So I was wondering (Primarily because I thought this part of the forum quite barren) if there was any story or fluff in general when it comes to the, hopefully, soon to be released army of the salamander. I know that there should be a section about forces of nature, where I believe the salamanders are supposedly the fire part of natures forces (Or so I have understood ). But do anyone know anything about planned releases, of actual stories and background to the salamanders, could be great to know! If not I'll make my own background and make a section in here all about Sauric Ace's salamanders!!!
I have an army of Salamanders and Dinosaurs; they are based in a stronghold hidden deep in a jungle-covered swamp. ______________ Fluff done. (It would have been just 20 words, but "hidden" was a last second addition.)
In KoW Salamanders are fire based repitlian humanoids, the water humanoïds are the naïads. While the Salamanders are one of the options of the Forces of Nature army list, like most of the entries in this army, the "Uncharted Empire" add the full Salamanders Army list, including their background in the worl of Mantica.
As far as I am aware, the fluff in the Unchartered Empires is the only fluff there is. If anyone finds anything new it would be appreciated!
There is a Salamander hero in dungeon Saga, maybe his fluff can add something ? i rather like the current version, and the fact that there exists other races than the salamanders and ghekko mentionned, especially the one that are mainly mercheants, this remind me somewhat of the Tau earth and wind castes, and even better it opens the way for using reptilian humanoids models from very different ranges by simply explaining that they are a rare case of another cousin race going to war (easy if it is only to justify one hero model)
Does the Salamander hero in Dungeon Saga have a name? They have released a Salamander hero model called 'Hrath Flamespitter' as part of a box set but I can't find any reference to him anywhere. The only Salamander hero mentioned in Unchartered Empires is Firebrand. And agreed on the current Salamanders situation - I like the idea of three different races (salamanders, ghekkotahs and arkosaurs). My concern is that the army list already has a full requisite of unit types so to include arkosaurs Mantic will either have to have a huge Salamanders army list (much larger than any other army) or remove current units. But if models have already been made for current units that could mean obsolete units bought and painted.
I started another thread about Hrath (here) - I found out that yes he is the hero from DS, but that then raises more questions. If you have any answers to the other thread (once a moderator has accepted my second post) it would be appreciated!
No need for that much bother. Do you have Uncharted Empires? Mantic managed to cobble together about three pages of storyline...and it isn't half bad. The Arkosaurs are, big time. They crew the Navy. (The Salamander faction has a proper navy!) I have the book, skimmed the fluff, my 20-word backstory (see higher in thread) fits just fine. @The Sauric Ace how much do you need to know to fit your army backstory into? Some highlights: The army list is composed of Salamanders, Ghekkos, Fire Elementals and Dinosaurs. There are three big, tall, volcanic islands known as The Three Kings. The volcanos are active. These islands must be somewhere off the Western edge of the basic map. Arkosaurs are seaborne, navy, aquatic types; not part of the army, or are merchants and workers (or perhaps very rarely: adventurers). Any geographical environment you could find on Tahiti, Hawaii, Oahu, Easter Island, Borneo, anywhere in the Phillipines, etc. would be available for your principle base/main city.
So what if one faction has more units to choose from? Where is it written that this cannot be? Anyway, the official story line puts the Arkosaurs firmly as Navy Lizards. So units of them need not appear in the army. But, there is room to do a proper sea battles/ship-to-ship rules expansion someday. Not to worry.
Thanks @pendrake !! Something along those lines were what I originally wanted to understand. Basically what separates them from other lizard like cultures. Making them oceanic seems like an interesting idea, one that gives them some difference from the Lustrian lizardguys
Also having all their army Fire based is very interesting. I personally love the Fire Elementals in combat.
It makes them warm blooded and then some, and thus different in an IP sense from cold-blooded Lizardmen.
If I recall correctly some can't venture to far from the homeland either without needing to refuel the heat.
In the pre-army list fluff, Salamanders are cold blooded and Ghekkotah are warm blooded. However, in the army list mini-fluff it says that Salamander Primes' blood "burns with great heat", which is a tad confusing.
Perhaps they are cold-blooded in the biological sense; that is they don't spend energy on heating up their bodies, but uses the surroundings, exoterm. Which in this case would be super hot volcanoes. That would explain why some can't leave the islands, why they are considered cold-blooded, yet having extremely hot blood and the explanation for Ghekkotah would simply be that they are more like mammals and birds, when it comes to body regulation.
I've re-read some of the fluff with that in mind and that explanation stacks up! It also looks as though younger Salamanders able to retain the heat from the volcanoes for longer (and can therefore go further afield on campaigns) whereas older Salamanders need to stay near the warmth of the volcanoes.
I'm still confused as to why Ghekkotahs are warm blooded. And why Salamanders used to be warm blooded.
Perhaps that is a reference to real world Crocodilomorpha (Crocs, Alligators, Caimans etc.); they got an anatomy which would suggest that they were once (Semi)-warm-blooded, but due to not needing it any longer, reverted back to a cold-blooded physiology. I'm sure I could find an article somewhere that discuss this