing, and other activities. Because of their supernaturally enhanced luck, they excel at gambling and games of chance, and this is another major source of income and influence for them.
The Ephrati have some of the strange quirks that many families have, though they also believe in maintaining contact with humanity and staying abreast of human affairs. The Ephrati do not isolate themselves as many families do, but instead send the young members of their family into the world to learn mortal ways. This often involves going to a university, especially a prestigious one, and pursuing some profession. Common professions desired by the Ephrati include law, business, finance, banking, journalism, entertainment, and sometimes even academia. Because the family maintains close connections to each other, they can use these contacts to rise within their chosen profession before they must retire from the mortal world because of their slow aging. Needless to say, the Ephrati are one of the wealthier and more well connected of the cambion families.
The Ephrati don’t have particularly weak or strong blood as cambion families go, they walk a line between the more supernaturally potent inbred families and the well adjusted thin blooded families. As a result, they seldom look inhuman, though they tend to have a distinctive appearance. They tend to be tall and willowy, with olive colored skin and dark hair, though their eyes have an amber or even golden appearance. They tend not be be attractive in the traditional sense, but seem to carry with them an aura of dignity and authority that makes humans inclined to trust them. They tend to wear expensive fashionable clothing, attire befitting their wealth and status.
While the Ephrati have few scruples when it comes to dealing with mortals, they are a little bit nicer to each other. They believe that it is their duty to help any other family member in need when ever possible. This tradition exists more in theory than in practice, and while they are not nearly as vicious with each other as they are with humans, they frequently work to one-up or undermine each other and have as little guilt for doing so as they do for harming mortals. Ultimately, the Ephrati believe that God does not hold them accountable for any sin, and so they need never feel guilt for any misdeed.
The supernatural abilities of the Ephrati are linked to deception. Even the most young and inexperienced Ephrati can tell lies that even the most discerning individual might believe. As they grow in age and power, the Ephrati’s lies become supernaturally potent and they can convince people to believe things that contradict what they can see with their own eyes. These supernatural deceptions can even be used to erase or alter people’s memories, convincing them that things happened in their past that did not, or can even be used to cause a victim to experience hallucinations.
The one supernatural ability that the Ephrati are known for is potent if rather subtle. They can manipulate luck and chance, usually giving themselves slightly better odds at any game of chance or random event, while giving their opponents a slightly lower chance of victory. This ability is almost always subtle and is often used subconsciously with relatively young Ephrati. Only a handful of the oldest and most potent Ephrati can change chance so as to be obviously unnatural, such as causing all of the shrapnel of a nearby explosion to miss the Ephrati, leaving it unharmed - and even in those cases it requires a great expenditure of mystical energy.
The Ivorix
The Ivorix are passionate, violent, and sensual. They embrace their animalistic nature, enjoying the bliss of sexuality and the thrill of the kill. The Ivorix feel at home in the wild places away from population centers, where they can live as they desire without the fetters of modern human society. They practice a form of sorcery and mysticism based around their connection with nature and their primal side - rituals conducted beneath the full wood and within ancient groves, rituals of sex and blood giving honor to the primordial forest and their demonic ancestors.
The Ivorix have a sort of feral beauty about them. Many family members can mostly pass for human though with a certain animalistic or earthy quality to them. Most of the Ivorix have flaming red hair which they wear long, including beards for men, and their skin is fair or ruddy. All members of the Ivorix family have unusually animalistic eyes, like those of a wolf or cat. These eyes are strangely luminescent, seemingly to glow in the presence of light. For the elder members of the family or those of purest blood, they usually have more obviously inhuman characteristics. This often includes horns or antlers upon their heads, clawed hands or fanged teeth, fur or scales on certain parts of the skin, wings, or any number of other animalistic features. It is then left to the younger members of the family to interact with humanity, as the elders cannot pass for human.
