Article on the hearts anatomy of crocodiles, which suggest an original endothermic physiology: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/422766?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
That is incredibly interesting! I've been reading more around the area and it turns out there are examples of warm-bloodedness in reptiles, as well as theories that some dinosaurs were warm blooded. Argentine black and white tegu (seasonally warm blooded lizard)
Wait, I'm pretty sure Mantic have contradicted themselves. In the Mantic Blog entitled "Who are the Salamanders?" it describes Salamanders (the race) as 'hot blooded throughout"... https://manticblog.com/2016/03/31/15500/ Am I reading one of the texts wrong??
Yes. Salamanders are a sub-set of Reptilieans. Therefore there can be units in the army that are merely warm-blooded or possibly cold-blooded. But the army is principally composed of the fiery-blooded (we needed a new term) Salamanders, for whom the faction is named.
By 'Salamanders (the race)' I was meaning the salamander subset of Reptilians. The two quotes in full are: (From the blog) "In the years since, the reptilians have thrived. Not just Salamanders, but Gekkotah, Arkosaurs and many more scaled allies besides. The Salamanders remain at the forefront of their armies, naturally suited to combat and hot-blooded throughout." (From the Unchartered Empires fluff, where the Salamanders, Ghekkotah and Arkosaurs subsets are described separately in different sections) "Once warm-blooded, the curse of Winter was to instil a chill in their hears so that they are now almost entirely reptiles themselves, being cold-blooded like their peers." To me they both clearly pertain to the Salamander subset, as opposed to the 'Salamanders' as an army. I understand that their blood 'burns with great heat', but that provides no evidence as to whether they are endothermic (and therefore are generating this extreme heat themselves) or ectothermic (and therefore are absorbing the extreme heat from the volcanoes to maintain hot blood). As per the conversation earlier in the thread, the majority of information points to the latter description, which is why I was confused that the blog stated they were 'hot-blooded'. Unless by 'hot-blooded' they are meaning 'cold-blooded but kept hot by the volcanoes'?
As per my last message I did notice the distinction! I concede that this could be the definition, but I can't see many people reading 'hot-blooded' as 'cold-blooded but warmed by very hot volcanoes'...!
It's more than a little confusing, I grant you that. Though I believe, from the context, that's how it's suppose to be understood
We have some official answers on the blood discussion! Well... 'official' is a pretty strong term...! Matt Gilbert (the guy who wrote all the Salamander fluff) answered my questions on the Mantic Forum: http://vb.manticforum.com/forum/kin...s/284062-sally-fluff-round-2-salamander-blood
I have a feeling that we will see them in the army as the basis of Corsairs, so a single unit option for them.
Arkosaurs (and other lizard races) are also a nice way to allow you to use different models from other ranges, eitheir as alternatives for existing units in the list (the unblooded for exemple might simply represent another specie instead of being young salamanders) or as various allies