Thursday, October 4, 2018

Ecology of fire salamanders

Salamanders are the prototypical fire elemental, having been codified by Paracelsus in his writings on elementals. Contrary to the fairly limited depiction they get in D&D, I imagine salamander folks as being quite variable in appearance and lifestyle. Although commonly depicted as being serpentine centaurs, I think they should come in a variety of anatomical configurations including lizard centaurs, draconic centaurs and humanoids.

Fiery reptiles

"Fire salamander," Spiderwick Chronicles
Because of morphic fields and the axiom “as above, so below,” the elemental planes are home to a diversity of geographies, flora and fauna that mirror that of Midgard (the human world, because "material plane" is erroneous). In particular, the wilderness of Muspelheim is home to a variety of elemental animals (Tome of Horrors IV), including fish, reptiles and amphibians. In the same way that carp fish that jump the dragon’s gate transform into dragons, these fiery reptiles and amphibians may become sapient salamander folk under the right conditions.

Like those of Midgard, fiery reptiles and amphibians come in countless species and sizes. Such as fiery snakes (Tome of Horrors), giant fiery snakes, fiery newts, giant fiery newts, fiery frogs, giant fiery frogs, fiery toads, giant fiery toads, fiery lizards, giant fiery lizards, etc. In terms of the 5e rules, these are typed as [beast/elemental]. These may live in the wilds of Muspelheim or be tended in fire-pits by salamander folks to force maturation. (Elemental weirds may become salamanders, I think?)
A salamander, attributed to Paracelsus by M.P. Hall (1928)

Salamander folks

Salamander folks come in a variety of variants that vary in relative size and power. There is no correlation between the species of a fiery reptile or amphibian and the salamander folk that it metamorphoses into. For example, a giant fire frog may become a much smaller salamander folk.

The salamander variants include flamebrother, average, noble, and royal. (These names are provincial so I will be primarily using alternate terms.) These forms are not clearly species, castes, classes or ethnic groups; nor are they rigidly defined and a given salamander may be promoted, demoted or molted into another form by circumstance. Depending on what the GM requires at the time, they may be stages in the same life cycle, biological castes, social classes, or ranks within a hierarchy.

Other names for salamander folks include flamewakers, flamewalkers, mandrakes, rakonars (The Genius Guide to Races of Fire and Fury), salamandrakes, salamandrine men (and salamandress women), vulcanites, etc. They are in some way related to dragons, naga, lizardfolk and other reptilian monsters, as well as elemental weirds (aka wyrds and verms).

The exact anatomy of salamanders may vary immensely. Their features may sit somewhere on a continuum between humanoid and lizardfolk. They may stride on legs, slither on snake tails, walk with the lower bodies of giant lizards similar to centaurs, or (like the above picture from Paracelsus) have humanoid faces on bestial bodies. This would account for the various diverse depictions of them in artwork both historical and in gaming. (I had this idea that salamanders become more humanoid as they advance, but I was not sure whether to implement it or not? In any case, royal salamanders are more humanoid as a general rule.)

Flamebrothers

"Salamander," Children of Mana
Flamebrothers (introduced in SRD v3.5) are small salamander folks; are also known as pygmy salamanders, salamandrettes, man-dragonets, flame imps, etc. Flamebrothers are about the size of halflings and gnomes. They are commonly bullied and enslaved by the larger salamander folks. They have a reputation for barbarism, since they often break away from the salamander cities to live in their own nomadic bands, but this may be the result of being bullied.

Flamewalkers (average salamanders)

"Salamander Fire" ©2009 Zaigard
“Average” salamanders (introduced in SRD v3.5 and SRD v5.0) are medium-sized salamanders; I will refer to them as flamewakers. They are about the size of humans or elves. They form the middle class of mixed size salamander groups. They have a reputation as blacksmiths since they may work metal while it is still hot. An odd detail to point out, as this is true of most natives of Muspelheim, such as the azer who compete with them. 

Flamelords (noble salamanders)

"Flamewaker", World of Warcraft Trading Card Game
“Noble” salamanders (introduced in SRD v3.5) are large salamander folks; I will refer to them as flamelords. They possess greater size, strength and innate fire-themed spellcasting including pyrokinesis and summoning other fire elementals. Plus, they are master blacksmiths. They are generally the ruling class of salamander society due to their greater power, though the other castes often chaff under their command.

Mandrakes or flamekaisers (royal salamanders)

"Regia the Salamander," ©2010 Blade-Fury
“Royal” salamanders (introduced in The Slayer's Guide to Elementals) are medium-sized salamander folks and shapechangers; I will refer to them as mandrakes (and womandrakes). Unlike other salamanders, mandrakes are largely humanoid in appearance aside from their literally blazing and reptilian features (hence the name mandrake, as in a compound of man and drake). Mandrakes have a number of powers including: summon fire elementals, assume the form of a red-haired human or a small fiery lizard, telepathy and innate fire-themed spellcasting.

"Fire Salamander" ©2014 MilicaClk
Mandrakes are generally found among the middle and upper classes of salamander society, and many make a living as diplomats, merchants and other traveling envoys; including to Midgard, due to their enjoyment of the cultures of humanoid societies. Some of them, styling themselves "royal salamanders" or flamekaisers, look down on flamebrothers and flamewakers as inferior and jockey against the flamelords for power. (Ironic, as due to the promotion process some of them might have started life as flamebrothers and flamewakers.)

Ice salamanders

"Frost Salamander," Mirror Realms
Ice salamanders (introduced in Tome of Horrors IV) are identical to fiery salamander folks except that their element is cold. They typically live in cold environments, such as the arctic and antarctic, the icy continents in Niflheim (the plane of water), and the colder regions of the border lands between Niflheim and Cloud Cuckoo Land (the plane of air). In the same way that salamanders are famous for their blacksmithing, ice salamanders are famous for icesmithing.

Supposedly, fire salamander folks may become icy salamander folks and vice versa by inverting themselves somehow. Presumably, there are salamander variants for the other elements.

Salamander society

The ecology of salamander folk is fairly simple and easy to make up on the fly.

Fire salamander folks have built their own civilizations on the plains of Muspelheim, making them comparable to the manifold frogfolk, lizardfolk and serpentfolk races of Midgard. They live in tribes and cities, some tribes migrate between settlements, they forge weapons to hunt and defend themselves, they engage in slavery, they are commonly summoned and enslaved by wizards to do things like forge weapons or guard something, etc.

Fiery reptiles and amphibians come into existence through spontaneous generation or reproduction, salamander folk may lay eggs (with or without mating), and they eat the foods of Muspelheim like the fruits of obsidian trees or the meat of fiery plains horses rather than being boring perpetual motion machines.

Since salamanders are not limited to single element, it should be possible for weirds to molt into salamanders as well, since they are not limited to a single element.

Basically, do not limit yourself to any description in any one game book. Make up their society and ecology to fit your desires and needs. Be creative!

PC salamanders

Salamanders are typically characterized as evil by most source books (my setting discards alignment so this is superfluous), but they could easily be PC race material. For example, see The Genius Guide to Races of Fire and Fury or The Traveler's Guide to the Elemental Plane of Fire for details on playing salamander folks ("rakonars" in the former book) in 3.x rules. Alternately, they may be treated as elemental variants of lizardfolk or dragonborn racial statistics. The sky is the limit!
Salamander dragonborn by Sammy Savos

Relevant links

General background

3.x statistics

5e statistics

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