The Ivorix exude a certain animal magnetism that has the ability to charm humans. Humans are drawn to them, feel a compulsion to obey them, to fear and yet be captivated by them. They also exude an aura of sexuality that arouses mortals even if they don’t understand why. This allows the Ivorix to seduce mortals with ease, but also to lead and influence them in other areas of life, should they be inclined to do so. The Ivorix also have extremely heightened senses, the sense of smell like a bloodhound or the night vision of a cat. The power that the Ivorix are most known for is their ability to control the minds of animals. All animals feel compelled to serve and obey the Ivorix and for the more skilled members of the family this can include more overt control over the thoughts of animals, sometimes even the ability to see through they eyes and command their thoughts from vast distances away. Many Ivorix can even transform themselves into the shape of animals or take on animal characteristics, such as growing claws like a tiger or even wings like a bat or bird.
The Ivorix also have a supernatural connection to the forest they dwell in which establishes itself after many years of ritual and communion with nature. They have the ability to feel when someone or something is in their territory, as though the trees, earth, and stones speak to them. For the very ancient and powerful among the Ivorix, they may even animate plants or earth to do their bidding. Many Ivorix domains have been inhabited by them for centuries, in some cases the family has been dwelling in a single abode for millennia. The longer a forest has been under the control of the Ivorix, the more the dark nature of the Ivorix is reflected by that forest - the trees seem dark and twisted, almost seeming to reach out towards strangers, the animals grow large and ferocious, protective of their Ivorix masters and hostile to strangers, and even the earth and stone seems unnatural.
Finally, the Ivorix practice a form of sorcery tied to nature, this magic often involves night long rituals, orgies, or even blood sacrifices of animals or humans. These rituals are often conducted on the night of the full moon when the magic of the Ivorix is usually at its most powerful. The Ivorix are some of the most potent magic users among the families, especially deep within their forests and especially on certain nights of the year. For the Ivorix, witchcraft is not just a path to power, but a spiritual pursuit, a communion with forces greater than themselves.
The Ivorix shun human cities, though they sometimes reside in small rural communities among the humans there. Many times, these Ivorix see themselves are spiritual leaders of humanity, encouraging mortals to embrace their animal passions and connection to nature and the earth. Those Ivorix who take greater interests in influencing human society usually have a strong tendency to Social Darwinism, encouraging the strong to flourish and the weak to perish.
The Krann
The Krann have a mostly human appearance, a bit strange looking as a result of years of inbreeding, but nothing that wouldn’t permit them to pass as humans. The Krann have a strange look about them, not obviously inhuman but ugly and distinctively inbred. The size and shape of the Vesian seems to vary more than most other families. Krann usually have tanned skin and dark hair and eyes, like a person from southern Europe, though there is some diversity in this regard. Some are exceptionally tall while others unusually short. Some members of the family grow immensely fat while others seem to be nothing more than skin and bone. Most Krann also have an androgynous look about them as well, and sometimes outsiders have trouble distinguishing between male and female Krann. The Krann usually don’t give much concern to fashion and dress more for convenience than to impress, and their clothing is often old disheveled or even tattered.
Krann can read human minds at a glance, looking not only into surface thoughts, but gazing deep into the memories and subconscious of the victim. Seeing their worst fears, greatest secrets, hidden shames, and subconscious mental issues. They can then bring these fears and secrets to life before a victim’s eyes, making their worst fears real. They can bring forth memories of dead relatives, of slain foes, or childhood nightmares. These illusions can cause physical pain as the are so realistic and can cause some to pass out or even die from fear.
The Krann can also enter into the dreams of those people they have before encountered. They can learn their secrets from these dreams, give them terrible nightmares, or sometimes even drive people insane by giving them horrifyingly realistic dreams. While physically weaker than some cambions, the Krann draw power from the fear of their victims and can seem to become much more powerful when facing a terrified enemy. The Krann can also gain strange insights into the future or past when the themselves dream, sometimes these dreams can allow the Krann to learn magical secrets from their demonic ancestors in these magical dreams. The Krann are immune to fear themselves and take delight in the most frightening and repulsive sights that humans can imagine. The Krann can also use their illusionary powers to make themselves appear as other people (such as an old friend taken from a victim’s mind) or cloud the minds of humans so as to walk unseen and unheard.
