Salamanders are very old creatures, sometimes believed to have broken off from Dragons in evolution, although significantly weaker. Salamanders are still feared though, being the monstrosities they are, standing seven feet tall and being about eighteen feet long. They have stocky legs, their clawed hands having only three fingers that support their weight and carry them. Their bodies are long and sleek, the back end stretching out and tapering into a equally long tail. On the front end, the head stands to be about two feet long, they have massive jaws that can easily break through bone and flesh, possibly leaving someone limbless if they are bitten directly. The Salamander's back holds a long streak of spikes that are very sharp in spine-wise directions, but from the sides, are dull. The skin consists of scales that are resistant to most forms of attack, unless you try to stab them from underneath the scales, they run from back to front starting around the neck, while the skin on the head is a fairly rough leathery material.
Environment and Breeding Habits
A Salamander is perfectly created to inhibit the conditions it lives under, Salamanders live in caves, deep within the ground, that they have created themselves. The Salamander cave system runs incredibly far through all of Aeria, some tunnels are said to even pass underneath oceans. The caves are located deep in the earth, entrance to them is through wide openings in the ground or in cliffsides, they're easy to distinguish from other caves due to a massive amount of hot air rushing out of them, and that there will be no foliage in the area nearby. The caves themselves are a gigantic web, all heading towards Caverns where a Salamander will stay. Salamanders are solitary creatures and will stay one to a cavern, the caverns are usually always close to an opening to the outside world so the Salamanders are always near a area where they can get food.
Salamanders live about 130 years on average, and will breed every ten years. Breeding of Salamanders consists of them all moving to a major Cavern, half filled with magma while the other half consists of very hot rock. The Salamanders will move into the Lava to breed, and then the lay eggs on the hot rock. Within a year, the baby Salamanders will all break free from their eggs, and crawl down the open paths, looking for a caretaker. One Salamander will take up to three baby Salamanders, raise them for six years, and then set them off on their own. The baby Salamanders will then travel along the central Cave system and leave through one of the exits. They will then travel off for a while before beginning to dig their own channel, and leading it into the main cave system.
The Special Properties of the Salamander
Salamanders are incredibly unique in some of their abilities to survive, for example, unlike most creatures that inhibit Aeria, they can manage to breathe fire. This is done through a reaction of gasses through two pouches in the top, and bottom of the Salamander's mouth. In the lower pouch is a gas which will heat up to ungodly temperatures, when this meets the gasses from the above pouch, a flame is created, the flame's heat depends on how much gas is expelled from the bottom pouch, the more the greater.
Another interesting thing about the Salamander is its blood. The Salamander's blood stays at temperatures of about 2010°F (or 1100°C) for years after they die. They naturally stay hot because of their conditions, but the blood itself seems to hold a reaction that constanly occurs, keeping it at least at 1000°F, the reaction that allows it to do this is not known, and any attempts at studying the blood usually end in the complete destruction of the tools used.
Salamander scales are very similar to Adamantine, being able to take attacks dead on, but being fragile around the edges. The skin is an amazing insulate, being able to withstand all the heat and make it feel as if hardly anything is on the outside, without scales though, the skin is not that difficult to cut with conventional weaponry. Clothing made out of Salamander scales is a considerable armor, although easily weakened through upward attacks that attempt to hit between the scales, hitting the loose skin.