Some Krann learn to use their powers to access other kinds of information from the psyches of their victims. This sometimes includes their dark secrets or most perverse fantasies. The Krann will the use this information to torment or tempt the human subject, sometimes even taking delight in learning the most tantalizing secrets of mortals or exploiting those secrets in sadistic or lascivious ways.
They are more bookish than physical in nature and may be the most scholarly Cambion family. They study ancient mysteries, both from their mystical dreams and from more mundane research. They also document the various fears and dreams of the humans they have encountered, giving them a vast library of nightmares which they believe gives them greater insight into humanity and even the nature of reality. Some Krann even study science, with a special interest in psychology and medicine.
Because of their ability to delve into human minds and read their members, along with the power over illusions, allowing the Krann family to be masters of secrets as well as fear. They often sell their services to other families, trading secrets for money or other famous.
The Mordua
The Mordua are descended from demons of darkness, night, and freezing cold. They are known for their dispassionate natures, being less controlled by their emotions and more by their rationality. They are more hierarchal and organized than many other families, more controlled in many senses. They feel that it is their duty to maintain order among the families, to enforce relative peace and cooperation as well as making sure that mortals don’t learn of the existence of cambions.
The Mordua are not merely selfish as many other families are, they believe that their family has a purpose. That purpose is to bring complete peace and stability to all of reality - the intend to do this by purging all reality of life. It is the belief of the Mordua that existence itself is suffering, especially thought and emption, and by purging these things they can end that terrible suffering. They tend to keep this goal secret from the other families, who may be cruel and evil, but would rather not see all life perish.
A Mordua begins the purge of emotions and thought from within. They believe in suppressing all of their emotions and passions - their fear, desire, lust, hatred, and happiness. All that should remain is the cold determination to purge this reality of life. Unfortunately for the Mordua, this dispassionate nature has resulted in a lack of drive as well and through the centuries the family has sharply declined in number as well as influence. In the ancient past, the Mordua were quite a powerful family and were greatly feared. Now they use great caution in dealing with other families.
While they cannot come close to achieving their goals to end life itself, they do cause death when they can and their unique magical talents allow them to act as spies and, and even more appropriately, assassins among the cambion families. Obviously, other cambion families don’t take kindly to having their members slain by the Mordua, and so have had to retaliate against them a number of times over the years and even threaten them with destruction. Now the Mordua still fight to maintain relevance among the cambion families, but now must act subtly and often by building alliances with other families.
All Mordua have skin as white and cold as snow, with solid black eyes and sclera that seem to radiate darkness. Many Mordua are entirely hairless, though for those who have hair, it is raven black. The Mordua also favor black clothing, giving most a gothic macabre style and appearance.
The Mordua have power over a number of supernatural forces. The Mordua can control darkness and night. They can call forth shadows and cloak an area in darkness, obscuring all vision save for that of other Mordua. These shadows seem unusually cold for those enveloped in them and frightening as well. Older Mordua can give these shadows more tangible form, forming tendrils of pure darkness that can lift foes from the ground or strangle them, their touch chilling victims to the bone. With enough power or will, the Mordua can make these shadows even colder, freezing water, causing frost to form around, and killing those beings susceptible to cold. Many Mordua also have power over what they call Abyssal Flame, fire that they can call forth which burns black and seems to emanate darkness instead of light. This flame burns icy cold and can freeze living things solid and make them shatter like glass.
The Mordua also have some control over space, especially with the aid of darkness. Some Mordua can peer through shadows and see through other shadows elsewhere, allowing them to see far off places as long as those places have enough shadow and darkness. They can step through a large enough shadow and travel miles in an instant. More powerful Mordua can teleport vast distances without stepping through shadows at all. Some can even bend space, making a fleeing foe’s pathway seem to stretch out like some kind of nightmare or to walk upon walls or ceilings as though they were floors.
Despite their power, Mordua also have a weakness to light. Bright light is painful to their eyes and a fully illuminated area effectively blinds them. The direct light of the sun causes their flesh to seem to rot and wither and significantly reduces their mystical and physical power. The Mordua seldom leave their havens during the day and when they do, they must take cautions to cover themselves from the light of the sun. Many Mordua wear sunglasses even at night, both to hide their unnaturally black eyes from humans and to shade their eyes from the discomfort of artificial lights that they might encounter.
The Sklavi
The Sklavi are the least human of any family, the most bizarre, inbred, and twisted. There are virtually no male members of the Sklavi family, they are all female save for a handful of patriarchs. These patriarchs take and devour any male infant born, consuming the babe’s soul as well as flesh and so increasing their own mystical power. The Sklavi family is divided into several branches, each with a patriarch ruling over his daughter wives. The Sklavi also have a taste for the flesh of humans and cannibalism often increases their mystical abilities.
The Sklavi have a distinctly unnatural look about them. They are hairless and pale with strangely bright or glowing green eyes. Their bone structure seems odd, as though not exactly human, with sometimes twisted or misshapen limbs, humped backs, asymmetric features, or other deformities. Sklavi are chaotic creatures and so their deformities are particularly strange, as they change over time, sometimes from week to week or in some cases over the course of minutes. One day they will have a humped back, the next they will straighten out but their arms will be long and legs short. They also usually have a feral almost animalistic look to their faces with unusually large mouths filled with sharp teeth as well as clawed fingers. Despite their strange appearance, some Sklavi may possess a certain inhuman beauty or sensuality, at least temporarily. The daily appearance of a Sklavi may reflect it’s mood to some degree. An amorous Sklavi may subconsciously become more attractive, while the same Sklavi in pitched combat may be terrifying and monstrous.
With age and practice, the Sklavi can control their physical forms - growing claws, stretching or compressing their bodies, sometimes even making themselves beautiful for a time. Consuming human flesh helps connect them to humanity physically, allowing them to more easily assume a beautiful form. In some cases, particularly skilled Sklavi can even assume the form of one of their consumed victims. As Sklavi become truly ancient, their minds become less human and they no longer like to assume humanoid forms and appear as nightmarish abominations more than anything resembling a human. Despite their inhuman appearance, the Sklavi do have a distinctly female appearance and quality about them that seems to transcend their strange features - except for the patriarchs whose mere appearance it is said will drive mortals mad.
The Sklavi are also extremely tough and resilient, even for Cambions, with wounds they suffer healing so quickly that its almost like liquid flowing back together rather than flesh healing. The exception being damage from fire or from holy or blessed weapons. Sklavi are the most pure blooded of the cambions and so are mystically the strongest, though they are likewise the most vulnerable to demonic weaknesses and those least able to coexist with humanity.
The Sklavi are inhuman not only in body but in mind as well. It is said that the patriarchs descend from bizarre eldritch horrors which the human mind cannot even conceive of. They are creatures of chaos and change, they are insane by mortal standards, with wildly swinging moods and personalities, sometimes experiencing hallucinations or other psychological maladies. While some can transform into beautiful humans, few have the social skills to maintain this masquerade for long with acting out in some bizarre manner. Most would say that these mental conditions are from their minds mutating and shifting as easily as their bodies, though the Sklavi often contend that their insanity is a result of their ability to see beyond the illusion that others call reality. Indeed, sometimes their weird visions give them some forms of insight. Beyond being merely insane, the Sklavi tend to have an alien mindset with strange desires and compulsions, with no sense of compassion or even restraint. The Sklavi are known for some of the most perverse of all practices among the cambion families, engaging in orgies of sex, violence, and/or cannibalism routinely. They are typically cruel and calloused, with little regard for human life, though they are almost all completely dedicated to the patriarch masters.
In addition to changing their own bodies, other things tend to change in the presence or under the influence of the Sklavi. Some can cause strange mutations with a touch of their hand, can cause an inanimate object to become twisted or distorted. Some particularly skilled Sklavi can even direct these changes to living things, shaping animate or even living matter as they desire. Most notably, the presence of the Sklavi can drive others insane, twisting their minds in strange and unpredictable ways and often elder Sklavi can deliberately force this on their foes. Often the madness inflicted by elder Sklavi on enemies cause them to see terrible visions of their worst fears. Other cambions are resistant to the chaotic effects of the Sklavi, but not completely immune.
Despite their madness, the Sklavi are talented sorceresses. While members of other families might have to study for years to achieve some magical talent or perform a ritual lasting the night to create a supernatural effect, many Sklavi intuitively develop spells and can cast them virtually at will without the great effort required by most other cambions. Of course, because of the insane and chaotic nature of the Sklavi, these spells often create strange side effects that even the Sklavi themselves cannot prevent or predict.
The Vesian
The Vesian are a family known for their extreme pursuit of sensation. While the Ivorix are known for their libidos and the Ascania for their love of fine living, the Vesian put both of these families to shame. The Vesian crave sensations of all kind, sensual pleasure, varieties of food, drugs and chemicals, or even self inflicted pain. To the Vesian, all sensations are pleasurable and worthy of embracing. The Vesian are also known for their sadism, their desire to inflict pain (or pleasure or both) on others.
The Vesian have pale skin and black hair, though this hair often turns gray or white at a young age, while their eyes tend to be shades of gray. While many members of the Vesian family are ugly by human standards, others are breathtakingly, if somewhat eerily, beautiful. Regardless of their appearance, Vesian tend to have an intensity about them, a look in their eyes, that can intimate even the bravest souls. What ever usual features that a Vesian may have, they seem to become more pronounced with age, even extreme attractiveness. In addition to what ever strange physical characteristics a Vesian may have, many also have numerous scars, tattoos, or other marking that they have inflicted upon themselves for pleasure or to enhance their magical potential. In most cases, the Vesian dress conservatively in old fashioned but expensive clothes.
The Vesian are effectively immune to pain, they find any feeling pleasant no matter what harm it does to their bodies. They are some of the most physically resilient of all Cambions, able to endure terrible physical harm and recover quickly. Additionally, some Vesian have the ability to manipulate pleasure or pain as well as other sensations eventually. This could also include enhancing the pleasure provided by sensual activity, making the Vesian lovers without peer. Vesian of greater power can inflict pleasure or pain with a mere touch or, in some cases only a glance.
The Vesian are scholars among the Cambion families as well. They value learning and education, not only of conventional topics, but on magic and the supernatural. Unlike the other families of Cambions who study just magic, the Vesian see it as a science and so often combine elements of science with their magic for more amazing and sometimes dangerous effects. Many magical experiments of the Vesian go awry - which their amazing fortitude helps them survive. The Vesian are masters of alchemy especially, and are known for creating magical potions which have a variety of strange effects. In particular, the Vesian obsession with sensation and with exploring the limits of pleasure and pain, has lead them to developing a number of magical concoctions which can dramatically heighten the senses or can cause intense euphoria or terrible agonies. They also create a variety of devices that are unspeakable in their purpose and effects.
Many of the supernatural pleasures that a Vesian might inflict upon a mortal are highly addictive, in fact some of the most prized magical rituals of the Vesian allow them to bind mortal slaves to them through alternating painful and pleasurable effects. A Vesian may subject a mortal to this power over time, eventually turning the human into a willing slave. For addicted humans, the Vesian master will have a mystic control over their minds, with the control growing stronger with the greater sensation the human has been subjected to - especially when combined with the brand.
Vesian who study magic often carve magical symbols into their flesh or the flesh of others. These infernal symbols often confer magical effects and the carving requires a special ritual which prevents the regenerative abilities of a Cambion from healing them. In some cases, these symbols may confer not only powers to the recipient, but power over the recipient by the Vesian sorcerer. Many Vesian have their human slaves so marked, or branded as some call it. Common brands for mortal slaves allow the Vesian master to inflict pleasure or pain on the slave from miles away, give them telepathic commands, or even sense their emotions.
Though members of the Vesian family family often find it difficult to interact with modern mortal society, with mortal slaves from various walks of life, includes business and politics, the Vesian do command quite a bit of influence and power. Despite being willing to do terrible things, some Vesian have a sense of honor when dealing with each other and even when dealing with mortals or other Cambions. They often only target people for truly unpleasant activities who they feel are dishonorable or deserving, and for the more innocent mortals they enslave, they feel protective or believe the relationship ultimately beneficial for the human. Many Vesian become involved at some point with organized crime, though often the criminals the Vesian deal with fail to live up to their sense of honor and end up the victims of Vesian depravity.
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